Weekend Round 3rd, 4th December
Some higher mileage events to report on:-
MOUTH TO MOUTH MARATHON
A new event from Tuff members at Sussex Trail Events in the form of Chris Ette, Danny Cunnett & Jay McCardle. Using parts of the routes from their portfolio of other races, this one started at Shoreham and followed the river Adur up to the South Downs way bridge. It then followed the undulations of the Downs to Amberley. Down to the river where competitors followed the Arun back to Littlehampton Marina; a distance of 27.6miles.
Barry McElearney was first Tuff home in 4:27. He was followed by Paul Atkinson who reached LA in 4:36. Linda Wright did well in 5:08 and Grant Smalley 5:09 despite having pushed hard at the track a few days before; all four top 100 – great running everyone.
SATURDAY MORNING RUN (AKA 9 Hills of Death)
A photo by Stew on the 9HoD highlighting the great running terrain around Arundel
Our Saturday morning runs are traditionally the longer distance training, and as scheduled doesn’t normally receive a mention in the round up. However whilst taking in some of the great undulations around Arundel, Graham Liddell sowed the seeds about holding the ‘Nine Hills of Death’ taking in many of the ascents in Arundel Park. By the time the nominated date arrived, Andy Crawford had developed the event further. He delivered a poem at the bottom of every hill and at the top, the runners received a stamp on a ‘loyalty card’. Great endurance from those who conquered all the hills – 14.5 miles.
This might sound a long way, but in the New Year the distance will gradually build up from a lower mileage to enable runners to build up to Brighton/Worthing halfs and through to the marathon season. It is hoped a more detailed report will follow about the runners exploits up the hills. To anyone looking to build up to longer distance running in the New Year, please feel able to come along.
GRAVEL GRINDER ADVENTURE CROSS
Tiff Orton has reported in after collecting another medal
Jon Roper and I took part in the Massif (long) course at the Gravel Grinder Adventure Cross starting at Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking. Conditions were perfect for the MTB/CX course and the Massif was 43 miles, a mini-Massif was 25 miles. Being a course for CX bikes, it was a mixture of road, wooded trail and in places some pretty muddy tracks. We finished in 4:28 but no gold/silver/bronze awards given, just a time. Goodie bag was T-shirt, medal, mince pie and mulled wine and we managed to grab some end of season cycling mags too 🙂 A brilliant morning out.
DOWNLAND DEVIL
Huw Williams,Trev Harvey, Clive Harvey. Andy Heath not in shot
A challenging 9.1 mile downland run organised by our friends at Worthing Striders. Race Director was our very own returning Tuff, Tony Pearce who did an excellent job along with strong levels of Tuff marshal support from Tim McGrath, Steve Feest, Jacky Brown and James Oram. Whilst very crisp and clear, running conditions were good over the tough 1,302 feet of ascent across the Downs.
Apart from the race numbers displaying the title “Download Devil” instead of “Downland” this was a successful event. Huw Williams did particularly well, shown in action in the top title photo above taken by James. Huw crossed the line in 1:11:33 in 29th position overall. Clive & Andy had exchanged places but a strong climb up the final hill saw Andy Heath home as second Tuff just ahead of Clive Harvey. Trev Harvey completed the quartet having completed every staging of this event, along with Clive, since it moved across from being the Duck Pond Waddle.
PARK RUN
With James Oram being on marshal and camera duty on Sunday he headed across to the Hove Prom Park run. Another strong result finishing in 22:59, almost the same time as he achieved in Worthing last week.
