Weekend Round Up 13th 14th November

We start this round up with congratulations to James Togneri & his wife Harrie upon the birth of Hallie, born Saturday 14th at 2:15pm. Hallie weighed in at 6lbs 7oz. Both Harrie and Hallie are doing well, and from the photo below it would appear James is bearing up OK as well!. A sister for Logan we wish the Togneri family every health & happiness.

SUSSEX CROSS COUNTRY LEAGUE RACE 2 – STANMER PARK

The new entry/result system proved a good step forward, and it was another packed cross country race at the second fixture at Stanmer Park, Brighton. With almost 800 runners it beat the previous Sussex league record by almost 100. Pleasing to report on another strong Tuff showing as our runners met up at Tuff City.

In amongst the 175 ladies Niki Treacy crossed the line third in her age category. Niki was followed home by Juliette Reader and Kate Cooper two of our stalwarts in the ladies team over recent years. After laps of a very undulating course there is a bit of respite on a downhill swoop to the finish, but that was short lived as the Tuff men had congregated and were cheering and encouraging our epic trio across the line.

Next up the men’s race and whilst there was more presence from Brighton Tri this time, Tuff Fitty were still by far the largest pure multisport club present. Over 200 finishers here and Mark Walford was first Tuff home in 36:01. Simon Thistlethwaite next, Phil Scales, and then just 15 seconds later Pete Littleboy. Lee Bishop put in a sterling sprint finish to beat a runner by 1 second, and Lee was followed by Steve Fryer. Steve had previously been a Tuff pre 2005 so it was great to see him back as a member in blue – well done Steve. The good news continued as team manager Adrian Oliver was next, Steve Feest, Paul Martin and a strong sprint from Les Pearce to complete good performances from all our Tuff Ten. As you will have read above James Togneri had a valid reason to be excused for this one 🙂 Mark has reported in with his thoughts:-

“Going to the second cross country event was less daunting than the first. A), because I had some idea what I was letting myself in for and B), car sharing with 3 other tuffs on the way over definitely helped with pre race nerves. Once all the pre race prep was done, like getting numbers etc, it was down to the important stuff, running. Ladies set off first so we went down to cheer them on, two laps for them and they all looked OK on the first lap, and waiting for them to finish they all came shooting out the woods and did a sprint finish, showing track sessions are definitely helping. Onto the men’s race, we lined up, and soon were set off, I felt good for the first 100m until we started going up a small incline and I thought theses shoes are rubbing a bit. After 500m I thought this is gonna be a long 8km. Anything uphill hurt the foot, being cross country it was definitely hilly, but in the first lap it did go up a bit then down quickly 2.5km covered I felt ok, then uphill started, and on 2nd and 3rd lap they made it longer up hill. Not good for my foot. Now a few people started to go by me, but I was settled into a group and just kept going, even working up a sweat that I had to chuck my gloves at the Tuff ladies who had taken on the cheering role. The final lap was done with gritted teeth, dropping back a bit but still trying to stay positive. Then the fun downhill bit and now I could see why sprint finishes are a thing on this race, downhill momentum and cheering, I managed a good finish. Straight after, shoes off to check the damage. Cheering the other Tuffs home, we seemed to have placed well again. Definitely don’t do anything new on race day, and a small jog isn’t enough to evaluate new shoes. Chairman and captains chocolate bars after, then a quick turn around to get back for swimming. Despite everything, can’t wait for race 3 in 3 weeks time”

Mark

Race 3 is at Ardingly Showground on the 4th December – When UK Athletics registration opens again for 2022/23 were you aware cross country results go onto your Power of 10 list, another useful benefit for individuals in affiliating. Whilst individual results are out, the league positions as at 17th Nov have yet to be finalised.

An array of photos from chairman Clive & Adrian, so click on the album below:-

Above, Simon & Mark demonstrate to the runners Tuff Fitty are in town 🙂

MONARCHS WAY FIVE

Southern Multisports Series of 5 miles events in 2021 brought us back to Whiteways Lodge following Felpham 5, Glatting Beacon & Great Bottom. So another nice local race. Well organised by our own Jason Rae and as Tuff City was already loaded for the afternoon’s Cross Country our Gazebo was erected over registration. Thankfully such shelter wasn’t important as the morning provided ideal running conditions. Simon Thistlethwaite was on hand to help Jason set up the course with Trevor and Clive Harvey helping man the entry desk. The Tuff runners comprised, Emma Hinton, Trevor Harvey, Clive Harvey & Shelley Babbage. Emma has reported in:-

“I hadn’t heard about this race before the Tuff Fitty swim run barbecue back in the summer, when I got lucky and won an entry to it in the raffle. I don’t do much in the way of trail running, or going near hills, but thought 5 miles sounded nice and achievable and it was local too, starting over at Whiteways just outside Arundel. From the pre-race email I knew there were going to be a lot of canicross entries – so many that the organisers were going to squeeze in a bonus dog show before the race started – but I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people running with dogs, so it’s clearly a good race to enter if canicross is your thing (or you’re a dog fan, which I am). The race started with a loop of the overflow car park and then it was more or less single file for the next section, which featured a gentle climb beside fields and was quite nice to tackle as a group, after which it opened out a bit. I can’t tell you much about the route, because my main goal when running off road is always to avoid face planting, which happens too often, so it’s eyes down most of the time. But I did recognise some of the places I’ve run with the Tuffs on a Saturday morning, most notably an evil steep chalky hill that seems to go on for a quite unacceptably long time, at the top of which a race photographer was poised ready to capture our smiling happy faces (!). The hilly bits after that were tame in comparison. The return was through Houghton Forest, which is always lovely but especially so in autumn. Then it was back to Whiteways for quite possibly the snazziest race medal I’ve had for a long while, and a bacon roll from the cafe. Unfortunately this was the last in this series of 5 mile races for the year but I’m definitely planning to look out for them next year and it’d be great to see more Tuffs there too.”

Emma

TUFF FITTY’S FROSTY AQUATHLON

Having been fortunate to stage Tuff Fitty’s Frosty Aquathlon just prior to lockdown in March 2020, we are pleased to announce all the relevant paperwork has been submitted and entries for the Frosty on the 6th March 2022 are now open, with a good flow of entries on the first evening.

2022 will be the 26th staging of the event and having built a strong reputation it is crucial that we maximise the attendance of club members on the morning. This means we would like to see everyone either marshal or take part. Marshalling duties are varied, from body marking with numbers, registration, lane counting or out on the course directing the runners. We normally have two people on the turn around points so there will be roles which are suitable for all. Clive Patterson-Lett is to coordinate marshals again, so please do keep 6th March clear in your diary. Southampton University are the current team champions and it would be nice to be able to enter our own team to try and get the title back. Please feel able to discuss either marshalling or race entries. The race details are on the Frosty page of our website here

TUFF FITTY END OF SEASON PARTY

Thanks to everyone who attended Tuff Fitty’s end of season party. Thanks to the committee; particularly Sue Neilson who put so much effort into the organisation. Unfortunately this year the awards took up just a small section of proceedings due to the past year’s lockdown curtailing racing. It is hoped that instead of having to focus on Covid governance and track & trace (albeit these are still an ongoing requirements) we can now look firmly ahead as race dates start to appear on the calendar. A full club championship and different club events are being targeted to provide real benefit to you; our fantastic Tuff membership. Thank you to everyone for their support over the past 18 months.

PARKRUN

At Worthing parkrun James Oram was first Tuff home in 21:29 & Ed Lay was next in 23:25. Phil Turner secured his 67th parkrun with Phil followed home by Amanda de Ridder. Elaine Rousseau was next and pleasing to include Chris Sloggett as he was on the organising team and also acted as sweeper. Also well done to Les Pearce on the organising team as he rested up for the afternoon’s cross country.

Littlehampton parkrun saw Kev Pearson run and was first Tuff home in 22:39. Alistair Evans also ran and doubled up on the organising team.

Well done to all eight who ran.