Frosty Aquathlon/Weekend Round Up 5th 6th March

With the 26th Anniversary Frosty Aquathlon completed and packed away, a huge thanks to all the helpers, too many to name individually; your assistance is always appreciated and never taken for granted.

FROSTY AQUATHLON

We were fortunate that the 2020 staging of the event completed just before the first Covid lockdown, so just the 2021 race had to be postponed and it was pleasing to see everyone back racing.

A generic Race report has been posted onto the Frosty website page written from the perspective of all competitors. If you wish to read that, the report is here

It was very pleasing that despite the host of Tuffs wearing hi-viz jackets and lane counting/registration etc, we could still muster a significant Tuff racing contingent with some great results.

First off was the Frosty and a Tuff was prominent from the start as James Mapley powered out of the pool in third position. Unfortunately James has been nursing a strain and didn’t run, as he has two duathlons later this month. However we would have a further ten Tuffs racing this distance. Ollie Thomas secured the sixth fastest swim split overall. Jo Meaney had the second fastest Tuff split with Emma Hinton just 4 second behind. Out onto the run and there is always a lot of banter between Pete Littleboy and Simon Thistlethwaite. Simon had the fifth fastest run split of the morning in 41:26 and Pete the sixth fastest just under 7 seconds later. Due to Ollie’s rapid swim he prevailed as first Tuff home in 11th followed by Pete and Simon 14th & 15th respectively.

For those of you yet to see the footage from the morning – this is returned below.

The next Tuff home was Jon Babbage. Jon achieved a PB on his swim and had enough left to run strongly to really enjoy the event and remarked how good it was to be with like minded people having a laugh. Liane Davids is a more recent Tuff but had a great race. Liane’s super 44 minute 10k time meant she was called up to the podium as first female supervet and 6th female overall – congratulations Liane. Jo Meaney was next home with Emma Hinton just 15 seconds behind. Clare Worgan, Vicky Cooper & Claire Moyle completed the line up. Thanks to Vicky Cooper for sending her thoughts on the morning:-

“My first ‘Monday Night Run’ with the club was a recce of the Frosty route, and I couldn’t believe that it went all the way from one end of the seafront to the other and back both ways again. Fast forward two years and it was now my turn to take part in the infamous Frosty. After getting confused as to which race went off first and then having to make a dash to hear the end of the race briefing, it was time to race. My lane organised itself by our predicted times and I was pleased to start off second but this was short lived and I started too fast got out of breath which caused me to break into breaststroke. I had to stop and let the lady behind past and then swam behind her for the rest of the swim. Was very happy when the lane counter Kate said to me ‘you’ve got two more Vicky’. Never one to hurry in transition I pulled on a long sleeve and my shoes and headed out the door for the run. The seafront seems to go on forever, especially when you’ve got to run it twice but there was lots of happy marshals and people out on Sunday morning walks shouting encouragement. One man shouted to me ‘well done, you’re still smiling’ and I shouted back ‘that’s because its frozen on my face’. Thanks to all the Marshalls for making the race possible and the towel memento is fab.

Vicky

Next off was the Frostbite and our banner shot this week is four of our illustrious Frostbite racers. 11 Tuffs raced. It was a great start as our swim specialists Andy Tester gained the third fastest swim split overall with James Togneri, 4th and Mark Walford, 5th fastest swim overall. Phil Turner and Juliette Reader would gain 12th & 14th respectively. Mark Walford kept the pressure on with a 5k run of 19:41 to finish as 2nd overall to step on the podium. James Togneri ran in a 21;49 5k to finish 7th overall with Andy Tester finishing in 11th.

Just behind was Juliette Reader with a 23 min 5k which gained her 2nd female position overall, our second podium of the day just 30 seconds behind the winner and an impressive 1 min 45 ahead of the 3rd position. Mike Barrett was next Tuff also with a 23min 5k, and then Phil Turner reached the finish at the Tuff gazebo. Paul Martin had his traditional strong run to pull him up the order. Next home was Leah Simms, Karly Martin & then Nina Tully. Alastair Evans completed the 11 racers here.

Well done to all 22 and to the countless Tuffs inside or outside ensuring the 26th Frosty was another successful event. With donations it is please to report we collected over £160 for our chosen charity Cancer United.

STEYNING STINGER

Not quite the longevity of the Frosty’s 26 years, the Steyning Stinger is also on the same first Sunday in March and this year reached its 20th anniversary. There were three strong results on this trail marathon. Make no mistake, this is a toughie with the start from Steyning rising up onto the South Downs Way before heading down towards Worthing…. and then up again. Therefore the time from Danny Cunnett in 4hrs 53, is noteworthy. The next Tuff was Jay McCardle. Clearly there is nothing you can tell this experienced runner about marathons but he was a proud dad as he paced his son Oscar around the course for his first marathon in a very good 5hr 5min.

There is also a half marathon option and good to see Gareth Coombes enter this. Gareth crossed the line in 2 hours 3 minutes. To get the course along the South Downs way to pick the marathon route again, the half is 23.7miles so Gareth can bank this as a sub 2 hours for a similarly tough course.

PARKRUN ROUND UPDATE

Worthing parkrun saw the biggest Tuff contingent out this week. Rich Budd crossed for his 164th PR in just 21;52. The ever present Les Pearce was next home in 22:52 for his 148th PR. Jay McCardle ran this, (as a warm up for the Stinger?) in 22:54. Ed Lay was next home, then kudos to both Phil Turner and Leah Simms who ran ahead of their Frostbite outing the following morning. Elaine Rousseau rounded out the Tuff seven.

This still left six on parade at Littlehampton parkrun. Steve Fryer is maintaining his rich vein of form with a 20:15 finish time. Congratulations to Adrian Oliver as he attained a new PB in 21:53. Kev Pearson was back doing his pacing duties. Jenny Oliver racked up her 24th parkrun. Both Alistair Evans and Nick Hartfield were on the organising team with Alistair taking up the sweeper role.

Finally at Chichester parkrun it was clearly a case of quality over quantity. Emily Moore was the sole Tuff representative but she crossed the line notching up another 1st female home place in just 21:50 on her 119th parkrun outing.

Well done to all fourteen.