Weekend Round Up 7th 8th May
Another week and another array of different events undertaken by Tuffs – read on:-
THAMES TOWPATH 100
Starting from Richmond in Surrey at 9:30 the Thames Towpath was supposed to be 100 miles. However the last minute closure of a footbridge extended the course by 1 mile. Some simply laughed if off – err, so what’s a mile if you have just run 100 of them! Who was up for this?, of course one of our hardened intrepid Ultra, Ultra runners – Jay McCardle. The checkpoints illustrate just how far Jay had to run with checkpoints at Walton on Thames, Wraysbury, Dorney, Hurley, Henley, Reading, Pangbourne, Goring, Wallingford, Clifton & finishing in Oxford. To enter runners have to prove that they have completed at least a 50 mile race and there was a cut off time of 28 hours. Of course neither of which was necessary for the illustrious Jay who completed the whole course in 21 hours 30 minutes – amazing.
THE SURREY HILLS CLASSIC
The Surrey HIlls Classic Sportive had three route options of Long, 127k, Medium with 88k and a short 50k. Two were in attendance Alister Marchant who rode the long course and Ben Cumberland undertaking the 88k. Both routes took on the challenge of Leith HIll, the highest point in Southern England at 294m, followed by a ride around the Surrey Hills. Those doing the long course also took in Box Hill.
With a beer and medal waiting at the finish, Ben reported it was an enjoyable event, even with the undulations. The only aspect that did not receive favourable comment was the dreadful condition of the road surfaces. Well done to both Alister & Ben.
PB 5K
Held on Wednesday 4th May, when those at the Tuff Track session can testify it rained!, Juliette Reader was in action up at South of England Showground for the PB 5k. Already a good record in the event from last time, Juliette had a fantastic race crossing the line in 20:58 . Juliette was understandably very pleased to gain a new PB and break the magic 21 minute barrier – congratulations.
LISBON HALF MARATHON
Celebrating it’s 31st anniversary the Lisbon Half Marathon is Portugal’s most popular race boosting an international line up; in amongst these were two top Tuffs, Trevor Harvey & Glenn Parisi with Trevor taking up the tale:-
“Normally the cry is “Glenn made me do it”; however, this time it was more my fault! Glenn’s departure to his ship was delayed by a week and I found that Lisbon Half Marathon, (normally sold out), still had spaces and so we squeezed in 10 days before the race!”
“A huge event with 35,000 entries across the half and 10K, with an Expo for registration in the days before. With free city transport on the day for runners, a train is needed across the river Tagus for a mass start on the snappily named ’25th April bridge’. Having had to detail a PB time when entering, (a bit pointless as mine was some 40 years ago), there was no seeding and everyone just piled onto the 6 lane bridge. The first mile and a half is across the bridge before dropping down and following a road up and down the river”.
“A fairly flat course, albeit a bit of a road bash……BUT it was too damn hot, with a fairly late start of 10.20. We saw a thermometer showing 34 degrees although it felt hotter coming off the road, and so the strategy was to take a bottle of water at the first checkpoint and keep sipping it to the next – fluids were crucial, and people were collapsing at regular intervals along the way, (with sadly one fatality)”.
“The Tuff two of Glenn & myself safely made it round and we were happy with our times, for a good medal & the usual goodies; including a welcome ice cream at the finish!! There was no bag drop and as the T shirt was given at the expo, and with a different finish point, returning runners had to travel afterwards in their running gear – although in that heat the Tuff vest quickly dried for the two bronzed (pink?) ‘gods’.”
“Lisbon is a great city for a weekend break, and so a good time had with a good run thrown in…..apart from the heat. Apparently deferred to May from the usual cry of Covid!!”
Trev
GATWICK HALF MARATHON
Still quite a new event, Run Gatwick has attained ‘Gold Award’ status with various distances of 5K & 10K as well as Half Marathon distance. The route is completely on closed roads, stating runners get ‘the buzz’ of Gatwick airport!. 363 completed the 5k route and it is great to report a Tuff participant in the 10k, with Elaine Rousseau running amongst 458 competitors at this distance. There were vast numbers of ‘no shows’ across all distances, but 1,336 runners completed the Half.
In amongst this throng were: Pete Littleboy who was the first Tuff home in a great time of 1:32:34, which placed him on the first 5% home – excellent. Leah Simms had a strong run in 1:59 and the very strong Tuff ladies results followed with Shelley Babbage next, Karly Martin & Claire Moyle. Thanks to Claire Moyle who has reported in on proceedings:-
“I had planned to do an early half but having a niggly achilleas I decide to hold off and then I saw Gatwick half and thought that would be fun and plenty of time to train. Well I am not sure what happened to training I managed to get plenty of swimming and cycling in but running seemed to constantly get cancelled and school commitments kept piling up. Oh well I am off on tour with the Tuffs there’s bound to be plenty on time to run, well not quite I only managed a 5 miler. No I needed to squeeze at least 3 longest runs in before the event but in reality my longest run was only 8 miles.”
“Sunday arrived and the weather was looking great so just go and enjoy yourself. Easy to get parked and plenty of toilets (always important) the atmosphere was very jolly and everyone was getting lined up when suddenly people started turning around and walking off. It was announced that there would be a half hour delay. Time to find a banana and get in another toilet stop”.
“The race started and I felt good and went off a bit quick so at 5k I slowed down a bit but still felt strong so kept going; good time at 10k and then things started to show the lack of training. The hips were beginning to tighten and the knees started to ache and then there was a hill. In my head the route was flat!!! Time to dig deep and accept the next few miles we’re going to hurt, 10 miles; great I can do this although my legs were screaming at me to stop. That last 5k seemed like forever but I got there and the time was ok. Thanks to Shelley, Karly, Leah and Elaine for cheering me through the finish. Great event well organised and fun.
Claire
HEDGEHOPPER FIVE
Run by Portslade Hedgehoppers, this five mile race is one of the oldest in the fun run league calendar with a trail run north of the A27 up to the South Downs Way. Taking part with his running club was Tony Pearce.
SWIMATHON 2022
Swimathon 2022 saw several club members participate as usual. Held over 450 venues nationwide, so far Swimathon 22 has raised £650k. Competitors could chose between 400m through 1.5k, 5k or Triple 5k. With no centralised results found it has not been possible to list those Tuffs competing but well done to those who swam.
PARKRUN ROUND UP
Normally a hotbed of Tuff participation, Littlehampton parkrun just saw a Tuff duo racing – Alistair Evans & Jenny Oliver. Alistair was also on the organising team as was Nick Hartfield
At Worthing parkrun, first Tuff home saw another PB from Maisie Johnston in 22:10. Next was ever present Les Pearce in 23:00 with Ed Lay close behind in 23:25. Mark Sole put in a strong 24:13 with Phil Turner next Tuff home. Ness Green completed the Tuff six.
Bognor parkrun saw Nathan Bilham in action again crossing the line in 24:07
Well done to the Tuff ten
