Weekend Round Up 10th 11th August
After seeing Tuffs compete at 35 different races since the 1st July and covering 12 different parkrun locations, anyone would think Tuff Fitty would be glad of a rest with the race calendar moving into holiday mode. However, a quieter calendar was a great opportunity to target a parkrun as part of our summer run series. Adding in our weekly training which continues unabated, we continue to highlight Tuff Fitty as THE place to be for the fun and camaraderie fitness can bring.
WORTHING PARKRUN
The third of our Summer Tuff run series (STRUN) where gender and age go into the world masters age grading to produce a level playing field for all. Worthing parkrun was the venue and the horde of Tuffs helped to see Worthing set themselves a new record for the number of participants – 734 runners.
It was a case of quality and quantity as Mark Walford finished 11th overall in just 18:49. Simon Grundy was 16th overall (19:16) and just 6 second later – Marc Flinders finished in 18th – three in the top twenty. Steve Fryer finished just a minute later. Niki Treacy was our first female home in 20:56 – attaining first in her age group.
With such a large attendance those not right on the start line had difficulty finding clear space but gradually there was terrific work as the Tuff vests worked their way up the field. Ed Lay was next as a Worthing regular completing his 147th Worthing event. Juliette Reader recorded a strong time to finish as first in her age group by a margin of over a minute. Just 1 second later Dan Lawrence finished. The number of Tuff finishers was growing rapidly now as Mark Sole finished 1 second ahead of Adrian Oliver. Colin Simpson 15 seconds later was also first in his age group by over a minute. Dominique Noiret achieved a new PB by 19 seconds. Clare Worgan was second in her age group. Hazel Tuppen put down a strong time for her first Worthing run, then Rhian Standley opening her parkrun account with a third in her age group.
Paul Martin was followed by Clive Harvey. Next was another Worthing regular Phil Turner completing his 110th Worthing run, then Trevor Harvey who’s PB took 31 seconds off his last Worthing time. Steve Feest was our next runner, and 3 second later Bob Rogers secured first in his age group. Jon Roper continued the Tuff finishers ahead of both Les Pearce and Murray Hodge who were accredited with the same finish time. Vicki Hedger, Nina Tully & Alistair Evans ran across the finish in Beach House Park with Janet Shepherd shortly after. Sue Pinky & Kate Evans completed our 30 finishers.
This was not the end of Tuff participation as Dom Amey joined the promenade course as part of a longer 12 mile run, but being a true gentleman didn’t cross the finish as he missed the opening yards to the pier. Sue Simpson was also taking part but pulled out on the course to avoid worsening a niggle. Tiff Orton and Andy Gomm finished a 14 miler on the green to cheer the finishers and with Simon Thistlethwaite and Henry Teague-Smith as Tuff cheerleaders there was an impressive 36 Tuffs out on a sunny humid Saturday morning.
After three events, Colin Simpson, Marc Flinders and Adrian Oliver lead the way, with Niki Treacy, Bob Rogers and Mark Walford handily placed behind having scored well in two events. Best of three results count with Arundel 10k next up 26th August
Andy Crawford, Mark Walford, Tom Goddard & Ollie McDonald
CLOSED CIRCUIT CHAMPIONSHIPS
It was a packed day at Goodwood motor racing circuit for a Festival of cycle time trials with over 350 in attendance covering 12 different events. These included ‘one lap wonders’, heritage bikes, ‘ 2 Up’ and ‘4 up’ for each of TT & Road bikes. Competitors descended on Goodwod from around the world.
We had an illustrious quartet team led by Tom Goddard as Captain who encouraged a team on road bikes for the ‘four up’ 10-mile TT race. The team members with Tom were Mark Walford, Andy Crawford and Ollie McDonald. They were racing for 4 and a bit times around the circuit. Also racing was Emma Kuusela participating for her cycle club doing rather well. As well as finishing in 4th place with her teammates, Emma also finished 6th overall in the road bike section for the 10 mile time trial.
Tom has kindly updated us with the team’s race:-
‘The National Circuit Time Trial Championships at Goodwood was a brilliant event. All sorts of categories were included: TT, road, vintage, tandem and handcycle. Mark, Andy, Oli and I entered the 10 mile road bike team time trial. It was great fun and when we had everyone drafting well in the wheels and completing slick changeovers we were really motoring! As is often the case at Goodwood we had to contest with a fierce headwind down the back straight so we’re peeling off the front every 10 seconds or so. It was great fun (We even got handed a cold beer at the finish!) and I’d thoroughly recommend it to everyone. We were well and truly put in our place by full time cyclists though and I did get some funny looks riding 38c tyres! ‘
Tom.
HIGHDOWN HIKE
Next up Adrian Oliver provides the story on a warm but overcast Wednesday evening at Highdown:-
The Worthing Strider’s Highdown Hike new race village, the Worthing Rugby Club, provided a wonderful Christmas-feel setting to their traditional Highdown Hike on a lovely warm summer’s evening. They even had toilets!
With Wednesday evening’s Tuff track session being cancelled to encourage attendance, we did see a good turnout of 14 Tuffs running, plus some serving as event marshals.
The new running start location made for a mostly brand new run route – with a few “features” that will hopefully be ironed out before next year. Notably, the narrow exit from the rugby club field onto the path which causes a slight tailback for all 420 runners (apart from the superspeedy who got there first), the single-file path East of Ecclesden Lane, and the narrow steps up to Highdown Hill. But once the first 3km warmup was complete, the route changed back to the familiar Highdown paths, making for some fast downhills and gentle uphills, before a long sustained 3km downhill back to the A280 Angmering bypass bridge before the sprint back to the finish at the Rugby club.
As usual, competitors ranged from the super-fast County elite thought to enthusiastic participants, with the winner finishing the almost 8km trail run in an impressive 28:21. Equally impressive was our Simon Thistlethwaite, who was 1st Tuff home in 34:15, followed by Danny Cunnett in 39:20, Jay McCardle in 40:04, Stephen Feest in 41:35. Hazel Tuppen was our 1st Tuff lady home in 43:37, followed by Clare Worgan in 45:02. Next home was Mark Sole in 45:35, Colin Simpson in 47:07, Adrian Oliver in 48:20, Graham Liddell in 50:32, Sheila Bailey in 57:38, Susan Douglas (without Stigg) in 1:01:36, one of our newest member Debbie Birch in 1:02:09, and Chris Evans in 1:05:38. Meanwhile Stephen Fryer was out and about as event marshal with Sue Simpson on the Tuff cheer team..
Once over the finish line, the evening continued with a bar, BBQ, and a well-stocked cake sale under the rugby club’s covered, Christmas-themed bar area, where the athletes shared tales of their running exploits.
Despite the teething issues with the new route, the 420 runners enjoyed the well-run event now hosted at the Worthing Rugby Club and look forward to its returning in 2025! (flickr album below)
Adrian
NINA’S VOLUNTEER AWARD AND NEWS
Next up a thoroughly deserved accolade for Nina Tully for all her work for West Sussex Mind. Huge congratulation Nina from us all on your award and special news – as Nina explains:-
‘I was awarded a special thank you from Asics for the work I do at West Sussex Mind supporting people through physical activity. The award was a trip to Paris to visit Asics House and then onto the Olympics. The whole trip was a real pinch me moment and had many surprises along the way including meeting many athletes, coaches Asics frontrunners and many more who knew about the project I am currently working on which to me came as a big surprise’.
Ian & Nina
‘I had the pleasure of meeting Beth Potter with was great and both myself and my other half had an amazing time and experience then came the surprise that totally stopped me in my tracks…Ian proposed in style with Haribo sweets and some love hearts too. Safe to say one incredible weekend that I will never forget…on that note I won’t forget what I was wearing either as that morning the top of choice was my Tuffs run vest.
Nina
CLUB LA SANTA LANZAROTE
Following on from Amy & Fraser KIdd’s racing last week, Fraser reported in whilst still in Lanzarote on their next set of races. Now back in the UK, it is hoped they have a holiday planned as the following sounds a terrific amount of effort in the heat!! :-
‘Four events in total Saturday – Wednesday starting with the 5k race on Saturday at 5pm’.
‘It was a warm one, 28 degrees, out and back route to the village of La Santa. I finished in 3rd with a 5k time of 21:10. ‘
‘Monday evening was my opportunity to beat Amy’s time from the previous week by taking part in the Aquathlon race. Again there were many sporting their GBR tri suits, whereas I was in my Tuff Fitty suit. Nevertheless I came 3rd with a total time of 17:20 for the 200m swim (3:05), transition and 3.2km run’.
‘On Tuesday morning I entered the 7km run for the second week running. I was first over the line, after being pushed by an eager participant behind me breathing down my neck for the first 5km. I finished in 31:29 which was 1:17 improvement on the previous week’.
‘Finally on Wednesday morning, I entered the sprint triathlon (400m swim, 15km bike, 3.2km run). After all the events and training over the past few weeks I was completely knackered after the swim. I got on the bike and within 2km I was asking Amy to get her kit for the run leg. It’s quite flexible here, you can change if you have the resources. Team “Framy” finished within the top 10 (of 40) with a time of 50:32. With hindsight, we would have changed the order with Amy completing the swim and myself on the bike/run to challenge for the 1st place, with the speedy competitor from GBR completing in 45:00! Maybe next time!
Fraser
PARKRUN ROUND UP
Whilst we had a superb 30 scanning their bar codes at Worthing parkrun, other Tuffs were at the following:-
Littlehampton parkrun saw Emma Hinton in action with a strong age grading. Debbie Birch scored double credits, both running and being on the volunteer team. Chris Evans completed our trio as he was on the volunteer team.
Up at Hereford parkrun, Katie Young ran for the third time. Whilst just outside her PB, Katie still finished as fourth female overall
Well done to all 33
PICTURE OF THE WEEK
Don’t forget Tuesday’s seafront rides continue whilst we still have lighter evenings, led by Dom Amey. These uncoached rides meet at 6:45pm by Worthing Pier.
