Weekend Round Up 5th 6th October – Part One.
Another weekend of Tuff action. However the range of activities and reports are so vast that one Round Up, simply isn’t sufficient. Part Two has an equal number of amazing Tuff achievements. Settle back and enjoy ‘part one’ before the next installment.
Hazel
DOWNSLINK ULTRA
Sussex Trail Events and our very own Jay McCardle and Danny Cunnett put on some great races and this week they even made BBC News for Sussex – the link is HERE In addition to Danny & Jay we also had Tuff participation in the race itself. Hazel Tuppen took part reporting below:-
‘The Downs Link a largely off-road bridleway linking the North Downs Way (Guildford) with the South Downs Way (at Shoreham-by-sea). The day started early(ish) with getting the minibus from Shoreham to the start at St Martha’s. As we drove up the chatter started about how far away from our cars it seemed. The only conciliation was knowing that the route was much more direct, as it follows an old disused railway line and that it must be mostly downhill. Little did I know that this would pose its own challenge’.
‘We set off from St Martha’s just after 9am and winded our way downhill through sandy woodland. I headed off probably a little too fast as I do love a downhill, but it felt comfortable. We then picked up the firmer track of the disused railway, not before hopping across a short muddy section’.
‘I kept an eye of my watch and started fuelling. The plan was to try and eat something every 30minutes. I had a whole range of goodies with me (from precision hydration blocks and gels to a marmite sandwich and peanut m&m’s). As I looked around, I saw some people had much smaller packs than me. I contemplated If I had taken too much food and kit but decided that I was prepared. I had enough fuel to last me without the need for aid stations. I had practiced my nutrition and was not sure what the aid stations would have. I also had my waterproof coat, gloves and a buff. The weather was overcast but with the threat of light rain later in the day there was the potential to get wet and cold if the wheels fell off. I also had a small first aid kit to deal with any blisters etc. So technically, there was no reason why I could not complete it!’
‘Each of the 5 x aid stations were a welcome sight, particularly as I was focussing on getting to each aid station and not the over-all distance. Also, who knew tortilla chips and cold roast potatoes would become my favoured fuel. The route, whilst pretty had large sections of very similar scenery which could become very mentally challenging. The route was all runnable and therefore no let-up. I’m not sure how, but the section between Southwater and Henfield felt like it was all uphill. This section drained me and by the time I got to the aid station at Henfield, which marked the 27mile, I had gone off food. I filled my bottles and picked up some watermelon and pineapple. I headed off thinking that it must be mostly downhill now. However, the relentless gradual inclines continued, and I was struggling to keep myself running. I decided I needed to keep eating, despite not wanting to. I also got into a rhythm of running 3 mins, walking for 1 to motivate myself. By the time I got to the last aid station I was continuously running again’.
‘It was lovely to see fellow Tuffs (Andy & Vicki) at Bramber aid station. With some Cola in my bottle and I was away for the last 5 miles. I know this section of the course very well and the combination of the cola, a gel and knowing “I can run 5 miles”, I was able to pick up the pace all the way to the Shoreham Adur Centre and finish in 7:42:07′.
Hazel
BRISTOL TO BATH TRAIL MARATHON
A trail run from Bristol to Bath along a “traffic free green corridor” across a choice of full marathon of 25km with the final section of the route stated in the instructions as ‘tougher’ going into the Cotswolds AONB. Congratulations to Dom Amey, Catharine Gray, Charlotte Lattin-Rawstrone, Graham Liddell, Mark Walford and Clare Worgan. Plus Nancy Liddell as support. Graham has put together the following for your delectation (do view the video with sound on):-
This is a story of green trails and rolling hills, of losing and finding the way, of caterpillar cakes, song, poetry, romance and betrayal.
If all you want are the finishing times, scroll on. But if you have a soul and want to know what really happened, watch the video (right to the end), listen carefully and treasure the experience.
Trail Marathon – provisional finishing times and positions (out of 505 finishers)
| Time | Position | |
| Charlotte Lattin-Rawstrone | 5.04.53 (est) | 181 |
| Dom Amey | 5.04.55 | 182 |
| Catharine Gray | 5.39.41 | 274 |
| Graham Liddell | 6.20.28 | 369 |
Trail 25k – provisional finishing times and positions (out of 393 finishers)
| Time | Position | |
| Mark Walford | 2.10.53 | 12 |
| Clare Worgan | 3.14.01 | 278 |
The Bristol to Bath trail marathon/25k was the very first event organised by Sussex based Trail Escape. It was aimed at those who wanted to combine city convenience/sightseeing and a relaxed run (or walk) where you could take in the views. It was a brilliant route with stunning views and included an official 518m of climbing over the Cotswolds and into Bath City Centre.
I’ve referred to Charlotte’s time as estimated because she isn’t listed in the provisional results. However, we have a video showing that she finished one place and a couple of seconds ahead of Dom, so this estimate should be pretty accurate.
Mark would have almost certainly finished in the top three in the 25k event but he took a couple of wrong turns (the first one when he was in second place, the second when in fifth). In the end he ran an extra 1.5k and still finished in an amazing time.
Graham
TUFF FITTY’S HILL CLIMB
After last year’s successful Cycle Hill Climb, the event was held again over the same course. Thanks to Adrian Oliver who has reported in:-
‘This was our 2nd instalment of the now annual Cycling Hill Climb Challenge to cycle the 800m up the Strava Segment from the bottom of Swillage Lane to The Fox Inn, followed by coffee and breakfast buns inside the Fox’.
‘After a quick route recce, the challengers embarked on their two attempts on a surprisingly mild, dry and still Sunday morning. Disappointed that Mufasa could not make it, Tom Frith (who came dressed as a lion last year) briefly appeared to set the benchmark time of 1:46 before disappearing off to look after his cubs’.
‘Meanwhile, the remaining athletes embarked on their 2nd attempt to win the Tuff Polka Dots jersey’.
‘Overall combined times winner goes to lumberjack Simon Thistlethwaite in 3:56 (1:57 + 1:59), followed by Barry Davids in 3:59 (2:03 + 1:56), Mark Sole in 4:17 (1:58 + 2:18 – car obstruction), Adrian Oliver in 4:30 (2:10 + 2:20), Jacob Bown Jones in 4:53 (2:34 + 2:19 – on MTB + backpack), Chris Evans in 6:23 (3:11 + 3:12), Sarah Jouault in 6:52 (3:31 + 3:21), and Elaine Rousseau in 7:16 (3:38 + 3:37).
Jon Roper provided superb race photography (see flickr album) and timing by Jenny Oliver & Tiff Orton.
Detailed race analysis was then undertaken by all while enjoying the lovely breakfast buns and coffees at the warm Fox Inn.
Results:
Run 1: https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=368579
Run 2: https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=368580
Steve
STREET CHILD CRAFT HALF
The Street Child Craft Half comprises a half marathon or a 10k starting from Wimbledon Common. Steve Bridgeman was on the start line and what makes it popular is that there is a ‘Halfter party’ in aid of the Street Child charity. Not only did Steve earn his run top & souvenir glass but there were beers on the course. Great value to enter. Steve ran to support Alzheimer’s.
Nick
SOUTH DOWNS GRAVEL X
Next up a very comprehensive report on a tough day in the saddle for Nick Bolding who takes up the story:-
Gravel? I wish there’d been gravel!
‘So, I’ve been AWOL from the Tri scene for a while now… been loving getting off-road with Karen on our custom-built tandem’.
‘However, I decided I wanted a bit more of a (solo) challenge, so signed up last-minute for The Glorious Gravel’s ‘South Downs Gravel X -Long’ – a 75km ride over the South Downs’.
‘The heavy rain all week in the lead-up meant I was expecting conditions to be ‘less than ideal’ & the photos provided from the route review & set-up on the Friday suggested it would be ‘rideable but wet/slippery, with a generous helping of flints’.
‘Start was from Plumpton Racecourse – good parking, coffee & bacon butty van, toilets & an inflatable start/finish arch… what more do you need?’
‘It was cold as about 20 riders meandered to the start for the briefing, about a 50/50 mix of MTBs & drop-bar gravel bikes with a sprinkling of eBikes on both sides’.
‘Fortunately (trying to find a silver lining), the first 6km was pretty much all climbing – nearly 200m, which warmed me up nicely. Once we got to the top of the climb we got the ‘Glorious’ part… fantastic views across Sussex and a long downhill section towards Lewes’.
‘Heading into an overgrown path I had a small ‘off’ – trying to avoid getting caught in the flint-filled rain channel that snaked down the track I was ’Tigger-ing’ from one side to the other and got a little too ‘bouncy-bouncy’ and ended up in the hedge… nothing hurt but my pride!’
‘Rest of the long downhill was fine then a short ‘hike a bike’ over the footbridge to cross the railway line at Southease (rather than wait for the barriers to lift) and then heading toward climb #2… it was here I made a rookie error that could have been ride-ending…’
‘There was a wooden bridge to cross the A26, tricky to ride up as the rain had made it slippery, but I got up OK behind another rider, at the bottom on the other side was a big puddle I didn’t fancy riding through, so as I sped down the bridge I turned slightly to skirt around the end of the small lake and *BAM!* I hit the floor like a sack of wet sand as the front wheel shot out from underneath me on the wet wood’.
‘My left hand, knee, thigh & shoulder were all sending that weird numb/pain signal that you never know how bad things will be when you actually look at them… the rider in front must have heard me go down as they called back to ask if I was OK… I said “I’m OK… thanks” but at that point it was more faith than fact’.
‘I was actually not ‘fine’ but there was only a ‘bit of red on me’ and nothing was leaking or actually broken as far as I could tell (on me or the bike)… so I saddled up for the climb wondering if my 75km ride was going to end less than a third of the way in’.
‘I made the climb – I think walking most of it as the wet chalk was so greasy there was zero traction & the back wheel was just fishtailing wildly whilst I made zero forward progress & at the top was the split for the Medium & Long rides… I turned left for the Long course & was rewarded with a long tarmac descent into Firle – where the first feed station was’.
‘After a cup of coffee, some cake and a clean-up of my wounds – abrasions and some heavy bruising – I was ready to carry on’.
‘Down into Alfriston then back up a climb toward the Medium/Long split followed by a descent into the outskirts of Newhaven. Not gonna lie, navigating through the urban area was slightly confusing (not least for the people out doing their Saturday shop!) and something of a grind’.
‘The second feed station was in Piddinghoe, 50 of 75km done & people were flagging, but after more coffee a top-up on the Tailwind in my backpack bladder and a couple of Soreen bars it was “Shut up shoulder, hand, knees & thigh!” and onward to the 3rd of the 5 climbs’.
‘Past Telscombe and Woodingdean – the views were great (I could hear music from the Amex Stadium) and it was actually warm and sunny. At some point along the way I stopped to help a rider who had a puncture & all the the repair kit… but didn’t have a 5mm hex key to actually remove the through axle so they could take their wheel off to carry out the repair’.
‘One last big climb from the A27 up towards Blackcap & then the ‘warming’ climb we started with in the morning became a very, VERY welcome long downhill back towards Plumpton’.
‘A cheeky little bit of uphill as I turned off the B2116 and then before I knew it I was in the last 200m heading back toward the inflatable arch I’d last seen nearly 6 hours ago to collect my wooden medal & a can of alcohol-free beer’.
‘After a burger & a coffee to recover (slightly) it was back to the carpark to load up my bike and provide a last-minute bit of ’trail angelry’ in the form of helping a guy take his front wheel off after he’d rounded out the socket on his through axle – handy hint, if you’re trying to undo a through axle from the non-drive side you need to turn it clockwise… trying to ‘undo’ it anti-clockwise will tighten it and a fatigue-fogged brain will probably just go “It’s stuck! Turn harder!” Resulting in the aforementioned rounded socket’.
‘All in all it was a Glorious ride (even a week later with the whopping bruises on my shoulder & thigh and the lingering suspicion the fact my left hand looks like I’m wearing a flesh-coloured latex glove that’s been lightly inflated means I may have -slightly- broken something)… well marked (mostly, if you do one I HIGHLY recommend downloading the GPX file and running that as navigation alongside the trail markers), well stocked feed stations, enough riders that you can have a bit of a chat if that’s your thing – but never so busy you felt held-up / like you were holding people up’.
‘I’ve done a few of these now (including the Isle of Wight Road & Gravel on the tandem MTB with Karen earlier in the year) and I’m already wondering if there’s another one nearby I can do before the end of the year…
Nick
PARKRUN ROUND UP
Saturday 5th October saw the 20th anniversary of the first parkrun. Bushy Park, where it all began saw another large turnout with 1,818 finishers and Tuff Fitty contributed to numbers worldwide with the following runners-
At Worthing parkrun Dave March was our first runner home in just 21:40. Edward Lay continues to build his impressive parkrun tally with a strong age grading. Kate Cooper was another one with a strong age grading, along with Ed both on 67% age grade. Les Pearce was also present reaching his 216th parkun. Steve Feest was our next runner across the line. Debbie Birch completed her 125th parkrun. Sue Pinky completed our illustrious seven.
Littlehampton parkrun saw Nathan Cooper continue his strong form as he crossed the line 6th overall in 19:31. Just 11 seconds behind in 7th position was Simon Grundy. Alistair Evans was our next runner. Sue & Colin Simpson continue to add to their parkrun totals – a massive 505 parkruns between them. Chris Evans keeps his phenomenal record going achieving a PB on each of his last five runs at Littlehampton – taking 1 minute 50 off his best since August. Hope Newcomer was on the volunteer team to complete another group of seven.
In terms of tourism Kate Evans travelled to Brighton & Hove parkrun as she completed her 70th parkrun.
The furthest tourism shout-out this week goes to a Tuff posse who attended Rheinpark parkrun a scenic one lap course alongside the River Rhine at Cologne in Germany. Whilst normally seeing attendance of around 30, this week numbers rose to 138 finishers. This was mainly down to the Brits travelling for the Cologne running festival. Rather than ask how far people had come, the Race director simply asked if there was anyone from Germany! Included in the numbers were Glenn Parisi, Murray Hodge, Trevor Harvey & Clive Harvey
Well done to all nineteen
