Weekend Round Up 9th 10th November
Last weekend was quiet in terms of race action, but this weekend started in style with Tuff Fitty’s awards and Social evening on the Friday (reported separately). Whilst in celebratory mode, there was a return to some great Tuff news to share.
Callum, Jess & Barnaby
FUTURE TUFF?
We are delighted to report fantastic news relating to two of our members, Callum Kalbfell & Jessica Coombes. From everyone at Tuff Fitty, we wish all three every health and happiness. Congratulations
Baby Barnaby born 03/11/2024 to a very proud Mummy and Daddy. Already have him booked in for infant swimming sessions, perhaps a Tuff in training ???. Jessica is doing well and looking forward to returning to training when able.
Callum
Katie – 1st Female
LONDON MARATHON SWIM
The Marathon Swims are held at the London Aquatic Centre and we are pleased to report on three successes, and justifiably take this week’s banner picture..
In the 1k Challenge we had two flying the Tuff flag with great success. Katie Young finished 1st Female, second overall just 16 seconds behind the winning male and almost 1.5 minutes ahead of the second placed female – superb swimming. Not to be left out Angela Barber was in top form as well as she finished 10th female to cap two impressive results. In addition both Katie and Angela swam again to support Helen Bull.
Angela reports:-
This year I have moved up an age group and set my sights on gaining a top 3 place in the 1km sprint and top 10 in the female category. How did I do? I gained second place in my age group and 10th place in all females. I am over the moon.
It was also an honour to support Helen in yet another of her crazy challenges. She is such an inspiration on her determination. I hopped in the pool for a further three 1km laps to help pace her and keep her company in the water, particularly when the super speedy swimmers arrived in the afternoon.
Myself and Helen have set Katie the challenge of first 5km female for next year!.
Angela
Helen has submitted a write up about her swim as she elected to swim the marathon swim of 10K twice in a day. However Helen is rather modest as she neglected to set out her impressive record at this event – so do read the editors comments after her write up:-
“The Marathon Swims event at the London Aquatics Centre, is a favourite in the calendar. Last year I challenged myself to swim 16km in 1 day. This year, I levelled up and set the challenge of 20km in one day. Training had been hard this year – my mum remains critically ill as well as my own ongoing health challenges. But I’m a Tuff – and Tuffs can do hard things!
“Race day arrived – the first 10km was comfortable – I felt good. I got to 13km and hit the wall in spectacular style! I was wrecked! However, Angela & Katie weren’t going to let me quit. They each got in and took it in turns to swim 1km each with me until the end. This made the world of difference. I made it to 20km – happy, relieved and tired. A lot of Haribo had been consumed!! Genuinely wouldn’t have made it without Angela & Katie. That Tuffs spirit really came good! A few days on now and can just about straighten my arms again! Thoughts are turning to next year’s event! I already have a goal in mind…
Helen
Helen appears in the Hall of Fame on the marathon website as she is the only person to have completed every year; it reads
Helen Bull has completed the Marathon 10k at every single Marathon Swims London event. Helen completed the Marathon 10k 9 times: once in 2017, twice in 2018 (Saturday and Sunday), twice again in 2019 and once in 2022. In 2023 Helen completed the Marathon 10k, Team 10k and 1k Challenge all in a single day!
In 2024 Helen was the first person to complete two Marathon 10k’s in a single day! What will she do in 2025?
If you feel inspired to help donate to Helen’s pledge to raise money for Arundel Lido following this swim, the link is here
James
CENTURION WENDOVER WOODS ULTRA
James Hodge reports in following his Ultra starting and finishing in Aylesbury. This race is a toughie as the race instructions state:- “enjoyable trail running, with wide, soft trails including smooth descents and runnable climbs. These sections are contrasted with some much steeper ascents and descents scattered throughout each loop!” Underlining the difficulty is that entrants have to meet a qualifying standard. James takes up the story:-
Still smarting from finishing 1 min outside the time limit at Centurions Chiltern Wonderland 50 mile I entered Centurions final 50 of the year Wendover Woods. Wendover Woods consists of 5 x 10 mile loops within the forest. It has a reputation for toughness with steep ascents (1000 ft ascent) and descents scattered throughout the loop. It also marks the last in the series for those aiming to complete the Grand Slam of 50 mile events.
We set off in amazingly picturesque autumnal scenes, the trees having lost roughly half their leaves to blanket the floor and those remaining displaying the most amazing colours. Carpets of leaves mask hidden dangers though and tree roots sent more than one runner into the air. I set off at a quicker pace than usual and seemed to be moving well as we went past the Gruffalo, down powerline, along the boulevard of broken dreams underneath Go Ape. The ascents are steep…..hands and knees steep and I was very glad to have opted to use running poles.
Laps 1 & 2 passed well. I was on a good schedule that would allow me time to shuffle round the last lap without the pressure of a looming cutoff. Toward the end of lap 3 head torches came out and the woods quickly plunged into darkness. I had to change shoes and do a little foot repair but was confident I would finish and was still moving well. At 30 miles I thought to myself, you’ve got this and almost immediately it all began to fall apart. I put my head down to march up a hill, promptly missed one of the course markers and was then going round the course the wrong way. Trying to get my bearings in unfamiliar woods in the dark was proving impossible. A couple of runners coming the other way put me back on the course but it meant I was repeating the route I had already just completed.
Ultrarunning is all about resilience and overcoming I told myself so I pulled it together and got moving again. Soon after the mid way aid station I realised all of the leeway I had built up in time had gone and I would now be chasing the cut off for the last lap. With 5 miles until the end of lap I made a decision that I would stop at the end of lap four. At this point I also could not think of anything I would rather do less than another lap of Wendover Woods. Unfortunately my legs heard what my brain was thinking and everything immediately shut down. I shuffled along placing one foot in front of the other, I was cold, the booming firework display that seemed to go on for hours was now really getting on my nerves, two head torches died and I was fiddling around with batteries in the pitch black. Despite the lovely encouragement and checking I was ok by those passing me including the leaders on their last lap it was probably the longest 5 miles of my life.
I had one final scare as I approached the finish. I could just make out the finish gantry clock and I could still make it back within the lap cut off and go out for the last lap. This would mean getting swept along with the enthusiasm and support of the amazing volunteers before remembering just out of sight that I couldn’t even walk anymore. I’m not proud but a bit of strategic dillying and dallying was called for & I just missed it.
I called it a day at the end of lap 4 having completed 43 miles, 3 more than I should have by that point. I had a lovely free chilli and catch up with fellow competitors. There is such a strong sense of community at Centurion Events and the kindness and encouragement shown to me when I was struggling was incredible. I never have to do another lap round Wendover……well at least until next year.
James
Debbie & Tiff
BIG NIGHT OUT
Starting on Winchester’s Athletics track, this event from Big Feat Events offers a choice of 22 or 11k. From Winchester runners climb out of the city onto the South Downs Way steadily up to Cheesefoot Head. A loop of Fawley Down followed taking in the night sky. Our intrepid duo running were Debbie Boxall & Tiff Orton and as an evening run, headtorches were the order of the day as you will see from the above photo.
STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING COURSE
We value highly our coaches contributions and also their knowledge helping Tuffs to achieve their goals. As part of their desire to develop their knowledge we can report on some great news.
Carey Woods, Clare Worgan, Hazel Tuppen & Leah Simms travelled to Withdean in Brighton for a Strength and Conditioning course. Apparently the course was a useful one and fellow Tuffs are likely to be on the receiving end of some of the knowledge gained during future training sessions. Thanks to Carey, Clare, Hazel & Leah for their dedication.
SUSSEX CROSS COUNTRY LEAGUE- GLYNDEBOURNE
Tuff Fitty have built a long history of participation in the Sussex Cross Country League. Whist excellent training, it is hard core running and the fixtures are difficult to fit in because of travel time to and from an event starting at 2pm taking up a large portion of the day. Unfortunately with work commitments and injuries we didn’t field a Tuff team this time. However at 2:05pm well done to Kate Cooper who ran the 3mile course. It is an unforgiving course with a steep hill that has to be tackled twice over the two lap course. She scoring valuable points for her running club – well done Kate.
PARKRUN ROUND UP
After Tuff Fitty’s successful Awards and Social evening, particular kudos to our members who still managed to throw the duvet back to get out and run, either the stalwarts at the Saturday morning run from Arundel or those parkrunning.
At Littlehampton parkrun there was close racing with Nathan Cooper back on the parkrun circuit finishing 12th overall in just 19:36. Just 5 seconds later Simon Grundy finished 14th in 19:41. Alistair Evans continues his strong form, just 3 seconds off his PB set last week. Just two second later was Bob Rogers who returned a fantastic 77.2% age grading. Chris Evans was our next runner and with Hope Newcomer on the volunteer team this meant we had 6 on the Prom.
Worthing parkrun saw Edward Lay as first Tuff home, completing his 189th run, 158 of these here at Ed’s home parkrun. Then we had a quartet of Tuffs who had challenged each other to run after a few cheeky beers the night before. Glenn Parisi was first from this group ahead of Trevor Harvey, Jon Roper and Clive Harvey who all finished within 3 seconds of each other. Next Les Pearce who was also running after the ‘night before’ to complete a further 6 runners.
Across at Lancing Green parkrun, Paul Fielder is continuing to add to his list of parkrun venues as he ran this seafront course to attain a strong age grade.
In terms of parkrun tourism well done to Jay MCardle who ran at Haldon Forest parkrun. Situated on Haldon Hill in Exeter, 250m above sea level, as the location might suggest there is a climb on each of the two laps, albeit providing stunning views across the Exe basin.
Well done to all 14
TUFF FITTY MEMBERSHIP
Don’t forget, membership renewal is now due to remain a Tuff for 2025. After another successful year and our sound financial footing, your club are keen to reward existing members who contributed to this position by offering a £5 discount off our standard new member rate. If existing members renew before the 31st December then membership is £35. After this point renewal will revert to the standard renewal rate of £40.
Apart from belonging to one of the larger clubs in the South East region, and one of the oldest Triathlon Clubs in the UK – Tuff Fitty have now reached its 33rd anniversary, there are many benefits to people in being a Tuff. As a British Triathlon affiliated club, should members wish to join the BTF themselves then there is a discount against the standard membership of £11. As a member of Tuff Fitty, members are eligible to join England Athletics and our affiliation to Sussex County Athletics permits us to race at County events including the Cross Country league.Cycle Time Trials and British Cycling are two further governing bodies that Tuff Fitty align with.
It is hoped we will attract some race discount codes again for 2025 from local providers. There are also retail benefits such as our Sportshoes.com discount, & HIGH5 amongst others..
More directly Tuff Fitty membership enables Tuffs to partake in our twice weekly coached pool swims and weekly coached track night. Two further runs, virtual cycling, club specials and socials and of course the motivation and fun of being with like minded individuals. Our club triathlon & run championships always attract a good number of participants. Members wear their Tuff race kit and leisurewear with pride and your committee hope you will wish to remain a Tuff as part of our vibrant club.
