Weekend Round Up 21st 22nd December
The December solstice marks the shortest day north of the equator, and this occurred on Saturday 21st December. So a significant weekend as we can now start to look forward to a gradual increase in daylight hours. And what better way to celebrate than Portsmouth Marathon.
PORTSMOUTH COASTAL MARATHON AND HALF MARATHON
with 1,700 runners across a marathon and half marathon, together with a festive Santa 5k & 10k there were 1,700 finishers finishing this pre-Christmas race on Southsea seafront. This was despite the yellow weather warning of high winds from the west touching Hampshire.
The marathon was first off at 8am and it was a quality Tuff field with seven runners. Cameron Coe finished in 33rd position in just 3 hours 18; impressive running. Our next runner was Mark Walford who ran with Phil Scales around the course chatting as they ran. That didn’t stop them finishing in 3:28:59 and 3:29:07 respectively. As we have come to expect from Jon Babbage, he ran well finishing on the 4:00 mark. Next we have to wonder, doesn’t he ever stop’ as ‘fresh’ from his ultra along the South Downs the week before; Jay McCardle was in spritely form finishing yet another marathon in 4:07. The good news continued as Clare Worgan was our sole female marathoner and then despite having been away with work, Adam Stringer still produced a solid run straight out the box. Excellent work everyone.
Clare has provided her thoughts on the marathon:-
“As autumn turned to winter I decided to enter the full distance, as a good excuse to get in some long runs to help survive the dark winter”.
“I rounded up some Tuffs and we rocked up to the start line in our festive fancy dress. It was windy! A marathon is never easy and running into the wind along the seafront was tough but totally worth it. The sense of achievement was huge as was the finishers medal. A good mornings work” 🙂
Clare
Then it was the turn of the half marathon runners to form up on the Promenade and here we had five Tuff runners. Good to see Pete Littleboy back in race action as he starts his build up to London Marathon as he pushed home in 1:49. Kate Cooper was another one to take on this festive challenge and then Charlotte Lattin-Rawstrone and Dom Amy crossed the line just 4 seconds apart, Sheila Bailey also ran the half and then stayed on the course to cheer on the marathon finishers. Thanks to Kate Cooper for being our roving reporter for the day.
“I signed up for the Portsmouth Costal Half for the first time this year thinking that it would be a good way to finish the year. I have to say that I was less than enthusiastic about an early start and running in a 40mph+ wind on the first Sunday of the holidays! However, I perked up once I had parked (lots of nearby parking is always a bonus) and met up with Dom, Charlotte and Sheila for a pre-race chat. It was a well-organised and relaxed event. I enjoyed the variety of terrain, which included running on grass and short beach sections. It was an out and back course: Dom and Charlotte overtook me on the way out and I overtook them on the same stretch on the way back! The last few kilometres into the wind on the way back were tough, especially as it involved dodging lots of runners dressed as Father Christmas (!) but everything comes to an end! The biting wind meant that I felt cold the second I stopped running, so I was glad to get back to my car and warm up (apologies to those running the marathon for not cheering you home). If you fancy a low key end of year event, this is a good one, but I think that next year I might opt for a lie in!
Kate
WHO ATE ALL THE PIES?
Last year Simon Thistlethwaite issued a Christmas challenge to members to guess how long it would take Simon to run 5k, with the closest earning themselves a 50% off discount code on a pair of trainers. There was a second challenge for anyone who logged a 10k run on New Years Day as they would go into a hat for a further Garmin discount code. Simon completed the 5k challenge in 18:51.
However this year he wanted to up the ante, and we’ll let Simon take up the story:-
“Who ate all the pies !!!! Thank you to everyone who got involved with my mince pie challenge especially Sue Pinky for the great photos and footage. Also to Tiffany for being my official time keeper. I certainly wasn’t expecting as many people to chip in and i’m very grateful for everyone’s time. So the challenge was to complete an athletics track 5k 12.5 laps at Worthing and consume a mince pie every lap,12 in total and the closest to my overall finish time would receive a generous discount on a new pair of runners or Garmin device. When i first decided to do this challenge i wasn’t aware how long it actually took to eat a mince pie and so when it took me around 40 seconds to eat one i was a little concerned that I had bitten off more than i could chew. So I shopped around buying mince pies from different retailers hoping some would be easier to consume. Finally i decided on 6 mini pies and 6 full size with Baileys cream. 5 laps in i was struggling with a stitch left side and not looking forward to pie 6 at all 🙂 “
“It was very tempting to stop after lap six and take 50% off the challenge times thinking i wast going to complete it but i knew i had to keep going. Pie 10 was tough, i remember taking really small bites really trying not to throw up but the competitive side of me kicked straight back in every time my spikes hit the track”.
“My finish time was 27.52 overall with Clive Harvey being just 8 seconds adrift earning him a 50% discount on a new pair of trainers. If anyone witnessed my appalling table manners during this challenge please rest assured this is not how I normally behave and welcome any offers for dinner with maybe a mince pie to finish
Simon
WINDSOR RIVER FESTIVE HALF MARATHON
Starting from just above Eton on the Thames relief river, Trevor Harvey & Glenn Parisi ran a half festive marathon with Trev explaining :-
“A Tuff Trio entered a Running Miles/Phoenix event at the Jubilee Relief River, near Windsor last Thursday”.
“Several of these events – such as this one, are held during the week and are fairly low key – but with good medals. You can start at any time from 7.30, be allocated a number, and run as many laps as you want, but you must start the final lap by 2.00 pm”.
“Unfortunately, Clive was feeling a rough Tuff, and wisely DNS, leaving Glenn and myself to pitch up at a very civilised start time of 9.00 am. The main laps along the Jubilee Relief river are circa 5.25 miles, but the organisers also indicate an earlier turn point for those who wish to complete a half marathon. Glenn and I had a good social run, fully enjoying an excellent aid station at the end of each lap. Having completed 2 and a bit laps for the half, we collected a nice festive medal and hoovered down lots of sweeties at the end!! As mentioned, being mid week, they are small events, with some 30 competitors, with circa 8 people doing the half, with the rest grinding out many laps!”
Trev
PARK RUN ROUND UP
Littlehampton parkrun saw very blustery conditions; Alistair Evans crossed the line for his 206th parkrun. Kev Pearson was on pacing duties whilst Chris Evans completed our running trio. Debbie Birch as Race Director and Hope Newcomer completed our Tuffs on the prom.
Across at Worthing parkrun similar windy conditions were encountered but it didn’t deter Dave March from another swift run finishing just over the 20 minute mark. Next home it was fantastic to see Phil Turner back on form with a strong 64% age grading. Ed Lay was out next runner with Paul Fielder finishing just three seconds later.
Hove Park parkrun was another addition for Trevor Harvey who increased the number of parkrun locations he has visited
Susan Douglas returned to Cranleigh parkrun for her 12th visit
Wakehurst parkrun is a scenic 2 lap course around the botanical gardens and Sue & Colin Simpson ran here for the second time
Well done to all Twelve
RESOLUTION POWER HOUR SWIM
Have your booked your place for the Tuff Power Hour Swim 2025?. We aim to have a team in each lane of the whole pool at the Wave with team members comprising an equal range of speed and ability. This event is called the ‘Resolution Power Hour‘ as it is our first Saturday late afternoon swim of 2025, surely the best way to keep any New Year resolutions going.
In order that Barry and his coaching team can grade everyone into equal teams, you will appreciate that there will be a set deadline prior to Saturday 4th January to enable the teams to be formulated, and announced in advance.
The object is for each team to start their relay on the whistle, and see how many lengths the team can accumulate before the whistle is blown again at 60 minutes. Each team member swims one length of 25 metres. The rules are few with the most important being that once you have been allocated a team and declared your running order, the relay format must remain in place, meaning that every team member has to swim in rotation; lengths will be declared void if the quickest swimmer in a team tries to bump up the tally by taking the place of someone else – it it very much a team competition.
As we go to press there are only a few slots left, but in any case entries will close on the 2nd January to enable to teams to be equally allocated; so if you have still to declare, hesitating could see you miss out. If the event sounds interesting but you would prefer not to swim – whilst we thank those who have already volunteered to keep count through our new state of the art length counters, we still require two further counters. Please use the Spond event to let the organisers know.
