Weekend Round Up 10th/11th & 17th/18th December
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Last week was unusual in that apart from our stalwart parkrunners the weekend was barren in respect of race action. Therefore this week’s Round Up covers the current action as well as a double parkrun update. During 2022 there have been 70 News Round Ups containing the weekly news plus separate race reports. Thanks to all our roving reporters.
As we head into the Christmas period, thank you to everyone for making 2022 another successful year for our club, for your achievements and encouraging members out to train & race. A special thank you to our fantastic team of coaches for their hard work and to your elected committee for their work often behind the scenes.
Merry Christmas from us all at Tuff Fitty
PORTSMOUTH COASTAL RUNS
Usually there are Tuffs present for the pre Christmas Portsmouth runs and this year was no exception despite atrocious weather conditions. Race options included the Southsea Santa 10k, a Half Marathon running past the Prom and up to the M27 and back including the infamous muddy beach. The other option is to continue running right round Langstone Harbour and down the Billy Line and back to complete the marathon.
PORTSMOUTH COASTAL WATERSIDE MARATHON
The headline event was the Marathon and kudos to Jason Rae entering at the last minute – despite knowing conditions would be poor. Thanks to Jason for reporting in:-
“Another marathon (88 now I think) completed by winging it again. One of my favourite races is the Portsmouth Coastal Marathon mainly for the Christmassy atmosphere and the aid stations”.
“I didn’t get a number for this race until Late Saturday evening, so the day before consisted of parkrun and a game of golf in the afternoon”.
“The weather wasn’t forecast to be great so I packed 2 waterproof jackets, trail and road shoes and half a bag of jelly babies. I got to the start half an hour before and saw a few familiar faces including Clive H although it didn’t seem as busy as previous years. The race started and shortly after so did the rain. There was also a chilly wind. The aid stations were spaced out and were well stocked. Any race where you can get a spiced rum and coke or a JD and coke mid race is high on my list. The rain slowly got harder and harder but I maintained a constant temp. There were people running in just t shirts which I thought must have been really cold. The last 5 miles were a struggle and they had moved the line back to the west of the Pyramids which makes you feel you are running further. After finishing I realised all my dry clothes were in my car apart from a sweatshirt, so I put this on, made a skirt from a foil blanket and made my way to the car . the cold was getting to me now so I changed my shoes and drove home in my pants . Glad I didn’t get stopped on the way. Def a race I recommend”
Happy Christmas
Jason
PORTSMOUTH FESTIVE HALF
Just a trio of Tuffs running this year; Pete Littleboy, Trevor & Clive Harvey. The rain wasn’t scheduled to arrive until late in the morning but nope; it started just as the Half got underway. Thanks to Pete for reporting in:-
“This event has become a tradition in our household as it offers various distances to do on the Sunday, and being the week before Christmas it gives you a focus. We book a hotel for the night so we can enjoy the Christmas lights at nearby Gunwharf Quays and all it has to offer. This also makes picking up our race numbers etc easier, making it a stress free morning. However it being December you expect the cold, but with the rain and that fine stuff that soaks ya it was a case of just get it done and enjoy it That I did even with the blustery winds. It is an out and back, fairly flat route, but with river bank mud in places it doesn’t make for a pb. Nevertheless it was entertaining and many spectators, albeit mostly from car horns, and even a steel drum band at the finish making for a great event”
Pete
SOUTHSEA SANTA 10K
The Southsea Santa 10k was the last race off at 10am when the rain had been coming down for the past hour. Like all distances the start was by Southsea Castle with an out and back route along the promenade. Ness Green & Sheila Bailey were in action at this one with Sheila stating they had rain, wind, icy blasts, puddles, PB’s and a bloody good time. Sheila paced a friend to get her a PB & Ness achieved a new 10K PB for herself.
FAIRYTALE OF NEWQUAY ULTRA
Grant Smalley & friends signed up to the event which gave the option of a half or full coastal marathon along the North Coast of Cornwall finishing on Porth Beach, Newquay. However the course was changed at the 11th hour meaning some of the flattter terrain was taken out to be replaced with more undulations. This meant Grant completed an Ultra of 50k. Whilst the event was timed, it was down to each runner to self-navigate the route and they had to collect ‘essential trinkets’ at the themed checkpoints along the way! Head torches were a requirement plus a fully charged phone carrying the events GPS tracker. Not that it was needed as Grant did well along the undulating coastal terrain. Thanks to Grant for putting the Tuff Fitty name on the results board.
CHRISTMAS BREAKFAST RUN
Tuff’s Saturday morning runs continue through the year (also Christmas Eve & New Year’s Eve this year). Part of the Saturday schedule usually includes refreshments in the Edible sandwich Company. One Tuff tradition is to move the start to Crossbush for our Christmas Breakfast run. There was a choice of 10km or 5km or a walk followed by hungry Tuffs consuming the ‘all you can eat’ Breakfast. Festive attire was encouraged and just some of the outfits are shown in this week’s banner shot. Conditions were freezing with many participants stating their cars were displaying minus 7 degrees on the journey over. However this didn’t deter a high number of Tuffs from attending with even more attending just for Breakfast.
Without the constraint of parking restrictions in Arundel, the gathering turned into quite a big social as the session lasted well into the morning with more croissants and coffee consumed post fry up. Thanks to Trevor Harvey for booking the venue. Some photos of the morning are in the Flickr album below:-
MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTIONS
A big thank you to everyone who renewed their Tuff membership for 2023. Don’t forget your loyalty renewal discount of £5 for existing members means that you can renew for £35 if paid before 31st December. Thereafter the membership reverts to the standard £40 and access to our Spond app would need reactivating.
It is very much hoped that, if you haven’t yet, you will wish to renew, particularly as the Committee are already discussing activities for 2023. Our aim is to ensure Tuff Fitty is inclusive for all regardless of people’s background or ability. This core aim of the club also extends to ensuring everyone can remain members during the current financial crisis. If anyone is finding the finance side difficult, especially over Christmas, do feel able to contact either Clive Harvey or Adrian Oliver in confidence. There are ways to assist, including staged payments. If anyone is in genuine hardship it is more important than ever to gain access to Tuff activities, so please contact us if necessary.
PARKRUN UPDATE 10th DECEMBER
Worthing parkrun saw Les Pearce face the freezing conditions as he finished in a spritely 23:49. Edward Lay also went well to finish in 24:38. After running well last week at Seaford Ness Green achieved a new PB at Worthing having run this course 21 times. Next Phil Turner clocked up his 90th parkrun. Vicki Hedger was another one in good form achieving a PB at Worthing where she has raced 30 times. James Oram is continuing his comeback and then further good news as Wendy Kane also achieved a PB. Nina Tully was also present, once again on pacing duties. 8 Tuff runners and three PB’s.
Littlehampton parkrun saw a strong result from Steve Fryer who crossed the line in 21:00. Steve Feest was the next Tuff home. Kev Pearson followed pacing someone to a PB. Hazel Reilly was next home improving her Littlehampton PB by 4 seconds. Janet Shepherd was our next runner home and Nick Hartfield was on the organising team.
Maidenhead parkrun saw Trevor Harvey notch up his 60th parkrun.
It was a return to Havant parkrun for the second consecutive week for Vicky Cooper as she completed the one short and two longer laps around Staunton Country park
Some more parkrun tourism as Sheila Bailey travelled to Uckfield parkrun. This one lap course is around Buxted deer park. Sheila is now just two runs away from her 50th PR.
Hove Prom parkrun had Dave March in attendance with consistent running as his last three outings at Hove have been within 2 seconds of each other.
Bognor parkrun saw Nathan Bilham in action. Nathan did well finishing 9th overall. He has run at Bognor 68 times but this weekend smashed his PB that he set back in 2017 by exactly a minute – excellent work
Chichester parkrun recorded Emily Vaz as third female home as she crossed the line in 22:14
Finally up at Newport Pagnell, Rick Budd ran the course at Bury Fields parkrun as he completed his 197th parkrun.
That was TWENTY ONE Tuff parkrunners this week achieving FIVE new personal bests – brilliant work all.
PARKRUN ROUND UP 17th DECEMBER
Littlehampton & Lancing parkruns were just two of the extensive cancellations due to the slippery conditions caused by the big freeze.
Worthing parkrun saw a strong result from Esther Fair as she finished 8th female overall in 22:12. Next home was Les Pearce on his 178th PR. Edward Lay followed just 7 seconds behind. James Oram was next for his 129th PR followed by Phil Turner back for a consecutive Saturday run. Then a group of Tuffs as Kate Evans, Elaine Rousseau, & Sheila Bailey crossed the line within 25 seconds of each other.
Bognor parkrun saw Jason Rae run. This was a great commitment as Jason would be on the startline for Portsmouth Marathon in under 23 hours time. Sue & Colin Simpson were also in action as they ran together notching up their 167th & 204th parkruns – impressive. Alistair Evans also ran in Bognor with Littlehampton cancelled for his 108th
Across at Chichester parkrun Nathan Bilham is maintaining his excellent run of form. Having run at Chichester before he smashed his PB over the course by almost two minutes finishing in 21:47
Well done to all thirteen runners.
