Weekend Round Up 27th 28th April
We are still awaiting some warm weather as April draws to a close but that hasn’t stopped some scorching achievements :-
WORTHING RUN-FEST
As our club’s nearest half marathon, once again Worthing seafront proved to be a great place for Tuff spotting as runners could choose between the family mile, 10k and half marathon distance. This event has grown its reputation and with t-shirt and bottle opener medal, the event attracted over 2,800 finishers this year. The family mile saw Tom & Katie Goddard’s family participate.
The most popular distance was the half marathon where we had a group of seven perfectly formed Tuffs running well. First Tuff home was Alex Webb in 1hr 28min and we are grateful to Alex for reporting in from a rather damp Worthing seafront. Next home was Simon Grundy in 1:29 and then following Worthing parkrun the day before, Steve Fryer was back on the prom finishing in 1:35. Next home saw a strong run by Olly Sampson comfortably under the two hour mark. It was great to see Kate Cooper continuing her return to form after injury and then Karl Halom crossed the line. Karl Karl’s brother Jonathan Halom is also an established athlete (having recently run Brighton Half) and it is great news that Karl recently persuaded Jon to become another of our newer Tuffs and it is a privilege to include Jon as being one of our illustrious six tuff Run-Fest runners – well done to all.
‘I ran the Runfest 10k last year and enjoyed the experience so decided to give the half marathon a go this year. My wife and her friend (who flew over from Ireland especially) were also doing it. Unlike last year when it was lovely weather, the skies on Sunday were wet and there was a stiff westerly wind. I liked the new layout at the start/finish line on Steyne Gardens with a stage and traders. It was a shame about the weather but there was still a nice festival atmosphere.
As the weather conditions were less than ideal, I decided this was not the day for heroics so tried to stay tucked in with the 90 mins pacer group until we turned for the final time and headed back towards the finish with a tailwind. At that point I pushed on a bit but it did hurt at the end. No PB for me but a solid enough performance and great to see so many running and supporting on the day.’
Alex
In the Run-Fest 10k there were some equally eye catching results. Jon Cassell ran up the finish in Steyne Gardens finishing third in his age group in a time of 39:28. Next home, was Ed Lay another who had run parkrun the morning before. Ed was followed across the line just 6 seconds later by Steve Feest. Kelly Johnson was our next runner and then Nina Tully. Karly Martin ran with her friend Sara, who could become yet another new Tuff soon. Karly ran this ahead of her forthcoming Ultra. Completing the Tuff seven was Sue Pinky.
Just short of 1,200 runners completed the 10k run and thanks go to Nina for reporting in:-
‘Worthing Runfest 10k was due to be a run that I was actually going for a time to test out if the run streak was helping to improve my time, I benched this idea when London appeared in my diary, honestly after a week of being ill and needing to recover more mentally than physically from London marathon I reluctantly put my kit together for Sunday morning and would decide on the morning if I was going or not!
Awful night’s sleep as the dogs thought it would be fun to keep us awake! So I got my own back and walked them really early which they enjoyed them promptly went back to bed!
I parked up near Brooklands and walked in and was going to just enjoy the run and seeing friends, a quick warm up and then we were off in what felt like a relaxed comfortable pace, I was not going for a time and knew the course so didn’t bother looking at my watch other than starting it! I felt a bit out of breath so walked for a while now and then…then came the turn point where I stopped for a hug with my mate Geoff from RUN who said doing good, just thought he was being kind! Then spotted a friend on the other side of the course and was tempted to look at my watch but still didn’t! As I turned at splash point I glanced an realised there was a PB just round the corner. Still absolutely stunned to have knocked another 4 minutes off my 10k time! I really enjoyed the run, stopped for 2 hugs and soaked up the atmosphere while walking to get breathing back to normal’.
NIna
SOUTHAMPTON FAST TWITCH TRIATHLON
Last year James Mapley opened his Triathlon season at the Southampton Fast Twitch Triathlon, a sprint tri over a distance of 400m swim, 20k bike and 5k run. James stood on the top of the podium flying the Tuff name as first overall. This year James was back to see if he could defend his title. He shaved one second off his swim time from last year and a 5k of just 18:37 matched last years time. Unfortunately conditions on the bike were not as good as last year, but renown for his blistering pace on the bike, James still smashed out the fastest bike split of the morning once again. These rapid times saw James complete the course in just 1:00:20 a terrific performance.
This was enough to see James retain his crown as overall champion finishing 1st overall. Starting at Applemore Leisure centre with the bike route heading out to Beaulieu in the New Forest, so a scenic location for an early season triathlon – Congratulations to James.
MALLORCA 312
The 27th April saw a closed road sportive on the Isle of Mallorca over a choice of three distances. Verity Lacey travelled here with Simon and she has written in with her epic adventure.
‘Not entirely sure why I keep signing up to long, hilly rides! Post the E’Tape de Tour in 2023, I swore blind I would never do another one…..roll on a few months and the stupid side of me finds herself with an entry to Mallorca 312!!!
‘Want could possibly go wrong, it’s in April so it won’t be 40+ degrees, and the UK winter is ideal for the training build up, isn’t it?……. 🙂
‘So, here we are with a 4am wake up call and a short ride to the start line somewhere between Can Picafort and Alcudia. We both had red numbers which basically meant we started with the masses. We rolled across the start line about 20 minutes after the first riders. For those that have not done the 312 before, the cut offs are based on the official start time, not the time you roll over the start line so the later you are the faster you need to ride to make the cut offs and the difference can be as much as 2kph’.
‘The first part of the course is a fast 23 km flat blast from Alcudia to Pollença which was great, totally in my element here. From this point on you hit the climbing. Femenia is the longest climb at about 7km and averaging 5.5%, you get a bit of rest bite at the top with a short rolling descent before continuing climbing up to the top of Sa Calobra. You are then either on a descent or a climb all the way through to the 97km cut-off point which you have to make by 11:15. Simon made the cut-off with 10 minutes spare but sadly I did not.
‘The choice was made for me (probably for the best as I was not having a good day anyway) and I was to complete the 167km route. After the cut-off I found myself jumping on wheels for the next 15km before reaching probably my lowest point and wondering if I could make the final 25 miles home. I got to a feed station in Lloseta, grabbed a can of coke and sandwich and sat on the floor contemplating life’.
‘After finally getting back on my bike and being on the flat sections, I found my riding legs and managed to lead out a peloton of broken middle-aged men bridging across to other riders. This section played to my strengths and meant I could at least finish strong with a nice sprint finish down the finish chute! My finish time was 7:39:05.’
‘I’d heard from Simon and he was doing really well on the 225 route deciding that even though he had made the second cut-off, that was enough for the day. Simon finished strong and also found himself within a big peloton pushing hard for the final 20km.
‘Overall it really is an epic route and Mallorca is such a great place to ride. The first cut-off is incredibly hard and it is a shame this isn’t extended by even 30 minutes. That said, if you love a bit of climbing, along a beautiful coastline, this is definitely one to sign up to and whilst I say never again, there is a little niggle within me telling me to come back and make that cut-off. Until next time…..!
Verity
VOLCANO TRIATHLON –
This year was the Volcano Triathlon’s 40th anniversary where, based at Club La Santa, competitors swam in a saltwater lagoon before this standard distance triathlon took competitors around the scenic Lanzarote country and coast locations. Mark Dinsdale was our representative this year with Mark reporting in below:-
‘I have been quite inactive over the early part of 2024 so this was a great opportunity to try and get some base fitness, lose some weight – start racing again and reignite my enthusiasm for Triathlon’.
‘Spent the first week and a bit training – swimming, bike and running in the warmth and sunshine :). The race was Olympic distance – swim was in an open water lagoon, a hilly out and back bike course followed by a two lap run loop finishing on the running track at Club La Santa. Around 400 people entered and the standard seemed quite high – but, I finished and was reasonably happy with my times and my main objectives met ……. I’m back in love with Swim, bike and run’.
Mark
Angela with Will & Katie
SWIMATHON 2024
Held across the weekend of 26th – 28th April Swimathon could be undertaken across 400 locations across the UK. Whilst it is hoped all our Illustrious Tuffs who participated are mentioned here – apologies if you missed a shout out; please do report in next year. The main event covered this weekend but there is also the Swimathon 30.9km challenge which runs from from 19th April until 3rd May, more about that next weekend. Known to have completed the challenge includes Pete Littleboy, Angela Barber, Will King, and Katie Young. First up Angela’s Swimathon and then Pete Littleboy’s thoughts.
‘I took part in the Swimathon, completing the Triple 5K challenge. On Friday I was at Littlehampton Wave where I managed a PB on my 5k swim of 1h 46m. Knowing this would challenge me for the remainder of the weekend my lovely swim friends pulled together to support my next two swims. On Saturday Katie Young joined me at Arun Leisure Centre for the 5k and then swam an extra 500m at the end of my swim with me to help me across the finish line. On Sunday Will King swam alongside me, completing our last 1k side by side stroke by stroke together.
Joining together with like-minded friends certainly makes these challenges all the more fun.
Although this is not my first Triple 5k event, every year it still feels huge. The mental side of swimming 600 lengths is almost harder than the physical. I certainly had to ‘dig deep’ as I could hear coach Jon saying in my head 🙂
Angela
I never consider this event a race as it’s purely for charity and as we’ve all been affected by the cruel mistress of cancer in some capacity. This is especially so as its said to affect 1in2 of us. However that being said, Tuff Fitty people, if nothing else, are competitive and so to the start of my 2.5k swim. I harnessed my inner Duncan Goodhew and went for it and would have been a PB had the lady lane counter actually counted correctly. This was because I forgot to start my watch, so it was done on time spent 🙂 and so as I stood about chatting to the loser’s I was asked if i would help out with pacing on the 5k team. So once again I jumped in and swam for a while. On reflection I believe helping people & raising money for a very worthy cause is good for the soul; and besides a win is a win in whatever form it comes in.
Pete
PARKRUN ROUND UP
At Littlehampton parkrun our first Tuff home was one of our newest members – Nathan Cooper. Having already proved himself at Tuff track and swim sessions, Nathan punched out a 19:31 to finish 7th overall, excellent. Gareth Coombes also ran well crossing the line in 20:23. Steve Bridgeman was also in action and Bob Rogers achieved his fastest time this year. Chris Evans was on the volunteer team to complete 5 Tuffs on the prom.
At Worthing parkrun Steve Fryer has been doing well balancing marathon running with shorter parkrun and was our first runner home in 20:51. Danny Cunnett was our next runner and just four seconds later Paul Howie crossed the line and then shortly after Edward Lay completed his run. Alistair Evans achieved his best Worthing time as our next runner. Kate Evans notched up her 68th parkrun.
Bognor parkrun saw Katie Young in action as she crossed the line as 7th female overall before dashing off to take part in Swimathon.
Maidenhead parkrun saw Trevor Harvey notch up another volunteer credit as then also ran his parkrun.
Parkrun tourism occurred up at Tilgate parkrun where Clive Harvey, Glenn Parisi (on his London marathon comeback) and Jon Roper completed the loops around Tilgate lake and into the forest.
Well done to all fifteen
