Weekend Round Up 17th 18th Sept – Part Two
The second instalment of busy Tuff weekend. Part one covered Ironman 703 in Italy & Weymouth along with Brighton Tri which leaves a wealth of further action here:-
CANCER UNITED 10K/5K
A cause close to our hearts, it was good to see club members support the local Cancer United charity and Emma Hinton has collated some of our participants thoughts from the morning. The highlights video is attached at the end of this article; a great view for plenty of Tuff spotting and firstly the photo album courtesy of Jon Roper. (click on the image to view) Emma’s summary follows, then three separate Tuff perspectives
“OutRun Cancer’s second race of the year took place on 18th September, starting at the Fox Inn in Patching (home of the summer Monday night runs) and taking runners (and walkers – it includes a 5k walk option as well as the 5k and 10k run options) through the Angmering Park Estate”.
“Ten Tuffs took on the 10k race. The top three male and female Tuffs were: (ladies first) Tiffany Orton in 55:48, finishing 20th overall; then Emma Hinton in 59:08 and 28th to finish; and Janet Shepherd in 01:03:44, 36th over the line. Adrian Oliver was first Tuff home and 2nd finisher in an impressive 47 minutes on the nose; Kev Pearson was 12th over the line in 51:24 and Colin Simpson was 22nd to finish in 56:11. Well done also to Murray Hodge, Vicky Cooper, Debbie Boxall, Sheila Bailey and Al Evans who also ran the 10k.
Three Tuffs opted for the 5k race: Sue Simpson was first Tuff home in 40:19, finishing 24th, with Jenny Oliver right behind her in 41:55, followed by Kate Evans in 45:25, finishing 38th. Great to see one of our new members, Paul Thomas complete the line up of Fifteen runners.
Emma
Adrian:
“Cancer affects 1 in 2 of us. Within the 180 strong Tuff Fitty family, all of us are either directly or indirectly affected. Almost a year ago Joe Pascoe fought and sadly lost his battle against cancer. My wife Jenny suffered from less serious but still life changing thyroid cancer. It is therefore fitting that Tuff Fitty chose Cancer United as our nominated charity.
Normally very well supported by Tuffs, it turned out that a number of our elite Tuffs were competing in other events. Evidence of which was when we were called to the start line on the cold but sunny Sunday morning, the distinct lack of runners keen to be at the front was apparent…apart from 2 of our Tuff kids, Clair Carman’s and Hobbsie’s daughters. 3-2-1-GO! Straight down Seldon Lane fast and furious – then the uphill started and off Emily Carman went to win the 5k race, in hot pursuit by who would become the 10k winner and first lady, neither of which would be seen again. So us slow guys were left to battle out for the remaining podium places. Up and down our well known Angmering woods, cheered on by supporters, smiles for Jon Roper’s amazing photographs, before back up Seldon Lane hotly pursed by someone trying to steal a place…which I managed to hold off to cross the line to my amazement in 2nd place – my first ever ‘podium’ result! Note to self…must remember to encourage our top Tuffs to compete in other races again!”
Emma:
“There was a definite autumn chill in the air as we gathered outside The Fox to collect our race numbers and ask ourselves and each other if we were wearing enough / too much. We were allowed to use the loos in the pub this time – the luxury! – which provided a welcome opportunity to thaw a little before getting going.
Then it was the race briefing, a minute’s silence in memory of the late Queen swiftly followed by a brief group warm up, always entertaining as people try to avoid awkward lunge crashes and, wherever possible, squat jumps. Then almost as soon as we’d all moseyed over to the start we were off. We didn’t quite notice the countdown happening in the middle of the pack so it came as a bit of a surprise”.
“It was a fairly chilled, as well as initially chilly, sort of race – friendly folk saying well done when overtaking and variously cheery marshals, including our very own Chris Evans providing some encouraging heckling from his comfy seat. The route splits, so everyone starts running together but the 10k folk go round for double the hilly fun and twice the heckling from Chris.
Then onto the piece de resistance, the evil climb to the finish. I was pleased to get round the course without either stopping or falling over for once, even if it was my worst time yet for this race (apart from the year I fell over so comprehensively I wasn’t allowed to continue).
No medals at the end of this one, unless you finished in the top 3 that is, but we all got jazzy Outrun Cancer buffs. No flapjacks this year either, but the fruit at the end was welcome nonetheless.
Al:
Last year I did the 5K and 5K walk, so this year I had to do the 10K. Found the course much tougher than Arundel 10K but what great views again, particularly running along the edge of the fields in the sunshine. Great support from the marshals and of course Tuffs encouraging me as I appeared for the last few metres to the finish.
HOLLY HILL TRIATHLON
Many Tuffs have raced Challenging Event’s portfolio (most recent of which was Bournemouth) but here was a brand new Triathlon – Holly Hill, staged at a new multi million pound complex at Sarisbury, close to the Hamble River. Sprint and Super Sprint races with Tony Morgan racing the Sprint of 400m/28km/6km. Great to see Tony on the comeback trail with Worthing 10k (9th Oct) his next race.
“It was challenging after a long layoff and I’d certainly not done enough bike riding on the tri bike but still, very enjoyable. Holly Hill Tri was a nice friendly low key event to get back to it, incredibly well organised and I’d thoroughly recommend it. I’d also thoroughly recommend training properly beforehand although happy with second in age in an admittedly small field”
Tony
HUMBER BRIDGE SWIM
A Tuff swimming in unusual places?; well of course it’s none other that Susan Douglas writing in about her latest swim adventure, crossing the Humber estuary, which flows into the north sea: –
“In my pursuit of interesting swims I travelled up to Hull to swim across the Humber river/estuary! In the shadow of the longest single span suspension bridge in the UK stretching 2.22km”
“The swim is to raise money for Humber Rescue and small groups do the swim every couple of weeks over the summer. It gets booked up pretty quick and I’ve had my place since last October”.
“Anyway the day arrived, I walked down to the bridge along the foreshore, quite breezy, the water looked deceptively calm and rather brown”.
“I reached the Humber Rescue Centre and met the organisers and other swimmers . After a quick safety briefing we boarded one of their lifeboats which took us over to the other side of the river. I thought the plan was to drop us off on land, but the boat came to a halt beneath the huge concrete structure of the Humber Bridge and we were instructed to jump in! The water was brown, very brown and swirly! I knew this swim wasn’t going to be in crystal clear calm waters, but this was seriously horrid. I slipped into the water, I had to catch my breath, not from the cold, it was 16c, but from the hugeness of the water and the towering concrete bridge support”.
“Only 5 in our group and we were told to stick together, but the wetsuiters shot off. Fortunately myself and the other skins swimmer were about the same pace. It was very hard going. The reason the water is brown is due to the turbulent nature of the water, together with the strong breeze and very high tide (apparently) all added to the choppy, swirly conditions. We aimed for a green buoy and tried to keep parallel to the bridge, but the current pulled us out and our route was more of a curve. Eventually the end was in sight and the water calmed and I was actually able to swim in a normal relaxed way”.
“My fellow swimmer and I made it in 57 minutes just under 3k in the end.”
“It was a horrible swim, but I’m glad I did it. The organisers were lovely and I got a cool medal”.
Susan
MARLOW 10 MILE
Next up Trevor Harvey undertook a 10 mile race starting and finishing on the banks of the River Thames. The info said the scenery was worth the effort but that effort included lots of undulation :- Trev reports:-
“Not having run any real mileage since Eastbourne middle distance tri I thought I’d force the issue & entered the Marlow 10 miler. Billed as “not a PB course, unless you’ve never run the distance”; an apt statement as a) my PB days are many many years behind me and b) there were two b***ard hills.
Not a huge event; well organised with a scenic route across Marlow bridge & up through woodland trails before following the Thames back. A nice medal…….the comeback starts!!”
Trev
NOT ADUR 5K SWIM / NOT SWIM THE SERPENTINE / BUT BEWL WATER SWIM
Wendy Kane has set out a challenge she had set herself, and its a write up of determination as many of her planned races were cancelled:-
‘Not the Adur 5k‘ and ‘Not the Swim Serpentine’! Every year I set myself a challenge to help raise money for the Kent, Sussex and Surrey Air ambulance in memory of my son Jack. After being struck down with the dreaded plantar fasciitis for nearly a year my usual ultra running challenge had to be put on hold! So this year I signed up for something completely different! Bearing in mind I only learnt to do front crawl in February, swimming challenges were definitely out of my comfort zone and so very new to me!
I was so pleased to complete the Southwater triathlon as my 1st triathlon a few weeks ago and managed to get round so much quicker than I expected and really enjoyed the whole experience! Unfortunately my next challenge the Adur 5k River swim (finn swimmer) got postponed but I was very fortunate to be part of an open water swim group that arranged an alternative! We swam from the harbour wall in Shoreham to the Perch in Lancing along the coast line. I was very nervous about this swim as I really didn’t know if I could actually make the 5k, but everyone kept telling me that the current would pull me along. When we all got into the water I looked up the coast line and thought “omg what have I done, I’m never going to make it!, it’s such a long way!” But once we got going the current was on our side and pulled us along and I can honestly say this was the best swim I’ve ever had and made it to the Perch in 1 hour 16 mins. So very chuffed! This weekend I was supposed to do Swim Serpentine, and due to the Queens passing it was cancelled so myself and Ness Green decided to find another lake and still go ahead to complete our swim and do our own challenge as a tribute to the Queen! We set off to Bewl Water which is a massive lake in Kent but it had rather suffered a drop in water level so the usual course of 750m and 400m had dwindled down to about 250m up and back! This meant I had 7 laps to do and Ness had 13! The lake was still lovely to swim in and actually the time passed really quickly. Another great swim and definitely got a chance to work on my sighting as I seemed to be zig zagging up one side as the current was pulling over to the left but with 7 laps to do this definitely got much better as I went on! So grateful for all the help and encouragement I have received from everyone in the club!
Never ever thought I would be enjoying stuff like this!
Wendy
CHEDDAR GORGE 10k
Sue Pinky has reported in from her trip to the limestone gorge in the Mendip Hills, near Cheddar in Somerset.
“Back in January an advert for the cheddar gorge inaugural 10k came up in my Facebook feed. Their first ever closed road running race.
I have always loved the Gorge, if I’m down the west country I will always find a way to visit and hike the Gorge so the chance to run through it was not something I was going to miss out on. Bought a place as a Birthday pressie to myself and have been excited about it ever since.
After the race briefing there was a minutes silence in honour of HRH, her majesty the queen.
We were warned that even though it was mainly down the first 2.5k was up and they weren’t lying!
The race was spectacular, stunning views and its not every day you have to avoid goats in the road! Lol
Running through the Gorge itself slowed me down as I just wanted to look up all the time, I really am in awe of how spectacular it is and I wanted to really take it in.
Loads of lovely goodies at the finish line including mini cheddars, it just had to be done and a unique wooden medal with pictures of the gorge on either side.
I really enjoyed this race, it was (for me) worth the 4am start and the 300 mile round trip. I can highly recommend it.”
Pinky.
PARKRUN ROUND UP
We start at Littlehampton parkrun with two excellent runs. Pete Littleboy in only his second parkrun crossed the line 10th overall in a PB of 20:09. One place and 2 seconds behind was Steve Fryer in 20:11.
Worthing parkrun saw one of its regulars running – Les Pearce on his 169th parkrun, – 162 of these at Worthing in 23:15. James Oram finished in 24:06 and then Phil Turner crossed the line. Elaine Rousseau and then Sheila Bailey ensured we had 5 finish in Beach House Park.
Trevor Harvey ran at Maidenhead parkrun ahead of a 10 mile run the following day to complete his 53rd PR
Strong running from Dave March across at Hove Promenade parkrun as he finished his 41st parkrun in 21:42
For the second week running Emily Vaz completed the Whiteley parkrun finishing 1st female and 8th overall in 19:34 5 seconds quicker than last week.
Well done to all Ten parkrunners.
