Week Round Up 2nd 4th August

WORTHING STRIDERS HIGHDOWN HIKE 4 MILE RACE

When Barry announced that Wednesday’s track was cancelled and replaced with participating in the WSFRL Highdown Hike 4-mile race, we suddenly got excited – Cross Country Season has begun!

True to the proper cross-country season, the weather on the day was very wet!  But we are Tuff…and unfortunately, 12 of us ran out of excuses.

Some arrived early to ensure favourable car parking spaces, and others were sensible, arriving in time to register, quick warmup and line up.  It appeared that, unlike all the other clubs, our club captain didn’t get the memo about bringing the Tuff flag to impose our stamp on the event.

The drizzle stopped as we all lined up, and the double rainbow appeared over the race start.

Two laps of the lower field before heading up onto Highdown Hill for an anti-clockwise loop. 

Once the loop was completed, it was back down to the lower field before completing an unexpected loop before the traditional epic finish line sprints.

As expected, pure runs dominated this race, with the winner completing the 6.4km in 23:26.  Simon Thistlewaite can 32nd in an impressive 28:01, ahead of Stephen Fryer in 30:42 in 69th.  Dom Amey followed up in 31:53 in 81st, demonstrating that his Ironman training only temporarily affected his speed.  Oliver Thomas followed in 90th in 32:33. Sometime later, Adrian Oliver wandered in 122nd in 34:31, with Clare Worgan also transitioning from Ironman back to a speedy 35:14 in 34th place with Les Pearce in 36:11.  It was great seeing Graham Liddell getting back into race fitness with 36:18.  Paul Martin followed in 36:43, Colin Simpson in 38:37, Susan Douglas in 46:54, Clare Moyle in 51:59, and Chris Evans in 53:05.

Although different to the normal Wednesday evening track, such races provide an excellent opportunity to test out your speed and endurance.  Although Autumn is approaching, it also means the cross-country season is approaching.  There will hopefully be 5 races on the calendar, with the season usually kicking off with the Goodwood Cross Country Relay races followed by the 1st individual league race also in Goodwood.

So time to brush off the dust (and last season’s mud?) off your trail shores, ready for October!

Thanks to Sue Simpson for the race photography.

TUFF FITTY ARUNDEL LIDO AQUATHLON & BBQ

Unlike last month’s club Aquathlon & BBQ, the conditions promised to be kinder to our second traditional annual summer social.  Once the course was set, signs placed, and the food delivered, the 24 competitors prepared themselves and their transition spots for the two wave swims.  

With Oliver Thomas and Graham Liddell on BBQ duties and Jenny Oliver and Wendy Frost sorting out all the salads and desserts, it was time for the competitors to get going.

Twelve swimmers set off in Wave 1.  Once their 16 lengths (400m) were complete, most exited to start their run, tag off to their running team member, or collected their canicross running partner.  Meanwhile, one competitor felt a bit Greenish when she realised she couldn’t count and would have been the first swimmer out ahead of Susan Douglas, Tiff Orton and Chris Evans. 

Once Wave 1 competitors were off onto their 5km run up the hill past the Black Rabit pub, Wave 2 was set off. Lane 1’s Alice Gatland was first out of the water in hot pursuit by Jon Cassell, soon followed by lane 4’s Katie Young, with Gareth Coombes still attached to her heal.  Nikki Gatland tagged off Alice, making for a super fast transition, which put a target on her back for Jon, Gareth and Mark Walford to chase.

Out on the run, Jon Roper was busy photographing everyone at the 2.5km turnaround point, including when Nikki managed to outrun a Tesco delivery van.

Soon the first competitors were returning, with Olivia Morey putting out an impressive run to overtake Tiff Orton to the first home, soon followed by Iris Bennett having put in a similarly epic effort.  Before long the hordes started arriving back, all putting in extraordinary performances, with Jon Cassell taking the overall win, Mark Walford in 2nd, and Gareth Coombes in 3rd.  For the ladies, Katie Young took 1st (4th overall), Carrie Woods in 2nd, and Olivia Morey in 3rd.  Alice & Nikki Gatland were the 1st team (5th overall and 2nd ladies).

The full results table is below.

Once everyone was home, it was time to feast on the amazing spread of foods lovingly prepared and cooked by our club’s talented MasterChefs.  Everyone made quick work of the BBQ and salads before diving into the dessert tables while enjoying the warm and pleasant evening of socialising under the shadows of Arundel Castle.

Name	Swim Time	T1 + Run Time	Total Time	Position	Gender Position
Jon Cassell	0:05:50	0:19:44	0:25:34	1	M1
Mark Walford	0:06:20	0:20:19	0:26:39	2	M1
Gareth Coombes	0:06:15	0:20:33	0:26:48	3	M3
Katie Young	0:06:10	0:24:36	0:30:46	4	F01
Alice & Nikki Gatland	0:05:45	0:25:49	0:31:34	5	F02 (Team F1)
Carey Woods	0:07:03	0:25:17	0:32:20	6	F03
Mark Sole	0:07:30	0:25:22	0:32:52	7	M4
Olivia Morey	0:08:25	0:25:02	0:33:27	8	F04
Tiffany Orton	0:07:50	0:25:54	0:33:44	9	F05
Will King	0:07:25	0:26:24	0:33:49	10	M5
Clare Worgan	0:07:20	0:26:34	0:33:54	11	F06
Emma Hinton	0:07:02	0:27:34	0:34:36	12	F07
Iris Bennett	0:08:50	0:26:07	0:34:57	13	F08
Sophie Garbo	0:10:00	0:26:28	0:36:28	14	F09
Jessica Combes	0:08:35	0:28:12	0:36:47	15	F10
Calum Kalbfell	0:08:30	0:28:44	0:37:14	16	M6
Trevor Harvey	0:08:15	0:29:52	0:38:07	17	M7
Janet Shepherd	0:08:48	0:30:43	0:39:31	18	F11
Nes Green/Sheila Bailey	0:06:55	0:32:51	0:39:46	19	F12 (Team F2)
Susan Douglas	0:07:10	0:33:53	0:41:03	20	F13
Claire Moyle	0:10:10	0:35:18	0:45:28	21	F14
Chris Evans	0:08:00	0:39:10	0:47:10	22	M8