Round Up 1st January – 28th February 2026

Welcome to a bumper January/February edition of the round up, where muddy trail run exploits abound, along with some chilly swimming, road running and lots of parkrun action.  Here’s to the warmer (and hopefully drier) weather and the start of the multisport season!

Arundel & South Downs Way 15 Mile Race – Arundel – Sunday 18^th January 2026

Brockwell Lido Freezefest – London – Saturday 24^th January 2026

Many thanks to Susan Douglas for sending in this report of her latest chilly event.  I am full of admiration for Susan, as just reading about the water temperature makes me want to put on another layer!

Last week I travelled up to London to take part in a new cold water swim event at Brockwell Lido.  A lovely 50m pool and amazingly the sky was blue and the sun shining.

Actually, the water, by cold water standards, wasn’t that cold, 7.9c, positively balmy.

As a new event, they’d kept it simple and just had 50m, 100m, 200m & relay races. So, of course, I entered all the swims, except the relay.

My first race was 50m.  In we plopped and sped off on the sound of the horn.  Not a lot of time to think, annoyingly I thought I’d reached the end, but still had a foot to go, which dropped me down to 2nd in my age group.  Doh!

Quick dip in the hot tub and drink of hot blackcurrant, then change into bikini no.2 ready for the 100m.

The race went well; I won my heat. I was pleased with that, but to be honest most entrants were there just to have a jolly time, so I wasn’t racing any speedy masters swimmers.  I came 3rd in my age in the end, the two speedier swimmers in the previous heat.

Finally, 200m. Bikini no3 (I am a bit of an Imelda Marcos when it comes to swimwear). By this time, I wasn’t much in the mood for racing, so just did a steady swim and still managed to come 3rd.

All in all, a really lovely day and hopefully the event will grow and come back next year.

Queen Elizabeth Country Park Trail Half – Hampshire – Saturday 31^st January 2026

Thanks to Rob Wagner for sending in this account of his recent trail half.

I ran the trail half marathon at QECP yesterday and conditions were pretty acceptable until the end.  I made an ambitious Pacepro plan on my Garmin and clung to a fast group off the start, getting up to 2.5 minutes ahead of schedule.  I might have paid for it on the back half, but I came in at 1:49:35 good for 33rd overall and 19th in age group (30-39).  My half marathon PB (on a flat course) is 1:44 so this was a great result given it was muddy, mostly off road and had 500m of climbing.

It is a well-run event and I would recommend it to anyone as an early season race. A great result for me going into a mini swim-run block for Frosty and the subsequent 70.3 block for Eastbourne, with an Xterra in the middle.

Farnborough Half Marathon – Sunday 8^th February 2026

The race starts under the hangar at Farnborough Airport and once out of the town, it goes through some very scenic areas. 

We started with 5 mins, run 1 min walk and everything felt good: I achieved my fastest 10k in several years at 75 mins.

Around 6.5 miles, my hip started giving me its usual grumbles, so when a runner pulled up to the side and didn’t look very well, we both stopped and then once we knew she was OK, we supported her for about a mile just to make sure.  She’d just pushed herself up a long incline and was feeling sick. 

It wasn’t long after this that my whole leg couldn’t hold my weight and started giving way from underneath me. At this point, my watch was telling me I was on for a finish time of 2:36 which would have been bloody amazing as wanted under 3 hours. 

We power walked and ran when I could for the remaining distance and I’m happy to see that all of my miles continued to stay under 14:30mm. 

My course PB here is 2:44. Last year’s time was 3:09.  Not had the official time through for this year yet but Garmin gives me 2:51 for half distance but we covered slightly longer and finished in 2:54!!!!  With an average time of 13mm.  Not bad for someone with a gammy leg!!  (Editor’s note: the official time is 2:57:41, so mission accomplished). 

A really enjoyable day and a fantastic event. Probably one of the only races to have a decent finisher bag too, this year we got arm sleeves and socks in a pretty cool rucksack-type bag. 

Despite my hip/leg not liking anything over 10k distance these days, I will be back to this again next year for the 6^th time and maybe, I’ll get a new course PB! 

North Downs Ridge 50k – Dorking – Sunday 22^nd February 20206

There was a mass start at 10am and a rolling start from 9am.  I chose to set off in the rolling start and duly set off through the vineyards at Denbies in Dorking and up onto the North Downs Way.  The route took us along the North Downs Way via a checkpoint (doubling as checkpoint 1 and 3) to checkpoint 2 at the turn around near Guildford.  It was raining for much of this, but not heavily enough to have an impact.  The real challenge was the mud: thick, gloopy, sticky, slippery mud and lots of it!  Way finding was easy as the route was well marked all the way.  I had thought I might find some people to run with, but actually it was a very long, very solo run with a few passing conversations.  It wasn’t boring though, as the route is fairly varied: you start on chalk and then as you get towards Guildford you are running on sand.  Staying upright even when walking took all my concentration at times!  The stretches near car parks were also busy with walkers and dogs which got trickier to avoid as I got more tired!  There is a last checkpoint near the start and then a final c.8km loop back to the finish.  I was pre-warned about passing so close to the start, so was mentally prepared, and I actually found the last loop pretty pleasant, as quite a bit of it was runnable although there were still some muddy sections which I was forced to walk (I am in total awe of the front runners who actually managed to run through all the mud). I finally crossed the line in 6h50mins, within my target of 7 hours, tired but happy and I can now say that I am an ultra-runner!  There were only 41 women amongst the 160 finishers, which surprised me, but made me extra pleased to have taken part. 

parkrun Round Up

1^st January 2026

Many Tuffs started the year as they meant to go on and with a huge 32 Tuffs doing a New Year’s Day parkrun, 25 of whom took part at Littlehampton (Steve Fryer, Mark Sole, Phil Scales, Glenn Parisi, Stephen Evans, Graham Liddell, Olly Sampson, Kev Pearson, Clive Harvey, Adam Stringer, Benita Fryer, Amanda De Ridder, Clare Worgan, Emma Hinton, Spencer Scott, Katie Yates-Hill, Al Evans, Shelia Bailey, Adrian Oliver, Tim Kenny, Sue Simpson, Colin Simpson, Sue Pinky, Claire Moyle and Kate Evans).  Paul Fielder was at Horsham, Debbie Birch at Alice Holt, Nathan Bilham at Chichester, Susan Douglas at Cranleigh, Trevor Harvey at Reading and Katie Young and Cameron Coe in Bognor.

Saturday 3^rd January 2026

2 days later a number of Tuffs were back for more!  Worthing parkrun was on as usual so Daniels Cunnett and Barnett took part there, along with Amanda De Ridder and Tim Kenny.  Littlehampton was back to a more usual 9 Tuffs: Nathan Cooper, Steve Fryer, Adrian Oliver, Stephen Evans, Jon Roobottom, Al Evans, Sue Simpson, Colin Simpson and Chris Evans.  Ed Lay and Sue Pinky chose Downs Link parkrun, while Paul Field ran at Malling Rec.

Saturday 10^th January 2026

By now, normal service had very much resumed.  Littlehampton saw a host of regulars take part (Steve Fryer, Adrian Oliver, Stephen Evans [who ran a PB], Emma Hinton, Spencer Scott, Benita Fyer and Chris Evans) with Dan Lawrence making his first appearance at Littlehampton and Tracey Goult volunteering.  Les Pearce was running strongly in Worthing, alongside Ed Lay, Nina Tully and Dan Barnett, who notched up his 100^th parkrun.  Sue Pinky took part at Downs Link and picked up a volunteering credit for tail walking.  Colin and Sue Simpson were at Morden parkrun, while Al Evans was on tour at Great Salterns.  Last but not least, Clive and Trevor Harvey took part in Bognor and Maidenhead respectively.

Saturday 17^th January 2026

A relatively modest 6 Tuffs took part in Littlehampton, namely Fraser Kidd, Adrian Oliver, Stephen Evans, Colin Simpson, Al and Chris Evans.  Steve Fryer chose Worthing, along with Mark Sole, Les Pearce and Jay McCardle.  Trevor Harvey made his 100^th appearance at Maidenhead parkrun, while Paul Fielder tried out the Downs Link park run for the first time, where Dan Barnett and Kayleigh Hudson were on the volunteering team.  Finally, Katie Young and Will King were on tour at the Stratford Park parkrun in Stroud.

Saturday 24^th January 2026

Downs Link take over day!  Saturday 24^th January saw a good 35 Tuffs running or volunteering at the Downs Link parkrun in Shoreham.  Runners with bar codes were Steve Fryer, Jon Roobottom, Danny Cunnett, Hazel Tuppen, Stephen Evans (who marked his 50^th parkrun with a PB), Glenn Parisi, Les Pearce, Tiff Roper, Trevor Harvey, Emma Hinton, Wendy Frost, Al Evans, Jon Roper, Olly Sampson, Benita Fryer, Jodi Barter, Brad Rees, Chris Evans, Kate Evans and Sue Pinky (who also volunteered).  Mark Walford and Gareth Coombes ran too and there may have been a few more!  Also on the volunteering team were Shelia Bailey, Christine Griffin, Olivia Morey, Adrian Oliver, Sue Simpson, Colin Simpson, Mark Sole, Rhian Standley, Adam Stringer, Leah Simms, Andy Vincent, Clare Worgan and Kate Cooper (I was missed off the list, so apologies to anyone else if your name is not mentioned).  Afterwards many Tuffs met up at The Hummingbird Café at Shoreham Airport to refuel, warm up and catch up.

Tuffs missing out on the Downs Link fun but still taking part in parkrun were Nathan Cooper (Preston Park), Amanda De Ridder and Tim Kenny (Bognor), Katie Young (3^rd woman at Hereford), Oliver Thomas, Paul Fielder and Nina Tully at Worthing), Jay McCardle at Lancing, Abi Clark (1^st woman at Littlehampton, where Tracy Goult also volunteered).

Saturday 31^st January 2026

After all the excitement of the take-over, numbers were more modest this week.  A fairly typical 9 Tuffs ran at Littlehampton: Steve Fryer, Oliver Thomas, Colin Simpson, Emma Hinton, Adrian Oliver, Benita Fryer, Al Evans Dan Barnett and Sue Simpson, with Chris Evans and Hope Newcomer volunteering.  Only Ed Lay flew the Tuff flag at Downs Link while Danny Cunnett, Glenn Parisi, Les Pearce and Christine Griffin ran at Worthing, with Glenn picking up a PB for the course.  Dan Lawrence and Sue Pinky took part in Horsham, Cameron Coe at Bognor, Paul Fielder at Tilgate, Trevor Harvey at Maidenhead, while Shelia Bailey was on tour in Canterbury.

Saturday 7^th, 14^th and 21^st February 2026

Thank you to the ever-inspirational Janet Shepherd for reporting in about 2 very different consecutive parkruns, as the photos clearly demonstrate!  First, her thoughts on 7^th February, her first parkrun of 2026:

In view of the conditions this morning I do feel slightly proud (or maybe it’s smug) at have done LA Park Run as a brisk walk. No jogging, as I’m just into my second cycle of chemo for Myeloma and trying to be sensible! However, it’s difficult to take the tuff out of Tuffs and I needed to pop in afterwards to see my mum at East Preston.

Chris Evans kindly took this hurried photo of me at the finish, whilst trying not to get my new phone wet and it was great to see Alistair near the finish too.

Needless to say, I gave the Race Director a big thank you at the end; as she’d said at the briefing, “I have to be here but you lot don’t…..you must be mad.”

Hoping that this might encourage any others that are slower or not 100% to swallow their pride and keep on running.

What a difference a week makes as the 2^nd photo shows.  Interestingly, Janet’s time was very similar but she placed in the early 200’s in the rain and over 400 in the sun!  A clear demonstration of the many benefits of getting the run done in sub-optimal conditions!

Roll on another week and Janet reports: 38:49 today!  Got under the 40 barrier at last. Shows that keeping at it can make a difference, particularly when you are starting from a relatively low base.

Also lovely to see a few children out today, being half term – with adults trying to keep up with under 11’s who have to be kept within arm’s length of their responsible adult.

Saturday 7^th February 2026

In other parkrun results, Abi Clark was fist lady at Littlehampton, where Adrian Oliver, Benita Fryer, Steve Fryer, Brad Rees, Chris Evans and Al Evans were also running.  At Worthing, Glenn Parisi continued his strong running steak, along with Mark Dinsdale, Amanda De Ridder and Elaine Rousseau.  Paul Fielder, Emma Hinton and Sue Pinky took part in the Downs Link parkrun, while Trevor Harvey was at Durlston Country Park.

Saturday 14^th February 2026

A strong showing of 16 Tuffs were at Littlehampton to promote the Frosty, namely Fraser Kidd, Steve Fryer, Jon Roobottom, Pete Littleboy, Mark Sole, Adrian Oliver, Emma Hinton, Colin Simpson, Amanda De Ridder, Benita Fryer, Juliette Reader, Brad Rees, Sue Simpson, Chris Evans, Janet Shepherd and Al Evans.  Just Danny Cunnett, Oliver Thomas and Les Pearce ran at Worthing.  Trevor Harvey was at Osterley parkrun in Hounslow where Glenn Parisi, Cliver Harvey and Jon Roper also took part.  Paul Fielder continued his parkrun tour at Windy Nook in Gatehead, while Kayleigh Hudson and Daniel Barnett were on tour at Kingdom in Kent.

Saturday 21^st February 2026

As usual, Littlehampton parkrun saw the most Tuff participants: Simon Grundy, Steve Fryer, Clive Harvey, Adrian Oliver, Katie Yates-Hill, Jon Roobottom, Benita Fyer, Kayleigh Hudson, Andrew Rossiter, Daniel Barnett, Chris Evans, Janet Shepherd and Al Evans.  Al was also on volunteering duty along with Hope Newcomer.  Les Pearce was the lone Tuff at Worthing and Dan Lawrence flew the Tuff flag at Lancing Beach Green.  Sue and Colin Simpson took a trip to Meon Valley, while Stephen Feest was another lone Tuff at Downs Link.  Paul Fielder was on tour at Elemore Park in Sunderland, while Kate Evans was closer to home at the Medina Isle of Wight parkrun.

Saturday 28^th February

Worthing took first place in terms of Tuff participation with Oliver Thomas, Steve Fryer, Glenn Parisi, Ed Lay, Benita Fyer, Christine Griffin and Elaine Rousseau all taking part.  Congratulations to Glenn on his parkrun PB!  Littlehampton came a close second where regulars Amy Kidd, Clive Harvey, Emma Hinton, Sue Simpson and Al Evans all took part, with Al and Hope Newcomer volunteering.  Stephen Feest was at the Downs Link and Debbie Birch ran at Alice Holt parkrun.  Paul Fielder and Trevor Harvey were both on tour, at Homewood parkrun in Surrey and Rushmoor parkrun in Hampshire.