Race Report W/E 3 February
This morning’s walk through the rain was about as far removed from sunny, sandy Dubai as you could imagine – and Strava suggests that many of you reacted to the weekend’s weather by staying indoors and switching on the Turbo… or, more likely, the rugby.
However, we did in fact have two races, and 6 of our club members out competing for personal glory against the clock. This of course does not count our very own park-run obsessive, Mr Argles, who commented:
“Osterley Parkrun at 0 degrees this morning was a shock to the system after landing from Jo’burg at Heathrow 2.5 hours earlier!”
First, and most impressively, we had Chris Brown taking part in the first Endurance Life Coastal Trail Series (ELCTS) race of the year.
- For the uninitiated, these are trail runs, of varying distances, in some of the most scenic coastal regions of the UK. They are also frigging tough events. Selling itself as the Original ELCTS race, the South Devon course earns a Level 4 for Severe Terrain (Grass and Rock). The levels only go up to 5. The course description involves terms such as: “jagged rocks interspersed with idyllic sandy coves”; “technical coastline”; and, “infamous Devon hills.”
Of the four distances on offer, Chris took on the 10k. On what must have been a brutally frozen course, he put in a highly respectable performance. Clearly this weekend’s Cross Country race will be a piece of cake by comparison!
In much flatter terrain, we also had 5 of the club take part in the Cancer Research London Winter 10k: Tamsin Booth; Alistair Chappelle; Enrique Pinel; Richard Bridger; and, Gina Siebler. This is a hugely popular race with over 18,000 taking part. Starting at Trafalgar Square and finishing in Whitehall, the route takes in a number of the tourist sights of the West End and City.
Coming in first for the club overall was Alistair Chappelle, with Enrique Pinel coming highest in his own Age Group. Solid runs by all, but a special mention for Gina Siebler for whom this was a PB 10k in the making, if not for the usual battle with the crowds at the start (a curse of the more popular runs).
Fantastic to see a weekend of racing despite the cold, and great that everyone tagged themselves as running for the club too!
In other news, I now have what feels like a 90% good race list for the year, and will try to populate the race calendar this week. I will endeavour to have an RSVP option on every race. This means you can add yourselves to the races you are doing. It would be a massive help (not just to me) if you could set aside 30 minutes to look through the calendar and update it as soon as I let you know it’s live.
As usual, if I’ve missed you or someone you know, or you just have some great race news you want me to help you share, email fixtures@fulontri.com
Enjoy the week – AND DON’T FORGET CROSS COUNTRY ON SATURDAY!