Friday 24 October 2008
Easingwold Advertiser 24th October 2008
With temperatures hovering around 6ÂșC and a biting gusty wind to also contend with, the words “enjoyable”, “great”, “fantastic”, “pretty” and “would run it again”, don’t immediately spring to mind. Nevertheless, these were the general comments of the majority of the field who competed in the first Thornton-le-Clay/Foston 10K on 4th October (also Round 2 of the Club’s new championship season). A very well organised race planned by fellow Club members Richard and Tracey Harrison. The route took on the form of a figure of 8 on undulating terrain. Starting in the village of Thornton-le-Clay and climbing out onto the Sheriff Hutton and Flaxton roads, the route returned back through Thornton-le-Clay and headed down into Foston before returning along farm tracks to finish behind the village school. Vocal support from the villagers and spectators, coupled with a clear vista across the Vale of York with York Minster standing proud on the near horizon and views beyond, all contributed to the wonderful atmosphere of this event. The icing on the cake, as it were, was the refreshments served in the village hall afterwards – homemade sandwiches and cakes and tea and coffee served in china cups no less!
As an inaugural race, on a Saturday, it was difficult to judge how many runners would be competing, so it was a pleasant surprise that around 40 people entered the race on the day making a respectable field of 140 competitors. Twenty ERC members supported this local event and some excellent times were achieved despite the strong winds. First home was Mark Whiteman, taking 2nd place in the M40 category; Al Byrne ran his best time for months finishing 1st M45 and Anne Hartley achieved a PB with time of 48:17. Tricia Rees-Hughes and David Rogers, who have graduated from the beginners group, both finished in under the hour and also achieved PBs. Everyone who finished the race, received a unique Foston/Thornton-le-Clay hessian shopping bag (with chocolates as well) – very useful and in the era of reducing the usage of plastic bags, environmentally friendly.
The previous week was Round 1 of the Club Championship with another local race – the Sutton 7. A good representation again from ERC was evident with 16 members competing, and another successful event. Nigel Ramsden and Mark Whiteman finished 1st and 2nd in the M40 category; Sheila Capper 1st F40, Kim Phillips 3rd F45 and Harriet Reid 2nd F35 who collectively also won the ladies team event.
Round 3 of the Championship is the Pickering & Moors 10K due to be held on Sunday 26 October.
Last week’s training session was a bit of fun with the team mile relay event. Ten teams of 4 raced in this event which should have seen each team finishing more or less in the same time. The winning team finished around 20 seconds ahead and was led by Peter Johnson. Each member of his team – Sally Walker, Cliff Simm and Andrew Nelson-Lee, -was awarded a bottle of wine for their efforts.
This week’s training is a tri-discipline – hills, shuttles and intervals.
Thursday 16 October 2008
Terry Fox Run - Afghanistan
Canadians look at you aghast when you say ‘who’s Terry Fox’. It seems he was a cancer victim and amputee who decided to run the breadth of Canada on his one good leg and one artificial leg to raise awareness of the disease. I guess each nation has someone like Terry Fox and Jane Tomlinson springs to mind as the UK’s equivalent. Every year there are numerous Terry Fox runs throughout Canada, and anywhere that there are large numbers of Canadians; hence this morning’s run in Kandahar.
The whole point of the run is that it is non-competitive. There are no numbers, no finish times and no results. There was however a choice of 5k or 10k races, sorry runs. Obviously I wasn’t going to get out of bed at 0515 for a 5k so 10k it was. The Canadian physical training instructors treated us to a truly cringeworthy warm up routine, complete with Eye of The Tiger backing track. The great British reserve prevented me from getting too enthusiastic although it did make me recall a similarly embarrassing Mr Motivator at the start of the Great North Run many moons ago. My training partner Jem, a dentist from Leeming, got a much better start than me but the route (round the airfield to a halfway point and then double back, as always) was poorly marshaled and his group turned too early. So although he beat me (remember Gus, it is non-competitive) I was able to give him a hard time for cheating, and on a charity run of all things. Shameful.
That is now 3 races completed in eleven days: one 10k, one 10 miler and one half marathon. And boy-oh-boy is the scenery getting repetitive. Still, I have a couple of weeks’ leave starting on Monday so I shall be back in Yorkshire and hopefully out training with you all next Thursday evening. If I do not make it there then I have entered the Pickering 10. Having not seen a gradient of more than 1% or any mud for a long time I am not going to run with any great expectations, but it will be good to catch up with friends again.
Finally for the coaches and training gurus amongst you, ‘does 4 months without alcohol improve your running performance’? Buy me a beer at the Galtres Centre after training and I am prepared to discuss my findings with you. I am ready for it.
All the best
Gus
Saturday 11 October 2008
Music City Marathon
‘Where is Music City?’
‘Isn’t it Nashville, Tennessee?’
Oh the conversation’s just sparkling at 0515 in the morning as we line up on the start line.
It is another weekend and despite being a heck of a long way from Afghanistan the Music City Marathon is another excuse for a race at Kandahar airfield. Still, it’s another weekend and whilst the Music City Marathon, or to give it it’s correct title the Country Music Marathon and Half Marathon, was held in the United States last weekend that would have clashed with the Army Ten Miler so we are running a little late. I can only assume that the young US Army captain from the medivac team (helicopter borne medical evacuation; think MASH in a hot and dusty setting) who has organized this race lives somewhere in Tennessee. She has certainly done a good job. Everyone who pre-entered has a race pack with a number, pins and a t shirt and there is a choice of a 10k, a half marathon and a full marathon with plenty of water stations and medics. The only disappointment is that she doesn’t look like Hot Lips Hoolihan.
Who would want to run a full marathon round an airfield? It was certainly not my option, although a few hardy souls gave it a go. I stuck to the half. All three races started together and followed the same opening route (no, it’s not a ‘rawt’, as the Americans like to pronounce it). A third of the way round the airfield, in the opposite direction to last week’s race, and then retrace your steps. The 10k lightweights stop when they get back to where we started. The rest continue round the airfield for another full lap. And then the mad buggers on the full marathon repeat the whole thing again.
At the 10k drop out stage I could have stopped and had a top 10 finish. I was tempted. But, I pushed on with a Canadian guy stuck to my shoulder. Having upped the pace a little I dropped him at about the 7 mile mark (not that there are any mile markers so you have to guess) and felt pretty good about that. The problem being it left me completely on my own. I had lost sight of the runner ahead of me so motivating myself to push on became a bit of a challenge that I probably failed to live up to. A final finishing place of 5th seemed pretty respectable even if my time of 1 hour 32 was somewhat slower than I had hoped. The good news was that we had been sent the wrong way so had added at least a couple of minutes to the route and the whole measuring thing is pretty unreliable here anyway, so I am not too hung up about the time. The bad news was that the Canuk I dropped appeared a minute or two after me and started his second lap for the full marathon. Perhaps I hadn’t dropped him with my superior tactics, he’d just hung back to conserve a bit of energy. Hey ho.
Next up is the Canadian organized Terry Fox 5k and 10k on Thursday morning. Another early start and no breakfast. At some point we must put the running to one side and get on with fighting the Taliban.
All the best
Gus
Sunday 5 October 2008
Army 10 Miler
Sunday 5 October