Pub Run February 21st 7.00pm
The first event for 2007 has been arranged and you guessed, it starts and finishes at a pub.
A pub run has been arranged for the 21st of February 7.00pm out side the Fox & Hounds Cattistock (I wonder where the new chair lives?)
It will be a mainly off road route of between 4 & 5 miles, please make sure you have a change of shoes, no make that a change of every thing as you will get muddy. Washing facilities are available in the form of the wishing well in the church yard, if you are brave enough to go there in the dark. Food can be ordered be for we start for those that plan to eat after. There will also be the option for those who can’t make it to eight with out a drink, to shorten the route back to the pub.
The first event for 2007 has been arranged and you guessed, it starts and finishes at a pub.
A pub run has been arranged for the 21st of February 7.00pm out side the Fox & Hounds Cattistock (I wonder where the new chair lives?)
It will be a mainly off road route of between 4 & 5 miles, please make sure you have a change of shoes, no make that a change of every thing as you will get muddy. Washing facilities are available in the form of the wishing well in the church yard, if you are brave enough to go there in the dark. Food can be ordered be for we start for those that plan to eat after. There will also be the option for those who can’t make it to eight with out a drink, to shorten the route back to the pub.
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14 comments:
Thanks for organising the pub, route and blog Phil. I have spread the word with YTRRC so hopefully we will have a good turn out.
By the way, if you're the "New Broom", does that make you daft as a brush?!
Last weekend found the Westgates at Dursley, for a 12mile multi-terrain race. Himself was persuaded to stay in B&B for a couple of days, partly so I could visit the flamingos at Slimbridge on Monday. He then moaned non-stop that he would have felt better driving up on the day. As for the race, it starts in the centre of Dursley and sets off steeply up a road for 200 metres, before ascending a woodland track to the top of Stinchcombe hill. After a short run round the golf course the route re-enters the wood for a steep descent then ascent on to a hilltop followed by two miles of flat fast road. Then it’s back in the woods, another steep ascent to Breakheart Quarry, and three miles of very slippery, muddy track. The final climb, the precipice (“almost overhanging: ropes are provided”) organisers words!, brings the runners back onto the top of Stinchcombe Hill. Two miles of fields, track and finally road descend to the finish in the town centre. A total of 1600 ft of ascent. The start and finish is by what looked like a good pub, although not sampled on this visit. The race HQ was about 5 minutes walk away, but as it was in a leisure centre there were showers, which were still warm by the time I struggled in. The race was excellent value at only £5 with T-shirts available if wanted, and a good selection of cakes. We will be back next year for the 20th anniversary.
Richard was slightly aggrieved by being beaten by a couple of Bitton Runners, who he had previously finished ahead of at the Monty, including the first lady who finished in 93:40, himself finishing in 97:48. I managed a much more leisurely 128:50. We also met “Exmoor Fred” who gave us details of the Quantock Fell Race, which sadly is on the same day as Babcary, and also told us about a new run his club is organising near Horner Wood. Another low-key event.
Thanks for the race report Lesley - definitely sounds like one to go on the list of "events that we will do one day" (if only we had time). I like the sound of the rope assisted part of the course.
Any more details about Fred's Horner Wood race, such as when it is? I know Horner, it's a beautiful area, especially if you stay by the river since it's flat, but it's surrounded by very steep hills in all directions. Wonder which way the route will go?!!
Martin & I are taking it easy today in preparation for the 4 Trigs tomorrow - will post a report if we find our way back from the wilds of Devon and I'm not too exhausted.
I don't think they have organised the route yet, let alone set a date, but I think he's going to email me when something is sorted.
It wasn't a vertical rope - imagine something like the last hill on the Monty, but steeper and with no convenient rocks on the path.
Watch this space! Martin was up till about 1.30am last night composing his race report for 4 Trigs, which may appear at any moment. Meanwhile you can see wot 'appened by checking out www.sidmouthrunningclub.org.uk and clicking on Results & Photos.
4 Trigs Race Report 17th February 2007
We arrived too late to get any of the parking near the race HQ, and had to resort to Plan “B” - the long stay car park almost a mile away, so I was well warmed up by the time I rejoined Lin at the Yacht Club, just in time for the race briefing of which I only remember something about what to do if somebody keeled over during the gruelling ordeal to come(stop and help,rather than jump over them).
After the start, we found ourselves unexpectedly near the front of the field, and just in front of a man-dog pairing who were to stick with us for
almost the entire run. As we climbed the 3rd "stonking great hill" on the way to the first
trig point at Weston, I told Lin that it was lucky this was just a training run, otherwise we'd be running up this hill, rather than power-walking it. Even with trail-shoes, it was not easy to avoid slipping back a few inches on each step up the slippery slope from Weston Mouth to the top of the
cliff where the first trig point was located.
Here we were forced to abandon our carefully recce'd route from the trig because of the rule that we had to exit the field by the same gate we entered, so we followed two other runners, and found that their route was actually a minute of two faster. We ran as a group of 5 plus dog for a
mile, through the donkey sanctuary (donkeys not in evidence this time so we were spared the decision of whether to stop and cuddle them)
and then pulled away after a road checkpoint and put on a spurt so that they would not be able to follow us on another carefully recce'd route up a steep hill through the undergrowth to the second trig point.
Unfortunately, in the heat of the moment we (actually I) turned right a bit early, and experienced the all too familiar feeling of being a bit lost for a slightly worrying 30 seconds searching for the trig and getting our legs (all
six of them - not counting the dog’s whose were better protected) well scratched up by brambles, before we spotted the pair who we had left well behind us. They had clearly found a much better route
because they had overtaken us to the trig, and they stayed ahead for the next hour, leading us to the next 3rd trig, showing us a couple of useful shortcuts. We finally left them behind just before the last control point
as we took another cunningly crafted shortcut along the disused railway line towards the 4th and final trig point. Suspicions that they had deliberately hung back so that we wouldn't be able to trail them through the woods on their superior shortcut were confirmed half an hour later, when on
the other side of the next patch of woodland, we spotted them 200 yards ahead approaching the path to the trig.
The way to the final trig is out and back so we met all the runners
ahead of us with the exception of Malcolm Bayer who was so far ahead that he had already returned and was on his way to the finish by this time. Another steep climb, the steepest so far, to the 4th trig was followed by a pleasant downhill stretch, smugly meeting all those immediately behind us,
before a last uphill grind to the top of the town and the final mile was a welcome downhill stretch, followed by half a mile of winding in and out of surprisingly large crowds of seaside visitors before reaching the Yacht Club at the far end of the seafront where we finished in 7th and 8th
position out of 66, a very good result, and if it hadn't been for the local knowledge of the 5th and 6th place finishers, we might have taken their places. In the end positions were not really important, it had been a training run after all (yeah right!), although Lin was
understandable chuffed with our time 2:47, well under the target of three hours, and almost an hour faster than when we had recced it two weeks previously.
We told the organiser, Nick Keast, how much we enjoyed the event, and that we were sorry we hadn't heard of it years ago, he said that they keep it low-key and don't advertise it. We promised we wouldn't tell anybody, but I'm sure he'd forgive us for sharing with a select few from MNRC what a great event it is, just at the right time for a pre-spring
marathon long training run.
After a quick dip in the sea to wash the mud off our legs (not nearly as cold as you might expect, and only up to waist deep), we changed and met
back in the Yacht club bar for a vegetarian pasty - not what we would order normally, but after nearly 3 hours of exertion it went down very well, thank you. The muffins went down even better. I was going to save mine for later, but on the trek back to the car I got a bit hungry and within 50
yards it was gone.
Now that it is over we have a full five days to recover before our next long training run, the Endurance Life coastal marathon. I only hope that goes as
well, watch this space.
I would just like to add that my "no pressure" running partner who was quite adamant that this was "just a training run" was not averse to making comments such as "did you realise the 2nd lady's only 200 yards behind you" as I crawled up the vertical ascent to the first trig. So looking forward to our next training run on Saturday..........
Here's a link to a good website for finding out the distance of your routes without a GPS handy:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/
Just scroll across the atlantic and zoom right in.
Hope your calf is feeling better Lin! (my legs are useless today!)
Sorry I had to cut short on the run Phil, it was a good route. We'll be leaving for Kingsbridge mid afternoon, the marathon starts at 9am tomorrow morning. Weather forecast is AWFUL! Leg feels OK (thanks Eric)but I haven't tried running since Wednesday night. Will post a report when (if!)we get back on Sunday.
OK, for those technically challenged, how does it work. I got as far as enering the Postcode for the start position. But the whole map moves with the mouse, rather than tracing a route. Help............
Lesley, I found the same thing, so, after clicking on the link "Usage Instructions", I discovered the trick is double-clicking! It works really well, and is very clever, but is rather limited by the fact that map only shows road & tracks, not footpaths, so it won't help much with most of the routes we do which are off-road.
I agree, its quite a good program except for the fact that you have to guess the tracks and paths! Lesley, like Martin has said, I found that I'm moving the map with the mouse and double-clicking to place a marker on the map. Hope it works for you :-)
Richard said:
Sunday saw Lesley and myself at the 7.5 mile Babcary Road Race, part of the Somerset series. Personally I find it hard to knock Babcary; it doesn’t pretend to be anything it’s not. A low-key well marshalled race along undulating country lanes. Loads of parking and excellent tea and cakes. Given the recent weather we were very lucky with a dry but blustery race, with the sun bright enough to justify running in shades. A pattern emerged as I nearly missed the start while messing around adjusting laces and then went off a bit fast. I soon set a target as I spotted Paul Chadwick some ten places ahead; I remember him doing me by one place in the 2005 Crewkerne 9 and revenge beckoned. After slowly drawing level at about 6 miles I then managed to stay ahead! Lesley, as usual, managed to spend the first half talking as she ran! I must say she did very well considering she had a spectacular fall at work during the week; someone placed a box on the floor and she upended herself, bruising her shoulder blade, bum, shin and hurting a toe! Could it be a sabotage attempt to derail her London training? Nothing else of great note to report; several runners decided to go round the course again while we scuttled off to Screwfix for essential DIY items. Also while I kissed Lesley goodbye, before the start, another lady asked if we all get a kiss! I said “of course, get yourself over here”, but she must have had second thoughts and made off to the start!
PS Lesley forgot to mention on the Dursley blog that she completely forgot to wear her race number and at the finish she got away with it by starting to undo her clothing and calling out her number. Technically a disqualification. Lesley says she didn’t get to be a Maiden Newton Runner by wearing race numbers.
Back to Babcary. Questions have been asked: how come a certain Yeovil Town runner finishes a blustery race looking as if he has just stepped out of the hairdressers, but Lesley looks like she has just been dragged backward through a tropical rainforest?
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