Saturday July 13th
Race To The Stones 100K
| Rachel Stanley-Evans | 10.44.00 | 5th Lady 1st FV40 |
| Lisa Butler | 11.35.54 | 2nd FV40 |
| Toby Clarke | 11.35.54 |
Race To The Stones 50K
| Francis Tracey | 5.48.20 |
Wendover Woods Centurion 50K
| Ben Lonsdale | 7.46.00 |
I have Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc coming up in a few weeks, which is an evening start. Centurion Running had put on a night 50k race coinciding with their Wendover Woods 100 mile event this weekend, so I took the opportunity to practice running while tired. The Wendover course is three 10-mile laps, each with about 3000’ of climb (and, more critically, descent) with a short loop at the start to make it up to 50k.
We started at 2300 on Friday, with the 100 mile runners having been going for several hours already (can you imagine doing 10 very technical loops with that much height climbed?). I got carried along for the first few miles, trying to keep pace with those around me and pushing myself more than I normally would, with it being a relatively short race. It was a good mix of (rarely flat) tracks, technical and root-covered single track and off-path climbs through the woods, with an aid station at 5.5 and 10 miles on each loop. I got through the first lap in sub-2h15, which was slower than I had expected (having failed to account for the terrain) though faster than I should have done.
I carried on to lap 2, still more or less by myself. I was determined to push myself, and carried on (slowly) running the flats, and letting myself go on the technical and dusty descents. Being alone brought the benefit of not having dust kicked up in front of my headtorch but meant it was easy for morale to dip. The usual pattern emerged of runners passing me as I slowed, and I made the effort to stick with each group for as long as I could as they came past. The eventual podium all flew past me near the end of lap 2 (including Dan Lawson, the best (very) long male distance runner in the UK at the moment), which was pretty fun. By the time I finished lap 2 at 0400 though, the effect of pounding 15 stone through my lower limbs on the alternating technical and track descents was beginning to tell on my joints. Conversely, the strength training had paid off and my muscles were feeling pretty good. Time to muster some willpower and crack on.
With lap 2 taking 2h45, I decided to push on and try and hit 2h45 again, or at least less than 3 hours, to finish by 0700. Unfortunately, circadian rhythms being what they are, I was a mile in to lap 3 when the sleep monsters caught up with me and I slowed down. Fortuitously, my friend Steve (companion for the second half of Lakes in a Day 50 mile a few years ago) and Sinead soon caught up with me too. With Sinead running a very well judged evenly split race, I jumped on and stuck with them through to the aid station. By this time, it was light enough not to need a headtorch, and it was nice to see the terrain. With a few digestive problems however, I couldn’t match their pace and dropped off the back. After an emergency stop deep in the woods however, I felt much better, moving strongly for the final section (and actually overtaking people!), coming in before my 7 o’clock target and close to my target lap time.
It was a good lesson in the importance of mental resilience in maintaining pace. While you have physical challenges occasionally (stomach issues being prevalent in longer distance events), the fact that my fastest split for the final leg was on lap 3 is indicative that your body can normally take the strain as long as you can convince your brain to let it. Of course it helps if you have a healthy diet and train well too, but I haven’t learned those lessons yet!
74th of 117 starters on 7h46.
Ben Lonsdale
Bourton Mile
| Dan Wymer | 5.48 | PB |
| Harriet Howard | 6.17 | PB |
| Sally Howard | 6.26 | |
| Tamsyn Wymer | 8.38 | PB |
Iffley Festival of Miles
| Joe Godwood | 4.43:37 | |
| Matt Lock | 4.44:08 | |
| Stephen Young | 4.57:50 | |
| George Reynolds | 5.08:28 | |
| Kirsty Webb | 6.22:43 |
Fire Service Training College parkrun
| Anthony Beardsley | 26.47 |
Oxford parkrun
| Frankie Snare | 18.33 | 1st Lady |
| Will Downey | 19.16 | |
| Graham Le Good | 21.37 | |
| Simon Welch | 23.41 | |
| Judith Le Good | 27.58 |
Lanhydrock parkrun
| Anna Flory | 32.15 |
Belton House parkrun
| Roxanne Clark | 24.28 |
Witney parkrun
| Fraser Howard | 19.39 | |
| Anne McIlveen | 21.15 | 1st Lady |
| Matt Lock | 21.28 | |
| Oliver Schroelkamp | 22.17 | |
| Mark Jarret | 22.42 | |
| Bertie Field | 23.22 | |
| Chris Ellis | 24.25 | |
| Harriet Howard | 24.27 | |
| Bethany Jones | 24.39 | |
| Kirsty Webb | 24.57 | |
| James Webster | 26.47 | |
| Lee Vanstone | 27.02 | |
| Lisa Holland | 27.42 | |
| Linda Field | 28.00 | |
| Suzanne Bartington | 30.58 | |
| Skye McKinnon | 34.02 | |
| Emily Howard | 38.52 | |
| John McCormac | 57.28 | |
| Tamsyn Wymer | 57.29 | Tail Walker |
Newborough Forest parkrun
| David Rouget | 24.27 |
| Anne Rouget | 29.07 |
Marlborough Common parkrun
| Alice Parsons | 23.32 | 2nd Lady |
| James Horsman | 24.30 | |
| Jens Upton | 32.32 | |
| Sam Upton | 32.33 |
Sunday July 7th
Bavarian Run 5km – Munich Olympic Park
| Dave Johnys | 27.22 |
| Regina Lally | 27.53 |
Lovely route around the Olympic Park – and there’s a 10km & 15km available (it’s laps so glad we only picked the 5k after arriving late last night!)
Didcot 5 Mile
| Matt Lock | 28.47 | |
| George Reynolds | 29.29 | |
| Tommy Johnson | 29.53 | |
| James Clark | 31.19 | |
| Luke Edwards | 31.31 | |
| Isabel Stubbs | 32.03 | PB 3rd Lady |
| Chris Mulcahy | 32.52 | |
| Billy Rendell | 33.50 | |
| Alice Parsons | 34.48 | |
| Lindsey Smith | 34.51 | |
| Lucy Harris | 36.09 | |
| Conrad Bailey | 37.26 | |
| Kirsty Webb | 38.42 | |
| Tracey Moss | 42.27 | |
| Anthony Beardsley | 42.34 | |
| Ian Fowler | 1.02.32 |
Birmingham Half Marathon
| Jim Horsman | 1.58.05 |
Windermere Sprint Triathlon
| Jen Upton | 1.36.45 | PB |
Windermere Olympic Triathlon
| Sam Upton | Result not yet online |
New Forest 10 Mile
| Sally Mackie | 1.32.34 |
Evesham 10K
| Will Downey | 39.20 |
Long Course Weekend, Wales
Swim 2.4 miles – Friday, Cycle 112 miles – Saturday, Run 26.2 miles – Sunday
| Gareth Petts | 9:21:05 | 4th overal |
| Swim | 1:05:24 | 4th |
| Cycle | 5:25:35 | 4th |
| Run | 2.50.06 | 1st |
Saturday July 6th
Bushy parkrun
| John Abrams | 37.40 |
Well done to John, who took the pilgrimage to Bushy Park for the annual “Over 80’s” meet up, where almost 50 Men and Women took part. The fastest VM80 time on the day was 27:17 !!
Tamar Trails parkrun
| Andrew Green | 25.41 |
Oxford parkrun
| Simon Welch | 26.56 |
Ludlow parkrun
| David Rouget | 27.31 |
| Anne Rouget | 31.22 |
Witney parkrun
| Paul Taylor | 20.36 | |
| Luke Edwards | 21.06 | 21 minute pacer |
| Lisa Kay | 21.40 | 1st Lady |
| Anne McIlveen | 21.40 | |
| Bertie Field | 21.53 | |
| Matt Lock | 21.54 | 22 minute pacer |
| Sally Howard | 23.38 | 24 minute pacer |
| Harriet Howard | 25.03 | 25 minute pacer |
| Fraser Howard | 26.08 | 26 minute pacer |
| Gill Sherwood | 26.09 | |
| Emily Howard | 27.03 | 27 minute pacer |
| Linda Field | 27.55 | |
| Toby Clarke | 28.19 | 28 minute pacer |
| Kate Prinsep | 28.53 | |
| Kirsty Webb | 29.03 | 29 minute pacer |
| Ian Fowler | 32.00 | |
| Anna Flory | 37.29 | |
| Lucy Bailey | 37.40 |
Cotswold Big Swim – 2 miles
| Jenny Moore | 1.02.41 |
Friday July 5th
European Aquathlon Age Group Championships, Targu Mures, Romania (1km swim, 5km run)
| Graham Le Good | 44:12 (21:29, 21:27) | 2nd VM65 Silver Medal |
Thursday July 4th
New York Firecracker 10K
| Dan Wymer | 20.11 | PB |
| Tony Burkett | 21.59 | 2nd MV50 |
| Tamsyn Wymer | 31.05 | |
| Darlene Burkett | 31.06 | 1st LV60 |
Cub Handicap
| Adam Boxer | -10 seconds |