Another busy week and yet more of our runners are pushing themselves to greater heights.
Sadly, the summer evenings are drawing in which means that it was the last Lacock Relay of the year and that means it was the handicap. If you’ve posted a time in the 3 previous events during the summer then you can do the handicap, starting off in reverse order with the idea that almost everyone will finish very close to each other (there were only 5 minutes between first and last) and the winner will be the person who has improved the most over the summer. David Mackie posted a quicker time than Jon Morrell on the night but Jon finished 4th and Dave finished 44th as Jon started earlier and Dave couldn’t catch him. They both finished higher than their starting position.
This weekend saw the final chance for people to either post a parkrun time or improve their parkrun time and 12 people took the chance to do so. We had 2 at Kingsway (Gloucestershire) including Michael Luff doing his 100th parkrun, 3 at Southwick, 4 at Chippenham, 1 at Delamere (Cheshire), 1 at Pomphrey Hill (Bristol) and Brain Atkins went all out to try and set a good time by picking the best parkrun he could find locally at Severn Bridge. It starts in Wales and goes across the bridge, crossing the border into England before turning round and heading back to Wales. I assume it is flat, it is wide for overtaking and it is concrete so easier for speed. It worked as he did set his fastest time.
Craig Rumble came 2nd in the Conquest of Avalon, just 2 minutes behind the winner. A 30 mile route from Ham Hill Country Park near Yeovil following the Leland Trail and the Land’s End Trail to Glastonbury and as an added bonus with 2 miles to go, the race does take in the climb to Glastonbury Tor and back down again. I’m sure it was worth the climb and battling the tourists for the views from the top.
We had 4 runners at the Flying Monk Malmesbury 10K. Some excellent performances and none more so than Charlie Berry. Who smashed his previous PB of 1:03 by finishing in just under 55 minutes.
One of the runners at Malmesbury, Jo Motto, wasn’t finished for the weekend and along with Gill Parham-Mott and Edd Stone did the Beat the Bore race on Sunday morning. This is a pretty unique event as it is a race against nature. The Bore is a natural phenomenon of a tidal surge along the river severn, although unlike the tide, it has an element of unpredictability as to exactly when it will arrive. Apparently, the noise of the approaching bore is quite an event itself. The race is roughly 8 miles and if you finish before the bore arrives, your medal has a green ribbon and if the bore beats you it is a white ribbon.
Andrew Wood spent another weekend playing on some mountains as he did the Peak District 33. His aim was to finish in under 8 hours and despite running closer to 36 miles (he claims it was the course and not his navigation) he finished in 7:52. He’s getting quite good at this mountain stuff.
Annika Davidson and Lucy Bright had quite an adventure doing the Cotswold Trail Half Marathon. Annika found her legs from last weeks ultra when she came across the big blinking (That’s what I’m assuming b***ard means) hills at miles 7 and 11. Along with some waiting at stiles and losing a shoe in a bog, it definitely isn’t a PB course but a beautiful outing and a great run from both of our Corsham ladies.
And away from races we had our penultimate away run of the summer and it was a new one (I think) at Bremhill, near Calne. Thanks to Stewart Unsworth for organising the route, keeping us on top of the hill so we could enjoy the views without being too out of breath. The route also took in a handy place to grab a group photo. Our final away run of the summer is this Thursday (5th September) from the Quarryman’s Arms at the slightly earlier time of 18:45 so please join us there and for a drink afterwards, there’s a reason most of our away runs finish at a pub you know.
