The end of the CC6 season and what a way to end it, with Totton ladies taking the women's title for 2022............EPIC!!!!!!
Now I MAY mention a few times during this report that Totton Ladies ...only went and won the bloody title!!! But come on it deserves shouting from the roof tops! and all the silly dances I managed to incorporate into the immediate aftermath, Neil and Rob did threaten to sedate me at one point. Well done each and every lady that ran a single race of the CC6 as every person counted not just the top 3.Every person you beat to the finish will push another teams score down and bump ours up.
The final race of the season was hosted by Itchen Spitfires, Eastleigh RC and Hedge End RC and returned to the oh so familiar Fleming Park in Eastleigh exactly one week after we had finished Eastleigh 10k in Fleming Park. A very different type of race, terrain and route compared to a week earlier. The nice warm thing in the sky was still around though making for some good racing conditions, sun with a slight warmth and gentle breeze - almost perfect. Arriving early to set up the tent of doom and the flag, (the aforementioned tent almost taking Andy's finger off when it sprang out the bag like an underfed angry lion before resting gently in the sun all innocent looking) some of us were able to take the time for a warm up on the course to scope out what was in wait for us. There was a hill that smarted a bit on the way up .... a hill that is now referred to by all as "That Hill". But the ground was firm underfoot with no puddles of heaps of mud in sight..... unheard of!
The course was 4.6 miles starting with a run across the main field down towards a bridge and over into the trail section where we completed 3 laps of a small course. The 3 laps contained lots of back and forth, on the way into the trails we were gently climbing as we went back and forth until we got to the hill which on the first time around was uncomfortable but bearable. After the hill there was a nice downward stretch before turning and restarting the loop. On the second time around the hill was just horrible and by the third it was excruciating and the course of many a runner succumbing to a walk. Once all 3 laps were completed it was back over the bridge across the filed and onto the finish line.
While on the subject of the finish line I have to mention the two epic sprint finishes that day by Luke Mills & Zea Brenchley who both dug deep and found an internal turbo rocket to race an opponent to the line and beat them! Smashing work!
Really great team effort from all on the last race with the results as below. Also the weird fact Lindsay stated on the day of more TRC runners finishing immediately in front of or behind another TRC runner. TRC ladies were 2nd overall on the day, there was change in 2nd place with LRR taking 2nd pushing Hardley down to 3rd.
There was as usual a great supply and variety of cakes to cheer everyone up at the end and take their minds off "that Hill". And Patricia took my two favorite photos of the day/year which I apologize are both of me being over excited. the one on the left I think is the funky chicken?
Apart from the win (did I mention we won?) the most enjoyable part of the day for me was the packing away of the tent of doom. Which took about 10 people 10 times longer than it really should have to pack it away, with the instructions to hand. This was made even more entertaining when Lordshill right next to us were also having the same battle with their own tent of doom! It's ok though, we beat Lordshill at tent packing too, and then after laughing helped them pack theirs away. Maybe we should incorporate some time at training to learn how to pack away the tent of doom properly?
So a round up of the season...the season the ladies won!!!! There were a total of 8 races with 1 drop out each. Runners needed to run 4 races to score individually with their best 4 performances being taken for the final results. Teams were scored on the top 3 places for male / female with 1 point given for 1st place 2 for 2nd and so on. Over the season the ladies team scored 9 as we won 5 races and were 2nd in the other 2 to take the win, The mens' team consistently finished in the top 10 to come in 7th overall!
Across the season there were 281 female participants and 391 male participants, not all of these runners went on to complete 4 races to score on a individual basis. 303 Men went on to score individually and 81 women.
Individual scorings.
I think we can safely say this was a great season for Team Totton and every runner should be pretty damn proud of themselves and what we have achieved. The RR10s are just around the corner and always draw in more runners than the CC6. So lets hammer training and get out there kick some more bum!!!! (and maybe turn up to team photos at the designated times .......).
Thank you Totton Running Club for being you, you're all pretty amazing.
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