The event where Tony took a tumble and Totton Ted was bear napped by some evil fiend!
Another Wednesday and another RR10, this race was held at Cadland Park Estate near Blackfield and brought another warm evening with it.
Before I get onto the usual moaning about the hills (and there will be moaning), I wanted to start with bit about runners mental health and pressure in races. We can all put a lot of pressure on ourselves at time and I am no exception, with this RR10 being a prime example of that. Not through anything said by our lovely club and not intentionally I arrived on Wednesday feeling like I had the weight of the world on me to get a good placing. Some stemmed from comments about how well I have been running and this should make me perform well, but the majority came from me and wanting to get a good pace for the team. I mentally built all this up too much and during my warm up ended up having a cry in the bushes (ok and admittedly a sneaky wee) which meant I shirked on my race captain duties of getting the team photo sorted and sneaked in on the one organised by other on the ball members. NO ONE in our club had said anything about me having to get a good place its just where my head ended up on that day, and I know most of us can have this feeling some days.
I wanted to share this with you as I want to highlight that no-one (speaking for your race and team captains here) ever expects anything from any runner. If you want to come to a race and push yourself to the limit we support that, if you want to turn up and walk at the back we support that. Yeah its nice to win stuff individually or as a team but remember this is our hobby, and a hobby should be fun not making you cry in the woods. You'll never get any pressure from me, you do you and make sure it makes you smile! TRC will support you. And if you see me having a cry in the woods pre race I need a verbal slap and a big hug.
And smiling was the order of the day for most. A relatively warm and sunny evening and a bumper number of Totton runners present both running and supporting. This was my first time running this route and someone told me there were only 2 hills.... ahem..... On my warm up this appeared to be true as I ran on the other side of the park away from the race route that was a fairly nice track and lulled me into a false sense of security.
We all ambled off into the bushes for a curvaceous route to the start line, where there was a race brief by a very quiet gentleman so only 2 people and possibly a mosquito heard anything he said. Maybe he was saying 'oh by the way we found some extra hills out there
for your enjoyment as we know you love them so much'. I had a chat with Flo at this point where we discussed the importance of not going out too fast and building up rather than killing ourselves. We duly started and Flo stuck to this plan, I went out to fast and was ready to sleep in a bush after half a mile..... I'm not sure I'll ever learn. At this point someone who has a recollection of the route should probably take over, but it's just me typing.
So here's what I remember. HILLS, HILLS, HILLS HILLS, HILLS. and my inner monologue .....'where did all these hills come from, I want to die, I hate hills. Why is there another hill?, is it over yet, why is it not over yet. Why do my legs feel broken, I hate RR10s, please be over. FFS not another hill, am I actually still alive? how are my legs still moving, is that the end, bugger its not..... yey the end now I can lie down'.
Had I not been running on trashed legs and mentally not feeling it I would have appreciated that all the ups had some downs to go with them. The gravel tracks led through some really picturesque country side with some lovely views in places. Some twists and turns some trail parts and a very nice flat sprint to the finish all in sunshine!
One runner who encapsulates the enjoy and have fun ethos I mentioned at the start is Tony Lees, who after taking a rater nasty tumble was still smiling even when covered in cuts and visiting the medics. Well done Tony for carrying on and still smiling! I salute you sir!
We had 3 first time RR10 runners this event - well done to Darren Anderson, Jon Derrick and Ally Driver. Hopefully you enjoyed the event and will be back for more.
And finally, calamity hit TRC at the end of the event.... not the putting away of the pop up tent, Thanks to Dennis we once again beat Lordshill at this epic race!
TOTTON TED IS MISSING! SOME FIEND HAS STOLEN HIM, AND AS WE NOW KNOW IS MAKING DEMANDS FOR HIS RELEASE! ANYONE WITH ANY INFORMTION ABOUT HIS LOCATION PLEASE MAKE IT KNOWN! BRING BACK TOTTON TED!
RESULTS ON THE NIGHT.
Women
Flo Studdert-Kennedy 4 Helen Bonaer 6 Sophie Coady 16 Patricia Spodzieja 17 Jacquie Barlow 19 Lizzy White 21 Kirsty Macbeth 31 Kylie Nugus 37 Lorna Lavers 51 Carly Lucas 54 Sara Parry 69 Janet Foote 73 Ally Driver 79 Priscilla Cook 90 Donna Pike 91 Rachael Gardner 97 Teresa Dodkin 102 Zea Brenchley 111 Lyn Hatchett 122 Tina Mills 125 Alison Kaines 128 Jeanette Hiscocks 130 Dot Kennard 133 Ann-Marie Vanderplank 134 Sohini Keya 138 Helena Shaw 144
Men
Adam Wilkinson 18 Andy Herman 24 Carl Shirley 33 Simon King 39 Neil White 40 Darren Anderson 41 Stuart Le Tissier 45 Rob Kendall 61 John Curry 75 Keith Whitten 87 Dean Lucas 97 Robbie Barlow 106 Graeme Browning-Martin 107 Luke Mills 116 Jon Derrick 125 Philip Ashmore 139 Tony Lees 140 Eamonn Rivers 141 Ian Dodkin 142 Peter Ellis 151 Craig Taylor 157 Martin Nugus 159 Denis Coady 170 Dave Murray 175 Rob Barlow 187 Paul Gale 189 Neil Cameron 191 Simon Mason 193