
After a week of frosty mornings requiring cars to be scrapped free and runners to dress as ninjas when braving it to run the universe decided to smile on us on Sunday 16th January 2022. It was chilly but not frozen with no ice or frost in site, no wind or rain and no glaring sun, perfect weather conditions to run a race. And what a race it was.
1767 runners completed the course of which Totton Running Club made up 53 and of those 20 of our team recorded a personal best....20... that's insane...and totally glorious. This is why I am dubbing this SUPER SUNDAY. I didn't realize just how mind blowing this was until I sat down to write this report and looked at everyone's times, you are all incredible, from the PB runners to everyone who ran, putting that many runners in the field is great for the club.
Stubbington is always a massively popular event with 2000 spaces up for grabs it still sells out very quickly every year, fortunately Stubbington Green Runners are really accommodating and allow number transfers until a few days before the event which enables many people to pick up a last minute place. This year they also allowed bulk collection of race numbers which we were able to collect the day before to save some people time. Time it turned out they needed for the massive bag drop queue ( 2 out 3 isn't bad).
The race is billed as one of the 'biggest and best' 10k races on the South Coast with mainly flat road and only a sprinkling of gentle inclines. This may be a very accurate description but those gentle inclines still feel like mount Everest when your gunning it. All the runners jogged, walked and shuffled round to the start on Titchfiled road where they were greeted by pajama clad residents taking photos and small children waving. There was then some team huddles for warmth while waiting for the off and our own Lee Trueman was bottom fondled by a Vegan runner (you'll have to ask him if he liked it).
The course runs to Titchfiled village and then onto Coach Hill where runners all got a chance to moan about there being a hill and then into some countryside and lane running. The course is picturesque if you've time for sight seeing but looking at the times I'd say we all noticed mainly one thing and that was the road in front as we kept striving forwards. The course eventually leads down the seafront at the end of Lee-on-Solent before heading back up into Stubbington village center. On hitting the seafront there was room for supporters and cheering words of encouragement to help the runners gear up for the final up hill and stretch to the finish. For us we had the TRC support crew shouting words of encouragement, abuse and taking pain face photos (thanks Neil) just before the final turn. That final shout will have helped everyone get round that corner and find some extra force to propel them through the finish line so a massive thank you guys.
We all grimaced our way through the big red finish line caught our breath and planted smiles on our faces, some of these smiles left again when finishers were handed the controversial wooden coaster instead of the popular long sleeved top of previous years. The coaster has caused a stir with some people loving it and a lot of people hating it, if you not a fan follow Lou Hennings lead and make it into a medal! I've found mine is very good for throwing near/at the cat when its trying to destroy something its been pulled away from 60 times already (it could be worse I could be aiming it at the children).
In true Totton style on finishing all our runners lined the final stretch is varying places and cheered our runners home. It really is great to see other runners going home and us always still there on mass supporting every member of our club. It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling (maybe this is what Lee felt with the Vegan runner at the start). Its great to have such a big turnout at events and the team spirit everyone shows before, during and after. Rob Barlow helped Patricia to a PB holding her hand when she was struggling creating a great photo encapsulating our team spirit. Lee Trueman paced me round to a PB telling me I could be sick at the end and not allowing me to slack off when I wanted to die, he was awarded by grabbing a PB himself. This is what's great about our club we are a Team.
Totton ladies team were 2nd overall once the results were confirmed, what a great season we are having. As we were one of the only clubs training during covid when we legally could we have evidently used this to our advantage. Both Alice and myself were placed 3rd in our age categories (V40 and V35 respectively). Well done ladies what a season!
The next HRRL race is Ryde 10mile on the 6th February, the race is now full but they are allowing transfers so keep an eye on the HRRL number swap page. All details are in our events pages on the chat groups.
Super Sunday bell ringers
Veronica Smyth 1:03:24
Millie Webb 56:44
Vicky Couzens 56:04
Craig Taylor 55:05
Louise Henning 53:18
Andy Walker 50:47
Elizabeth White 47:40
Darren Martin 47:26
Patricia Spodzieja 47:14
Kelly Kendall 46:45
Ian Dodkin 46:39
Andy Warren 43:48
Rob Kendall 42:41
Adrian Hayes 42:34
Flo Stoddert-Kennedy 41:27
Lee Trueman 40:48
Helen Bonaer 40:48
Neil White 39:03
Alex Cooper 38:42
Carl Shirley 37:20

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