The latest Race Galleries from the weekend are now live and on line
A real mix of events this weekend, from muddy bogs and trenches on saturday at the inaugural Back 2 the Trenches, to the fast and flat on Sunday at either the Lydd Half or Worthing for a pre-marathon 20 miler.
Saturday was humid and quite warm, without much wind, touching 10 degrees, ideal for good XC racing and playing in mud at the Trenches, but by the time night had fallen we were treated back to zero temperatures and a subzero biting wind. 4 laps around Goring with half the race being into the wind can't have been easy - however with a bit of sheltering behind the big people everyone seemed to survive although the same can't be said for my hands, feet arms and legs, and indeed the many marshals all seemed quite reasonably to be right on the verge of "it's far too cold now" after 5 hours being out in it. Hannes was covering the Lydd Half and suffered similarly - although avoided some of it by lying down closer to the ground - out of the wind, which makes for some unique shots.
In other news, my camera shutter trigger finger's mini silver survival blanket (cut from a larger one) seems to do it's job when worn inside a thin pair of running gloves and allows enough touch-sensitivity to operate a camera. A small suggestion for all of you who have to do manually dexterous things outside in the cold like us - make your own finger-cot survival blankets ! I was less impressed by the ear-flaps on my silly hat that didn't stop the wind chill on my right ear...
On Saturday with the first running of the Back2TheTrenches we were all excited to see what the course designers had created since our recce earlier in the year. Over 280 brave souls gave it everything round the two lap course, made all the more atmospheric with the low hanging cloud and mist.
If you're interested - the next one is in June - when the trenches might be a bit drier (well not at this rate!) check the website for June Entries here:
http://bit.ly/back2thetrenches-2013
Overall a very well organised event with plenty of parking, mud, atmosphere and a real sense of achievement including free soup at the end. If you're thinking of taking on the challenge of this sort of event - I'd strongly suggest one organised by these guys.
Call For Entries
Saturday March 16th
The next
Brutal Challenge on Saturday is a hilly quest with a bit of water wading
http://bit.ly/Brutal-10-homepage
Another flat and fast 4 lap
half marathon at Dorney Lake organised by F3Events on Saturday for those chasing marathon pacing and training plan schedules:
http://bit.ly/F3-Events
Sunday March 17th
Sundays Colchester Half Marathon is completely sold out - so if you're looking for something longer for marathon training - the classic
Finchley 20 is ideal
http://bit.ly/Finchley-20-race-entry but it has almost sold out so act fast
Sunday March 24th
Planning a little further out then the Purple Patch
Water of Life Half Marathon - one of the most scenic in the country along the Thames near Marlow is also
accompanied by a 10k so you can go for a run with your marathon training friends and keep them company
http://bit.ly/PP_Upcoming_races
And now for some pictures...in no particular order from around the weekend:
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| The slippy path out of the trench maze |
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| High Fives for Dad |
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| Commitment |
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| Twin Baywatching |
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| Mind your head |
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| Quite a bit of Mud on the way round to make it hard going |
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| mind the barbed wire in no-mans land |
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| On location for our next boy-band shoot |
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| Barbed Wire successfully avoided |
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| The Rope climb can be done the easy way |
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| Upper body strength helped a little bit around the course |
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| Getting warm before going over the top |
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| The Joy of taking part and achieving |
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| Giving it some air |
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| The Gold Finger boys running for the Prostate Cancer charity - good effort. |
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| waterprof mascara is a must |
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| Team finish |
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| I think he's done this kind of thing before |
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| Sheer relief ! |
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| Which way now |
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| Trench Angels, better than Charlies' ! |
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| Attacking the Course |
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| An attempt at YMCA from the middle was ignored |
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| Remember - this man is your friend. |
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| He assured us this happened before the race... |
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| Nuala out again after the Steyning Stinger - clearly enjoying her running at the moment |
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| That low down lying on the ground wideangle start shot - nice clear skies |
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| a smile and a wave, good runngin |
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| no surrendering please |
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| a Bolt and an a bit of Morcambe |
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| Dr Jim and Dr Helen enjoying things far too much |
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| mobot or bolt ? which looks best - you decide |
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| good progress at 15 miles |
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| still floating along |
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| Pleased to finish |
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| A lapse of concentration and Jim got Chicked |
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| An excellent 20 miles run for the finish |
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| Jack Nicholson never surrenders |
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| Nothing quit like stopping to do some shopping on the way (mothers day card still in wrapper!) |
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| Worthing Harriers once again supporting the event a bit more literally than they thought they would |
That's it for this week, The Lydd Half pictures are only just in - so missed the cut off for this blog - have a good week - I hope it warms up a bit and you can all get back out into your training schedules - the last of the 20 milers on your way to April Marathon success !
Until next time
Anthony
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