The weather gods shone last weekend, just enough to dry off the rain from Friday night, and warm things up a bit for the weekends racing.
First off was the Nuts Challenge that goes on over both days of the weekend, and the Surrey Half marathon from Woking on Sunday, along with the Roding Valley Half Marathon - a stalwart of the Essex Half Marathon calendar.
It was so dry and warm the Nuts course didn't cut up half as much as we had expected - but it was well prepared for the Sundays four lap challengers....
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| The start queue at The Nuts Challenge on Saturday |
Sunday at the Surrey Half was also perfect temperature for a Half Marathon as the winning times attested to (1:02:42 !!!) If the skies had stayed bright and sunny then we were in for some overheating risks, but fortunately it clouded over and the temperature remained at a sensible 12-14 degC.
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| Everyone setting off at the start of the Surrey Half |
Here's the specific gallery links - make sure you get the right day for your Nuts Galleries
Social Media - GET INVOLVED - here are the links for the events if you fancy sharing your thoughts:
Facebook
The Nuts Challenge -
https://www.facebook.com/TheNutsChallenge
Surrey Half -
https://www.facebook.com/SurreyHalfMarathon
Roding Valley -
https://www.facebook.com/events/163958847130560/
Twitter
The Nuts Challenge -
@nutschallenge
Surrey Half -
@surreyhalf
Roding Valley -
@WoodfordGreenAC
So - there are a lot of photos here for the blog, my usual wit and wisdom may not prevail for you, the images will have to stand on their own merits...
The two outstanding performances from the weekend were the 1:02:41 by Sammy Nyokaye at the Surrey Half, and Louise Steel completing 4 laps of the winter nuts challenge course - just because of the sheer determination !
Here in the office we turned around a record number of images and got through cataloguing over 100,000 images in 24hours - getting the gallery online for the Surrey Half so fast - it imploded a bit with the weight of interest. That's the first time in 13 years that's happened to the server, so it's been having a bit of a beef up - it costs over £9000 per year to host and provide the services it does for the gallery - so we need to make sure it's delivering the images up properly and can cope with the demand of 300 people all searching through 100,000 new images simultaneously before the rubbish football kicked off on Monday night.
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| Harrison and his Dad - the main charity for the Surrey Half |
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| The welcoming view of the children's race |
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| She won, this is the most she smiled ever - even after she won. |
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| Everyone enjoys a start in the sun ! |
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| Everyone sets off safely |
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| Back in 1:2:41 .. so soon ! |
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| Olympian Roger Black presented the Prizes |
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| Third place for a change, and a cheeky smile having done the intercounties the day before. |
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| Nobody left on the course |
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| Martin raised plenty in his Pink Panther outfit |
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| Just some of the volunteers who helped with medals and post race goodies |
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| Job done, safely |
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| Final high-fives |
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| High Fives all round |
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| that 70's style warmers marathon de sables look |
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| Fundraising - I assume for the worth BHF |
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| yes - photographer in middle of road - yes - just behind a large bollard |
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| She power walked the course - and still beat loads of people |
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| Correct finishing technique |
Meanwhile over on the nuts challenge there was a lot of statuesque and artistic work going on:
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| The Thinker |
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| Michaelangelo's David (with adjustments) |
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| The Mermaid of Denmark |
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| The Buddah of suburbia meets the Nuts Challenge |
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| The Cistine Chapels the creation of Adam has nothing on this |
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| Nice to be welcomed no matter how muddy |
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| quick team photo |
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| Try not to tread on the legs of the person infront |
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| Brotherly love? |
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| Sisterly love ? |
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| Duty... |
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| Really not going to do the job if you're worried about wet feet |
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| This is what happens to the wrong shoes |
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| Having a blast. |
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| Look - no number |
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| Mind your head ! |
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| This is getting silly now Midge |
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| Water wasn't warm enough apparently |
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| Failed to wash behind the ears |
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| why ? |
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| It's not that deep Lou |
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| Tastes great ! |
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| kung fu panda has it all ready |
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| everything is just fine |
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| Ever had that coffin feeling ? |
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| MIneral face wash |
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| Beautifying treatments included in the price |
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| Spot the 4 lap nutters ! |
Next weekend... event websites are linked on the gallery pages
Upcoming Feature Races
Well done everyone on the weekends races !
so - until next time, and see you out there soon for those spring half marathons...
Anthony
FB -
https://www.facebook.com/UKSportPhoto
T - @UKSportPhoto
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