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Karl Harris beside the seaside at Weymouth.
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Ironman 70.3 – Weymouth.
Report – Paul Hawkins.
For this event, due to the warm but windy weather conditions the sea swim was reduced to 950m. Five of out triathletes were in the field and while three were experienced, one was debuting at the distance and for one, Karl Harris, it was their first triathlon!
Despite his inexperience Karl was first of the Stratford contingent in a total time of made up of 6:26:05, making him 1509th overall.
He commented after “My first Ironman 70.3, tough conditions with the weather but weirdly enjoyable. Lots of encouragement from friends and family on route to help dig deep when I needed to. It’s amazing what you can achieve on a diet of chips! Here’s to the next one.”
For Brian Weetman it was a return to the race after last years’ freezing wet and windy foray.
As swimming is his strongest discipline he was disappointing to see the shortened swim, which he dispatched pretty quickly and without incident. The undulating cycle course went well until a puncture but Brian still showed a 25 minute improvement on last year.
The run was hard from the first kilometre to the last, with a strong wind leading to a comparatively slow time.He finished in a total time of 6:50:47 for 1718th position and 63rd in his category.
Brian commented “The event though was marvellous with such a great spirit among the other Stratford athletes and supporters. A complete joy and remembered for the great companionship as much as the race.”
Rebecca Pridham was racing this distance for the first time and told us that she had significant nerves going into her first Ironman event but once the bike was racked and the race briefing attended, it was calm all the way.
The swim was a tough one for her but once the panic of the cold had calmed down and her rhythm in place, she finished the swim in 25 mins, a little slower than hoped.
The bike, albeit with rain and wind, was an absolute joy for her though, finishing in 3:48 which was faster than she had expected.
Doing a half marathon after all that was a tough call but she ran 2.33 and finished in 7:05:14 in 1823rd and 28th in category.
Rebecca said after “that it was an achievement I am very proud of. My aim for the weekend was to complete an Ironman 70.3 and I was delighted to have finished and well within the cut offs too.
My support crew of Emily Adams and my youngest daughter Kate, were loud and highly visible with their union flag gilets on (even making the Ironman website!). Having them, and so many other Stratford triathletes there made for a superb experience.”
Next for Stratford was Rebecca Loftus in a time of 7:23:53 in 1954th but 342 in category. After a very difficult build up to the race Rebecca was delighted to finish, especially as she too suffered with punctures on the bike leg.
The final STC athlete to achieve a finish was Paul Nash in 8:24:01 and 2022nd place. This was quite a remarkable performance as Paul had four punctures, the worst of which was puncture number 3, which saw him running the 1 to 2 km back to the feed station to plead for a spare tube and then with just 5km to go, puncture number 4.
So a combination of running with the bike up hills, pumping up a punctured tyre, to roll down the hills, got him into Transition with very sore feet and legs and with about 6 minutes to spare before cut-off. The run was then going to be a challenge but seeing the Stratford supporters and other Stratford Triathletes kept him going, despite the wind, rain and cramp, and to reach the last 1 km, where he was greeted by Emily Adams, shouting encouragement and running/wiggling with him to the finishing mat.
As Paul said “a challenging day, but loved the support and camaraderie of the Stratford AC club mates.”
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The eyes have it – Louise Stewart
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The Forest Marathon.
Incorporating 10k, half marathon and 17 mile options
Reports – Louise Stewart and Lesley Kirk
Louise’s run in her own words.
I recently did the 17 mile option of the Forest Marathon in Henley in Arden, along with Lesley Kirk.
I’d never heard of this before but it popped up on my Facebook feed and I thought it looked interesting. Many club members know about this from previous years and as a relative newbie it was useful to hear their thoughts about it beforehand; these focused on food, views and maps!
I’m happy to report that this was great prep for a warm tough run. Beautiful scenery, sparse and very subtle signage and the bacon sandwich at CP2 went down better than expected (ie it stayed down!).
My navigational skills were well tested and I was pleased not to get lost as well as also being able to direct others. I had a feeling of real satisfaction having done this and will look out for more similar events in the future as I start to build up my miles.
Lesley’s run in her own words.
The Heart of England Forest is a charity originally set up by the late Felix Dennis and it hopes to eventually plant 30,000 acres of native broadleaf trees, to create a new forest across Warwickshire.
The Forest Marathon, incorporating a 10k, half marathon and 17 mile option, has been set up to help with this process, and every entry covers the planting of two new trees (one for 10k entrants).
I had originally entered the full marathon, but due to a nasty cold virus, I was unable to get the distance training in, so decided on the day that the 17 miler was probably the more sensible option.
Given the warm conditions, it proved a blessing, as the temperature rose rapidly throughout the morning. I ran with several marathon runners for the first ten miles, but once I turned off to go the seventeen mile route, I was virtually on my own. This meant I then had to look at the written instructions every minute or two, as the route markers were difficult to spot! I only went wrong once however, but managed to find the only muddy part of Warwickshire in the process!
I was relieved to finish, but it was a bit underwhelming, in that you ran in through the front door of a school hall and walked up to the registration desk to hand a number tag in but it was still a welcome sight, as was the school kitchens, where they were serving hearty post-run food!
The results were :
Lesley – 18th overall, 6th female in a time of 3.11
Louise – 36th overall, 16th female, in a time of 3.46
There were 101 runners and walkers who completed the distance. |
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The Great North Run.
Report – Phil Brennan.
Andy Cox, a long distance specialist, headed north in search of a fast half marathon time. His choice was the Great North Run, the biggest half marathon in the world, with over 50,000 participants running in Newcastle.
The good weather followed him and helped him to a massive 3:13 minute improvement on his previous best, finishing in 400th place in an impressive 1:24:20.
This bodes well for his attempt on the Berlin Marathon later this autumn.
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