Grit and determination pretty much sums it up

Dirty Weekenders Defy the Cotswold Way Curse!

Report  – Mark Barker

The Cotswold Way Relay is an increasingly popular trail event.  Covering the 102-mile route from Chipping Campden to Bath Abbey, teams of 10 runners each tackle a leg of around 10 miles through the beautiful but relentlessly hilly Cotswold Way National Trail. 

Add in countless stiles, gates, cattle, tourists, this year’s summer heat, logistics and it’s a proper challenge for trail runners.

This year, our club’s trail running group, the Dirty Weekenders proudly fielded a team to take on the challenge. The idea was masterminded by our captain, Jenny Hutchinson, whose father has been involved in organising the event through his running club in Bath for many years. With Jenny leading the planning, all we had to do was get ourselves to the start line… easier said than done!

Four runners were ruled out in the weeks leading up to the event. Amy Rowe fractured a bone in her foot during training, while Andy Snape withdrew on his doctor’s advice, less than 24 hours before the start after a horsefly bite left his arm looking like it belonged to Popeye!   

As the injuries mounted, we spent the final days wondering who the Cotswold Way Curse would strike next!

A special mention must go to Bev Brigden, who, alongside Jenny, played a huge role in getting a team to the start line.  Armed with powers of persuasion that would make a used car salesperson jealous, Bev somehow convinced enough people that running up and down the Cotswolds for an entire day sounded like fun.  She also took on timekeeper duties at the start in Chipping Campden.   

Another thank you goes to Amy Rowe, who despite being unable to run, became our very own taxi service, helping shuttle runners around the course.

The relay format is a little different from the Hilly 100. Rather than physically handing over to the next runner, each leg starts as a mass start at a pre-set time. Great for logistics, but it did mean we barely saw each other all day!

Lisa Lambourn got us underway at 7am from Chipping Campden, followed by Colin Rowlands and Simon Penson on two of the toughest and hilliest sections of the route. 

A late morning reshuffle saw me take on Leg 4, complete with the lengthy diversion of the Cotswold Way around Birdlip, before Fiona Penson carried us on to Stroud. The Southern Gloucestershire legs were then taken on by Alix Frost and Helen Platts, one of our late additions to the team. Jenny then led from the front, followed by her brother Neil Hutchinson, who stepped in just days before the race.   Whether Neil had much choice in the matter remains unclear, but he helped bring the Dirty Weekenders home to Bath Abbey.

Although we were spread across 100 miles of countryside and did not see one another during the race itself, we stayed connected throughout the day with messages, photos, encouragement and the occasional tale of things going wrong.  

It was a great team effort from start to finish and lots of fun.   

With over 100 teams taking part, the atmosphere was fantastic, the scenery spectacular and the support outstanding throughout the day.

Most importantly, the Dirty Weekenders completed the journey from Chipping Campden to Bath Abbey in 18 hours and 45 minutes, finishing a very respectable 27th in the Mixed Team category.

Not bad for a team that spent the build-up battling fractures, horseflies and the mysterious Cotswold Way Curse. We’re already talking about doing it all again next year, although we’d quite like a preparation involving slightly fewer injuries, fewer insect attacks and a little less panic!

Forest of Dean Parkrun

Saturday 4th July

Report – David Jones

A seasoned group of our seniors’ made their way down to this scenic parkrun last Saturday morning for the first of Kate Sergent’s planned parkrun excursions. The next one is planned for the local Leamington event on 24th July (details on Spond) with the promise of a seaside trip to Weston Super Mare to look forward to in the not too distant future.

A 6:50am meet up at the Sports Club, followed by a 4:30am bedtime on Monday morning, having endured England’s epic performance in the World Cup, has left your correspondent in a somewhat bedraggled and confused state for the rest of the week.

What a joy the whole experience was.

Following a 90 minute journey and with no toilets adjacent to the race start, the priority on arriving was to find a suitable loo. Upon spotting the local Lidl, it was decided that a piddle at Lidl was in order, much to the bemusement of the staff as we entered their premises suitably regaled in our yellow and black vests.

It was then onto the race start, cutting things somewhat fine, we arrived just in time.

After a couple of excellent briefings we were off. What a smashing course it was. It certainly wasn’t a quick course due to the meandering and sometimes quite narrow trails and we definitely needed the guidance of the excellent marshalls, as one wrong turn raised the prospect of getting hopelessly lost in the depth of forest.

It was the 781st running of this event and, in comparison with our local parkrun, it is a relatively small in numbers, with just 142 competitors on Saturday, so, as a club, we were close to 10% of the total field

With the race out of the way, it was time for the main event of the day – the post race breakfast at a local cafe. 

With calories consumed it was then time to be homeward bound, with driver Kath Pester expertly navigating some extremely narrow lanes with aplomb. Back home by 1ish after a fabulous morning.

What’s not to like.

As mentioned at the start of this report, there are more similar events to follow, so be there or be square.