What a week for RFRC runners – some incredible performances and some outright event winners!
First off was Ben Timpson way down at the other end of Cornwall in the Godrevy 10k, finishing the beautiful route which includes a decent stretch of beach running in a time of 47:22. Also in action were Sally Tuer and Simon Rowland taking part in the Cromhall Sprint Triathlon in S.Gloucs completing the event in 1h39 and 1h35 respectively.
The distances sky-rocketed from here on in. Taking the next ‘shortest’ race first, super speedy Dean Bennett took part in a one-lapper around a lake. Not just any lake though, it was of course England’s largest, Lake Windermere, which takes a very impressive 47 miles to circumnavigate. Dean grabbed 5th place overall and 1st in his age category in an incredibly quick time of 8h22.
Taking the distance up a notch and bringing it much closer to home, there were two 50-milers to choose from. The Albion Running ‘Westcountry Ultra Flat 50’ starting in Taunton and the ‘Hilly 50’ starting in Minehead. Completing either is an epic achievement, and especially so for the first timers who hadn’t managed a half century before.
For the ‘Flat 50’, which isn’t as flat as it sounds, Nicola Kelly was more than up to the task and had an amazing race to finish as 1st female in 9h34m. She was followed in by Andy Burgess, Georgina Brice, Rich Hill and Scott Weetch.
Over in Minehead the ‘Hilly 50’, which IS at least as hilly as it sounds, was the daunting prospect facing seven club members. A group of six made up of Ali Bisatt, Fintan Murray, James Lewes, Mercedes Thorne, Robin Upton and Sam Wharton stuck together throughout the race and got over the line in 12h25m, having climbed over 8000ft in the process. Ali was actually on his way to work when ‘luckily’ he found he wasn’t needed and so took the opportunity to sign up for the race at the last minute. I think many people would have rather done the day’s work! 100 marathon club member Peter Hall also completed the course, having alternately been baked and then drenched as the weather turned wetter towards the end of the day.
The thing with ultra running is that no matter how far you run there’s always someone who runs further, and this weekend that was Sandra Moffat. Not content with choosing between the Flat or Hilly 50 races, Sandra decided to do them both (!) immediately one after another (!!) by entering the Westcountry Ultra 100 miler, described as ‘one glorious weekend of trail running’, meaning literally the whole weekend. Sandra’s amazing perseverance to complete the event was rewarded with the trophy for 1st female!
Support over both courses was great, with RFRC members manning several of the checkpoints and various club members turning out to cheer the runners on. It was yet another reminder of what a great club this is.