 | ||
| Home | ||
| ||
| Races 2008 | ||
| ||
| Mudlarks | ||
| ||
Some of our NFR 'Expeditionary group'
who travelled to Guernsey for the
2008 Easter Runs.
|
Some of our NFR 'Expeditionary group' who travelled to Guernsey for the 2008 Easter Runs. |
| |||||||||||||||
| 24th Feb 2008 | 11.5 miles MT |
| Venue: | Pewsey school. |
| Travelling time: | 1 hour 15min; left home 8:30am.
Went in 'race car park' on main road; mistake - long walk to start. Spaces available along roads (or in school if early enough). |
| Weather: | Quite mild, chilly wind, dry. |
| Comments: | Hills seem to get harder, but not so muddy as previously. Salomon speed-x shoes worked well. Free T-shirts, though small sizes ran out before Chris finished. Tasty soup at Woodbridge pub afterwards. |
| Age-groups: | Up to v70 for men, v65 for ladies. |
| Results: | Rosemarie won cup for v55 category, in 1h:49m:35s Alec did 2h:20m:38s (took it too easy at start) Other NFR finishers included: Chris & John Hunt, Gill Turcan, David Fairbairn, Roger Watson-Hall, Colin Shaw, Dave Ellis |
| 9th March 2008 | 10 miles, road, "undulating" | ||||
| Venue: | Salisbury Leisure Centre. | ||||
| Travelling time: | 40 mins. | ||||
| Weather: | Sunny, mild, breezy. | ||||
| Comments: | Seemed even harder than last year. Had to walk on steep hill at 6-7miles.
Used new lightweight Nike Zoom2 shoes - fine except 2 blisters on right foot, (probably due to ruck in sock). Serves me right for not trying them out first. | ||||
| Age-groups: | Up to MV70, FV55 | ||||
| Results: |
|
| 21st March 2008 | 10k out-and-back on north coast road, with hilly loop round Vale church in middle. | |||||||||
| 22nd March 2008 | 4.75mile x-c; start behind Vale church, grass and pebbly tracks around common. | |||||||||
| 23rd March 2008 | 4 x 2mile x-c relay; same start as yesterday, but shorter loop, mainly on grass. | |||||||||
| 24th March 2008 | 1/2 marathon road; start in St.Peterport, north up coast road to loop round Vale church (yet again), and back to start. | |||||||||
| Venue: | Guernsey, Channel Islands | |||||||||
| Travelling time: | Flight Southampton to Guernsey 40 mins. | |||||||||
| Weather: | Freezing, gale force winds, wintry showers. | |||||||||
| Comments: | Main factor was wind-strength; horrendous for 1st 3 races,
eased off a bit for 1/2m. Caused both of us to fall in x-c, Alec limped to finish but too bruised in calf and ribs to do any more races. Good group of NFR runners and supporters. Standard of entry very biased towards elite level - not many 'also-rans' like us. Our 'New Forest Chicks' ladies team very much last in relay. | |||||||||
| Age-groups: | Prize categories seemed a bit vague - was promoted to 'vet' or 'supervet'.
Overall series result calculated on sum of finishing positions in all races. | |||||||||
| Results: |
|
| 27th April 2008 | 20k, trail, hilly | ||
| Venue: | Tintern Village Hall. | ||
| Travelling time: | 30 mins (from Symonds Yat camp site). | ||
| Weather: | Warm, bright, light showers. | ||
| Comments: | No problem parking - bit of a walk to start.
Alec came as supporter (still injured from Guernsey) Very hard run, 2 major hills, walked quite a bit. Rocky uneven ground along Offa's Dyke, difficult descents. Prize-giving at Anchor pub, with free drink if you queued long enough. | ||
| Age-groups: | Up to MV60, FV55 | ||
| Results: |
|
| 11th May 2008 | 10 miles, road, hilly | ||
| Venue: | Treloar College, Holybourne, Alton. | ||
| Travelling time: | 1 hour. Lift with John Hunt (Alec stayed home). | ||
| Weather: | Very hot, sunny. | ||
| Comments: | Long walk from car park to race start.
Good NFR turnout (HRRL league event). Much too hot for running, very little shade (even worse than last year's Stur 1/2). Only 2 drinks stations, which ran out of water for later runners. Glad I carried my own water bottle, and managed to get it refilled. Hills not as bad as I expected from course profile, but dehydration set in after 6 miles, and had to drop into walk/jog mode. Used Nike Zoom2 shoes - no problems. | ||
| Age-groups: | Up to MV60, FV55 | ||
| Results: |
|
| 21st June 2008 | 11.5 miles, trail, very hilly; start/finish at Red Kite visitor centre | ||||||
| 22nd June 2008 | 18-ish miles, trail, very hilly; start/finish at Woodlands camp site | ||||||
| Venue: | Devils Bridge (near Aberystwyth) | ||||||
| Travelling time: | 5/6 hours from home. Drove there friday, camped at Woodlands site | ||||||
| Weather: | Forecast bad (very wet and windy) but ok for runs.
Saturday: overcast, few light showers. Sunday: bright, but very windy | ||||||
| Comments: | Link to full report
Alec came as supporter (still coming back from injury). Not very many entries - weather forecast must have put people off. Very hard runs, hilly all the way, great scenery; walked uphill as usual. Routes well-marked with signs and tapes; plenty of water stations with jelly-babies and sultanas. Tried hard on saturday (as UK Trail champs), but on sunday could only manage social run on tired legs. | ||||||
| Age-groups: | Very well-sponsored, with prizes in all age-groups. | ||||||
| Results: |
|
| 5th July 2008 | 8mile, trail, hilly | |||||||
| Venue: | Charmouth school. | |||||||
| Travelling time: | 2 hours. | |||||||
| Weather: | Sunny morning but race was in afternoon: very heavy showers,extremely windy. | |||||||
| Comments: | Found camp site right next to start.
Very hard run, classed as category BM fell-race. | |||||||
| Age-groups: | Very limited vets prizes: only 1st v40/v50 for both male and female. | |||||||
| Results: |
|
| 6th Jul 2008 | 10 mile, road, hilly | ||
| Venue: | Portland. | ||
| Travelling time: | 1hr 15mins (from Charmouth). Parked on grass verge outside school. | ||
| Weather: | Sun/cloud, windy. | ||
| Comments: | Still raining when we left Charmouth (camped there after yesterdays race);
last-minute decision to turn down to Portland as it brightened up. Never arrived so late for a race, only 10 mins before start, had to queue for entry, get changed, queue for loo; made it just in time. Same course as previous years. Had to take it very steady, due to tired legs from yesterday. Alec didn't run again, probably the sensible option. Bath towels again for all finishers - cream this time. | ||
| Age-groups: | Awards in 5-year age-groups (up to mv70, fv60). | ||
| Results: |
|
| 12th Jul 2008 | 10 miles, road/track | |
| Venue: | New Park Farm, Brockenhurst. | |
| Travelling time: | 30 mins. | |
| Weather: | Cool, breezy. | |
| Comments: | Saturday evening pre-NF10 club championship. Same course as last year. | |
| Age-groups: | 1st/2nd/3rd in 10-year groups (40/50/60/70). | |
| Results: |
|
| 19th Jul 2008 | half-marathon forest trail | ||||||
| Venue: | Open barn near Birkenfeld, Germany. (near Trier) | ||||||
| Travelling time: | Ferry Newhavn to Dieppe. Approx 550 miles drive across France. Camped overnight en-route. | ||||||
| Weather: | Cool, cloudy. | ||||||
| Comments: | Forest tracks, muddy paths, very hilly.
Small friendly event;about 150 entries in half-marathon. Also marathon (2 laps) and ultra (3 laps) options. About 50 in each. Very low-key - no facilities, no marshals, but good route-marking (tapes and sawdust) and drinks stations. | ||||||
| Age-groups: | 1st in 10-year groups (40/50/60/70). | ||||||
| Results: |
|
| 27th Jul 2008 | 13.5k mountain race | |||
| Venue: | Habeaurupt, Vosges, France | |||
| Travelling time: | Drove from Germany, spent week camping in area.
Camped at Corcieux, about 20min drive from start. | |||
| Weather: | Hot, humid, showers. | |||
| Comments: | Forest tracks, very hilly.
Climb up one side of valley, back down again, then up other side.
Finished at the top!
Small friendly event;141 finishers. Only 6€ - including minibus back to start. Accepted my England Athletics registration instead of medical certificate. | |||
| Age-groups: | 1st in 10-year groups (40/50/60). | |||
| Results: |
|
| 3rd Aug 2008 | half-marathon, road, hilly | |||
| Venue: | Sturminster Newton. Car park in field at finish; start in town centre. | |||
| Travelling time: | 1hr 15mins. Gave John Hunt a lift in Polo(Alec stayed home); left home 8am to pick him up | |||
| Weather: | Cool, humid, showers. | |||
| Comments: | 10 min walk downhill to start in town, so overall uphill course.
Hard run, forgot about uphill last 3 miles. Best half-marathon time since 2005 (pre-back problem) | |||
| Age-groups: | Up to MV70, FV55 | |||
| Results: |
|
| 24th Aug 2008 | half-marathon, road, hilly | ||||||
| Venue: | Pewsey school. | ||||||
| Travelling time: | 1hr 15mins. | ||||||
| Weather: | Wet roads from rain; sun/cloud, warm, humid, breezy. | ||||||
| Comments: | Good run, half mile steep hill at 4 miles, last mile uphill.
Well organised, same as last year. Plenty of water - could do with some sponges too. Webpage results not in very user-friendly format. | ||||||
| Age-groups: | Up to MV70, FV55 | ||||||
| Results: |
|
| 30th Aug 2008 | 9-stage relay, mt | |||
| Venue: | Test Way footpath. | |||
| Travelling time: | 1hr to Stockbridge. (Alec provided transport) | |||
| Weather: | Hot, Sunny. | |||
| Comments: | 2 teams this time - men's and ladies.
Same leg as last year - easy route Stockbridge to Mottisfont. 5miles straight, then a few turns. Road shoes ok - not too muddy. 45min wait for take-over - estimate didn't include navigational diversions. | |||
| Results: |
|
| 21st Sep 2008 | 13 mile MT (also 8 mile option) | ||||||
| Venue: | Stansted Park, Rowlands Castle (north of Portsmouth). | ||||||
| Travelling time: | 1hr 15mins. | ||||||
| Weather: | Sunny, warm. | ||||||
| Comments: | Good run, very hilly, except last couple of miles.
Water and jelly-babies provided. | ||||||
| Age-groups: | Only 1st 3 seniors and 1st 3 vets. | ||||||
| Results: |
|
| 12th Oct 2008 | half-marathon, road, undulating | ||||||
| Venue: | Gang Warily sports centre. | ||||||
| Travelling time: | 45mins (via Beaulieu). | ||||||
| Weather: | Misty early, sunny and warm later. | ||||||
| Comments: | Start/finish on grass.
Never run well here before, but today was excellent! Intended easy pre-marathon run, but going great after 3 miles, so carried on. Even uphill part in second half not so bad as remembered. Best half-marathon time since 2005 (pre-back problem) | ||||||
| Age-groups: | Up to MV70, FV55 | ||||||
| Results: |
|
| 25th Oct 2008 | Full marathon, road/MT, very hilly | |||
| Venue: | Llanberis, Gwynedd, Wales | |||
| Travelling time: | 6.5hours (mid-week) | |||
| Weather: | Horrendous - storm-force winds, rain. | |||
| Comments: | Start at Nant Peris/finish in Llanberis.
Bus from Llanberis to start, had to queue in rain; start delayed waiting for last busload. Alec opted out, weather too bad; Rosemarie voted to at least start, then see how bad it was. And it was manageable on the road up to 21 miles, but the last 5 miles off-road was pure survival; my Nike road-shoes gave no grip on loose slate/mud/grass; walked 2 miles steep uphill, got blown off feet on the top, then couldn't run on the even steeper downhill. Link to full write-up and photos Snowdon marathon First marathon since 2005 (pre-back problem); faster time than expected. | |||
| Age-groups: | Every 5 years, male and female | |||
| Results: |
|
| 16th Nov 2008 | 10 mile, road, hilly | ||
| Venue: | Q.E.Leisure Centre, Wimborne. | ||
| Travelling time: | 45mins. Parking restricted due to construction work. | ||
| Weather: | Mild, bright, west wind (what a contrast to last year!). | ||
| Comments: | Shorts and vest plenty warm enough.
Same course as 2007: Long walk/jog to start. Started steady, worked up to race speed after couple of miles. Managed my target of sub-80mins. Several other NFR runners but not Alec - he had enough last year. Free tea and home-made cakes at finish!!! | ||
| Age-groups: | Awards to 1st 3 in 10-year age-groups (up to mv60, fv55). | ||
| Results: |
|
| 15th Dec 2008 | Road | |
| Venue: | Burton. | |
| Travelling time: | 10mins. | |
| Weather: | V.cold, misty.Light north wind. | |
| Comments: | Ground still a bit muddy in places.
Got a cold, so found it hard to breathe; time not too bad, considering. | |
| Age-groups: | 5-year groups both M and F | |
| Results: |
|
| Return to homepage |