Author: smoggypaul

OK. Hugh is still on holiday and without him I don’t have access to those lovely maps that he does. So this is a little behind the times, as we ‘made this up’ as we went, and its therefore where we went, rather than where we’re going!

Graced by Marcus recovering from injury, we set off towards Albourne led by Mark who wanted to ‘try some paths I’ve not gone down before’. Interestingly it appeared that noone else had gone down them either, and we went through jungle-like conditions with Mark using a big stick to hack a path through undergrowth. Sadly Brian T learned just too late that a ‘Mark sized hole’ in the dense foliage didn’t quite reach his shoulders, so a lot of ducking was in order. Marcus was heard to say ‘I’ve really missed this’ shortly before repeatedly saying ‘I’m a city boy really’ and ‘ow ow ow ow ow’. Nettles you see. Quite a few today. Ah well!

Sue regaled us with her own mothers version of ‘The Mighty Quinn’ with an interesting play on words. We know where she gets it from now. I can’t look at any dog recently without thinking of Gods own son. Confused?, don’t worry, its worse than you think!

Along the way we saw lots more deer [well, we did run through the deer sanctuary!] and on Glastonbury weekend stumbled upon Albournes own festival, Bed Fest! Seriously, its true! Tents (3), camper vans (1) guitars (1), sleepy musicians (1). It was going to be a riot. Sadly we couldn’t stay as Mark needed to get home as he needed a small prick in his mouth (at the dentist, stop thinking naughty thoughts) before he had a tooth out. Lets hope its not his wisdom tooth eh!

Hugh is back next week so normal mapping service should be resumed

Turned out to be about 9 miles – I tracked it as below:

29th June – wot we did run

We’re in the programme to run an ‘event’ at the Summer Fete on July 20th, but desperately need volunteers to take part. We only need 6 people but are struggling to get even that number. If you can help, but are a little shy, PLEASE don’t sit back, your Club needs you! Contact Trevor at: trevor@esb.eu.com and give him some good news!!

Congratulations to everyone who took part in the Downland Dash this weekend. Gill said that “us 3 girls thought it a nice course, despite the slippy woods and well organised with friendly marshalls!” …..even the organiser thought the course “a little tricksy” (sic) whatever that means! It is good to see Mick and Cynthia’s names on the results again!

Photos from the event can be found here.

Here are the remaining trail runs, not necessarily limited to marathons, for the second half of 2013 that seem to have most popularity among members of our Club, as suggested by Hugh. If anyone has any additional information or experiences that they would like to share then just use the ‘Comments’ button to add them!

As there is no Handicap Run in July and August, we are taking a break
from our club night in The Bell.

On 3 July 2013 (This eve is also Round Hill Romp fun run) there will be TWO Summer walks, starting from different points but both ending up at The Fountain in Ashurst.

Walk 1 will be led by Michele, across the fields and river, departing at 7pm from the Downs Link car park next to the Cat & Canary and ending up at The Fountain, Ashurst.

Walk 2 will be led by Liz and Gill and will be an off road walk from Partridge Green, departing from the start of Lock Lane at 6:45pm.

All are welcome whether you want to join one of the walks, run there, or drive. If eating, please order your own food on arrival. For more information contact Gill: gehamiltonorr@gmail.com

Thanks to all who did the Fun Run at Hove Park, on what should have been a sunny, warm afternoon it was in fact a little overcast, a little breezy and a little chilly! At least it was from my vantage point on the Information Desk outside Stokes in Henfield High Street on Gardens and Arts Festival duty. I’m sure it was fine fine in Hove, actually! A special welcome back to Lesley after her long time on the sidelines, Alan who has similarly been afflicted with injuries the last year, and welcome to Nikki, a Jogger of less than a week on the Start Running course and now a veteran fun-runner!

Alan Barwick:          23:09

Michele Longmore:   23:44

Liz Pamment:          30.00

Nikki Hargrave:        33.39

Lesley Besson:        33.55

Congratulations to Mark and Hugh who completed the tough South Downs Marathon again this year. The route is linear, from Slindon to the Queen Elizabeth Park adjacent to the A3 – and of course it follows the undulations of the South Downs Way – all 5728ft of elevation! It’s no consolation that you descend about the same distance, its the ‘up’ that matters! Well done both.

Mark: 4:58:11

Hugh: 5:05:51

We have some new faces around as Lesley takes them through their paces over the next 6 weeks, so take time to say hello to Nikki, Sarah, Natalie and Richard. Last night Lesley took them around most of the Summer Handicap course, and Nikki is already signed up for the Hove Park fun run on Sunday, so well done and good luck to all of you!

These are the overall results in order of time – as you can see we weren’t last but the top teams are VERY quick indeed! Here’s to next year!

SDR 2013 Results