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STRAVA FEED

By'eck (a trip t' Dales by Mick W)

They call it the 'The Marathon with Mountains" yet it's not quite a marathon and I've never really considered them mountains...until now that is. Welcome to Yorkshire and The 3 Peaks Race.

Comprising 23.3 miles of trail and fell in its purest form with 5,279 feet of ascent/descent over Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough. Throw into the mix plenty of sideways rain, poor visibility, sleet burning your eyes and even some snow on the tops. A bargain at £25, it would be rude not to give it a go.

The 61st annual event had 1,019 registered competitors and 701 finishers, fortunately I was one of the lucky ones that made it around relatively unscathed. I was awarded a Standard 4:58:59 finish time, 210/329 MV40 and are genuinely just happy to be alive.

Two days later and I'm still descending the stairs on my backside, asked if I would do it again...hell yeah!

City of York Triathlon

Steve W was back in full-flow multisport mode on Sunday (26th April) in the City of York Sprint triathlon (Swim 400m / Bike 18K / Run 5.4K). Cold but sunny conditions prevailed at this entirely off-public-roads event staged at York Sport Village.

The venue is something of a mixed blessing as although the entire racing route is on closed and private roads, the site is not huge. Logistics therefore dictate a 6 lap out-and-back bike course with a dead turn at each end meaning 11 gruelling almost-dead-stop-followed-by-full-acceleration efforts; not a course for bikes with poor brakes.

Fortunately, though it could hardly be described as cutting edge, Steve has a bike that lends itself well to being flicked about on such courses. The bike, in fact, is something of a transition-based celebrity. It is often - in this era of 'full aero carbon monocoque everything' - considered by faster triathletes as, at best, something rescued from a time capsule.

It is true that Steve's 'chrome' bike is a simple steel tubed monolith, almost exclusively made from parts lovingly salvaged from the 1990s, and features many home-adapted bits and pieces cunningly fashioned with hand tools and an old-school eye. What is also true is that it Steve's chrome' bike doesn't really respect the 'full aero carbon monocoque everything' approach to racing and regularly leaves the riders of multi-thousand pound carbon sculptures scatching their aero-helmets in disbelief.

And so it was the case on Sunday with Steve smashing the bike leg to help him to a clear 1st in age group and a joint 4th position overall out of a field of about 300.

Some old bikes, and some old blokes, just refuse to roll over.


More half mara glory plus the esoteric Andems

Taking a leaf from Rose-the-master-pacer's book, Emma S went head-to-head with the Manchester half marathon on Sunday (19th April) and came away with a new PB of 1:57:03, her first visit to the sub-2 hour club. Well done Emma, we look forward to sub-1:55!

On Wednesday 22nd April a few Go Veggie members made it to an evening 5K event hosted by Andems Runners. Andems' evening 5Ks are fantastically and enthusiastically organised by people who love running for its own sake, with no quarter given to gimmick or cynical financial gain. Andems are also very well connected; Dianne Modahl herself started Wednesday's epithetic race - a brutal multi-terrain affair involving an outrageously lung-popping uphill start offset to some degree by stunning Pennine views. Mick W was first Go Veggie home with a sub-20 minute top 10 overall finish, but all GVs that made it back alive thoroughly enjoyed it.

Take in an Andems event if you can. There's something very authentic about the whole experience.






Half Marathon PB

Congratulations to Rosie W who, following a very well paced effort at the Thirsk 10, continued to demonstrate perfect pacing prowess in the Ackworth Road Runners half marathon event held last Sunday (12th April). The course for this event is hilly to say the least and a strong wind on the day made the going anything but fast. In spite of this, Rose kept a very cool head and held back her efforts knowing that fatigue - especially given the going - would bite hard and dramatically slow fellow competitors down. The reward was a PB for the distance of 1:55 plus change; a full quarter of an hour better than her previous 13.1 mile best. Therein lies a lesson.

A few days after the event the Gods of running reminded Rose that some days are good, and some not so. A spill whilst out training saw our latest PB maker needing a little TLC (pic). Ouch!


In other news, many members have kept up with parkrunning this past two weekends but perhaps the event of note was one undertaken by Emma S and Steve W whilst on holiday touring Ireland.

Bere Island is a small island that lies off the already remote Beara Peninsula in the deepest south west of the country. In order to participate, unless you live on Bere Island, competitors have to take an early Saturday morning ferry from the mainland and then get to the start point which is 8K away from the ferry port. Emma tried to work out the logistics but couldn't get much in the way of straight answers so our intrepid GV duo - having little idea what might happen - just took a blind leap of faith and made a bleary eyed appearance at the ferry pick up point in their tried and trusted race shoes.

Emma takes up the story:
"It was quite exciting as the Bere Island ferry pulled in and about 30 runners, who had been quietly arriving on the quay, made their way aboard. The trip to the island only took about 10 minutes and on our arrival we were suspiciously met by a couple of very dilapidated vans - an old VW transporter, and an even older Transit. The Transit had only half of its exhaust system left, the rear light clusters had been smashed out, and every single panel was bashed in. It slowly dawned that this was to be our 'bus' to the start. 
The mystery of the 'critical link' bus driver was also solved when our ferry pilot, complete with running shoes, casually - and with a wry humour - uncomfortably crammed each and every runner, a baby buggy; and two dogs into both of the vans and then hopped into the VW and set off up a twisting, steep and incredibly narrow road. Death seemed a certainty. 
On the upside, as it turned out, our 'bus' - by Bere Island standards - was in pretty good shape. Not one car we saw had an intact set of panels or lights. Full exhausts seemed optional, and it seems it's compulsory to stop and chat through opened drivers' window to every vehicle that is met driving in the opposite direction as chunks of vegetation are casually gathered by any protruding nearside bodywork. 
Incredibly, after about 10 minutes of sinuous hairpins we arrived at the parkrun start - and what a surprise we had. Waiting for us were about 60 of the Island's inhabitants at an immaculately maintained multi-use sports pitch, complete with full changing facilities, toilets and showers. The islanders are only about 200 in total number, but boy have they  embraced the parkrun. All human life was here - and participating; from old blokes, through ladies in printed dresses, right down to about a dozen youngsters. Amongst the number were, of course, some pretty serious runners, but this event was clearly more about community than athletic prowess. 
Nonetheless, at the get-go competition was fierce. The course itself offered beautiful vistas, running on a decaying single-track  road around a rugged Atlantic-dominated headland up and down some pretty fearsome hills. It was tough, but superbly rewarding. It was also hot. By the time the starter had said 'go' at 9.46am (bearing in mind all parkruns the world over start at 9.00am sharp), it was something like 18°C.
Post run, the esoteric nature of the thing continued and all 'mainland' runners were urged to Murphy's cafe / post office / general store / wickerman manufacturers for tea, coffee and cake. No one took any persuading and all sat about amongst the incongruous palm trees eating, drinking, and chatting until the 'busses' reappeared to begin the journey back to the ferry and then mainland.
 
The whole experience was slightly surreal but highly enjoyable. The parkrun phenomenon has gripped the island and must be responsible for 90% of its GDP in the simple form of ferry fares and Murphy's cake consumption. 
A lifetime experience! Simple, bonkers, and infinitely memorable."
Sounds like a very worthwhile experience and well worth the effort!

Jon Z back in the saddle

After the disappointment of missing out on the recent Clumber Duathlon due to illness, Jon Z again demonstrated his irrepressible grit by returning to competition in the Helmsley multi terrain 10K on Easter Sunday.

In spite of the virus-induced interruption to his build up, and the very near loss of a shoe in the gloopy conditions of the race itself, Jon still managed a 4/9 position in his age category and 211/310 overall.

Without doubt he was first in the category of those racing with a pacemaker and carbon fibre heart valve.

Just awe-inspiring stuff.

Trunce One

Traditionally, the fast forward of daylight saving in March sees the return of lighter evenings and the start of the hotly anticipated Trunce series. Described as "a one off race in true cross country style" cannot be argued, it is truly unique. The organisers own quote solidified by the 347 participants that huddled the start line on Monday night. There was just one thing missing..... daylight. In true Yorkshire style the skies blackened and the rain fell in biblical proportions. Rose W was the only GV representitive and battled through the quagmire and thigh deep (in places) river crossings to a 24/85 female result, bagging 3 series points in the process.

Well done Rose, you certainly appear to be enjoying the experience!


Photo by Steve Frith (please support this excellent cause).

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