Ultra Crazy

Go Veggies have gone ultra crazy lately. Jenna G, Steve C and Mick W have all pushed their endurance capabilities to the bonkers end of insane in three truly character-testing gruellers.

The Bullock Smithy

For reasons of officialdom, and accordingly promoted as a long-distance hiking event, the Bullock Smithy is really a fearsomely tough fell race that relentlessly grinds competitors down over 56, yes… 56 miles of the truly horrendous climbs, descents and leg-snapping underfoot conditions of Derbyshire’s celebrated Peak District. Jenna G and Mick W decided to risk their ability to walk in later life and - with a genuine and entirely justifiable fear of the unknown - took to the start line.

It bears a pause to think about the true difficulty of such an arduous event. For many, a marathon on fairly level ground is an event too far. A marathon over the fells of the Peak District is an altogether different prospect - we’re indisputably talking about a serious endurance effort. So, imagine doing such a marathon, then - without even pausing to stretch out - doing another; then - for good measure -sticking another four miles on top of that; oh, and also battling the difficulties of navigation throughout the course of the night. This kind of stuff breaks people.

Even for stick-thin ultra-endurance racers who permanently bear the ‘gaunt and haunted’ look, and who have decades of fell experience, this is serious stuff. To be kind, Mick was pretty under-prepared for this kind of mega-effort with only a couple of years of high-peaks racing experience under his belt. In contrast, Jenna, in spite of being a very natural runner, was - by any measure - impossibly under-prepared. With parkruns, PECOs, Trunces and similar short / hard efforts underpinning her running experience, something like the Bullock Smithy - according to conventional wisdom - should be impossible. Luckily, Jenna doesn’t ‘do’ conventional.

It’s fair to say that both suffered unimaginably during one full day and night of sheer purgatory but against all odds - and some very dark patches - both succeeded. Mick finished in 17 hours and 49minutes Jenna finished literally just behind in 17 hours and 54 minutes. Mick did incredibly well but Jenna’s achievement was simply astonishing: perhaps the GV performance of 2017.

The Chorley 6-Hour Road Race

Meanwhile, Steve C, in a genuine test of mental as well as physical endurance, put sanity on hold and took on the Chorley 6-Hour Road Race. This event is based in Astley Park (in Chorley) and never leaves it. In fact, it hardly even threatens the park’s boundaries at all: because the full six hour race loop measures only 732 metres (under half a mile). Competitors were released from their responsible adult at 10.00am and were expected to run round-and-round-and-round-and round that very same loop, non-stop, until 4.00pm that afternoon.

As if that wasn’t enough, the day itself was wet and windy and the track muddy from works being done to install pipes right in the middle of the course.

Steve reported:

“I suppose that something over 1100 feet of climbing in 48km wouldn't be that surprising on most runs but I had rather expected the park equivalent of a genuine running track. Predictably I had a bad 90 minutes in the middle of it which blew away my chances of the 55km or so I'd been hoping for and I just scraped the 30 miles. Best news was that the prizes were done in alcohol with the winners getting vodka, the placers wine and the rest of us a couple of bottles of ale. A parkrun, but not as we know it.”

Steve has now been made aware it’s possible to skip the totally unnecessary six hour precursor and simply buy a bottle of decent ale from a supermarket for about £1.50

The White Rose Ultra

Is what it says, an ultra in the White Rose county of Yorkshire - just. The course is based in the (very lumpy) Pennines right to the west of the county and, at times, runs perilously close to the boundary with the permanently wet and grey side of the hills. Two GVs turned up to face the relentless hills: a relatively fresh Mick W and an injured Steve C; still sporting numerous muscle tears and a generally broken body from his 6-hour Chorley trackathon.

Steve, in spite of being held together with KT tape and quite literally reduced to a hobble in the very first 100 yards of the 30 mile effort, knuckled down, fought the pain and - incredibly - succeeded in making the distance.

Mick recounts his own personal experience:

“During idle chit chat with a fellow parkrun regular whilst awaiting the start of our local 5k I was informed of an upcoming event that he had already entered, but which I’d never heard of: the White Rose Ultra. Apparently you have the choice of entering a 30, 60 or 100 mile version of the race based around the same 30-mileloop, mostly off road and always hilly. Intrigued by what I’d heard and needing to know more, a quick search online whilst recovering from the parkrun effort revealed that with only a few remaining weeks before the event I was faced with a tough decision. It turned out that from midnight that very night, the few remaining places were more expensive. I wasn’t trained for, and had no intention of running, an ultra and - after all - my curiosity was really only driven by a desire to see what my fellow park runner had entered. But, faced with the screen and panicked at the thought of a remaining place costing more the next day, the Yorkshire tight-arse in me took over and unable to fight four decades of socialisation I hit the payment button. A confirmation e-mailed pinged back almost immediately and then the realisation sank in… what on earth have I just done? The immediate horror was soon put to one side - I’d saved a tenner, that’s what I’d done!

With a much needed requirement to get up to ultra distance fitness from my 5Ks of a weekly parkrun, plus a curiosity to see the course I convinced my bro that a steady recce would help maintain his out of tri-season fitness. Blind-sided with the promise of a free lunch, he was in and a date was duly set. On the day and with only fifteen miles of the recce run (the first half of the course), I was completely spent and couldn't comprehend having to do the same again, especially as the second half of the course profile looks even harder. Not to worry, there was still two and a half weeks to go, one of which was completely taken up by a family holiday away… oh crap.

The start came all too soon and the first half of the course was a familiar retrace of the recce with no surprises. My plan was to stick to the similar ‘steady’ pacing we’d knocked out a couple of weeks before knowing that today was double the distance. Unmanned water stations were alternated with full on feed stations with a vast array of goodies that any ultra runner could wish for - right down to the flat ‘roller cola’. I took nothing; I was, after all, ‘only’ doing the 30 miler and had come fully prepared with ‘Tailwind’ and a Snicker (see pic for motivational confectionary message). I hit the halfway mark a full 20 minutes ahead of the race plan and, although secretly proud of the swift pace, knew that it was likely a drastic mistake regarding the second half. It was.

The northern half of the loop started with an immediate and incredibly steep road climb that for me was unrunnable. I shamefully walked, eating chocolate! The climbing continued but eased enough for me to adopt a run/walk strategy to the top which seemed to go on forever. I wrongly assumed that the finish would be essentially downhill. It wasn't, and any opportunity to include more climbing whilst winding back to the finish had been cruelly incorporated by the course planners. I felt for the 60 and 100 mile competitors who had a further 1, or 2 plus, more laps to do respectively.

I crossed the finish line to a welcome cheer and applause, collected my finisher T-shirt and medal and was pointed to some food, the marshal asking:

“Would you like some free chilli or soup?”

“Yes please, I’m from Yorkshire. Do you have anything vegetarian?”

“It’s all vegetarian”.

Now, that was a result.”

For the 30.08 mile course incorporating a height gain of 4544 ft Mick’s finishing time was 5:21:03 and his overall position was 34/202. A truly impressive performance.

Jenna and Mick still in Bullock Smithy denial

Mick and Steve C mustering for The White Rose Ultra

Mick smashing the White Rose Ultra

Judgementally sneering confectionary

Run / bike / run... and swim

Duathlons

Rosie Wigg, still very much new to riding - let alone racing - a bike, proved that a decent cardio-vascular system translates well across disciplines and performed well at only her second ever duathlon. The event was the Oulton Park Sprint (run 4.3K / bike 21.6K / run 4.3K) held on closed roads at the Oulton Park motor-racing circuit - an absolutely exceptional venue for multisport racing. Rose mixed it with full-on aero bikes (pic) and could easily knock minutes off her time given more biking experience and an aero setup.

Emma S also featured on the duathlon scene taking on the hideously hilly and technical Carsington Sprint event in Derbyshire’s Peak District (read very hilly). The event is long for a ‘sprint’ and comprised a 5K run, an exceptionally tough 30K bike, followed by a final leg-killing 5K run. The bike leg is super-serious and involves lots of slippery surfaces, frighteningly fast and technical descents, and a total of 231 metres of climbing - much of it up a very tough single fall-off-sideways kind of hill. Emma paced the whole thing well and put in a very strong bike leg to finish 5^th in age group in a time just sub-two hours. This would have been 4^th but for a very unfortunate and totally unforgivable cheat in the form of a fellow female competitor who drafted a male club mate for the whole duration of the bike leg and, unfortunately, escaped detection. Slow handclap…

Extreme Swims

Steve C returned to the crazy world of extreme swims last week. This is an esoteric world that tends to feature ridiculous temperatures, mega-distances, unforgiving sea currents, or some other fiendish twist that makes the already-difficult business of open-water swimming even harder than it needs to be. Steve’s most recent near-death adventure involved a (theoretical) 500 metre distance and involved the compulsory use of a glow stick.  No open water swim should ever require the compulsory use of such a thing.

Cutting to the chase, Steve excelled in the mind-over-matter challenge of this particular night swim and though finishing well up the overall field still managed to actually notice and enjoy the moon and starlit experience - all this in spite of clocking a GPS-recorded distance of 680m. Sighting in open water is notoriously difficult as it is; sighting in open water in the dark is altogether just on a different level.

Paddling and Plastic

Sandman Sprint Triathlon

Steve C left his distinctly uncomfortable ‘comfort zone’ of bonkers-ultras to take part in the Sandman Sprint Tri (400m (sea) swim / 25K bike / 5K run) set in and around the beautiful venue of Newborough Forest, Anglesey. Never one to make events easy - even short ones - Steve takes up the story:

“I like to think I'm a fairly organised sort of chap in my own sporting sphere but obviously my organisational skills don't transfer to multisports. Before judging me too harshly, as I worked late on Friday, we did have to get up at 2.30 in the morning to walk Len and drive to Anglesey for registration.

The swim was not my fault. Apparently the organisers over-compensated for a changing tide that dragged competitors out to sea last year by staging the course too close to land this time (out to a buoy then parallel to the shore). The result was you could - and many did - paddle the whole course! It was sad to see even the elite guys who were trying to swim only able to take 15 seconds out of those walk / running it.

The bike was OK. It was an uphill start which tested me and made for a slightly hairy finish at it was littered with road humps to slow general traffic. I talked with one lady who was complaining that a friend of hers had told her the bike course was flat. We decided she must have misheard her friend who concluded must have said: 'flat for Wales'.

I say the bike was OK, well it was but for a slight problem with my cycle shoes. They’d started to disintegrate and I didn't notice this until I was setting up in transition. (Fortunately, the swim leg was such a farce that I was able to take the strapping out of my goggles whilst paddling ashore and use that to tie my shoe in place). They are old Sidi shoes that have a ratchet system on solid plastic which meant I had assorted shards of brittle plastic inside the shoes while honking up the hills (I doubt my style could be described as dancing on the pedals).

I’m thinking of taking them back - I've only had the 25 years out of them.

The run was so my thing. It was on tracks and trails through wooded stabilized sand dunes where I’ve previously done a much harder caniX route with the lad. Relative to anyone else in my bit of the race I was flying [pic] and must've overtaken 20-30 people.

Sadly, I don't know my overall result. I think the organisers must have had me down as going out with the first wave since my 'swim' time appears to be 3 times that of most people. I sent in a message to try to right this egregious wrong and I hope it might eventually make all the difference as to whether I came in 100th or 125th.

After the race we drove to Benllech and much drink was taken while we waited to get into our holiday let. In no way connected to said drink, this proved much easier when I found Bryn Meirion was the name of the terrace rather than the house, and there were 4 houses with this name on them… and I’d realised I  was trying to break into the keypad sited on the back of number 4 rather than number 2.

Back to ultras, I think.”

Sundowner Middle Distance Triathlon

Meanwhile, Steve W - in a bid to leave options over for Euro / World age-group events next year - flipped places with Steve C and instead of his usual sprints took on the Sundowner Middle Distance Tri (1900m swim / 90K bike / 21K run) held around Allerthorpe near York.

For different reasons to Steve C’s swim, Steve W’s swim also started as something of a farce. Many of the competitors (including Steve) were caught out by an unseasonably cold water temperature, which made the 1900 metres of murky, choppy and crowded waters a real battle. Strong swimmers seemed unfazed: Steve struggled with frozen muscles and an ice-cream headache.

The windy and tough bike leg brought better fortune, though, and Steve made up a good deal of ground passing literally hundreds of competitors in both his own wave and waves that had set off beforehand. He’d chosen to ride an old favourite steel-framed bike with only a single freewheel (52 x 16) with nothing even approaching a deep-dish rim in sight. Many riders of carbon-framed aero-wheeled ‘super bikes’ he passed must have wondered what on earth was going on.

The run proved tough. A half marathon is no easy distance in its own right and run off the back of a soul-freezing swim and 56 mile bike, it becomes a whole new world of pain. In spite of some rough patches Steve held on reasonably well to his places gained in the bike and finished in 4:55:39 with a position that should see an easy qualification to next years Euro and World age-group championships.

Steve C's ups-and-downs of ups and downs

A couple of ongoing niggles put paid to any chance of run-training and as a consequence Steve C found himself lining up for the Sale and Chorlton Water Park Trail Marathon both carrying injuries and very under-prepared . Steve is an experienced distance runner and knew of the upcoming folly but had persuaded a colleague to run the event and so set about the 26.2 miles of mixed terrain feeling an approximately equal mix of trepidation and self-imposed moral obligation. The pain and suffering came, as predicted, towards the end of the race but Steve - refusing to yield - reduced his efforts to a run/walk strategy and finished; albeit in a slower time and rather more pain that even he had anticipated.

A couple of weeks of nursing and recuperation followed which opened up the chance for a joint Steve / Len effort at the Dog Jog's Bark in the Park CaniX-style event. Len didn’t allow his own now-veteran status - nor Steve’s injuries - to get in the way of a train-like pulling performance which saw the pair duly rewarded with a top-ten finish.

Now, anyone ‘normal’ who had run-till-they-dropped in the formidable V3K, then been laid low with injuries, then done a trail marathon whilst still injured and with no preparation, then been pulled around a CaniX event by a monster of a dog - might justifiably have a well deserved rest.

Not Steve. Still feeling miffed at his V3K performance and feeling the need to serve penance, last weekend (26^th August) he took on the craziness that is the St Begas Ultra - a 58K / 36 mile fell run through the heart of The Lake District. In short, thankfully, things went pretty much to plan. Pulling on his vast experience and a ton of support tape (pic) Steve made contained efforts up Honister Pass, Grey Knotts and Haystacks; had a good leg through Ennerdale Forest; made a determined effort up the killer Bummers Hill and ongoing Dent Fell section; and enjoyed a final - comparatively easy 4 miles to the finish.

Pacing skills and sheer grit saw Steve comfortably beat his time over the same course last year and he may now - deservedly - have something of a breather. Actually, he has to: he still can’t walk properly.

Drunk Dodgin'

Foremarke Hall Sprint Triathlon (Swim 400m / Bike 20K / Run 5K)

Emma S continued her excellent bike form on Sunday 2nd July where she recorded the second-fastest age-group bike leg in the Foremarke Hall sprint tri, which helped to power her to a creditable 5/25 in her age group and 17/72 in the female field overall. Emma hasn’t been able to fit in much (any) swim training this season so has huge potential to improve further - as long as she can juggle training and keep her form in  the other disciplines, of course.

Doncaster Town Centre 5K

Emma again flew the Go Veggie flag on what is one of her favourite 5K courses and had an impressive run to finish in 23.53. Her finish time was all the more impressive given the hot and humid conditions on the evening of the race, plus the ‘interesting’ crowd participation that traditionally accompanies this event. Racing around the centre of Doncaster post 7.00pm attracts all manner of spectators from pub-goers to the town’s all-too-many cardboard-city dwellers. It’s generally a very good natured affair but it has been known for competitors to have to hurdle the occasional collapsed drunk.

Leger Man Middle Distance Triathlon (Swim 1900m / Bike 85K / Run 20K)

Steve W is at the upper end of his triathlon age-group cohort so, rather than concentrating on his specialism of sprint-distance tris, is mixing things up a bit this year. As part of his not-going-stale strategy, Steve took to the start line of this middle distance triathlon last Sunday with a single determined plan not to overdo the bike leg. A cracking (for Steve) 1900m swim split of 31.04 saw him out of the water in 12^th position overall and a swift transition saw him out on to the bike course in 9^th.

And so to the plan of a measured bike effort. This was reportedly difficult for Steve, who had to remain super-disciplined and allow several fellow competitors to come by him and disappear up the road in order to stay under his self-imposed limit of 80% of his maximum heart rate.

The end of the 85K bike leg saw Steve tired - but crucially not frazzled - and he was able to painfully shuffle a little faster than a few others (pic) and picked up a few spots in the 20K run leg to finish an impressive 7^th overall in a time of 4:33:09.

Triathlons of this distance are all about pacing and though it’s a fine line between optimising speed and being doubled over in a hedgerow, Steve thinks it might be possible to raise his pace in the bike leg just enough to bring about an overall improvement. Watch this space…

Mountains, wins and tender spots

V3K

Not content with taking on one of the toughest marathon-distance events anywhere: the V3K, Steve C made the daunting task an awful lot harder by falling and damaging ribs / side / muscles - not once - but twice in the days leading up to the event. Now, even on top form and on a good day this is one ultra-event where - given the horrendous terrain and stringent cut-off times - even a simple ‘finish’ is far from a given. When not on top form, few ‘normal’ people would dare to take the start: but then Steve isn’t a normal person.

In spite of the self-induced handicap, Steve, in extreme pain at times, still gave it a go and managed to conquer the very serious summits of Snowdon, Garnedd Ugain, Crib Goch, Elidir Fawr, Y Garn, Glyder Fawr, Glyder Fach and Tryfan before ultimately calling it a day at the point he both literally and metaphorically keeled over in a horribly painful DNF at the second aid station at Ogwen. At this stage Steve was down to a 3kph average pace but, amazingly, was still within cut-off times.

Unfinished business in Steve’s book…

Scissett Sprint Tri

Counterpointing Steve’s bad day, Emma S had a fantastic day at the Scissett sprint triathlon (Swim 412m / Bike 17.6K / Run 4.2K) where she smashed an age-group win in a time of 1:16:30. This course, albeit slightly short, is not for the faint hearted. The bike section is very technical and hilly and includes the brutal 5km-long climb of Emley Moor. The run is just as hard with lots of hard and punchy climbs and uneven underfoot conditions. As a bonus, not only did Emma win her age group, but also achieved the fastest female time ever recorded for the event’s bike-course segment on Strava.

Matlock CC Medium Gear 25

In bike-racing news, last weekend Steve W took part in the last medium gear (72”) event of the 2017 season with a twiddle-fest in the Matlock CC 25 mile event in Derbyshire’s Peak District. All medium gear racing is physically and mentally taxing, medium gear racing over 25 miles is both of the above, plus, almost certain to leave physical reminders in the tenderest parts of a racer’s anatomy: and so it came to pass. As some consolation, Steve won the event in 1:04:03, more than a minute quicker than the second place rider.

Unfortunately one of the recent rounds of this esoteric series was cancelled due to appalling weather conditions, meaning Steve could only compete in three of the 2017 events: the minimum number of finishes required to count for overall series positions is four. A pity really as Steve’s two wins and a fifth place might well have helped him to a series podium.

A different Steve, but more unfinished business…

GVs far and wide

Up on t’ tops

In preparation for his upcoming Vegan 3K Ultra,  Steve C was joined by Mick and Steve W to recce the latter half of this absolute killer of a course - over which competitors have to take in 15 peaks higher than 3,000 feet. Add to the mix many more peaks between 2000 and 3000 feet, the Welsh weather, the (often) moonscape terrain and the result is maybe one of the toughest events over the full 26.2 mile marathon distance to be found anywhere. It took the Steve’s and Mick almost four hours to cover the latter 13 miles - and this is probably the easiest half…

Unbelievably, just two days after this Welsh leg-wrecker, Steve C was back on the fells to compete in the 20 mile version of the LDWA’s Hebden Boundary event. Just one shower conspired against competitors, who otherwise enjoyed good weather and splendid Pennine views. Steve reports having a tough but enjoyable run with one horrendous ascent, some proper high-ground mire, and a couple of more benign sections including pleasant valleys and riverside trails to take his mind off the pain. Confirming he is, in fact, human - Steve admitted his legs were a bit sore afterwards.

In shorter but no less brutal fell-running action: Jenna G and Mick W raced the Trunce last Monday and both smashed it. Jenna rarely fails to spot even the best-hidden course photographers (pic) and continues to get faster and faster. She only (very) narrowly missed a sub-40 minute finish, whilst Mick again snuck under the coveted 30 min Trunce marker with a 29:59. Jenna was 32/114 overall in the female race, Mick was 17/86 in the MV40-49s.

10Ks

Jamie L, like Jenna, is showing some real potential and recently achieved a sub 45 min run in Worcester AC’s Pitchcroft 10K. Jamie reports that he could most definitely have pushed harder and beaten his 56/162 overall position and 44:53 time. Effective pacing is a tough one but Jamie’s clearly determined to crack it.

Both recovering from bouts of poor health, Jon Z and Emma S recently tried their legs and returned to the 10K distance, Jon competing in at Marske-by-the-Sea event near Cleveland and Emma at Askern, South Yorkshire. Neither were totally happy with their performances, but both fully understand that sick bed to10K PB takes more than a little time to achieve. They’ll be back…

Multisport

Steve W had serious race-face on for the recent Southport Sprint Triathlon (750m swim / 20K bike / 5K run). The event was a qualifier for next year’s ETU Age Group European Championship so wasn’t one for dawdling. Steve had a reasonable (for him) salt-water swim, his usual strong bike and a decent run and did indeed perform well enough to qualify for a place on the start line of the 2018 euro championship. Whether he takes his place is a different matter. The timing is bad and the event is in Glasgow…

Steves

Determined not to be out-suffered by Mick W, Steve C was back racing on the Peak District’s uplands on Sunday 7^th May when he took on the 23mile version of the LDWA’s Stanage Stumble. The event organisers advise that the event comprises a “Challenging route over Limb Valley, Houndkirk Road, Stanage Edge - returing via Redmires Moor, Rudd Hill and Limb Valley mainly off road on good tracks and paths”. The event organisers are also known for understatement and for Steve himself to report “surprisingly little flat”, you just know it was hard. At least the weather played ball offering fine and dry conditions giving great views throughout the entire five and a half hours it took Steve to complete the course.

The same day saw Steve W back in sprint triathlon action, this time involving a ‘rolling’ bike course across the Yorkshire Wolds around Driffield. A surprisingly decent (for Steve) 400m pool swim was followed by a strong 19K bike leg (pic) and a hang-on-in-there twisty-turny, multi-lap 5K run which - all combined - resulted in an age group win and a thoroughly reasonable 10/302 overall.

The Tough Files

8^th April - Missing the Mark

Steve W took to the wholly esoteric world of medium gear (72”) time trial racing again on 8^th April with a race over 25 miles on a known fast course near Newmarket. A good day with only a light breeze saw Steve giving the event his best go and almost making the sub-hour-medium-gear-25 hall of fame (a very exclusive club) with a 1:00:34 effort. Compounding just missing the hour mark was the relative disappointment of missing the podium too with a 4^th place overall. Steve reports he wrung himself out and given an inability to be 30 years younger that some ‘bike tweaks’ may be the only way he’ll ever crack this one.

14^th April - Scary Night Swim

Steve C consistently manages to find the strangest (and toughest) events. Swimming in Lake Windermere in April is challenging enough: swimming in Lake Windermere in April after nightfall is a different sphere of challenging entirely. In a wetsuit designed for swimming, a couple of kilometres in a temperature of only 9 degrees Celsius was only ever going to be a rough experience and - even following a winter of indulgence and a subsequent layer of ‘natural insulation’ - the halfway point saw Steve shivering uncontrollably and violently. In that way that he can, though, Steve put the pain to one side and finished the event to a reward of a roaring beach bonfire and steaming mugs of cocoa. We don’t know if he knows you can just buy cocoa at the supermarket.

29^th April - Three Peaks Madness

Mick W is undoubtedly inspired by the crazy world of Steve C and is becoming something of a pain-meister himself. The Yorkshire Three Peaks are a renowned challenge to walk; so why not have a fell race over them? Well, on Saturday 29^th April nearly a thousand people did - and Mick was amongst them (pic). The conditions - which can be notoriously foul - at least didn’t conspire against competitors on this occasion, and even allowed each peak to be clearly viewed from each of the others for the entire race duration. Now, this can be a very good or - depending on mental toughness - a very bad, thing. Running over hideously challenging terrain for an hour, yet seemingly getting no closer to the next lung-bursting 2000 foot ascent can play havoc with motivation. Mick was well prepared, though, and slogged it out to a 437/699 overall finish in a time of 4:37:35. Almost three hundred competitors didn’t make critical time cut-off points and were pulled from the race. Putting Mick’s finish into further perspective, this is not an event that is open to any entrant; competitors have to prove via previous results that they are capable of running the fells so each and every entrant is a proven-capable endurance runner.

During the event, Jenna G, in support of Mick, made her own big-hill debut and blasted up (and back down) Ingleborough to offer some much-needed humorous abuse. Serious fell running seeds may well have been sown…

30^th April - First Tri

Steve W made his 2017 multisport debut with an appearance in the Ancholme sprint event (400m swim / 20K bike / 5K run) on Sunday 30^th. A result of 2^nd in age group and 6^th overall belies the fact that until the very morning of the race Steve wasn’t sure if he’d even make the start line. A huge bike crash only two weeks previously saw a very battered and bruised Go Veggie really struggle in the run with a performance that was at least a minute slower than would ordinarily be expected.

Tough lot these Go Veggies!

Mud, wins, hills, plus multisports are go...

5^th March - PECO Cross Country Series Round 5/5 - Roundhay Park, Leeds

The stalwart and almost-always-muddy quartet of Jenna G, Rosie Wigg, Emma S and Mick W made their final cross-country appearance of the season and - though battered, fatigued and bruised - helped their first claim running club (Ackworth Road Runners) to decent overall positions in the final reckoning for this club-based competition. Ackworth ladies did particularly well and retained the coveted status of premier division team. Individual results in this final round were: Mick 128/389 in the men’s event overall; whilst in the women's race, Emma placed 110, Rose 142, and Jenna 161/267 overall.

12^th March - Yorkshire Cycling Federation 10 Mile Medium Gear Time Trial

Steve W made a return to pure-cycle-race competition for the first time in about three years and also made his 2017 race debut. Steve has, over the years, focussed on medium-gear cycle events as an enforced high-intensity speed-training session in preparation for multisport events.

Because gearing is restricted to only 72" (read very low), competitors are forced to rev like crazy to achieve any kind of decent speed. It’s a bit like racing a car stuck in second gear - except harder as you can’t just sit there and keep the throttle pedal jammed wide open.

Relying on human power, it’s fair to say that keeping an average cadence of well over 120rpm for the entire duration of the race is hard on legs, cardio-vascular system and nether regions. In spite of the early-season shock to the system, Steve (to his genuine surprise) scored an overall event win.

15^th March - Edale Skyline Fell Run

Determined to demonstrate to Steve that medium-gear events are for softies, Mick W insisted on some fraternal support and dragged our still-sore time trialist to the fells of the Dark Peak to run the infamous Edale Skyline route. Whereas Steve is always suspicious of run-routes that allow a bird’s-eye view of people hang gliding, Mick is preparing for the upcoming Three Peaks Fell Race so arguably needs to endure this kind of masochism.

Suffice to say the promised ‘potter’ turned into a predictable day of attrition with our heroes barely able to climb back into the sanctuary of the car at the day's end. Over four hours of ‘pottering’, sometimes through endless peat bogs and boulder fields - which also included the small matter of almost 5000 feet of ascent - led to the slowest sprint finish known to mankind. The fact that the 'sprint' was accompanied by hysterical laughter at the farce of - in reality - staggering helplessly at about 3mph didn’t help.

18^th March - Clumber Park Sprint Duathlon (Run 5K / Bike 20K / Run 2.5K)

This event saw Rosie Wigg make her multisport debut and, cutting a long story short, she thoroughly enjoyed it. The event is very popular, set in a fantastic venue and it’s also traditionally a qualifier for European and / or World Age Group championships. A nice low-key event to make a debut at, then! Unfazed (or not too overly-fazed anyway) Rose kept her composure and focus during the entirely-new-to-her transitions phases of multisport racing and also coped pretty well with the run-to-bike-jelly-legs scenario that really can take some getting used to.

Rose wasn’t the only Go Veggie present as Emma S, too, had decided to give the event a whirl. Emma (pic) is a seasoned triathlete but has only ever done one duathlon before, a very long time ago. In spite of a lack of run-bike-run experience she continued her good form of late and finished in a very good time of 1:22:24, which was good enough for a 280/437 overall female finish. Rose wasn’t too far behind and clearly has some multisport potential. Lending perspective, the quality of the field at this event, being a Euro-championship qualifier, was very high and the GV results - in this company - were very credible.

Recent round-up

After last year’s heroic life-saving effort, which itself followed several year’s worth of eventful ‘man-down’ experiences in the Anglezarke Amble 25 miler, Steve C was thankfully able to report that Saturday 11^th  February’s running was a relatively boring one. ‘Relatively boring’ still saw Steve and fellow competitors running pretty-if-treacherous snow-covered sections of the uplands, and also dropping calf-deep in trainer-swallowing mire once below the ‘permafrost’ line. The fact it took Steve five full minutes to undo his shoelaces on completion more or less sums up just how much this grueller takes out of its truly hardy competitors.

Almost unbelievably though – and once again demonstrating his unfathomable endurance – Steve was still able to take Len round the Manchester canicross 5K event at Pennington Flash the very next day. Or rather the other way round: a fresh-and-keen Len and a sore and tired Steve most definitely saw Len very much in charge of pace-setting.

In cross-country news, rounds three and four of the Yorkshire-based PECO series have once again seen Jenna G, Mick W, Emma S and Rosie Wigg battling it out on behalf of their local first claim club (Ackworth Road Runners).

Round three was held at West Park, north Leeds and was, as this venue nearly always is, a muddy affair. All ran solidly and all finished high enough in Team Ackworth’s finishing order to count as scorers for the team. Stand-out performance of the day was Emma’s (130/344 overall position), who pulled one out of the bag to score for the female first team. Jenna and Rose finished close behind in positions 154/344 and 156/344 and lodged solid points for the B team. Mick had his usual solid run and finished 169/460 overall; scored for the male first team, and somehow, mysteriously, managed to end up with bloodied legs – ahhh, the joys of cross country.

Round four of the series moved to East Leeds, to Barnbow fields, and continued with the theme of mud but also featured a few nasty hills for added entertainment. Mick had, by his standards, a disappointing race finishing in a post-nasty-virus 142/394 overall position. Rosie Wigg made the top half of the female field overall with a 140/285 finish whilst Jenna, just about 1 minute behind, finished 157/285. These are very respectable results given the quality-of-field at PECO events. These are not races for people who can’t face a bit of rough-and-tumble.

The fifth and last of this winter’s series takes place this coming weekend, good luck to all GVs entering.

Finally, as is frequently the case, Go Veggie has been well represented at parkruns up and down the country with Emma S adding a new event (and an age-group win) to her tally when she took part in the Aldenham event near Watford. Emma reports the event is well organised, friendly and still very low key.

The Dirty (half) Dozen

The down-and-dirty winter contingent have been prolific of late. Whilst some members fold away their race gear as the nights draw in, others reach for the cross-country spikes.

Emma S, Rose W, Jenna G, Mick W, Steve C and CaniX partner Len have all been slogging through the mud and grime in the name of fun. Emma, Rose, Jenna and Mick (pic) all turned out for the second of the winter’s PECO cross-country events held at Middleton Park, Leeds. The course features some very fast and tricky descents through woodland and some brutal, eye-popping climbs. All completed the course without mishap. From the field of 301 ladies, Rose was positioned 126, Jenna 139 and Emma 140. In the men’s event, Mick managed a 114/393. All of these positions are highly credible: some of the finest runners in the county race the PECO series.

Meanwhile Steve C and Len managed to get visa’s to allow their entry into Yorkshire and took on the Long Distance Walking Association’s 10 mile festive Hangover Hike held on New Year’s day in the Pennine foothills. Don’t be fooled by the LDWA’s name. If anyone does actually walk these events, the walking is generally very spirited: many simply treat them as pure races. Just as the LDWA is something of a misnomer, in Steve’s case at least, the Hangover Hike was factually accurate. Fair to say that Len was the responsible adult on this occasion and a good job he did too. The duo beat their predicted time of two-and-a-half hours by about ten minutes.

In slightly more sanitised events, parkruns have again featured heavily in GV activity with members taking part in races at Bradford, Nostell Priory, Pontefract, Seaton (Devon) and Poole (Dorset).

Members active have included Emma S, Mick W, Rose W, Jenna G and a still-bleary-eyed-from-winter-hibernation Steve W.

Parkrun performance of the festive season goes to Mick W, who – on New Year’s Day – successfully did the Pontefract / Nostell priory double. The timing of these two races is set so that competitors can finish the Pontefract event, run six miles to the Nostell event, and – if they make it – earn the dubious pleasure of racing the lumpy 5K at Nostell on very wobbly legs.