Just plain hard

Steve C

Undaunted by the suffer-fest that was the Breca Buttermere SwimRun, Steve C and Britta W followed up on the race format to compete in the Breca Coniston Sprint event. As before, this race format includes several open water swim legs that are connected with several wetsuit-clad fell-run legs (or vice versa depending how you see things). Steve reports that, if anything, this event was even harder than the Buttermere event, mainly because the water in Windermere, Rydal Water and Grasmere was simply debilitatingly cold. The pic shows Steve in action and he’s the first to admit he was suffering - genuinely medically suffering - at this point. To give an indication of just how bad things were, Steve reports thinking that Britta would have been up for quitting had there been any suggestion of wavering and looked in a genuinely rough state by the finish. Imagine his surprise, then, when Britta was left to be whilst medics immediately pounced on him instead in a blind rush to get him out of his wet gear and to stabilise his body temperature. His core was 31 degrees at the finish. Almost unbelievably, the pair are considering further SwimRun forays…

Back on dry (well dry-ish) land, Steve has now also taken on a couple of rounds of the Mad Bull Torch Challenge, a night-time trail / fell run series held around the Rivington / Pike Fell area of Lancashire. Unsurprisingly given the location, the going is tough with steep ascents / descents, rocks, mud, ice, peat, roots, and all manner of other ankle-snapping substrate to contend with. Now, this kind of stuff is tough by day, but by night - with only a headtorch separating competitors from total blackout - it’s not hard to imagine how much more serious things get. Notwithstanding - and in a refreshing change to the current zeitgeist - the race briefing for the latter of the two rounds saw the race organiser stating simply “'Watch yourselves, it's bloody icy on the paths near the top”.

Of course, Steve is no stranger to such madness and as things get tougher he just gets better. In the first round he took an age group win and in the second did enough to stand a chance of an age-group series in the event he can pull out a good performance in the last round of the series to be held on 5^th January 2019.

Confounding Expectations

Jon Z

Simply fitting in and working around significant medical appointments that would leave most people catatonic, Jon continues to amaze by not only racing, but also confounding numerous consultants by doing so rather well.

Jon did the Ormesby Hall trail 10k on 23 September where he reports a slower-than-hoped-for time but then reveals that he was tired from mostly sleepless night the previous night (caused by pain from flu jabs) and that he had run as hard as he could in a parkrun the previous morning.

One week later, Jon did the Redcar half-marathon for his fourth consecutive year where he reports working really hard and just - by 9 secs - beating the 2 hour mark.

Put simply, Jon’s continued physical achievements should not be medically possible.

RoseW

Rose has (or had until now, anyway) a secret weapon in the form of a sophisticated indoor-bike trainer, which seems to be having a very positive effect on athletic performance. The training regime seems to be translating into extremely credible run results.

On 12 August she competed in the Askern 10 mile road race, an event that draws many very serious road-racers and which is known for it’s tough hills. A PB of a 1:24:48 finish and an overall female position of 35/103 speaks for itself.

Just about one month later, and really only using it as a preparation race for her upcoming Kielder Marathon, Rose took on the Vale of York half marathon where she knocked out an almost casual 1:50:57.

By 7 October, the ‘main event’ rolled around - the aforementioned Kielder Marathon. Now, this is one difficult event and definitely not somewhere to head if your goal is to achieve a Marathon PB. Much of the course is run over loose gravel and similar energy-sapping underfoot conditions and it just rolls relentlessly on, and on, and on all the way around Kielder Water for its entire 26.2 miles.

In spite of hitting a really rough patch at around the 19 mile mark (where Rose reports that simply ‘everything’ hurt) she battled on to a truly impressive 4 hours 52 minutes 16 seconds finish - and in the process confounding all expectations achieving a PB on a course where a PB should not really be a realistic aspiration.

Fells and Race Tracks

Mick W

Always up for an event with a twist (as long as it’s off-road, hilly, technical and preferably including extremes of weather), Mick recently engaged in a full-on effort at racing a narrowboat. Sounds easy: but isn’t. The Man V Barge essentially requires competitors to frantically hammer ‘over the tops’ between the Pennine towns of Marsden and Diggle, whilst the barge pootles sedately between exactly the same points - but through the Standedge Tunnel: the longest, deepest and highest canal tunnel in the UK. The total run distance is described as 5 miles-ish making. Mick’s 37:58 mighty impressive over such terrain, indeed the time was good enough for 12/180 finish overall.

But that was a mere warm-up. In early September Mick returned to the Peak District to revisit last year’s demons in the form of the infamous Bullock Smithy, a 56 mile yomp through the Peak’s very harshest terrain. As if the event isn’t brutal enough, this year’s race took place over two of the warmest days of the long-hot summer. Unsurprisingly, hydration was a massive issue and Mick reports that no matter how much he drank, he was in a permanent state of off-putting thirst. Again unsurprisingly, hydration played havoc with digestion and - well - we’ll spare the gory details… Such was the difficulty that 70 experienced athletes retired or were pulled from the event. The unexpected attrition gives context to Mick’s 3.00am-ish finish (pic) in an awesome time of 14:51:00 - good enough for a supremely-credible 31/223 overall position.

Emma S

Emma, meanwhile, returned to the multisports scene to have a bash at the Darley Moor Duathlon (Run 5k / Bike 20k / Run 2.5k). Though the event was held in the benign surroundings of the traffic-free Darley Moor Race Track, the aforementioned long-hot summer decided to put something of a dampener on things and the event was run off in cold, torrential rain complete with a squally bluster; the first bad weather of the entire summer. Though frozen through for the entire duration, Emma used her bike-handling and pacing skills well to trot out a 3^rd-in-age finish in a total time of 1:16:31. Of course, it was sunny and warm the following day…

Jon Z - just amazing

Sundowner

The Sundowner middle distance triathlon (S1.2M / B56M / R13.1M) held annually near to York traditionally attracts a large field of athletes and is a highly competitive event.

That Jon’s determination to work round ongoing serious medical issues saw him on he start line for this event is astonishing. The fact that Jon is not content to simply complete - but to seriously compete - is just inspirational.

And seriously compete he did. After emerging from the swim section approximately 10 minutes down on the leader in his age group, Jon steadily regained time on the bike section and also made further time in T2 meaning that he emerged on to the half-marathon run section only 29 seconds down on the lead.

Being a seasoned long-distance competitor Jon is extremely skilled at pacing and nutrition strategy and this - as is so often the case - paid dividends. Within only short period of time he had taken the lead and at the end of the piece finished with an emphatic win. Total time taken: 6hours and 44 minutes.

It’s almost impossible to overstate Jon’s extraordinary achievements.

SwimRun - a whole new way to suffer

Breca Buttermere SwimRun Sprint

On 11^th August Steve C and his vegan training / race partner Britta W set about a multi-discipline race with a difference in the form of the Breca Buttermere SwimRun Sprint. As the name suggests, the event is made up of swimming and running: all fairly straightforward so far. The twist begins in the form of the number of separate swim and run sections involved, ie no fewer than16! The format requires that competitors run a section, swim a section, run a section… and so on; until they finish or can take no more. The twist continues in the form of some truly tricky and head-numbingly cold swim sections and some genuinely hard fell running sections - all done it wetsuits. Total race distance for the ‘sprint’ is 19km comprising 15.7km of run and 3.3km of swimming. The expected course completion time of between two and four hours (for fit athletes) gives some indication of the nature of the beast.  And if you’re not already persuaded, a glance at the course map or route card brings the true horror to life.

Well, predictably, Steve reports quite a suffer-fest with rough and cold water crossings serving to totally numb both mental and physical function, and make exponentially worse what would be a tough trail race (even without running in wetsuits) in its own right. In spite of the hardships, the pair finished pretty much spent in 3:52:57 in 19^th position in the mixed pairs category and - having 'enjoyed' the hardship so much - promptly entered the upcoming Coniston-based SwimRun event.

As a ‘warm down’ they both also did the Quarry Bank 4.5 mile trail race only a few days later. Hmmmm.

Weeds

Steve C

Partly as penance for being ‘retired’ from the V3K, and partly because he just enjoys competing, Steve C dusted off his bike and, last week, raced in the final round of the Capernwray Sprint Triathlon Series. This series consists of 3 events run in June, July & August; each taking place on Wednesday evenings at 7pm. Each event is a 500m open water swim in Capernwray Quarry, followed by a 20k road cycle and 5k out and back run on the Lancaster Canal towpath.

The drizzly conditions on the evening did not deter Steve one bit but the 150-strong wave of swimmers - all vying for exactly the same bit of quarry water - did cause some predictable bumping, ducking and general hindrance-of-progress issues. Steve is no stranger to tough swims but by his own confession has been a stranger to his bike for the past 11 months.

In spite of the lack of bike-specific training Steve nonetheless didn’t find the ‘lumpy’ route too difficult and hit the run leg along the pretty Lancaster Canal towpath (pic) in reasonable shape and was able to use his running strength and experience to good effect. His competitive run paid dividends and resulted in a 3^rd in age group

Steve W

In other sprint triathlon news, on 15^th July Steve W raced in the Great Britain Age Group Championships (Swim 750m / Bike 24K / Run 6K). This year the event was based around the Woodhorn Museum in Northumberland and featured a (very) weedy swim, an ‘undulating’ bike, and a trail run finish.

Run in searing temperatures, the swim was a single-wave affair, which - much like Steve C’s swim - was spent bumping and jostling with hundreds of fellow racers whilst also getting distractingly snagged in a soup of weeds and algae that had flourished as a result of the long hot summer. Emerging from the water draped in various forms of vegetative matter Steve made a few places in the 300m run to transition and then a few more on the tough and technical bike leg. The run was a different matter where a couple of niggling injuries and an associated lack of run-training saw him struggle to hold position and finish in a disappointing-for-him, podium-denied 4^th place.

Transvulcania

The Transvulcania Ultramarathon is considered to be one of the hardest mountain-races in the world. The total route has a length of 73.3 km (45.5 mi) with a cumulative elevation gain of 4,415 m (14,485 ft). The race has taken place annually place on the Canary Island of La Palma since 2009 and attracts the world’s best ultra and pure-mountain runners.

As well as the original (and brutally fearsome) ultra itself, additional races are included in the whole Transvulcania Ultra Festival and it’s now possible to enter:

• The Marathon, 44 km (27 mi) with a cumulative elevation gain of 1,724 m (5,656 ft) and an elevation loss of 3,164 m (10,381 ft)
• The Half-marathon, 24 km (15 mi) with a cumulative elevation gain of 2,201 m (7,221 ft) and elevation loss of 669 m (2,195 ft)
• The Vertical kilometre, 6 km (3.7 mi) with an elevation gain of 1,000 m (3,300 ft)

Several years ago, Mick and Rose W hatched a plan to one day try to be a part of the whole phenomenon and, on 12th May 2018, at the culmination of co-ordinating months of serious training, meeting stringent qualification criteria and sorting out some pretty complicated logistics, almost disbelievingly found themselves on the pre-dawn start lines of the marathon and half-marathon respectively.

Mick and the Marathon

Mick started the marathon very, very conservatively and the strategy proved a good one. As daylight broke and the temperatures, inclines and terrain worsened, he picked off competitor, after competitor… after competitor. In an almost unbelievable demonstration of pacing he did not get overtaken once in the whole 6hrs and 46mins it took to reach the finish line and his incredibly impressive 192/816 position overall.

Rose and the Half

Though shorter, the half-marathon involves underfoot condition just a tricky as the marathon and - just for fun - actually has more elevation gain than the longer event. Rose herself takes up the half-marathon story:

“Initial thoughts… CAN I DO THIS?

I was nervous and apprehensive boarding the transfer bus from the hotel to the start of the race; this was my first time taking part in any organised event outside of the UK. Leaving the hotel at 5am meant that it was still dark and cold. There was no street lighting and there were lots of sharp turns. This made for an ‘interesting’ journey. Luckily the bus driver seemed to know where the invisible-to-me roads were.

Approaching the sea level start to the race at Faro de Fuencalienta, the already-underway ultramarathon participants could be seen in the darkness, lighting up the hillside with their head torches. Snaking around the landscape, they were a formidable sight to behold.

The start of the 15 mile ‘half-marathon’ was full of multi-lingual chatter with people nervously performing stretches. It was very cold waiting for the start and for the light. In my nervous contemplation, it was slightly surreal to be surrounded by the noises of a very enthusiastic race director, hyperactive participants, and rock music booming from what seemed like a thousand loud speakers.

The start was a very short road section followed by single tracks where large crowds of local people lined the route and were enthusiastically cheering and shouting words of support: a very memorable start.

As we progressed, terrain varied enormously and included narrow, single-file never-ending switchbacks, wide open lunarscapes - and everything in between. Some parts were open and rocky, other parts shaley slate, where - sinking ankle deep in scree - it felt like (and I often was) running on the spot. Some sections I was able to run, some sections I had to walk; and there were still others that meant I was literally on hands on knees, digging deep, and having to keep a positive mind and just keep moving forward.

Some ‘normality’ resumed with a lovely section through the little town of Los Canarios where, against a backdrop of festival music, people lined the streets clapping and cheering. A really nice touch was a commentator who mentioned every single runner as they went through; it was, altogether, a very memorable and lovely place.

Just when I felt like every bit of terrain possible had been covered, at 12/13 miles I was suddenly in a forest that was cooler, damp, wet and muddy and it struck me that I could have had this identical experience - minus the massive logistical efforts involved - had I stayed at home.

Still wrestling with sheer oddity of plunging from a sun-washed volcano to an autumnal-north-of-England type forest, the finishing line at El Pilar was a very welcome sight.

Final thoughts… THANK GOODNESS I GOT ROUND!”


With a time of 4hrs and 58mins and a position of 294/487 overall, her achievement was just brilliant and unquestionably considerably better than simply ‘getting round’.

For those inspired, Mick and Rose heartily recommend the event and commend both the stunning location and the brilliant organisation. The organisers are so accomplished that not only do they take care of fiendishly complicated competitor transfer and race logistics, but are even able to co-ordinate the supply a short personalised video to each and every competitor.

Video of Mick
Video of Rose

V3K

It's worth following the V3K link to see how crazilly hard this event is:

Add to the mix that last Saturday (30th June) brough the hottest conditions in recent years and the dehydration, pain and suffering are easy to imagine.

Steve C and Mick W gave it a go and both - dutifully - suffered horribly. Mick finished totally exhausted in a time just under 14 hours whilst Steve unfortunately got 'retired' by staff with a suspected broken toe; having already covered the worst of the terrain.

The video (taken by, and mainly featuring, Mick) gives mere mortals an idea of what's involved...

Multisports and multi-stages

Steve W

Steve has done three sprint triathlons in recent weeks, including the English National Age-group Championship held in Surrey. A couple of age-group wins and decent overall positions in the sprints leading up to the ‘main’ event helped with confidence but - as is often the case with racing - form can elude without explanation or apology. In short, Steve did not perform at his hoped-for standard and - though still managing a 6^th place finish - was disappointed with his reported ‘dead-legged’ performance.

Bouncing back to some degree, last weekend saw him step out of his usual sprint-based comfort zone and compete in the Leger Man middle distance event (swim 1900m / bike 80km / run 20km). Steve reports that he (mysteriously) swam above his usual standard and knocked out an impressive (for him) 31 minutes for 1900m before heading out on a measured-effort bike leg and then the run. Unsurprisingly, given his lack of distance training and the searing temperature on the day, he suffered badly during the 20km run effort but just managed to fend off hideous leg cramps long enough to hold on for an age group win and reasonable overall finish in a time just under 4hrs and 30 minutes.

Steve C

Meanwhile, Steve C’s endurance efforts continue to make even middle-distance triathlons look fairly ordinary; his latest quest involved a four-consecutive-days-of racing event in the form of the Tour of Tameside.

This series of races changes format fairly frequently but currently consists of a Thursday-to-Sunday effort involving: the X-Trail 10k, the Hell on the Fell 6 mile fell race, the Hero Half Marathon and (finally) the Dr Ron Hyde 7 mile road race.

And yes, they are all as bad as they sound.

Steve (pic) reports taking the first event pretty steadily due to a combination of injury-strewn preparation and the knowledge that things get substantially tougher as the event unfolds. Day two saw an equally circumspect start but - egged on by a two kilometre downhill finish and feeling pretty good - he threw caution to the wind and went for it; picking up a third in category (including those ‘visitors’ who were just competing in that one single race).

But trashed his legs in the process.

Day three, then, proved predictably rough with him hitting the proverbial wall at about 15K and a wobble home to the finish. Notwithstanding and in spite of fears (and probably down to years of mega-mileage), Steve recovered pretty well over Saturday night and managed a well-paced effort in the final ‘lumpy’ 7 mile road race to finish the overall series a rather splendid 3^rd in category.

Twisting knees? - Pffft.

Steve W

The past couple of weekends have seen Steve W moving back towards form in his preferred discipline of sprint distance triathlon.

After a shock-to-the-system start Steve has since competed in both the Grantham and Ashbourne sprints. Age group wins and a 6th and 14th overall have been the result. Good swim and bike legs have been a feature and in the latter race involved some serious hills and twists in the foothills of Derbyshire’s Peak District (pic). Steve reports his run is still not at its best but at least has an idea where improvement can be made.

Steve C

Steve C shrugs off injuries. It just is how it is. In the recent Mad Hatters’ 5 mile trail race in Stockport Steve ominously described running the hills with sore knees, one of which he almost nonchalantly describes as “giving away by twisting”. With ailments that would have most in intensive physio and laid up on the couch, Steve just gets on with stuff. Hard.

Mick W and Rosie Wigg

Watch this space, Mick and Rose are just back and starting to recover from the beautiful island of La Palma having taken on the Transvulcania full / half marathons.

Multisports are go…

The multisport season is underway and three club regulars have been out and about in the colours.

Jon Z

In spite of ongoing health issues which literally see Jon uncomplainingly mixing major surgery with racing (and all the other aspects of daily life) he continues to confound with two second places in age group. The first came on 8^th April at the Durham Duathlon (5K off-road run / 25K bike / 5k off-road run) where underfoot conditions in the run sections were properly 1970s-school-cross-country-style muddy.

The second came on 22^nd April at the Stokesley Duathlon (10K run / 40K bike / 5K run) where Jon even managed to beat his previous year’s bike-leg performance. A major achievement, indeed.

Steve W

Steve appeared bleary-eyed from winter hibernation on 29^th April and competed in the Brigg Sprint Triathlon (400m swim / 20K bike / 5K run). A windy and very cold late-April day made for tough going and a slightly slower performance than last year’s effort. In spite of some disappointments, Steve acknowledges that his winter hibernation regime is perhaps not optimised for athletic performance and reluctantly settled for the 12^th overall position he managed to bag.

Emma S

The 5^th May saw Emma racing (pic) in the super-competitive Clumber Park Sprint Duathlon (5K run / 20K bike / 2.5K run). The event is always well attended but this year it was also an official qualifying event for the 2019 ETU European championships and understandably, many quality athletes turned out in an effort to qualify. Emma had a controlled first run, a strong bike leg (check out the size of the gear she's pushing) and then a self-confessed wobble-to-the-finish last run but in spite of running out of beans managed a fantastic result of 3^rd in age group; only just missing 2nd. This performance would have seen Emma qualify for the 2019 championship race had she registered her intent to qualify. Unfortunately she hadn’t but - bolstered by the result - is now eyeing up another qualifying race in a couple of weeks’ time. We await the result with interest.

More mud… and foreboding hills.

PECO Cross Country Series

The prestigious PECO Cross Country Series has now run its last two rounds, drawing to its winter 2017/18 conclusion with:

Race 4: 21^st January 2018 - Middleton Park, Leeds, and

Race 5: 11^th February 2018 - Temple Newsam, Leeds

Emma S has been the stalwart Go Veggie; the only GV member this year to complete all five events. Emma’s consistency through the mud has been enough to enable her to slip-slide her way to a top ten in age group for the overall series.

Mickleden Straddle

Run on a bitterly cold and snow-laden 4^th February 2018, The Mickleden Straddle fell race held in the northern Peak District is described by the organisers as:

A 14.3 miles / 2431ft ascent - Category BL Race - Navigation skills required. Difficult high-level moorland terrain and a strong likelihood of severe weather conditions make this race a serious winter challenge, requiring previous similar fell running experience.

Good job, then, that Mick W (pic) has managed to acquire a hefty wedge of such experience this past couple of years and was, on the day in question, deemed qualified to line up alongside 200 or so other gaunt-looking masochists.

Unsurprisingly, Mick reports a slog-fest with a combination of deep snow, ice, treacherous rocks, leg-swallowing peat bogs, foot-tangling moor grass and all the more expected fell-running joys involving lung-rasping ascents and barely-controlled descents.

In fact, that should read out-of-control descents because Mick, well past the two-hour mark and on distinctly wobbly legs, took one for the team with a headlong slam into a pretty solid chunk of Derbyshire hillside. Bruised and leaking, Mick nonetheless regained some composure and made the finish with a 78/194 position overall. He even managed to keep his well protected man-bun in place.

Parkruns

Again, parkruns have featured heavily in GV activities with several members hitting a good number of locations. Steve W has re-appeared from winter slumber and is currently using them for a bit of high-end-heart-rate prep for the upcoming triathlon season. Steve has advanced an age cohort this year and is so far making the most of his new-found youngster status, taking 4 age-category wins on the trot.

Freezing Winter Mud

In spite of freezing conditions, much winter dankness and tons of mud, the usual cross-country / trail runners have been out and about slipping and sliding to some very good performances.

PECO Cross Country Series

We’re well into the prestigious and very competitive PECO XC League for the 2017-18 season with the following races already completed:

Race 1: 26 November - Nostell Priory

Race 2: 10 December - Golden Acre Park

Race 3: 7 January - Roundhay Park

Jenna G, Emma S and Mick W have been the mainstay competitors with Emma - to this point - being the most frequent team ‘counter’.

Elsecar Trail Half Marathon

On 16^th December Steve C ran the Elsecar Trail Half Marathon and reported a very easy route apart from some sections that were well and truly frozen and resulted in more of an involuntary skate than a run.

Hit The Trail 5

Undeterred by the slipping-and-sliding, on 7^th January Steve C was again in trail-running action taking on the Belle Vue Racers Hit The Trail 5 miler set in the pleasant surroundings of Reddish Vale Country Park, Stockport. Steve reports a similar frosty experience but with the added fun of some muddy section thrown in for good measure. In spite of the tricky conditions, Steve still managed to beat his last run at this event (in 2016) by 15 seconds. Here’s hoping 2018 will be injury and illness free for him and bring more improved performances.

Parkruns

The ever-popular parkruns have featured a lot in recent weeks with many Go Veggies hitting many venues. Stand out itinerant has been Emma S who, in the course of one week only - and thanks to the ‘doubles’ on offer over Christmas - managed to run in local events around West Yorkshire as well as Druridge Bay in Northumberland (pic), Anlaby in Hull and at the Humber Bridge Country Park in East Yorkshire. Serious motivation!