The first and bravest part of any ultra-distance or endurance challenge is putting yourself out there in the first place, in the spotlight knowing that there is every chance that you won’t see the finish and that all your struggles will be public ones.
This weekend we had Bev Walker and Allison Grace taking on Endure 24 as solo runners, James Thomas and Zoe Molyneux at Ironman UK and Sam Booth at the epic challenge that is the Ultimate Trail of Snowdonia 100K.
It wasn’t to be for Zoe after such a long wait for her first attempt at Ironman, but she took it all in her stride with her trademark positivity on full view. She’s already looking forward to her 2nd London marathon and we all wish her well.
In a field that had a 24% DNF rate James kept it all together and there was no anxiety from any of the dot watchers or the large contingent of RRC around the course all day.
UTS isn’t just any 100K race, it’s a series of scrambles, climbs, boulder fields and sharp, rocky descents on greasy Welsh slate. Opportunities to actually run are a rare and welcome relief and Sam’s time of 20hrs gives some idea of the scale of the challenge. A brilliant result Sam! 👏🏼
Eddies Revenge Fell Race
We had a super turnout of Rams at Eddie’s Revenge Fell Race on Wednesday evening.
We don’t know what the folk of Shaw did to poor Eddie but from the sound of his revenge it really hit the mark. Paula Pilling was our first female and the race’s first V45 despite being physically assaulted by Simon Jones mid-race.
Richard Thatcher managed to be first Ram home and top of the age grading and they were all joined on the night by Helen McVey, Diane Ford, Kieran Myles, Lee Ford, Andy Fawkes, Natalie Ormerod, Stephen Wilson, Sarah Clarke, Becky Albrow, Chris Swainson, Matt Felton, Peter Taylor and Simon Jones.
Ironman Night Run
Ironman Night Run is an evening race and fun run and the first event of Bolton’s Ironman weekend. The start line is well marked to allow faster runners to be at the front if they really want to give it a go and Paula Pilling, just 48 hours after Eddies Revenge Fell Race was the first lady home in front of a good number of club runners.
Also running were George Butler, Luke Greg, Heather Carmichael, Steve Hamer, Heather Carmichael, Sandra Powers, George Butler, Matt Carmichael and Heather Carmichael.
Timber Festival 10K
Running at the Timber Festival sounds like something Andrew Giles would be up to on any given Sunday in Canada but it was actually Helen Thackray who joined the social 10K run in the company of ultra-runner Elise Downing!
Run Through Media City
Kayleigh Hadfield completed the regular 5K event and shaved a massive 3 min 58 sec of her PB for the distance while Steve Lenihan took part in the 10K at the same location.
Run Through Chester Zoo
Isabel Thorpe managed to sneak in under the hour with 59:51 at Run Through’s Chester Zoo race.
Leeds 10K
In Leeds, Eve Hart was one hour pacing the 10K and thoroughly deserved her medal with her scarily accurate time of 59:46. Talking about brave things to do; I can’t even imagine the stress of feeling responsible for anyone else’s race pace.
parkrun
RRC had a satisying 15 parkrunners at 15 different events this weekend.
You can find the consolidated RRC parkrun report here where you will see Richard Jones’ PB at Peel parkrun and Connor Barrett, Richard Hanson and Emma Bates' visit to the newly added anytime parkrun at Burnage... but unfortunately no mention of media star Sacha Fox having to pause her Garmin to accept Tony’s on-course marriage proposal!
Congratulations to Sacha and Tony and best wishes from all at Ramsbottom Running Club.