From Banana Troubles to Unexpected Hills
It was a bank holiday weekend with plenty of miles for the Hares, with Rob Taylor taking on a challenging trail marathon, Sam Theobald and Elaine Turner heading to the Olympic rowing lake at Dorney, and Nathalie Hooper discovering that a race in Newmarket doesn’t necessarily mean a flat one!
Rob Taylor – Colne Valley Path Marathon
On 24 August, Rob Taylor took on the Colne Valley Path Marathon, following the Colne Valley along trails from Stambourne Village through to Colchester. Rob found the scenery amazing, although, as he admits, it wasn’t quite to be his greatest race!
The event was self-navigated, and Rob quickly discovered that there was room for improvement in his navigation skills after taking a few wrong turns. He also decided that looking where he was running might be useful, after a heavy fall caused by tripping over a tree root — and resulting in the unfortunate loss of his banana in Chappel!
From that point, it became a mission simply to get to the finish, with ankle niggles and cramping calves adding to the challenge. To make matters worse, the route included plenty of freshly ploughed fields, which were particularly unpleasant underfoot.
Despite all the frustrations, Rob produced a fantastic result, finishing 4th overall in 4:16:12.
Not bad for a race that was “not his greatest”!
Dorney Lake Half Marathon
In a slight change from more sedate bank-holiday activities, Sam Theobald and Elaine Turner got up very early and headed down to Berkshire to take on the Dorney Lake Half Marathon.
The race takes place in the beautiful setting of the 2012 Olympic rowing lake, with the half marathon consisting of four laps alongside competitors taking part in 5km, 10km and various triathlon run legs.
The course was picturesque and, most importantly, welcomingly flat. Despite a bit of a headwind, Sam and Elaine enjoyed the day and were pleased with how the run went.
It also provided a useful test of the legs as part of their autumn marathon build-up.
Newmarket Half Marathon
On 30 August, Nathalie Hooper took on the Newmarket Half Marathon, approaching the race with one fairly reasonable assumption: if it’s Newmarket, surely it must be flat?
Sadly, no!
Instead, Nathalie discovered a surprisingly hilly and hot half marathon, taking runners along Devil’s Dyke and through the surrounding stud country. The climbs were certainly a challenge, but the reward was some spectacular views across Newmarket and beyond.
Starting and finishing at the National Horseracing Museum, the event had a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, making it an enjoyable day despite the heat and hills.
And despite the unexpected elevation, Nathalie enjoyed the experience enough to say that she would consider doing it again — although perhaps with slightly fewer expectations about the course being flat!
