24 Hour Thunder Run

24 Hour Thunder Run

This event was a bit like the Le Manns 24 hour race, with the winners being the people doing the furthest distance or in the Thunder Runs case the most Number of laps around a hilly 10k course. You can enter as a Solo, pairs mixed or same sex, teams of 5 or Teams of 8. Head Torches were mandatory for the night section and were well need for the twisty technical wood section. 3 of Long Eaton running club took part with Club Captain Shaun Burton, John Hammond and Sharon Orridge deciding to give up sleep for 24 hours in favour running. As there were 8 people in the team there was time for rest of up to 4 hours but this changed as people decided that they had had enough or could not stay for the over night section. Sharon Started the 1st leg along with the 1st leg runners at 12PM baking in the hot sunshine of the hottest day of the year and ran round in 41 mins, handing the baton on to John Hammond who ran round in just over the hour with the heat getting greater, Shaun was on 3rd leg and the Heat was at its most strong and people were sweating most profusely. The 1st part of the route was along a flat Grassy section and then came the Hills the hollows and some more hills, the woods were a welcome relief from the heat but had their own hazards with roots and branches to contend with along with the 90 degree turns the course had. After the woods at 6.5k there was a nice down hill section taking the runners back in to the camp site where everyone was staying with a small up hill climb before the final decent to the finish. Shaun managed his 1st lap in 49:47 and handed over to a race walker who could walk faster than many of the runners. This Continued through out the day, Sharon running 3 of the daytime legs before many of the team had done 2, during the night which was as cold as the day had been hot the head torches were a god send as it was pitch black apart from the Marshall fires and the L.E.D. lights that lit up the more tricky parts of the course even this didn’t stop Shaun taking a tumble over one of the many tree roots in the woods, the dark making the route seem a completely different one. At Dawn many of the team had done 3 laps and with only 4 hours left it was decided to put the runners in an order so that the last leg would get started before the 12:00PM cut off time, as it was 5 out of the 8 team member did a 4th lap with all 3 lercers doing 4, obviously with 18.6 miles already done and no sleep for 24 hours the 4th lap was the slowest for everyone and with the temperature every bit as hot as the previous day the runners all coped well with the teams last leg runner starting at 11:40AM. The result for the team was pleasing with 28 laps completed in the 24 hours a distance of 174 miles run and a position of 30th out of 147 teams. A beer and sleep were the most common things that happened in the hours that followed!! A huge medal and a T shirt were the souvenirs but the memories will be the best thing taken from this event. Heres to next year.



This report was brought to you by heavyman

Comments:
Pabc wrote; Superb effort from the lercers.well done


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