Seagrave Wolds Challenge
On arrival at Seagrave Village hall, it was overcast but everyone checked in and was looking forward to getting started. A run ofjust under 16 miles lay ahead, with cake check points at 7 miles and 12 miles, we were in for a treat, with a selection of cheese & ham rolls, tea, coffee and other cold drinks, chocolate cake, flapjacks, jelly babies, mars bars, fruit cake, lemon drizzle cake, walnut cake and much more! 468 out of 469 entrants completed the course and approximately 310 of them were runners. 19 of our Long Eaton runners came for this cross country long run, some raced it but the majority of us ran as groups, as a taster for the Cake Challenge coming up in 2012.
Patrick Fitzgerald was the 1st to return for Long Eaton in just over 2 hours and position number 27. Presumably didn’t stop for much tea or cake!
Peter Fowles was 2nd home with a fantastic time of 2:29 and position 115.
Phil Abbott and David Harper ran together from 6 miles onwards, with Phil Abbott in 3rd position with 2:36:58 and David 4th 2:37:02. Apparently 13 minutes were lost at the cake stops and Phil recommends the Walnut cake!
Catherine Rowe was the 1st lady back for LERC with a time of 3:02:44, with Bill Sheppard 6th overall with a time of 3:02:57. Both experienced a bit of drama: Cath, at around 12 miles, got her foot stuck to a piece of broken styal wood with nails attached to it, requiring Bill to come to her rescue. Then, with the shock of Cath being impaled, they both took a slight wrong turn with postman pat having to assist on getting them back in the right direction. Cath’s foot was left unharmed by the incident.
Kathy Crockford came in 2nd lady, 7th overall, with 3:10:08, worried that Bob was catching her up when Damian shouted encouragement near to the 1st cake stop.
Then came the 1st group en masse, consisting of Duncan Gedge, John Adams, Damian Cowlinshaw, Kevin Holland, Rachel Argent, Maria Whittaker and Rachael Hemsley, all running round together hoping that there would still be some cake left at the checkpoints.
Having met up with Kathy, Bill and Cath at the first stop over a cuppa and some cake, along came Bob Crockford and the 2nd group of runners, Laura Froggatt, Jane Newbold, Nancy Cooke and Karen Preston to all join in and eat cake.
With the 1st group heading off, half a mile along and round the corner there were 6 running without a care admiring the views. Kevin then came sprinting round the corner having been left behind as, apparently, it takes him ages to drink his tea!! Sorry Kev!! At the 2nd Cake stop group 1 decided to play a little joke. Again everyone left Kevin behind accidently to finish his tea but this time hid behind a building sniggering to watch the sprint and the bewildered look on Kev’s face as he went past thinking "they’ve bloomin forgotten me again!" Surprise!!
Amidst all of the fun, Group 1 completed the Seagrave challenge with a time of 3.14 including probably around half an hour for cake stoppages! They were followed by partners Nancy and Jane at 3:27, Bob Crockford 3:36, and partners Laura and Karen 3:37.
There were smiles and cheers for all after completing the challenge, and we were welcomed back at the village hall by being scanned like at the supermarket, ready to receive a much deserved hot soup and rolls followed by dessert of apple crumble and custard. Delicious.
Well done to everyone, a great run with great company and, it has to be said, thanks to Nancy who brought some chocolate brownies and John’s mother in law's lovely tarts. Most were too full to eat more cake!! Also a huge well done to those who achieved a longest run to date or their longest run in a while.
The next official run as part of the Cake Challenge is the Belvoir Challenge on the 25th February 2012, with a similar 16 mile distance and terrain. We hope to see you all back and more!
(By Rachel Argent)
This report was brought to you by deano
Comments:
Click here to return to all news articles.