The World's Most Beautiful Marathon

Well thats how Runners World describes the Everest Challenge Marathon - which in addition to being a 27 mile gruelling test of stamina is but one day in the five day 100 Mile Himalaya Stage Race - one of the world's toughest events.

Cathy and Martin Burke have just returned from the event and as Cathy writes:-

"An absolutely amazing experience but really, really tough. Others there said it was harder than Ironman and the Racing the Planet which they had taken part in. So I'm quite chuffed to have finished the race in under 35 hours."



Martin took part in some of the event and managed to produce a pb fopr 17 miles in completeing the final stage of the race!

Rumour has it that our friend Ron also took part and his report will shortly be appearing at .

A full report when both have had the opportunity to recover and catch up will appear on a blog near here.

.....And closer to home there were 2 events in Sussex:-

At the Bexhill Half Marathon Club Chairman Albert Kemp was denied 1st place in Male V 60 age group by being duped into believing that his rival for the place, Mick Staines of Pitsea RC was beaten.

Albert came in 26 seconds behind Mick to clinch 106th place and 2nd place MV60 with a time of 1:45:36. The wind was so strong that Albert was "nearly blown over" which, being translated, means blown sideways.

Well done Albert!

...Meanwhile, a handful of Waddies made the journey to Preston Park, Brighton for the annual Preston Park Races. These races are run in separate sections for boys, girls, men and women of various age groupings run separately over different distances at different times. There is very much a club atmosphere something approaching that of an athletics meeting.

It was dry, at least for the men's race, but a fierce wind greeted runners in parts of the course. The results were:-

Women (3.8k)

19th Linda Hayes 15:34
49th Kathie Gates 19:36

Men (7.3k)

21st Ciaran Osborn 25:54
88th Peter Burfoot 31:20
97th Anthony Gates 33:46

Well done, all of you!

....And midweek, Albert Kemp and Barry Gilbert ran in the 56th annual Henlow 10 Mile Road Race, held in ideal cool calm and sunny conditions. The course takes runners on an A to B route from the Old Warden Aerodrome back to RAF Henlow in Bedfordshire. It follows mainly minor roads and takes in a few challenging hills on the way. A total of 223 runners completed the course comprising of mainly RAF personnel, MOD employees and local civilian clubs including Stopsley Striders, Bedford Harriers and Fairland Valley Spartans. It was also pleasing to note that RAF Aldergrove from Northern Ireland and RAF Kinloss had travelled down from Scotland to compete.

The results were

107th 77:13 Albert Kemp
187th 92:05 Barry Gilbert

Well done the pair of you. Jolly Good Show, What?

For those Waddies not competing in the Hastings Marathon, now is the time to be getting out your diaries! A total of 14 Waddies have entered the event which is being run for the first time since 1908 on 14th December 2008. It promises to be a very special event and the Waddies runnning it need you. Your role will be to support the Waddies on the course. The race starts from Hastings Town Hall at 9.30 am. After a loop round the Town Centre the course climbs up passed Willliam Parker School to the Ridge, westwards to Battle and Catsfield, then down to Ninfield and Sidley before descending into Bexhill and along the seafront to Hastings. Supporters are encouraged to wear period dress for 1908. Further details are avialable on the Hastings Marathon website:

WEDNESDAY 29th OCTOBER 2008

A small group of Waddies competed in races in three different countries over the weekend:

In Holland, congratulations to Charlotte Petkovic who travelled with the Nice Work party to take part in her first marathon in Amsterdam. Her time was 5:11:46 (Chip) and 5:20:16 (gun). Well done Charlotte -an excellent result.

Cathy Burke also ran in the Amsterdam Half Marathon in 1:59:48 (Chip) and 2:08:26(gun).



In Wales, Chairman Albert Kemp ran with his freshly operated hand in the Cardiff Half Marathon. He was 10th male V60 with times of 1:42:51 (chip) and 1:43:53 (gun).

Well done Albert!

And back in Blighty, David Jones and Peter Burfoot competed in the hilly Maidstone Half Marathon in good and cool conditions.

David Jones was 243rd with 1:45:11.
Peter Burfoot was 135th with 1:37:37.

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 22nd 2008

Wadhurst Runners took part in two races over the weekend, the Hove Prom 10k and the Beckley 10k, achieving some good times and a few pbs. A special mention to Liam Burke who won his race in style, a great result.

Results:

Hove Prom 10k

81st 41.47 Eddie Wattenbach
109th 44.03 Lyn Hayes
170th 48.08 Tony Gates
191th 49.05 Dave Jones
202nd 51.26 Helen Neary
240th 57.02 Kathy Gates

Beckley 10k

8th 42.20 Mike Pain
15th 44.47 Shane Last
105th 1.01.53 Siobhan Burke
113th 1.07.22 Sara Wrenn
125th 1.19.20 Sally Toll

Beckley Childrens Race

1st 5.05 Liam Burke

Also last weekend the Pain family took on the Somme Half Marathon. This is a lovely part of France and well worth a visit. The race ran along country lanes and past a few WW1 Memorials. The race was far from flat, but this didn't stop Andy from running an excellent pb.

Somme Half

31st 1.32.33 Mike Pain
205th 1.57.47 Andy Pain

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 15TH

Waddies were in action once again over the weekend - on Friday evening and Sunday.

The final race in the Rye Summer Classic Series took place on Friday evening and the 5k race was run in ideal conditions, resulting in some pbs. The results are as follows:-

30th 20:06 Peter Burfoot
42nd 20:59 Lynn Hayes
65th 23:00 Albert Kemp
73rd 24:15 Nyree Thomson
121st 31:31 Sara Wrenn
128th 36:16 Sally Toll

The Hellingly 10k race was run on a beautiful late summer day yesterday, with a light easterly breeze. The results were:

45th 42:07 Helen Goddard
54th 43:16 Eddie Wattenbach
65th 44:28 Peter Burfoot
89th 46:16 Cathy Hall
111th 48:03 Albert Kemp
113th 48:10 David Jones
134th 49:50 Tony Gates
159th 52:56 Helen Neary
187th 55:58 Matthew Seabrook
210th 58:51 Kathie Gates
235th 1:05:47 Janet Drake

Well done to all who took part and congratulations to those who won prizes.

The next SGP race is on 21st September at Hove. Entry Details are on the Sussex Races website. On the same day, and a little closer to home, it is the 4th running of the Beckley 10K on the same day.

SATURDAY 24TH AUGUST 2008

Congratulations to all those who took part in the Rye 5k on last night. Thanks to Martin & Cathy, from Nice Work, who staged another excellent event in the Rye Series.

Here are the results:

22 0:19:43 PAIN, Michael
30 0:20:12 LAST, Shane
38 0:20:34 BURFOOT, Peter
45 0:21:05 HAYES, Lynn
65 0:22:48 PAIN, Andrew
66 0:22:50 KEMP, Albert
94 0:27:03 BURKE, Siobhan
112 0:29:32 DRAKE, Janet
125 0:35:57 TOLL, Sally

MONDAY 19th AUGUST 2008

Peter Burfoot reports ....

"I hope you are are enjoying your summer break.

I was the sole Waddie taking part in the Henfield Half Marathon yesterday. This is a useful pre-season warm-up for the Autumn Half Marathon race season.

The Henfield course changed this year and made this a rather gruelling course. The times of most runners were adversely affected and according to the RW forum the length was about a quarter of a mile over distance.

The race is off-road apart from a half mile stretch of country lane and is very mixed terrain. The course is centred on a disused railway line and the banks of the river Adur, which run north-South to the west of Henfield. The old railway provides a smooth running surface and the riverbank is generally firm, grassy and uneven and peppered with stiles. A section running around some fields had been cut out at the start but was replaced with more riverbank with tussocks of grass and nettles on either side and a section of narrow rutted and muddy bridleway (complete with horse and rider).

The general concensus is that it was a tough challenging race. The 2 water stations were considered too few and it does heat up in the valley along the river, though some of the railway sections are shaded. There are some small undulations to keep runners on their toes, but no hills as such.

I enjoyed this hard race and was happy with my time and 3rd V4 position. I was 5 places down the sheet from last year, but I was then 2/3rds of the way into my training for the Berlin Marathon and in peak form for the distance.

My 2008 official result was:

61st Peter Burfoot 1:46:23

Remember that on Friday at Rye Harbour is the 2nd race in the Rye Classic Series, a 5k which starts from the Sailing Club at 7pm.

Also, the Will Page Newick 10k Sussex Grand Prix race takes place this Sunday. Details and an entry form are on at:



We are hoping for a record Waddie attendance at the event which has a village fete atmosphere.

Peter"

Bewl 15 - more news

Congratulations to those Waddies both male and female who ran in the Bewl 15 last Sunday. The weather and ground conditions combined to bring about a fast race - this despite the ground being rutted and hard. The threatened rain had held off before the race but affected all but the fastest runners towards the end.

Our commiserations go to Lady Captain Lynn Hayes who had pain in her knee at an early stage which came on again and worsened when another runner caught Lynn's foot. Lynn desperately tried to hold on in the race knowing that if she retired, there would be too few Waddettes to form a Team. Eventually Lynn reluctantly retired from the race.

The Results:-

11 1:28:05 Ciaran Osborn
63 1:38:04 Michael Mackay
69 1:38:45 Mark Waring
110 1:43:59 Helen Goddard
115 1:44:10 Derek Harrison
132 1:46:58 Myles White
178 1:50:47 Cathy Hall
369 2:07:22 Tony Gates

Well done to all!

Its all quiet this weekend in Sussex, although a trio of Waddies and waddettes will be making the trip to Rochester for the Cliffe Wood 10K.

Two Friday night events in the offing. next Friday sees the first race in the annual Rye Summer Series which takes place on a fast and flat course through Rye Harbour. Entry details here.

And Waddies will be making an annual trip to Bushy Park in London on Friday 25th for a cracking event. The Wedding Day 7K is a fun event that attracts a mix of club, fun and eleite athletes to run over a 7K distance through the Park. A delightful event that focuses on the social side as much as the running side, with a bar and barbecue both well used.

And that distance of 7K usually means a pb for many entrants!

Beyons the Arctic Circle

Albert sends in his report of running in the Midnight Sun Marathon - some 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle

"My internal alarm clock woke me at 3:46 on Saturday morning and I
immediately realised my troublesome hamstrings were painful. After a hearty
brekkie I then rushed around looking after my sheep before the journey to
Tromso which is the largest town in the Arctic Circle. The locals call
Tromso phonetically "Trumsa".

My first dilemma was should I run at all? The group organisers Martin and Cathy Burke of Nice Work advised me to drop to the 1/2 marathon. As ever I
ignored the sensible approach. The Nice Work party was 21 persons of which eight
elected for the marathon, with the others in the half and 10K. Naturally we all sized each other up to see who the fast buck (and buckesses were). I had worried whether or not I would make it within 4 hours, if at all.

On arrival I tried to rest but all too soon I was standing on the start line
for an 8.30pm start. I had another dilemma. That is what to wear. It was
raining lightly and the sun was hidden by cloud. The temperature was just
bearable for a vest but what would it be like in 3+ hours? I chose vest only
(don't worry, I wore shorts too but had forgotten running socks so had to
break rule no.1 by wearing day socks). My hamstrings were painful at the
start.

The start is friendly and has a circuit of the town before a grinding rise
all of 44 metres to run over the Tromso bridge. I was overtaken by a couple
of the team and could not afford to match their pace. The route was
undulating following the coast road for 10K and returns via the bridge via a
long uphill route. It was 12 miles at this point.

I was surprised to see by my Garmin that I ran 07:59 minute miles for 9
straight miles (I thought the watch had failed). Then 8:0 dead for 3 miles
but then I lost 1 second per mile after the undulating bits. Interestingly
the race was measured in kilometres on a count down basis marked 42.195, 42,
41 kilometres and so on. Very useful to know where you are.

Over the bridge, back through the town to the airport for another 10K out
and back. Rather boring especially as the route was undulating but fairly
straight. At least one could see ahead as it was still daylight. The
hamstrings were playing up and very painful. The last turn seemed to be
distant but suddenly I was on the road home.

It was good to see another Waddie - Barry Gilbert and the Nice Work team on the
outward track as the 1/2 marathon runners started at 10.30. It was
disconcerting to have the fast 1/2 marathon runners storming past at a near
sprint.

Then my calves at 31K started to threaten to cramp so I developed the well
known Kemp shuffle to try to stop them pulling. At 37K I was beginning to
think the unthinkable - dropping out for the first time in 33 years of
running. Hang on a minute? Is that Justin from the Nice Work team ahead? Bloody hell,
try to keep going lad, I thought. I whizzed past with a shout to him of
encouragement; except I had got his name wrong - I heard someone shout
Justin as the locals had a running list.

The course spectators were thin in numbers but all were enthusiastic in
encouragement shouting hoy ya, hoy ya, hoy ya. Nowegian for 'urry up Harry -
wer're goin to the pub.

38K, Dig in boy I thought. Justin may be close. 38K pain, cold, no sun. 39K
more pain. 40K but my Garmin says 41K but sign says 2K to go. 41K pain but I
will beat 4 hours even if I walk - but I carried on the Kemp shuffle. 42K
and the finish was somewhere ahead but Martin Burke of Nice Work was there
to encourage to finish. The pain was excruciating made worse by the uphill
finish. Made it in 3:38:49, well within my estimate (the Garmin said 26.36
miles). A blanket was wrapped round me as, boy oh boy it was chilly and
then it was off to the pub.

It felt so strange being 00:08:49 in the morning and it was daylight. It was
even lighter at 3am when we retired, exhausted but jubilant.

Would I do it again. Yes of course - once my hamstrings forgive me.

Do it one day and enjoy!