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Hi everyone,
Great to see so many Arrows turning up on club nights and supporting the club in events such as the Wheato 10k. It is also great when people organise new initiatives such as Justin's Pub run on Sat 20th June (see fb events for details).
Reminder that it is our Club 5k handicap race tonight - look forward to seeing a great turnout.
If you want to try something different and a bit of a challenge, we have some places in our teams for this year's Thunder Run. It is a team relay event on an off-road 10k course, It is the weekend of 25th-26th July at Catton Park, north of Birmingham.
The challenge is to see how many laps your team can complete in 24 hours. Full details are here TR24. This has been described as a festival for runners and we love it! From the camping, the camaraderie, the magic of running at 3am with headtorches bobbing in the dark, weaving in and out of the woods, walking up the hills (it doesn't matter) to waving feather dusters in transition to attract your teammate!
So far we have spaces for men in a team of 5 and for men or ladies in team of 8. If you are interested or want to find out more, please contact Louise.
Lou and Speirsy
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Club 5k April:
The first run of the year on the Nickey Line summer route (yay!). We had a good turnout with 19 runners and a host of marshals in post-marathon recovery.
Well done to all who ran and the marshals: Richard, Georgie, Justin, Ed, Louise, Jenny & Colin.
We had five first timers - welcome! - we hope you enjoyed it & see you next month! Well done to Jane Fish who came in first place, running in her first handicap race since October '13. Extra special well done to those returning after running VLM just a few days earlier: Patrick, Roger and Gareth. We had three PBs: David W 1m04s, (obviously tapering for M-K Half!), Tom 54s, Patrick 7s (not bad after VLM!)
Fastest lady was Riana and fastest man was Viddy (also tapering for MK!)
A big thank you to Richard M for stepping in to help organise this event; we are going to be sharing the workload from now on.
Parkruns:
We had a fantastic turnout for our mass St Albans parkrun on 2nd May with 22 runners plus marshals/spectators. Lovely to see first timer Claire and PBs for James Izzard (19:39), Louisa (26:07), Ammon (17:51), Tracy (23:25), Steve B (18:01), Paul H (22:40), Jamie N (22:25).
Remember that you can run any parkrun in the country, so why not try Tring, Pasanger or Luton, and Gadebridge (Hemel) is up next. Results for St Albans can be found at St Albans results however, your results will be compiled wherever you run or register.
All you have to do is register in advance at http://www.parkrun.org.uk/stalbans. They email you a barcode, which you bring with you when you turn up at any of the events (Verulam Park by the museum in St Albans). Don't forget, it is FREE, there is no pressure and you can go every week if you want!
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Race results.....
It's been a busy month again and apologies if we have missed anyone.
Dee and Brian managed to enjoy the Greenway Challenge Half Marathon despite the pouring rain. This is a scenic, across countryside route with free tea and cakes at the end.
Michael and Simon T combined a 'culinary' tour of Salzburg with a half marathon and had to re-hydrate in the local bier kellars afterwards. Thoroughly recommended Salzberg and the race (or what they can remember).
They were then joined by other Arrows for the BUPA 10k where there were some great times and PBs for Michael (43:15), James Chasen (37:33), Simon Hodgson (41:57) and Georgie came first in her age category with exactly the same time as last year (00:56:10).
Milton Keynes marathon and half marathon: Congratulations to Charlie and Jim Heatley, Richard M and Norman (what an inspiration he is!) who completed their first marathons in brilliant times. There were also PBs for Dawn (3:42:46) and Andrew (3:19:20) in the marathon and for David W (1:33:30) in the Half. Well done too to Katie, and Hannah who was pacing Dawn (1 week after VLM!) and Viddy who ran with Norman.
Wheato 10k saw another great contingent of Arrows with 36 runners and lots of PBs including David Salmon (55:28 which was a massive 4 mins faster than last year), Simon H (42:56), Hannah T (39:20), Tracy Carr (50:32) and Chris Sach (42:58) - sorry if we've missed anyone. Thanks to Jen C for the lovely photos.
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Race Reports
Please see those below and send your race reports to captains@harpendenarrows.co.uk (if you don’t send them, we are likely to have missed someone! ).
We'll also try and make sure we get press coverage when we can - send to the captains or post on facebook and we'll see what we can do. Needs to be by Sunday evening in order to to write the copy and get to the various Sports Desks.
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Lots of potential races and events on the Arrows website. Some are listed below (Club League races are highlighted in red). http://www.harpendenarrows.co.uk/web/index.php/race-list
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28th May: Club 5k
It's the Summer Route - a nice out and back along the Nickey Line. Run or Marshall - 5 points for the Arrows League. We meet a bit earlier at St George's to sign in and give food orders, then walk over to the start on the Nickey Line (down the steps on Hollybush Lane and along to the railway arches). This is a handicap race, so everyone can win!
Social afterwards at the Engineer - all welcome!
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7th June: Whipsnade 10k
It's all happening at the zoo again - a fun day out with a bit of running thrown in, what's not to like? http://www.zsl.org/zsl-whipsnade-zoo/whats-on/zsl-whipsnade-zoo-stampede. An optional Club League event.
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14th June: St Albans Half Marathon
This is a Club League event (not a 'best of') so let's see a great turnout. Enter at http://www.stalbanshalfmarathon.co.uk/
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19th June (Fri pm): Marston Forest 5k
This is PB potential flat, scenic course and they usually sell burgers and stuff afterwards. Quite a lot of Arrows have run this over the years and we can thoroughly recommend it. Enter here.
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28th June: Herts Hobble
This is now full, but you can go on the waiting list here. Please note, transfers are not allowed under any circumstances - they are very strict about this.
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5th July: Luton Series #1 - John O'Callaghan 5 miles
This is the first race of three in the Luton AC Summer Series. It starts at Venue 360 in Luton and goes into Luton Hoo - bit hilly but well organised. You can enter the whole series or individual races. In the past, the few Arrows who have entered have come away laden with individual/team race and series prizes (often bottles of wine) but we can't always field full teams so do come along if you can. Enter here
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5th July: Bushey 10k
Incorporating Herts Vets 10k Champs (but clashing with Luton series). Enter here
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12th July: Luton Series #2 - Wardown Park 5k
This is the second race of three in the Luton AC Summer Series. You do not have to have run #1 to enter this. Teams do not have to comprise the same people each time either. Enter here
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17th July: Luton Series #3 - Luton 10k
The final race in the Luton AC Summer Series. It starts at Venue 360 in Luton and goes through Luton Hoo and down to Swan Walk a very pretty, very local but bit hilly route. Enter here
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25th and 26th July: Thunder Run
We have entered a number of teams in this 24-hour, off-road, 10k team relay event. There is a high likelihood that spaces will become available as we get nearer the time, so if you would like to go on a reserves list, please let Louise know at Ladies Captain. Details of the event are here and if you want to find out what it is like, just grab someone wearing a TR24 shirt!
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30th July: Fairlands Valley 3k relay race
Includes Herts Senior and Vets Relay Champs. Details not available yet.
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2nd, 6th, 30th Sept: Hatfield 5k Series
Advance notice of this fast flat event: Hatfield 5k which includes Herts County Senior and Vets Champs.
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18th Oct: Arrows Away Event - Palma
This year Arrows are off to Palma where there is a marathon, half marathon and 10K. You can fly from Luton and there is a wide choice of accommodation. The weather may be a little warm, so why not make a mini holiday of it and bring the family? Enter here
Quite a few Arrows are already signed up and these are always really enjoyable events. -great support throughout the training and the race itself, so a lovely introduction for first timers.
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The 2015 Club League
There have been some changes in the League and Hannah T is now leading with Lou and Viddy close behind. Still a lot to play for, so everyone is in with a chance. Go have a look at your plans for the year and see which events you can enter. Full results will be posted on the website shortly.
A full list of the 2015 League races is on the website Club League 2015 and League races are highlighted in red above. Most will be set up as Arrows facebook events, if they haven't already.
Please enter as "Harpenden Arrows" and, if you do unofficial race swaps, you must inform the captains no later than a week after the event or they cannot count for either party.
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Our Arrow of the Month editor is enjoying a well-earned holiday. Past profiles can be seen here.
If you think of someone you would like to nominate - please do let the Captains know.
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Training tip of the Month
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Do something different this month!
Are you challenging yourself? Perhaps you could run a bit further (as the 4-mile group did on Tues by accidentally running 7 miles), try a speed/hill session if you aren't already, go off-road or enter a race. It is easy to get stuck in a rut and cover the same old routes at the same pace. Or maybe you need to take a break and learn to relax a bit, give your body chance to recover. The good thing about being in a club is that there is always someone to do something with, and it may be cycling or swimming!
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Specials and circuits
- Tues 16th June: Summer Southdown Special 5 miles leaving at 7:30pm prompt from the Co-op.
- Tues 30th May: 5-mile Slow Run Special from St George's leaving earlier than usual at 7:20pm.
Socials
- Tues 16th June CAKE NIGHT
- Thurs 28th May - Engineer after the Club 5k
- Thurs 25th June - Engineer again
Arrows Kit
If you want Arrows kit please download an order form from here and hand it in to Colin with your payment. We have vests, T-shirts, hoodies, hats and caps, but if you have some suggestions on other kit you'd like, contact the captains or Colin.
If you want some white iron-on letters for your race kit then Louise has them (contact Ladies Captain). There are some in stock and we will re-order from time to time (cost 13p each and full instructions provided).
Supporters' flags
We have 2 large red Arrows flags - great for spectators contact Ladies Captain if you wish to take them to an event.
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Happy running,
Louise and Simon captains@harpendenarrows.co.uk
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Thanks to Jim Robinson who emailed the captains@harpendenarrows.co.uk with this report:
Centurion Running North Downs Way 50 - 16th May 2015
This was my first Ultra Marathon, and is a 50 mile point to point from Farnham in Surrey to Knockholt in Kent. The route follows the NDW pretty much the whole way, so is around 80% trail with a total climb of 5,500 feet. The Centurion website describes that as 'undulating to hilly' - to me it definitely felt towards the hilly end of that spectrum! The first 24 miles are actually fairly gentle apart from one notable climb up to St Martha's Hill, but then at 24 miles the route takes you up and over Box Hill, and the next seven miles from there to Reigate Hill is a fairly brutal switchback of single track, ankle turning, uneven mud path where you never seem to spend more than about 20 seconds on level ground. A long gentle downhill follows from Reigate, and with a couple of notable exceptions (Bottley Hill being something of a killer at 42 miles) the last quarter of the route is more undulating again. Throughout the route, the views are spectacular and you go across some of the best scenery in the South of England. It's just a shame I was in too much pain to really appreciate them. I never want to see another tree root or climb a set of wooden steps again!
I had been training specifically for this for the last few months, but never having run more than 30 miles I had no idea what to expect after that. The first half was pretty much as expected and I managed to keep a fairly even pace running all the flats and downs and walking the uphills. From around mile 35 onwards I found myself getting slower and slower, and by then end I was pretty much hanging on, not helped by the fact that I hadn't been able to eat anything from mile 40 as I just felt too sick. I did hold on, though, and crossed the finish line in 11h 57m - so definitely not what you would call quick, but over an hour inside the cut-off time, and that was good enough for me!
Centurion Running organise a range of different events across the South of England, mainly 50-100 milers, and the administration and organisation on the day was perfect, including some very well-stocked checkpoints. For anyone considering doing an Ultra - whether a complete novice like myself or otherwise - I would definitely recommend entering one of theirs. I am contemplating going back next year and having a stab the NDW100, but I haven't dared suggest that to my wife yet...
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