Plodding in July

Hello everybody, the Plogger (Plodder blogger) is back from holiday and can’t wait to update his avid readership on the club’s activities so far in July! 

1^st July: Hope Fell Race – by Anna.

It was the hottest July day on record for the Plodders’ away day at Hope Fell Race.  We had already worked up a healthy sweat just standing at the start line!  Some had hoped that they would place well because surely most runners would have more sense than race on a 30°C+ evening.  It wasn’t the case though, with a great turnout of 219 runners.

Hope Fell Race 2015

 After a lap of the sports pitch to spread out the field, the race skirts through the houses in Hope, goes under the railway, then starts the 650ft climb to the col near Wooler Knoll, north-west of Win Hill.  The heat dried mouths and added some uncertainty on how hard to push - it’d be easy to trigger heat exhaustion - so the drop over the col into the shade of the plantation was welcome!

The respite was short-lived though, and the route quickly turns steeply uphill to Win Hill summit.  A glance at the view, a few breaths of recovery, then it’s straight down to Twitchill Farm and Hope beyond.

Congrats to first Plodder, Mike, in 25th place.  Kudos also to John for racing after his BG attempt at the weekend.  And well done to all 12 Plodders who were mad enough to run!

Plodders 'quanitfy their suffering'

In a very uncharacteristic turn of events, the Plodder contingent decided against the pub due to extreme sweat levels, but some pints will be enjoyed in lieu next Wednesday.  The cake and flapjacks went down well instead.

It’s a great route - one to do again in hopefully cooler temperatures!

Results

25           00:53:50               Michael

111         01:05:34               Shaun

128         01:07:23               John B

134         01:08:02               Andy P

139         01:09:07               James

157         01:11:55               Steve B

176         01:14:40               Maeve (27^th lady)

193         01:19:14               Anna (32^nd lady)

199         01:20:18               Susan (34^th lady)

203         01:21:40               Rob E

204         01:21:41               Samantha C (38^th lady)

206         01:23:04               Hannah (39^th lady)

6^th July: Hathersage Fell Race

The Hathersage Fell Race is  a 4.5 mile race with 1050 feet of climb.  Beginning in the village, the route climbs relentlessly past High Lees and Whim Plantation to Over Owler Tor before peaking on Higger Tor and returning to the village.

Andrew's invisible parachute was unhelpful on the descents.

Results
75           00:40:03               Shau

92           00:41:27               Andrew R

145         00:44:58               James

5^th July: Great Hucklow – by Maeve

A brilliant course and a very well-marshalled race. The first hill was a bit of a killer but the marshal shouting plenty of encouragement from the top more than made up for it. It was quite a muggy day but despite the warm weather the rain the previous night had made the muddy bits quite muddy and the man in front of me disappeared into mid-thigh deep mud at one point. I nearly lost a shoe several times.

The course starts quite high up and then you run even higher up the hill to where the glider planes were taking off and hovering above us like birds. The views are lovely but I needed to be careful to watch my feet as the ground was quite bumpy at times and the route was a bit narrow in places. The route undulates a lot so it’s hard to tell what’s coming up next which made it quite fun and interesting. You get a bit of everything on the route – lovely grassy fields to start, up the hill over boggy-ish moorland and then nipping around all the corners of a valley, through little woods and over ditches and streams, then up the last hill with the friendly photographer and back to the finish on a bit of downhill meaning you can really go for it.

Open terrain and gliders over Gt Hucklow

I can recommend the apricot and ginger flapjack at the end and we were all very grateful to the lovely elderly couple who were handing out water halfway round.

Results

19           00:55:06               Martyn

64           01:01:17               Andrew R

100         01:07:39               Maeve  (20^th lady)

102         01:07:51               Steve B

131         01:14:50               Anna (27^th lady)

19^th July: Holme Moss

The Holme Moss Fell Race is a 15.8 mile race with 4215 feet of ascent.  It takes place on the open moors to the north of Woodhead Reservoir.

Results

At time of writing the results were not available.

In Other News…

One Plodder in particular is having an exceptional July: Liz made the Sheffield Telegraph for her Habitat for Humanity project, building homes for orphans in Malawi.  I hope all Plodders will remember to sponsor Liz and send her a message of support!

The Plogger assumes this photo was not taken in Malawi.

Finally…

Thanks to Anna and Maeve for being guest writers.  Remember Plodders: if you want your achievements immortalised in digital prose, write me a race report!  

Tune in next week to hear about the Plogger’s wardrobe malfunction during the Hathersage Hilly Triathlon.  I’ll give you a clue: “drawstring”.

A Very Purple Weekend

A glorious and bitter-sweet end to June for the Plodders with an action-packed weekend in two counties.

Saturday

On Saturday morning at 0100 (yes, that’s 0100 in the morning) Rob, Martyn and John began their attempt at the Bob Graham Round.  This 66 mile circuit of 42 Lakeland peaks (total ascent over 27,000 feet) is a classic fellrunner’s test-piece.  The trio had been training hard for months, overcoming injury and running ever-more convoluted routes in the Peak District to try and get their minds and bodies ready for the challenge.  Assembling outside Moot Hall in Keswick they faced their first leg – the ascents of Skiddaw, Great Calva, Blencathra and Threlkeld – in pitch darkness.

Martyn, Rob and John in Keswick before their BGR attempt

Our intrepid trio had been on the hoof for seven hours by the time us plodders back in Sheffield awoke to glorious sunshine.  It was a perfect morning to descend en mass on the Hallam Parkrun and help Claire celebrate her 100^th run!  A fantastic achievement, Claire – lots of lung-busting Saturday mornings!

Claire sprints for her 100th finish

Afterwards we gathered for a mass picnic in Endcliffe Park and re-established a positive calorific balance with hundreds of muffins, croissants, brownies and Cal’s dangerously good blueberry strudel cake. 

Plodder picnic in Endcliffe Park...

Despite all the good vibes we were sending to our men in the Lakes, they were suffering!  After 38 miles John had to call it a day, having been unable to hold down any solid food for the last 7 hours.  In an ironic twist, this was just about the time we were all merrily scoffing down the last of our picnic.

Rob & Martyn pressed on, but Rob’s feet had taken a beating.  He made it to the final hill, Robinson, on schedule; however he was unable to descend fast enough to meet the 24 hour target and decided to retire upon reaching the road. 

The tough descents had taken a toll on Rob's feet

Sunday

Just after midnight on Sunday morning Martyn managed to complete the whole round in 23 hours and 5 minutes.  A huge thank you to Anna J, Anna L, Tom, Graham and Rob’s parents for all the support they gave our runners on the day.

How many calories?!

You can experience the whole round for yourselves in only four minutes by checking out Martyn's video:

Presumably at 8am Martyn was still deep in a running coma when six plodders returned to Endcliffe Park for the start of the Round Sheffield Run (RSR).  This multi-stage trail race follows a 15-mile route around the south-west suburbs of Sheffield, taking in the Porter Valley, the Limb Valley and Ecclesall Wood, as well as the parks in Norton, Meersbrook and Brincliffe. 

BGR aside, Plodders aren't known for taking running too seriously.

The way the run is organised is a big part of its attraction.  Because it’s split up into stages, with the opportunity to rest a bit in between, it is a lot less intimidating than a flat-out 15 mile race.  The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly, and at the end you get a medal with a bottle opener function. 

Medal/bottle opener.  'Nuff said.

So to finish: well done to all you Plodders who strode out to achieve your goals this weekend.  Whether you managed it or not, you all pushed the boundaries of Plodding further than ever before!

Plodder hugs for all!

Baslow Bootbash 2015

This just in:

Last weekend three plodders took part in this year's Baslow Bootbash  - a 14 race mile through the beautiful scenery of the Peak District National Park. The Bootbash raises funds for Baslow Choir, helping it to use professional singers and musicians to enhance its performances.  

Our bovine-phobic man on the ground reports:

"It was a plodder 1,2,9th at the finish...an excellent 9th and 2nd lady to Susan too, great day out despite being wetter than a drowning fish at the end.  A smashing pie and peas after and best of all no #*#%ing cows on the route"

Congratulations to all who took part!  Full results will become available on the Boot Bash website.

Race report: Paris Marathon 2015

Three Plodders skived off the Sheffield Half to run the Paris marathon last weekend. Julian, Susan and Claire made the trip across to France to run this flat city marathon (a nice change from Peak District hills). We'd been warned of the dangers of running on the cobbles but our off road training served us well!

A tiny 'go plodders!' message at registration

The dangers on race day were all the banana skins at the drinks stops which made for slippery running, and the heat - although it was nice to run in the sun the temperature hit 21 degrees! Luckily for us (more so for me) the Parisian fire fighters were out cooling runners off every 5k with hoses and buckets of water, surely every girl's dream?!

Susan sparked controversy by not wearing her plodder vest.

After setting off down the Champs Elysées, the route runs down past the Louvre, the Hôtel de Ville, the Bastille and out into the Bois de Vincennes. This section in the woods was quiet and boiling hot, and I happened to bump into a Totley runner! Leaving the woods, you run past the Bastille again, then down to the river, where you run along the Quais and through some tunnels (annoying because your Garmin loses signal). After passing the Eiffel Tower, you enter the Bois de Boulogne.

This is where I started to struggle with the heat and was generally wishing I'd not missed as much training due to that hula hooping injury... It seemed to go on forever but eventually you emerged at the bottom of Avenue Foch and the finish line was in sight! I had a bit of a panic and ended up sprinting for the line, making my fanciful sub-4 hour target with 24s to spare!! I was dead pleased with this as I've hacked 32 mins off my PB time AND I didn't even cry! Julian cut it fine too but managed sub 3:15 so has a GFA London entry and Susan overcame injury to finish in a fab 4:31.

The crowds were fantastic, a bit like Le Tour with people reading your names from your bib and shouting "allez!" Big thanks to our supporters, especially Kev who managed to spot us all and get some photos. I would definitely do this race again, if only for another excuse to scoff baguettes and croissants!

The next day we rested in true Plodder style by climbing up the Eiffel Tower and drinking beer in the sun.

Casually wearing medals on the Eiffel Tower

Julian Wareham 3:14:42
Claire Duts 3:59:36
Susan Hall 4:31:41