WFC Runners: September 2019

Monday 23 September 2019

WFC Runners - Winchester Half, Andover Lakes, Tough Mudder, Hursley write-up

News

This weekend was the Winchester Half and Fit Club had a HUGE turnout with 16 runners and 7 volunteers in various roles. Despite the forecast, the morning actually started fairly bright but the closer we got to race time the more overcast it got, culminating in a heavy downpour just as we were about to start which continued for most of the way round the course.

Despite the bad weather there was some fantastic support on the course which really helped spur us on to some fantastic performances on the notorious hilly route. Times were as follows with the time for St James's Hill also included!!

Charles Mason - 1:27:54 - 6:24 - Course PB
James Hadden - 1:40:26 - 8:32 - PB
Tom Laesing - 1:41:20 - 7:58 - PB
Colin Burville - 1:43:09 - 8:01 - First Half marathon
James White - 1:43:30 - 8:06 - Course PB
Jenny Leishman - 1:52:34 - 8:51 - First Half marathon
Katie Johnson - 1:52:34 - 8:51
Sarah Horton - 1:52:34 - 8:50 - PB
Alice Dewsnap - 1:52:46 - 8:44 - First Half marathon

Vanessa Hodgetts - 1:52:56 - 7:54 - PB
Lynn Mckeague - 1:54:10 - 8:52 - Course PB
Alf Rodway - 2:00:38 - 8:25
Steve Lucas - 2:02:20 - 9:50
Rosy Hall - 2:14:15 - 10:22 - First Half marathon
Sarah Geddes - 2:21:19 - 9:56 - Course PB
Simon Boyden - 2:46:48 - 10:27 - First Half marathon

Huge thank you to those Fit Clubbers who volunteered.

Rachel Mills - Mile 8.5 water station
Will Mills - Mile 8.5 water station
Anna Hastie - Finish Funnel
Carrie Dickinson - Finish Funnel
Issy Mansfield - Baggage Hall
Catherine Mulrine - Baggage Hall
Ali Longman - Lead Bike

And to everyone who supported us en route.

Whilst we were on the 21km course in Winchester Sharon "One R" Smith was running the Andover Lakes 10km. This charity race starts at the Charlton Sports Centre and heads out around the Andover Lakes. It is in aid of the Andover Foodbank. Sharon ran a fantastic 58:17. Well done One R!

On Saturday Simon Elliott was competing in the South London edition of Tough Mudder. This 9 and a half mile obstacle course race is known as one of the hardest races around. Simon completed this in a fantastic 2:15:29. Well done Mr Elliott!

Last, but certainly not least on Saturday evening it was the Dash in the Dark, a 5km race for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance. This event was a festival of neon on Southampton Common. Sally ran a fab 33:47 for this fab cause. Excellent running Sally!

parkrun update - 21st September

This week we had 17 Fit Clubbers at 3 different parkrun venues. We had 15 at Winchester, Mike at Eastleigh and Glenna at Milford Waterfront.

There were more PBs:

Ben S 18:49 - Winchester
Mike H 20:46 - Eastleigh (course PB)
Isabel M 27:17 - Winchester
Pav J 27:07 - Winchester

Congratulations to everyone who ran and volunteered.

Here is a link to the consolidated club report: http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=26888&eventdate=2019-09-21

Coming up this week is the Fit Club parkrun tour to Alice Holt. I hope you can all make it!

Race Reports

Hursley 10km by Sally Boyden

In the Spring of this year I gave myself a kick in the backside – I had slowly been putting on weight over the past year and I need to do something about it!! I looked at Simon, and wondered what all the fuss was about running and thought, ‘Surely, if he can do it, then I can too?’ When I first started I could barely get to the end of our road, or at St. Catherine’s Hill (where I walk our gorgeous Labrador, Inca, every Wednesday), I couldn’t even run that first straight bit up to the gate from the parking in 5 Bridge’s Road! So I just stopped and started and stopped and started and very gradually, over a few months, I could see that I was increasing the distance that I was running for and started to lose some weight (I was eating better as well!).

On 20th June I plucked up courage to come to my first WFC running session and loved it – you were all so lovely and welcoming and to my surprise I did ok! I was one of the slowest, but I didn’t mind and of course, Simon was there with me for moral support! On the 10th August I put my big girls pants on and did my first parkrun, which again was a revelation as I completed it in 29 mins. Since then I have loved some Sunday morning runs with some of the Fitclub family – the Holmans have been so very supportive and encouraging – thank you. My lovely husband mentioned doing the Hursley 10K – he said, ‘You’ll be fine, it’s not very hilly!’ So I signed up, not really knowing what I was letting myself in for apart from that the words ‘multi-terrain’, scared me slightly!

Anyway, we arrived– it was a beautiful morning, the sun was shining and I was kind of ready to give it a shot. I had a 1 hour finish time in my head and no plan at all as I had no idea what to expect!!! We all walked to the start – I stayed with Issy and 1R was a little bit in front in the 50-60 min area! And we were off – started running and what happened??? The end of my fabric bracelet got caught in one of my safety pins!!! So I was trying to negotiate the start, which was a bit potholey in the field and trying to get my arm free from my number!!! Issy and I were neck and neck for about the first 5K, but as the hills kept coming she was stronger and I started to lag behind, slowly losing her in the distance!!! The killer hill between the 6th and 7th Kilometre was an absolute ****** - I had to stop and walk.

What I loved was the atmosphere between the runners – several people came up behind me and gave me encouragement to keep going!!! Round a corner we went and a man slipped and somersaulted in front of me on the chalky, dusty ground. I stopped to see if he was ok and we jogged together for a little while, finding out that we had both broken our left ankles twice - amazing what you find out in a running race!! Those hills kept on coming – there really wasn’t a let up and by this time I knew that I wasn’t going to make my 1 hour target.

Another hill within the 9th K was also not great, but the end was near. When I saw the 1K to the end marker I felt ok – thought I would try and speed up a bit, but it was quite hard to do any overtaking as the paths were narrow at this point. Finally I could hear the loud speaker and see the end – phew!!! I put a spurt on for the finish, then could hear my name being shouted from the side and I was there!!! Thank goodness! All I could think of, was that any flat race after that was going to seem sooooooo good!!! I finished in 1.03.35 – not bad for a very hilly first 10K!! Thank you so much WFC runners and to my hubby for all your kind words and encouragement – keep them going as I’m signed up for the ‘Great South Run’ in a months time. It’s flat everyone has said……let’s hope so!! Good luck to everyone that’s running the Winchester Half – next year maybe!!???

General Announcements

WFC Running Club Calendar

Dates for your diary:

Thursday 26th September - Normal Session - South Winchester Park and Ride
Thursday 26th September - C25K - Abbey GardensSaturday 28th September - parkrun roadtrip - Alice Holt

WFC parkrun Club

Winchester Fit Club Runners is set-up as a club with parkrun. If you go into your profile (there is a link to it on the parkrun results email and newsletter email) you can select your club. Change yours to Winchester Fit Club Runners and you will appear in the consolidated club report that we get each week.

WFC Runners WhatsApp Group

There is a WFC Runners WhatsApp chat group where we generally just wang on about running, races and cake. If you are not already part of this then please get in contact with Coach James or Coach Mike who will add you.

WFC Runners Strava Club

If you are a Strava user there is a Winchester Fit Club Runners club page. This can be accessed here: https://www.strava.com/clubs/WFC-Runners. Request to join and we will approve!

Booking onto sessions

Booking onto our training sessions enables the coaches to plan the session accordingly. You can book on in the following location: https://winchesterfitclub.simplybook.it/v2/

Race Calendar

The race calendar is now stored here: https://wfcrunners.blogspot.com/2019/01/race-calendar-2019-and-beyond.html

Race Kit

The full range of kit available to purchase and instructions on how to order can be found in the following link: https://wfcrunners.blogspot.com/2019/01/kit-details-and-prices.html

Monday 16 September 2019

WFC Runners - Richmond Marathon, Hursley 10km, parkrun, Great North Run

News

The big news this weekend was Glenna running her first ever race over the 26.2 mile distance at the Richmond Marathon. Glenna was paced around by her son, Daniel, on a baking hot late summer's day. The route went from Richmond, out along the Thames via Kingston all the way to Hampton Court Palace and back, finishing in Old Deer Park.

Despite a few tummy troubles and the aforementioned heat, Glenna performed superbly coming home in a stellar 5:53:01 and taking 4th place in her age category.

I was fortunate enough to go and watch Glenna and Dan en route and it was a privilege to see someone working so hard to achieve their goal. It would've been easy for Glenna to step off the course when she started feeling poorly, or to quit and blame the heat, but she didn't. She pushed on, she walked when needed but she kept moving forward. I'm honoured to have been there.

It was also the Hursley 10km this weekend. This multi-terrain, undulating race is popular amongst members, as is evidenced by the whopping 12 members taking part! Despite the hot conditions and difficult terrain there were some excellent results:

Mike Hastie - 44:19
Tom Laessing - 46:34
Anna Hastie - 48:11
Steve Lucas - 57:06
Allen Westoby - 58:01
Catherine Westoby - 58:01
Alex Humber - 1:00:03
Isabel Mansfield - 1:00:40
Sharon Smith - 1:01:34
Sally Boyden - 1:03:35
Simon Boyden - 1:09:47
Trish Heaton - 1:09:55

This weekend it is the Winchester Half! We again have a large contingent taking part and a number of members volunteering in various roles. Best of luck to everyone taking part!

parkrun update - 14th September

This week we had 18 Fit Clubbers at 2 different parkrun venues. We had 16 at Winchester and James and Olivia at Tetbury Goods Shed.

The big news at Winchester was the visit from Dame Kelly Holmes who gave a rousing speech at the start and hi-fives on the way round. She was pushed hard all the way round by Andy, but she couldn’t quite catch Ben. Her visit clearly inspired a number of our runners as is evidenced by the list of PBs:

Ben S 18:55 - Winchester

Andy M 20:08 - Winchester

Olivia M-W 27:20 - Tetbury Goods Shed

Isabel M 27:59 - Winchester

Kathy R 28:28 - Winchester

Pav J 28:56 - Winchester

Debra C 34:11 - Winchester

Congratulations to everyone who ran and volunteered.

Here is a link to the consolidated club report: http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=26888&eventdate=2019-09-14

Thursday 12th Session - 2nd Birthday mixed bag

With Coach James supporting the C25K group Coach Hastie stepped in to lead the session. The group headed off and started the session with a couple of quick reps of Blue Ball Hill. Once this was done they headed over to North Walls Rec for some intervals.

Two years ago the first ever Fit Club running session was held at North Walls rec. Back then we did 10 x 1 minute with static recovery. Starting at the bridge at the art College end of the park we sprinted down towards the corner. Only Adam made it as far as the corner. We then regrouped and ran back the other way.

On Thursday things had changed somewhat. The group did 6 x 1min but with jog recovery back to the start and a number of runners made it to the corner!

After this was done the group were treated to another 2 reps of Blue Ball on their way back to Abbey Gardens. Here the group met up with the C25K group and Coach James led the cool down.

We then all headed off to the William Walker where we ate cake, expertly baked by Sharon, and had a few drinks. It was also great to have so many members join us for the celebrations, including our smallest Fit Club member, Owen and his wonderful parents Alf and Philippa.

It's been an amazing 2 years and I can't wait to see what the future brings for the club!

Couch to 5km

This week saw the first ever WFC Couch to 5km session. We met in Abbey Gardens and greeted some new and some familiar faces. Sharon was leading the session, and even had my official whistle of power! Sharon was supported by myself, Anne and Jo.

There were some nerves but before long we were off!

Week one of C25K is as follows:

5 minutes brisk walk (as a warm-up)
1 minute running followed by 1 and a half minutes brisk walk, repeated for 20 minutes
5 minutes brisk walk

So we had a nice brisk walk down to the bishop on the bridge and along the river. We started the 20 minute run-walk section and headed across Palmer's Field, along Garnier Road and back along the river. The final walk section took us back to Abbey Gardens where we met up with the main Thursday group and did the cool down stretches.

There was such a good atmosphere in the group. Everyone was upbeat and enthusiastic and all the runners supported each other through the inaugural session. After the run a large number of the group joined us at the William Walker for cake and drinks.

I'm already looking forward to next week!  Huge thank you to Sharon for organising and leading the group and to Anne and Jo for supporting.

Race Reports

The Great North Run by Katie Johnson

As my company sponsored the Simplyhealth Great North Run this year, not only was I lucky enough to get one of the 10 employee running spaces but I also got to enjoy with our clients the run VIP style!

The whole experience started on Saturday before the race with a pre run Pasta Party - ‘Tagliatelle on the Tyne’. (I believe the Great Run offers something similar but you have to pay, ours was included.) It was a carb loading feast of pasta on a themed boat on the river. As part of my company events team this was a unique opportunity to sit back and let my team look after me for a change, however I was still ‘technically’ working as I knew so many clients. I definitely had a lot of nervous energy as I told everyone I was aiming for a time of under two hours, putting that extra pressure on myself. However with all the training runs I had completed with Sarah and Jenny I felt quite confident. After saying no to any alcoholic drinks at the free bar, you can tell I was serious about this challenge, it was time for an early night!

The next day the VIP busses picked up all my clients and me from our hotel which had been booked for all runners as part of Team Simplyheath. My events team provided me with extra jelly babies, safety pins, the all important VIP wristbands and lots of support as we headed to the start line at 7:30am!

We arrived at the start line which was surprisingly right in the middle of a dual carriageway. We were there so early, just after the roads were shut and had the surreal experience of walking down the slip road onto the main carriageway itself, before walking up to the official start line. We then had a 3 hour wait so plenty of time for start line photos, elite and celeb spotting, to make our personal bag drop. We were also interviewed for the BBC which was sadly not aired. Most importantly of all, we had easy access to toilets!

Eventually the race was about to start. I had eaten so many jelly babies and chocolate buttons whilst waiting that I was buzzing with sugar, excitement and nerves. The VIP section we were in was right at the start line. If you watch it on TV we were in the right hand lane of the dual carriageway. The elite men including Sir Mo were just metres away on the left hand side. We were really going to race Mo, at least for about half a second! We had already had the great experience of seeing the wheelchair race start and the elite women.

There were two panics just before we started as my Strava was not picking up because of the 1000s of people there and my music was not streaming. Two lessons learnt; set up Strava before 10 mins to go and ensure the music is downloaded. However both were resolved - just in time.

Bang! And we were off. I was over the start line in a second, almost too quickly. Crowds lined the streets, on bridges and in the centre reservations of the roads. However for the first couple of miles it was the mass of runners on the roads. Running on a dual carriageway, (I was told to keep left to avoid a slight incline,) was an amazing experience and running under bridges with the runners shouting ‘Oggy oggy oggy oi oi oi!’

Within the first mile I knew my Strava had malfunction as it was telling me I had reached one mile long before I actually had. So the pacing I had worked out with Sarah and Jenny was now null and void. I tried to go with the flow knowing that they were calling me in an hour to know what pace I should be going and avoiding having to do some maths calculations.

Even though pace was pre-occupying my thoughts, actually a good distraction, I couldn’t help but smile as I ran. The famous run over the Tyne Bridge came all too soon, I think between 1-2 miles. That was a wonderful feeling crossing this iconic landmark even though the red arrows were not there as last year!

Running along the dual carriageways around each of the many roundabout, the miles flew. There was not a moment where there were no supporting crowds, bands, music or something to look at or watch. There were official drinks stations every couple of miles and food stops and they even had some shower tunnels which were very much appreciated as it was hot. People were also giving away so much. There was jelly babies, orange wedges, water, ice lollies and even beer being handed out along the route. This was incredible as even though I had my water bottle with a tablet in it about mile 9 I needed water and a lovely lady handed me a bottle from the crowd. I felt the whole of the Newcastle and area were supporting us.

Everyone had told me there were hills on route and coming from hilly Winchester and seeing the route I thought it would be fine. However they were ‘sneaky’ hills which were so slight I didn’t think I was climbing them until I wondered why I was starting to hurt so much. This is when the amazing phone support of Sarah and Jenny came in.

I was listening to music through my phone so I could easily answer a phone call. Their encouragement and guidance on what pace I should be going was invaluable. They also said I was going super fast and to slow down as I could barely talk or breath. They know I have a huge tendency to run too fast at times to the point of making myself feel ill so there advice was so gratefully received. I also run with my friends so even in a crowd of people I missed my mates next to me. They were amazing, there encouragement and just hearing their voices was fantastic and spurred me on to keep going.

General Announcements

WFC Running Club Calendar

Dates for your diary:

Thursday 19th September - River Park Leisure Centre
Thursday 26th September - South Winchester Park and Ride

WFC parkrun Club

WFC Runners WhatsApp Group

WFC Runners Strava Club

If you are a Strava user there is a Winchester Fit Club Runners club page. This can be accessed here: https://www.strava.com/clubs/WFC-Runners. Request to join and we will approve!

Booking onto sessions

Monday 9 September 2019

WFC Runners - The Baccus Half, parkrun PBs, 1 mile time trial, C25K, What Alf did on his holidays

News

With September arriving it brings with it the start of the autumn race season and this week Fit Clubbers were back racing with a vengeance!

We start with the New Forest running festival where we had our newest members Sarah and Simon running the 10km, Sarah Lewis running the Half and Alf running the full marathon.

The Multi terrain course is one of the most scenic races on the calendar. A blend of forest enclosures, New Forest villages, open roads, cracking view and, of course, the New Forest Ponies.

Alf was running off the back of having completed the Beast (see review below) and limited training due to his pesky injury picked up at the London Marathon this year. Still that didn't stop him grinding out a superb time of 5:37.45.

Sarah Lewis has also been training hard recently following the success she has had over the summer with her triathlons. Having started well Sarah faded towards the end but still managed to post a very credible 2:08:51.

New members Sarah and Simon Robinson were both competing in the 10km and came away with superb times of 58:34 for Sarah (a PB by over a minute) and 52:35 for Simon.

Fantastic running from everyone representing us in the New Forest.

Turning out attentions northwards we had Katie Johnson running in the Great North Run. The Great North Run attracts nearly 50,000 runners each year for the half marathon course near Newcastle. It is undulating in places and is a point to point run and is one of the best loved races in the country. Katie was up against Sir Mo Farah, and despite chasing him hard, Katie was just 49 minutes behind him! Katie finished in an amazing time of 1:48:09. Well done Katie, I look forward to the write-up!

We also had Anne running the Baccus half marathon. This race is unique in the UK. It is set at the Denbies wine Estate near Doking and consists of a loop of the vineyards. Each of the 5 aid stations is stocked with wine and has a selection of food and soft drinks as well. There is a hog roast and more food and drink at the finish and a party on into the night. The race is fancy dress and this year Anne and her friend went as Patsy and Edina from Ab Fab and looked amazing!

This is one race that is most definitely not about posting a fast time or nabbing a PB which is reflected in Anne's time of 5:22:42 for the 13.1 mile course. Another race for the bucket list!

Lastly, possibly a race that is NOT on people's bucket list! Founder member Adam S was once again ultra running in Poland, this time at the Polish Mountain Ultra championships in the 100km race. This beast of a race took in 7 valleys in Krynica-Zdroj and had over 12,000ft of elevation. Adam smashed round the course in 13:41:27 and finished 66th out of 543 competitors. If that wasn't enough Adam's wife Magda ran the 35km version which had 4,600ft of elevation. Magda finished in 5:40:27. AMAZING running from our polish contingent!!

Well done to all of our racers this weekend! Next weekend we have another large local race in the Hursley 10km, which I know we have a number of entrants for. We also have the Richmond marathon which will see Glenna make her debut over the 26.1 mile distance.

Couch to 5km

This week sees the launch of our inaugural Couch to 5km programme. This is a 9 week programme to encourage people to take up running. It is based around three sessions a week and starts off as a mix of walking and running. It then builds up to training you to be able to run, without stopping, for 30 minutes.

The course is being organised by Sharon "One R" Smith and run by volunteers from across the running club. Each week we will have one of the three sessions as a group run led and supported by Fit Club members. At the end of the 9 weeks we will organise a graduation run (most probably a parkrun) where we aim to celebrate the success of the programme.

The first session is this Thursday to tie in with the running club's second birthday. Hopefully the new members will join us afterwards for drinks and cake at Number 5 Bridge Street.

This is an excellent programme for us to be able to offer and, if successful, we would like to run it a couple of times a year. As a community club focussed on participation I think it's key that we are able to offer a C25K programme to encourage and support new members into the sport.

Huge thank you to Sharon for taking this on and doing such an amazing job.

parkrun update - 7th September

This week we had 25 Fit Clubbers at 4 different parkrun venues! We had 21 at Winchester, Ben and Shelley at Longrun Meadow in Taunton, Cat M at Richmond Olympic, Canada 🇨🇦and Alice at Salisbury.

There were more amazing PBs:

Ben Smith 18:58 - Winchester

Simon H 26:14 - Winchester

Cat M 26:22 - Richmond Olympic

We also had Shelley celebrating her 50th parkrun! Shelley has run 32 times at Winchester, 7 times at Pollock, 3 times at Leamington and once each at 8 other venues! Shelley has a PB of 24:33. Look forward to seeing you in your new red T-shirt soon.

Congratulations to everyone who ran and volunteered.

Here is a link to the consolidated club report: http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=26888&eventdate=2019-09-07

Thursday 5th Session - One Mile time trail

This Thursday saw us take on our one mile time trail route. We had 22 runners meet up at Garnier Road on a perfect evening for running. The plan for the evening was simple...after a warm-up jog we were to do some strides an the team would then do a timed, measured out-and-back mile before a nice extended cool down jog.

We jogged down from Garnier road all the way to the far end of the viaduct. Once there we did started by doing some strides. The purpose of these was to get the muscles warm and get the fast twitch muscle fibres firing! The strides consisted of 5 seconds of sprinting, followed by 10 seconds of jogging. We did this the whole way down the viaduct and back.

Once we were fully warm it was time for the time trail. The route was fairly straight forward. Starting at the far end of the viaduct it was a hard effort all the way to a marker (gnarly old log) about 100m beyond the bridge that crosses the path. Here the runners turned and ran back the way they had come.

I was timing and I must admit I was expecting Charles to be first home, however I was surprised to see the first runner back onto the viaduct was Allen. He held off a late charge by Charles and hung on for a stunning 5:46. First lady home was Jenny L in 6:49.

There were some cracking performances on the day and also some cracking pained running faces!!

After everyone was back we chilled out for a while before having an extended cool down jog via 5 Bridges Road and past St Cross. We cooled down back at Garnier Road before finishing.

Next week we will be back at Abbey Gardens. Following the run we will be heading to Number 5 Bridge Street for our second birthday celebrations. There will be cake!

Race Reports

The Beast - by Alf Rodway

The Beast! Sounds daunting when you say it aloud...... and whilst it is a tough race, it is enjoyable too! A friendly, organised and adventurous running event. I love and get very excited about ‘The Beast’ every year. I have now completed this for the third year in a row and I first got introduced to it by my friend Durrand and have never looked back. The Beast is 12.5 miles of rural running in Dorset, organised by Poole AC and it’s part of the Purbeck trail series!

Around 500-600 people gathered at the start, everyone chatting and bantering. The race brief is short, funny and to the point therefore you’re not hanging around. The race starts and ends within the village of Corfe Castle Common. The beast starts downhill and then you are immediately hit with a steep incline, followed by then a steady incline before being welcomed with some flat ground. You run through woodlands, fields and close to the Dorset coastline whereby the views are stunning. This race is mainly hills and there are some very challenging ones that test your mental strength rather than your physical one.

Along the route, there are stiles to climb over but also provide you a welcome rest as these get backed up unless you a super quick! There are also certain tracks which are single file too so you need to adjust your pace accordingly. No one shows their frustration at a slow runner and fellow runners appreciate your level. There are also obstacles too with branches that you need to duck under, the usual brambles and over grown bushes along with footholes to avoid. With steep downhills and hard climbs at different points, you will feel like you’ve run 16miles and not 12.5!

At the top of some of the steep climbs, I always stop and take a look down at what just been achieved as well as looking left and right to see the stunning Dorset coastline. I was very lucky with the weather being sunny as previously, the last two years it had rained.
As you come close to the finish, you run through fields and in the background is Corfe Castle, which provides a welcome view knowing you’re nearly home. The hill that I ran down at the beginning I am now running up before taking a left onto some flat trail, a small downhill before a small uphill and into the straight for the finish.

Considering my current fitness level, I am happy with my time and this event put back into perspective why I love running. Recovering from injury when it hit me so hard has been frustrating and mentally draining. Despite being back in training and people’s encouragement, I needed an event to drive me on again, The Beast did that! Next year, I will be back and aiming for a PB!

Once you competed in this event, you’ll want to do it again, trust me

Haldon Forest & Bideford Parkruns

Whilst away on holiday, Alfie and I decided to be parkrun tourists!

I will start with Bideford as there is not much to say. You run 3.5 laps around a park whereby the landmarks are a toilet block, a cafe and a community centre. The route is flat and mainly on concrete!

Haldon Forest parkrun was my 25th and it was a beautiful day. The run is undulating and all trail. Around 150 people participate in this event, whereby everyone is friendly and welcoming. The start is flat and then you get hit with a steep hill that wake up your calves.

After reaching the top, the view across Devon is spectacular. You run through some lovely forestry woodland before running up a second hill (tougher than the first!) and then to a welcome downhill section to get your breath back.

The course is 1.5 laps and as you head downhill to the finish onto a small straight, those left at the finish clap you in, which was really nice :).

My son and I headed off to the cafe to get our barcodes scanned and where they have a good choices of breakfast and cakes!

General Announcements

WFC Running Club Calendar

Dates for your diary:

Thursday 12th September - Abbey Gardens, running club 2nd birthday drinks afterwards
Thursday 19th September - River Park Leisure Centre
Thursday 26th September - South Winchester Park and Ride

WFC parkrun Club

WFC Runners WhatsApp Group

WFC Runners Strava Club

If you are a Strava user there is a Winchester Fit Club Runners club page. This can be accessed here: https://www.strava.com/clubs/WFC-Runners. Request to join and we will approve!

Booking onto sessions