The Vitality Big Half is London's community half marathon, starting by Tower Bridge and finishing at the Cutty Sark, passing through the boroughs of Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Lewisham and Greenwich.
Despite the poor recent weather the conditions on the day were excellent, albeit a little cold. Here are the times:
Issy M - 2:09:24
Simon H - 2:17:15
Shelley T - 1:57:21
Congratulations everyone!
In other news I would like to extend a huge Fit Club congratulations to Stefan and Lucy who recently got engaged.
parkrun 7th March
We had Rachel and Simon at Netley Abbey, Len at South Woodham Ferrers, Mike and Anna at Itchen Valley, Matt at Brockenhurst, Alice, Glenna, Dave and Trish at Whiteley and Jenny and Katie at Andover.
There was a course PB for Katie of 26:28 at Andover. Congratulations Katie!
Thank you to everyone who ran and volunteered.
Here is a link to the consolidated club report: http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/…
If you have yet to register as Fit Club then all you have to do is go to your parkrun profile (link in the results email) and select Winchester Fit Club RC as your club. You will then appear on our results!
Race Reports
Winchester 10km by Simon Boyden
A bizarre thing happened to me as I approached the 7km mark of the Winchester 10k. I was feeling strangely good and strong in myself and I glanced behind. There were loads of people behind me! I couldn’t believe it....I’ve done a few 10k’s and until that moment I was always bringing up the rear with near empty tarmac for company. What was happening!
My overall running and training times had improved in the week leading up to the Winchester 10k and had felt a little more confident in my ability so was keen to see what I could achieve.
The weather forecast had been for strong winds and rain for race day, however conditions weren’t as bad as promised.
We club runners met for the customarily pre race photograph (notice all the speedy ones are in vests!) after which we made our way to the start where I met with James and Vicky. Just after 8.30am we were off!
Up through central Winchester, fellow club members were there to cheer us on as we joined Jewry Street....their support throughout the race was timely and welcome. At the 1km mark my watch flashed up a time just over 6min/km...too fast! I had thought pre race that I would target 6.30/km to give me a target time of 65 minutes. Oh well, I may need those few seconds as a credit later.
I continued on pass the 2 and 3 km marks and started to noticed that I was overtaking many more people than were overtaking me. I felt good and was running well compared to normal, my pace nearer to 6.15/km to than the target time.
At the 4km mark as we approached the The Good Life Centre I had a big smile on my face....that last km was under 6 minutes.....okay, a little downhill section, but under 6 min/km further adding to my growing confidence as I focused on going up the hill out of Headbourne Worthy.
The rain held off but the only section where the wind was a problem was the exposed straight section of tarmac before you get to Andover Road. I took on some water and continued and was pleased to get a fist bump from Anne as we turned left onto Andover Road. This was the moment I glanced back and realised I wasn’t last.....far from it.
See pic for proof....there’s people behind me!
With this new found confidence, I had to continue the good work along the long gradual incline that lay before us as we ran back into Town, again passing more people than those overtaking me...what was going on? All the time, I was adjusting my target time down lower.
PG and Alf were supporting around the 8km mark, advising that it was all down hill from there. Excellent, the worse is over. I calculated that a sub 63 minute time was on.
Onwards into town passing yet more Running Club members shouting welcomed support. It was only as I went past the Rugby Club did I first feel really fatigued. Fortunately the finishing line was less than a few minutes away....it was going to be close to get under the 63 minutes....really close!
Sadly because of the recent flooding, the finish line had to be moved and was a little tight and twisty. However I wanted to shout with delight (and inside I was), as I crossed the line my watch said 1hr 2 minutes and 59 seconds...BOOM! Even better the official time was 4 seconds faster than this. However, the best news was that I had bettered last years effort by a full 9.5 minutes!
I’m so pleased and rather proud of myself. This end of race experience was one that I was unfamiliar with. A finishing photo with the rest of Team WFC Runners was taken and off for the biggest price of cake I could find.
To Coach James and all the wonderful members of this Club, your help, humour and support mean a lot to me. Thank You!!!
Winchester 10km by Andy Mant
I like to think I don’t really get overly nervous before challenges, but that doesn’t seem to be true for running events. Even yesterday my wife was remarking on my ‘quiet’ demeanour and time spent lining up my number on my yet to be tested race vest.
This morning the usual pre-race arrangements meant dropping off my bag at the statue, before making my way to the archway by Debenhams for a team photo. With over 20 Fit Club Runners taking part in a run starting in the heart of Winchester centre, this was very much a home race
As we were called to the start I noticed the ‘pacing’ boards, I was trying to fight my way ahead of the sub 50 minutes but when I noticed it was only about 5 rows from the front I thought maybe this was indeed far enough forward to begin. Conditions were almost perfect, with barely a note of the forecast winds, and a rather pleasant mist in the air keeping this competitor at least nice and cool throughout the race.
I am often asked what I think about whilst running, particularly as I do not listen to music. Usually there would be plenty on the list, from how much cake I am clocking up, to freeing my mind and getting in tune with my breathing. However, with so much support on the track today I did not have a moment to think, just to keep waving, behaving like some kind of running royalty! If I had to guess I would say just as many fit-clubbers were supporting today as were competing, a real testament to the social ethos of our club.
I barely noticed the Ks ticking by, but I do remember thinking should I take water at the station. I would not normally have a drink on a 10K outing, but without even thinking I was reaching out my arm as the young volunteer appeared to be begging me to take ‘his’ cup. This leads me to my only other real thought for the day; ‘how do you drink at pace?’ To say I almost suffocated would not be too much of an exaggeration as I tried to keep my legs going at the same pace, but now without the guidance of my ‘usually smooth’ breathing pattern! Perhaps a training session in the making James (Although, I can hear you laughing from here!).
Regaining my stride I made my way up Andover road and onto the home stretch. It is amazing what a difference race day makes as there was still a little pace left for the last 1K and a very happy me, collected what I can only describe as ‘pretty good stash’.
Some fantastic times for the team today, some friends were missed, but all were represented and the club gave a good show of itself. I understand that Eastleigh is even faster, so here’s to a good month’s training before then!
Winchester 10km by James White
This is my 4th year of running the Winchester 10km and my third time actually finishing it! Despite the awful weather forecast a few days out I was pleased to see that the morning of the race was actually fairly mild and dry albeit with a strong South Westerly breeze.
I arrived early and shortly afterwards the rest of the team started to drift in. I went for a wee, dropped my bag off and then headed off for the team photo. It was amazing to see so many of the club vests; they are so distinctive and really make us stand out. After a second nervous wee I headed off to the start. They had pens for predicted finishing times, but they were really narrow and it was impossible to get anywhere near where I thought I should be. I was pleased when they got us going pretty quickly with very little pre-amble. It took a while to cross the start line but we were soon off and running!
It became clear that, despite the closed roads, it was still hard to pick your way through the mass of bodies and so it wasn’t until we turned into Jury Street that we could really get into our stride. As I rounded the corner by Turtle Bay I saw the Fit Club supporters and volunteers, I heard someone shout “don’t fall over”, gave them an inappropriate gesture and ran off. For context two years ago I didn’t make it 100yds before turning my ankle and dropping out of the race!
As soon as we were on Worthy Lane we were fully in our stride. I was trying to push but my legs weren’t having any of it. They felt heavy and it seemed like I was putting far too much energy in to maintain my pace. I was also coughing a lot and generally did not feel great! I therefore decided to settle in to a more comfortable pace and try and enjoy the run. One of the highlights of the route was the large number of Fit Clubbers who were supporting us en route. It made such a difference, especially on Andover Road, to have people cheering us on and shouting our names.
I kept pushing on and was maintaining my pace fairly well, despite the hills. As I got back into the city and we turned onto Worthy Lane I saw Simon R in front of me and resolved to try and catch him. As we approached Russell Road, where previously the race turned down for the finishing stretch, I saw runners continuing on down Worthy Lane. Just as Simon and I approached the corner the marshalls stepped out in front of us and directed us down Russell Road, with the runners in front of us continuing down Worthy Lane. I said to Simon that I thought this would cause trouble and sure enough it turns out that the front few hundred runners had been sent on an extra loop of an additional 600m.
I pushed on to the finish in North Walls rec and managed to finish fairly strongly, overtaking a number of people in the final 200m. (It always amazes me how many people slow down on the approach to the finish!!). I finished in just a shade over 46 minutes and almost 2 minute PB. It was a shame that they had changed the finish which made it hard to congregate and cheer the finishers in, and it seemed to get very congested in the finish area. I think this killed a bit of the finish funnel buzz. This was recovered somewhat by the Mills’s, Shelley and Alex appearing out of nowhere with cake for the finishers! Amazing.
Despite not getting to the pace I was hoping and therefore missing my target time I really really enjoyed the day. It was so great to see the team in their club kit and seeing the amazing performances from our fantastic runners. It was also pleasing to see our little running community out in strength supporting the runners on the course. I was so proud. Thank you.
Same again next year?
Winchester 10km by Philippa Drew
Last year's 10k didn't get off to the best of starts for me with a bout of conjunctivitis and a Lemsip to get me going. This year I felt infinitely healthier, so fuelled by my pre-race ritual of peanut butter on toast and a shot of Berocca, I began my stroll into town. The weather was looking dicey with a combination of steady drizzle and a brisk wind and I found myself regretting the decision to leave my extra layer at home. However, it wasn't long before I was sheltering outside Debenhams with a large contingent of fellow WFCRCers, many of us sporting our official race kit.
A few obligatory photos later and it was time to make our way to the start line, I had a couple of minor panics trying to get my Garmin GPS to lock on and finding that for the first time ever, my race-approved, bone-conducting headphones didn't automatically sync with my phone... 1st world problems aplenty, thankfully all resolved by the time the gun went off!
And so it began, 10 gloriously damp kilometres ahead of us all! The first three kilometres went by in a flash, cheered on by WFC supporters along the way and at the turning onto Wellhouse Lane I spotted my dad, a lovely boost as I ventured into the wilds of the Worthy's. I found kilometre 6 the hardest part, but as I approached Andover road and another uphill stretch I remembered reading that you should just 'run the kilometre you're in'. I decided to take it a little easier and focussed on Coach James' uphill tips of a short stride, running on my tiptoes and keeping my head up. Before I knew it I'd reached Park Road and had my mum and sister in my sights. My sister, as usual, was cheering alarmingly loudly, getting all emotional and brandishing a colourful homemade banner... just the encouragement I needed for the last quarter!
Running downhill towards the corner of Worthy lane was a joy (aside from a knee niggle) and it was great to see a big bunch of WFCRCers cheering us round the corner. My watch indicated I was comfortably on course for a PB and as we headed into the grounds of Riverpark I was feeling excited and ready for a sprint finish.
Unfortunately the sprint wasn't to be as the new finish line arrangement was rather narrow and, short of elbowing people out of the way (not very sporting), I had to settled for a fast-ish jog. On the plus side, I still got my PB, the medal was chunky and I could easily justify eating a whole Lindt bunny to myself on the sofa that afternoon!
Winchester 10km by Catherine Westoby
This was my 3rd year in a row doing Winchester 10km and it is a firm favourite in the Westoby household. I went into this year being told to hold back by physio due to an annoying persistent glute injury, so I wasn’t really looking forward to it as much as other years.
I was advised to go steady at the start, something which I am terrible at. I always get very excited and generally my first couple of kilometers are faster than I can sustain. I tried to focus on negative splitting, something completely new to me, I enjoyed this as it gave me something to focus on and really helped me to hold back a little. Trying to negative split was also good as it made me focus on my own race and avoided me trying to keep up with any other fitclubbers that I know are a similar pace. Negative splitting is certainly something that I am going to have to practise more in future however as by the time I got to 4km I had gone too fast so I wouldn’t have managed to negative split for another 6km without killing myself & certainly wouldn’t have done my injury any favours. I therefore chilled out a little for km 4-7 which included a fair chunk of uphill so that worked out well.
Coming along Andover road was amazing with Fitclub support every few hundred metres. It is amazing how much of a push you get from seeing someone you know or having someone cheer you on. The marshals this year were incredible and there seemed to be more of them than previous years. One marshal standing at Park Road said she was honoured to watch us run which was very sweet and really made me push on for my last few km. I loved the finish of last years 10km and this year was no different. Knowing the course makes a big difference as I knew I could push on once I got to the final downhill on Andover Road as I knew the worst of the hills were over. The support on the corner of Worthy Road was again amazing and spurred me on. At this stage I looked at my watch total time and to my utmost surprise I was looking like my time wouldn’t be too dissimilar to my 2019 time.
Official chip time, 51:13 a 7 second course PB! It was quite congested at the end, but it didn’t take too long to get out, collect our goodies and all-important medal and t-shirt. Not quite as hench as the new forest medal but one of the nicest medals I’ve ever gotten. The t-shirts were also much nicer than previous years. It was lovely to see so many Fitclub runners at the end, especially the wonderful supporters donning fairy cakes! Great end to a great race. It will be on my 2021 race list and hopefully in another years’ time I won’t be injured and can try for more than a 7 second pb!
What I have taken from this race is that going hard at the start isn’t always necessary and I enjoyed having more in my legs to finish strong whereas I usually find the last few km a slog. A valuable lesson for me!
Challenge - Week 8
Challenge - Week 8
The scoring for the number of runs is the same as block 1 (points = %age of runs completed up to a max of 100). The points for the long run element of the challenge are based on the %age of distance covered. The points are therefore as follows per week:
25 points for 100% (or more)
20 points for 80-99.99%
15 points for 60-79.99
10 points for 50-59.99
0 points for less than 50%
Therefore if you predict 10 miles and run 10 miles you get 25 points. If you run 8.5 miles you would get 20 points and if you ran less than 5 miles you would get nothing! Best of luck everyone!!
We now have 43 people remaining in the competition with 31 on maximum points with 14 having played their wild card. We are now just about to move into the third and final block of 4 weeks. Good luck everyone!
| Name | Block 1 | Block 2 | Total |
| Alf Rodway | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Ali Longman | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Alice Dewsnap | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Allen Westoby | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Andy Mant | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Anne Arnold | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Ben Howett | 375 | 465 | 840 |
| Catherine Mulrine | 300 | 500 | 800 |
| Catherine Westoby | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Charles Mason | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Colin Burville | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Debs Cotsgrave | 400 | 452 | 852 |
| Elise Gilbert | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Fran Hansford | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Glenna Greenslade | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Graeme Read | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Issy Mansfield | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| James White | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Jenny Leishman | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Jo Hindle | 400 | 467 | 867 |
| Karen Parker | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Kathy Read | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Lucy Gardner | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Lucy Rhodes | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Lynn McKeague | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Marie-Clare Menez | 367 | 425 | 792 |
| Matt Mandelbaum | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Philippa Drew | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Philippa Gammie | 250 | 340 | 590 |
| Rachel Mills | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Sally Boyden | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Sarah Geddes | 350 | 450 | 800 |
| Sarah Lewis | 400 | 375 | 775 |
| Sarah Robinson | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Sharon Smith | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Sheelagh Evans | 267 | 500 | 767 |
| Shelley Talbot | 400 | 480 | 880 |
| Simon Boyden | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Simon Mills | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Simon Robinson | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Stefan Kemp | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Trish Heaton | 400 | 500 | 900 |
| Vanessa Hodgetts | 400 | 110 | 510 |
General Announcements
Dates for your diary:
5th March - North Walls Rec, outside River Park Leisure centre
12th March - Badger Farm Starbucks
19th March - Dean Lane Park
23rd March - Track Session, Bar End Track
26th March - South Winchester park and ride
Sally's Marathon Journey
You can follow Sally B's Marathon journey in her blog: http://sallymarathon.home.blog
Sally is also fundraising for Winchester Hospice. Her JustGiving page can be found here: https://www.justgiving.com/Sal
WFC parkrun Club
Winchester Fit Club RC 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 RC and you will appear in the consolidated club report that we get each week.
WFC Runners WhatsApp Group
There is a WFC Running Club 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.
There is a WFC Runners Facebook page where we put the blog posts, news and race pictures. Follow the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/976444695871618/
If you are a Strava user there is a Winchester Fit Club RC page. This can be accessed here: https://www.strava.com/clubs/WFC-RC. 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 through the Fit Club website: http://www.winchesterfitclub.co.uk/
Race Calendar
The race calendar is now stored here: https://wfcrunners.blogspot.com/2019/01/race-calendar-2019-and-beyond.html
Training Kit
The method of ordering training kit will be changing shortly with it all being available through the main website...watch this space!
WFC Running Club Calendar
Dates for your diary:
5th March - North Walls Rec, outside River Park Leisure centre
12th March - Badger Farm Starbucks
19th March - Dean Lane Park
23rd March - Track Session, Bar End Track
26th March - South Winchester park and ride
Sally's Marathon JourneyYou can follow Sally B's Marathon journey in her blog: http://sallymarathon.home.blog
Sally is also fundraising for Winchester Hospice. Her JustGiving page can be found here: https://www.justgiving.com/Sal
WFC parkrun Club
Winchester Fit Club RC 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 RC and you will appear in the consolidated club report that we get each week.
WFC Runners WhatsApp Group
There is a WFC Running Club 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 Facebook Group
There is a WFC Runners Facebook page where we put the blog posts, news and race pictures. Follow the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/976444695871618/
WFC Runners Strava Club
Booking onto sessions
Booking onto our training sessions enables the coaches to plan the session accordingly. You can book on through the Fit Club website: http://www.winchesterfitclub.co.uk/
Race Calendar
The race calendar is now stored here: https://wfcrunners.blogspot.com/2019/01/race-calendar-2019-and-beyond.html
Training Kit
The method of ordering training kit will be changing shortly with it all being available through the main website...watch this space!
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