Nick, Lindsay, Annick, Malcolm, Louise, Martin & Cath
The tenth running of the popular Ware 10 was a club championship event, but most of us seem to have stayed home wilting in the heat, reports Fiona Kennedy. The weather conditions were far from ideal – it was a good day for personal worst times – but there was actually very positive feedback about the event.
As if the heat weren’t enough, it started with a hill which was “challenging” (according to Martin) or “terrible” (according to Adam), while Annick confessed to “losing the plot a little” when faced with an uphill start! As Adam pointed out, with the course being two laps, it was double the pain. He claims even the downhill was tricky: “what goes up must come down and we did, with a fierce and slightly treacherous downhill”.
It wasn’t all tough going though, and according to Martin there was some partial shade along the course. Louise loved the stretch along the canal (“worth a visit even if you weren’t planning to run”), which is just as well, as it was her birthday on Sunday.
Louise, Lindsay and Annick all adopted a ‘walk-run’ strategy. Louise and Lindsay tackled the course together, walking all the hills, running the downhills, and covering the remainder with a 4 minute run followed by 1 minute walk sequence, which apparently worked well. Annick did a 5:1 ratio, and even managed to pull level with Louise and Lindsay on the second lap, “but they soon took off as I just managed to pass them”.
By all accounts there was great support along the way. Cath found the marshals very motivating. According to Adam, “after the 4 mile marker there was a lovely mature lady, who was full of encouraging words and a tray of jelly babies for easy picking”.
Some of the friendly locals obligingly provided cold showers with their garden hoses. The water stations also incorporated an unconventional added extra referred to as “the soak zone”. Runners had the option of running past children who threw cups of water at them from large containers!
Cath loved the organisation of the event – for example there were bags for collecting up plastic cups at the water stations, meaning there was very little litter on the course. Her conclusion: “would definitely do this again- oh and I was first ESM lady (a first for me)”
Nick Vanson had planned to compete in the 10 miler too, but is still returning from an Achilles injury and opted for the 10k race in the end. (Probably a wise move in light of that hill). His disappointment was perhaps mollified by his winning the 60 plus category. It was close though – it turned out the guy who finished one second behind was also an M60. “I knew I had this guy close behind trying to chase me down for the last half mile or so but pleased I held him off as had no idea he was also M60!”
So it sounds like a thumbs-up to this race. Hopefully next year the weather conditions will encourage more of us to give it a go.
Awaiting confirmation of full results.
ESM results summary:
10 miles:
Men: 29 Malcolm Woolsey 1:13:08; 34 Martin Daoud (M50) 1:14:45; 76 Adam Goodman 1:23:01
Women: 42 Catherine Gunnewicht (W45) 1:41:36; 77 Louise Prince (W45) 1:57:50; 78 Lindsay Donoghue (W45) 1:57:51; 90 Annick Hooge (W65) 2:00:14
10k:
46 Nick Vanson (M60) 52:11