Festive ultras: a Dasher in Dorset and some Prancers in Portsmouth
Deadly rivalry at Portsmouth 50k
We had an unusual Christmas cracker on the south coast with two Heathsiders going head to head at the Harbour 50k Challenge in Portsmouth. (A picturesque aspect whereof is included above.)
Phil Hogg was running a mere week after the Lanzarote Marathon, clearly intent on working up an appetite for some extra turkey over the festive break. At 30k, however, he was getting stuffed by fellow Heathsider Benjamin Jenks, who led him by about 6 minutes. The ravenous Hogg reduced the lead to a minute at 40k and finally gobbled up the bragging rights by a mere 40 seconds at the finish; proportionally speaking, that's about the same as winning by 8 hundredths of a second over the 100m - you can't say that's not exciting.
(I hope it won't ruin the highly dramatic tone of the report if I mention that it was a complete coincidence the two showed up to the same 50k race, and they were unaware of one another's presence throughout.)
Another ultra (although this one's a bit of an old chestnut)
TV's David Hellard reports: "(On 5 December) I did my first ever ultra at The Coastal Trail Series in Dorset: 33 miles with 5,786 ft of ascent. It was also ridiculously windy because of Storm Desmond so on some of the downhills you couldn't run, as the wind was pushing you back.
"Thankfully it didn't rain, it was an amazing race and, having been in 5th at about half-way, managed to totter myself up in second place in 5 hrs 15 - dead chuffed."
Hellard adds that it was a training run for next year's Marathon des Sables. I'm not going to rain on his parade by speculating how conditions might differ between the Sahara Desert in spring and Dorset in December - I daresay he'll figure it out for himself.
Elsewhere
We had four runners in action at the last 'Last Friday 5k' Julian and Cathy J were our first man and lady round respectively, Maryam followed in (I think?) a PB, and Alun eked out his best time for the course this year.
David A was in action at the Crystal Palace Open, running 8.05 and 8.06 in two races over the 60m. (For details of more indoor meets in the New Year, check out the London Athletics website.)
You could tell it wasn't a Met League weekend - we had 23 parkrunners in action at Finsbury Park and Ally Pally alone. There's also a handy list online of where you can get a festive parkrun fix over the break.
Finally, there was a minor scandal at the Chingford League where Pete Crockford was our sole Heathsider - thanks to Rebecca Bunting showing up in a Barnet vest. "She stormed away from me early on, and that’s with me feeling I’d gone off too fast, and was an excellent second woman on a tricky course," reports Pete of his doomed attempts to bring the perfidious Bun to justice. Oh well, it is the season for forgiveness. Pete adds, "It was good to have Ivor there – as always – cheering us on."
Results
Portsmouth Harbour 50k Challenge 20 December
68 Phil Hogg 4:36:26
71 Benjamin Jenks 4:37:07
Endurancelife Coastal Trail Series Dorset (33miles) 5 December
2 David Hellard 5:15:51
Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5k 18 December
30 Julian Ferraro 18:09
64 Cathy Jeremiah 19:50
95 Maryam Khosravi 21:06
126 Alun Nash 22:19
Chingford League, Jubilee Park, Leyton 19 December
34 Rebecca Bunting 33:40 (2nd woman)
41 Pete Crockford 34:41 (1st MV50)
Crystal Palace Indoor Open, 16 December
60m Senior Men, race 1.3
5 David Ayre 8.05
60m Senior Men, race 2.5
5 David Ayre 8.06
This week's parkruns, from Sheffield to Woking