A stunning January morning to arrive on campsite at Roundhill, it was cold with frost on ground but sun was beaming with no cloud in sight. Almost seemed magical near the tent / camp area with the pool of water nearby giving off perfect reflections. Everyone seemed to be in a jovial mood.
The wave of blue was out again with a total of 38 runners (20 women and 18 men) with the support of the usual crew (Lindsay, Emily, Rob B (Chair), Kirsty, Dave & Emily) who were awesome. After our group photo it was time to make our way to get to the start line, which was about half a mile to get to. It seemed the TRC crew were very keen, at arrival to start the majority was our club colours with others starting to arrive a few minutes later.
At the start there was mention of hot drinks and cake which is always a great incentive before the race to get back. The online description of the route beforehand stated mainly on trail with a bit of mud, should be able to get away with road shoes. Believe the majority of us went with road shoes, more to come on that. The route consisted of a kind of weird figure of 8 (crossroads half way round the race). Started on track with a downhill straight then for about a mile on track going over the train bridge into the inclosure heading towards Standing hat. We then turned off down a grass muddy track for about 500m which was a tad slippery in places but manageable just about with road shoes - bit slippy here and there.
After this came back on ourselves and crossed another rail bridge to meet the crossroads where there was plentiful support (near start / finish lines). There was only one muddy section overall and most of the course was not too hilly overall. There was a sharp hill back over the rail bridge on return and the hill drag towards the finish. Where we had some frankly interesting photos uploaded from the Chair pushing ourselves to the limit. Awesome effort to get that final sprint to the line to complete 4.35 miles of hard work, well done everyone! At least the Chair managed to prise from just taking loads of selfies of himself, the support helps so much at the end from TRC runners and supporters. Well done to Lisa Smith who completed her 1st CC6 race ever.
We had 7 women in the top 30, well done and came top again overall in the race. Its an incredible achievement with now coming top 4 out of 5 CC6 races - what a feat well done Ladies, keep it up to get the championship! The men did finish the highest they have done in any other CC6 race this year (5th) so that is progress. More notes and pointers from the women will be required. Overall the Men are 9th in tables with Hamwic and Itchen Spitfires in their sights.
I will have to finish on the splendorous cakes that were on offer, they were in plentiful supply and to enjoy with coffee or tea made it a perfect morning for a race. Great little course and hope it comes back in future.
WOMEN
Alice Burch 3
Jo Haley 7
Flo Studdert-Kennedy 8
Helen Bonaer 11
Patricia Spodzieja 22
Lizzy White 28
Lucy Jones 29
Mandy Jones 54
Donna Pike 72
Zea Brenchley 76
Teresa Dodkin 81
Sarah Gordon 82
Priscilla Cook 83
Vicky Couzens 84
Farah Hibberd 85
Lyn Hatchett 90
Ann-Marie Vanderplank 94
Dot Kennard 99
Tina Mills 109
Lisa Smith 113
MEN
Will Greenway 16
Andy Herman 21
Neil White 22
Simon Hall 31
Jon Marsden 42
Robbie Barlow 54
Chris Barnes 64
Geoff Willis 67
Adrian Hayes 71
Andrew Warren 79
Keith Whitten 81
Tony Lees 88
Luke Mills 99
Mike Gordon 110
Craig Taylor 117
Neil Cameron 122
Anthony Kendrick 127
Kirk Jenkins 130
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