The time has finally arrived - our new captain Robbie has taken up his role and valiantly fought the tent back into its bag! Furthermore he has written his first race report !
On a sunny Wednesday evening 16 Totton runners went down to Mountbatten School to take part in the Miles of Miles. The aim was each runner in each team to complete a mile as fast as they can.
We found our piece of land in the field, set up the tent and planted our Totton flag into the ground! Everything was set for a fun evening. Whilst we waited for the event to start, runners took the chance to run round the field as a warm up, pop over to use the facilities and use the time to stretch ready for the event. The 16 runners were put into 2 teams of 10 with 4 runners completing an extra mile for the other team.
With the classic team photo taken, we made our way to the start with the rest of the other teams. The field was divided into 2 halves - runners and supporters on one side and timekeepers on the other side.
As the race approached closer and closer to the start time, timekeepers Jon Perrett and Alison Kaines prepared their stopwatches ready for their teams. Starting for Team A was GBM (Graham-Browning Martin) and for Team B was superstar Mike Gordon. The bell had rung and the timer had begun, within a flash the runners had started the first of their 4 laps.
The supporters and runners had spaced out on the sidelines to cheer on their club mates. Photographer Vicky took the opportunity to take photos of the runners as they passed the blue wave of Totton cheering them on. Starting strong and finishing strong were both GBM and Mike with a 6 minute mile for Graham and a 6:40 mile for Mike.
At the changeover point was fresh off his recent ironman Neil Cameron for Team A and youngster James Nugus for Team B. Each runner had begun their mile where James flew around the field to complete his mile in under 6 minutes to pass onto Ann-Marie. Neil started strong and finished strong to pass onto Trish. With the continuous support of the blue wave of Totton, Kirsty Macbeth and Laura Coe joined to cheer the runners on. The blue wave was having a good effect on our runners where Trish kept it consistent each lap to pass onto Robbie and Ann-Marie’s marathon training kicked into place to pass onto Rebecca Chambers.
This was Rebecca’s first time running the event so she soaked up the experience of the running and support with each lap then passing onto Dot. Robbie warmed up in the 1st lap and then picked up the pace each lap to pass onto the leader of the Friday morning runs Kylie. Dot was running well alongside posing with her lovely smile as she passed each camera collecting great photos on the way, strong performances from both runners. Next to go for Team A was Kylie’s partner in crime Sara Parry and for Team B was Amanda Jones. The runners had set off completing their miles for their teams.
Laura Harvie started her watch as she began her mile for Team A whilst GBM waited to start his 2nd mile of the night for Team B. Both runners dug deep to complete their lap keeping an eye on the giant timer at the start. Graham Bungay was on his way for Team A and Neil started his 2nd mile for Team B. Totton Ted sat on the sidelines being the club mascot with runners and supporters still in good spirits along with loud voices cheering all the teams on. Lindsay Davis used the timer to do some very impressive calculating to clock in a sub 6 minute mile for Graham to pass onto for Tony Lees.
Tony began his mile loop around the Mountbatten field keeping runners in his sight as each lap went on. Shortly after Neil kept it consistent to pass onto Trish for her 2nd mile, Tony was approaching the changeover shouting “WHERE'S PAUL” something similar to Rocky shouting “ADRIAN” in the Rocky films. Anchorman Paul Bullen was ready to finish Team A’s last leg with Team B only slightly behind. Paul ran extremely well with Team A finishing strong with another sub 6 minute mile in the bank. Trish was not that far behind but however an Eastleigh team had caught up and things became more interesting.
With the final changeover captain Robbie started off with the Eastleigh Runner next to him. Both of them ran next to each other for 2 laps showing there was no runner holding back in this mile. Robbie picked up speed in the 3rd lap going into the final lap. As we approached the final turn on the final lap it was a sprint finish, Eastleigh picked up the gas and both runners were seconds away from the finishing line. Robbie had crossed the line first and confirmed it by sticking his tongue out looking like he ate a sour sweet or doing his best K9 impression.
The event was over, we took photos of the runners and the lovely views around the field. The next battle was THE TENT!!! Robbie watched a YouTube video on how to fold a tent, he decided to fold it like a tortilla… it did not work. With the power of teamwork Amanda, Laura, Trish and Robbie took on the tent! There were more twists, turns and rotates like solving a Rubik cube. Eventually the tent was defeated and put back away in the bag. Ann-Marie found the funny side and recorded it. Hopefully it didn’t make the club Facebook page right…
Thank you to all the runners, timekeepers and supporters at the event. 19 teams took part with Totton Team A finishing 11th in 1 hour 7 minutes 50 seconds and Totton Team B finishing 17th in 1 hour 14 minutes 28 seconds.
Individual times can be found below and thank you for making my first captain experience a memorable one!
Captain Robbie :)
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