Norfolk County Cross Country Championships
Tony Beales
As the day winds down, what a fabulous day it’s been for WAC today at the Norfolk County XC Championships in Earlham Park. I know many of you entered on the back my ‘rallying the troops’ calls and some of you as a result have achieved medal success and I salute you, we enjoyed tremendous success today in the medals with both individual and team successes. I’d also like to salute Tasha E, Chrissie S for enabling us to have a record club entry and Paul T as well for all showing great commitment and endeavour for keeping going and completing the race in what we’re extreme weather conditions in the latter stages of the race .
I’m so proud of everyone today, including all our race support that were present, cheering us on to the finish, you guys were amazing and thank you for all your race photos.
Thanks to Keith B & Steve D for sorting out the gazebo and those that brought along the post race refreshments.
A great day in the history of our amazing club, thank you to everyone involved and we’ll do it all over again next year!
Blickling EACCL RACE 5
Keith Blake
It was blinking cold at Blickling XC but the Sun shone and the planes roared over head in the blue skies as we set off around a very icy but completely beautiful course.
Reepham Cross Country 10K
Deep in the Norfolk Countryside lies The Reepham & Whitwell Railway Station. The Station itself is now a fabulous Cafe & Bar. The race sets off along the old railway track, then you turn into the notorious swamp which had plenty of victims who took and dive into the stinky mud ( see Robbie Starling ). The course then went in a different direction this year, once over the 2 big jumps we ran around fields till we picked up the old course and through the soggy muddy field down to the river with 2 obstacles to duck under then up the mud hill and around to the start and then the whole thing starts again.
Congratulations to our winners: Charlie Springer first Male, Matt Webster 2nd Male and Lisa Greengrass 2nd Lady:
We had plenty of Cat winners too:
1st M40 - Charlie Springer
1st L40 - Lisa Greengrass
1st M60 - Keith ( the points ) Blake
1st L60 - Tracie Draeger
Our fabulous muddy WAC runners in full were:
Tracy Stevens
Tracie Draeger
Lisa Greengrass
Eva Osborne
Ben Tubby
Jamie Harris
Matt Webster
Charlie Springer
Keith Blake
Robbie Starling
Thank you to Team Heaney, Woodcroft, Harris & Webster for the much needed and appreciated support and the embarrassing photos.
Thank you to Lisa for the coffee & cakes, oh no hold on......!
12 MARATHONS IN 12 MONTHS - #2 Windmill Way Wander (Bury St Edmunds) 28/01/23
Gavin Hall
I believe it was John Constable who once said of his beloved Suffolk landscapes “where did all those hills come from
?” A sentiment which – on the evidence of Saturday and, historical misquotes aside – I cannot disagree with. I honestly did not expect 1500ft of elevation when I booked a local East Anglian marathon last year. Norfolk flat runner’s whinge over with, the friendly team at Zig Zag put on a great event, running various distances alongside each other around the Windmill Way course. The 26 mile option was
a two-lap affair – always a good mental challenge – with a particularly unwelcome (back to the hills again!) incline between miles 8 and 10 on each lap; however, it is all set within a very picturesque course, made even better on the day by some long overdue good running weather.
So, with marathon number 2 in the bag, we start to enter the spring marathon season for the next few events, starting with a mind-numbing number of laps of the Goodwood motor racing circuit in February – we go again in two weeks!
Fundraising info at: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/gavins12in12
Gavin
Peddars Way Ultra-Marathon
James Heaney
The penultimate Sunday of the month saw runners take on the gruelling 48 mile trail ultra-marathon along the Ancient Roman road of Peddars Way. The route starts at Knettishall Heath in Suffolk (South-east of Thetford on the Norfolk-Suffolk border) and it proceeds North through the Norfolk countryside, before finally finishing at the coastal town of Holme-next-the-Sea. Jet Watkinson was again taking part in the event after her success from last year, where she set a new course record for a female competitor. The first part of the adventure, starting in sub-zero temperatures, takes the athletes across the heathland (including a lovely water obstacle this year - Jet donning some lovely plastic bags on her feet to wade herself through the Broadwalk stretch), then along the northern part of Thetford forest and the western edge of Thompson Waters. Prior to the halfway stage at the picturesque Castle Acre (and a vital stop off point for runners to refuel), the runners pass west of Watton and then through the Pickenhams, at this stage the elevation starts to ramp up along with the trail aspect of the route.The second half of the route can only be described as extremely undulating and as the temperature started to rise, the tacky nature of the mud began to increase. Once in North Norfolk the route bypasses the Massinghams, Fring and through the village of Ringstead before the last stretch to Holme-next-the-sea. Not happy only with making the competitors run a challenging 48 miles through the countryside; the race organiser had one more obstacle for the poor exhausted runners to overcome. Prior to bursting into the Holme Village hall, acting as the finish line; all runners need to run past this point to the beachfront to collect a page out of a book, which is hanging from the shared Norfolk coastal Path / Peddars Way shared sign, marking the start of either footpath. They then need to negate their way back up into Holme and into the warmth to receive an enthusiastic reception from the friendly organisers / marshals. Jet once again smashed this event, finishing 1st lady back in a time of 6hrs 35mins and 14 seconds finishing an amazing 1hr and 19 minutes in front of second place. This also secured her an amazing 3rd place finish overall, at one stage coming very close to the 2nd place finisher, which is a fantastic effort and sets her up well for her next challenge. Special mention to Steve and Sarah Dixon along with Adam Baker who provided vital fueling points and moral support along the route.
Ryston XC Grand Prix Series R4
Tony Beales
9 WAC Runners raced in the woods in Shouldham Warren. We came away with an amazing 5 age category winners Congratulations to:
Jet, Kevin Watkinson, Adrian Hall, Andrew Barrett & Kevin Denmark. Our full list of brilliant runners were: Well done all.
Dee Dee
Eva
Tony Beales
Stephen Woodcroft
Marham Flyers NYE 10K
On the final day of 2022, fourteen WAC members made their way to the airfield at RAF Marham for the annual 10k race, no doubt keen to add a few more points to their annual tally before the year ended!
A lack of toilet facilities (just 4 portaloos!) meant the start was delayed by at least minutes, with worried glances up at the ever-darkening sky…Finally we were off, though the repeated blasting of the start horn meant that the dulcet tones of the accompanying bagpiper could hardly be heard. For those not familiar with this race, it really is just a run around an airfield, with lots of signs and lights to add interest to what otherwise might be a tedious run. The relative flatness of the terrain meant for a struggle against the wind at times (well that’s my excuse) but, bar a few drops of drizzle, the rain held off.
Running for WAC were: Louise McDonell (2nd lady), Claire Brown (4th lady), Rachele Kelsall, Lauraine Powles, Sue Stirling, David Houghton (first WAC home), Stephen Woodcroft, Yitzhak Ben-aroya, Kevin Powles, Stephen Dady, Mark Tufts, James Heaney, Keith Blake & Paul Timson.