Oh my giddy aunt! Day 9 and the bar has once again been raised… Surely we must now have found the limit of Capra Aegagrus Hircus performance? Surely our goats have no more to give… And yet if I learned anything in the last eight days it is that there are some seriously competitive athletes here. So what on earth has gone on today?
27 of you got out today with more people finding more ascent…
I thought I had found my big story for the day when Lisa got in touch early on. Armed with a ruler and mega cute cat GIF, declaring that she can’t now run outside and Strava was having a moment with her indoor sessions. This session was carefully calculated with ruler and “stepometer” and basically involved hill repping her staircase to keep herself in the challenge! All photographically documented on her Strava feed. 240m of ascent – Lisa we applaud you!! And on a normal day, that might actually have been a Fluffy Vest victory. But today was no ordinary day…
Hannah had been out for a run. Again. After yesterdays tough day you might have thought an easy run… But oh my goodness; after a nine day streak and only one of those just dipping under 100m, today she sets a new PB for the Challenge with a 338m run. The woman IS a machine, I was right. Hannah we definitely applaud you. And as I sipped my tea, I did spare a thought for poor old Simon and what a busy week he would have trying to catch up. I actually thought it was probably over for him now.
I do just want to mention a few others though, because there really were some strong runs from many today. Viv went long and fast, to do her ‘regular’ Sunday Half. Sally had a serious warm up attempt at the mini challenge, and on her first attempt nailed the ascent, was within a fraction of a qualifying distance and just needed a bit more on the time. But throwing the gauntlet down to everyone else for sure. Stella went out and notched up a 100m+. Linda consistent as ever with 277m. To credit but a few.
Actually about the mini challenge, do all please remember to post a screen shot of your qualifying run on Facebook, so we can all see who has done what and we will know that you want that particular run to count.
So it was quite an amazing day… And then it took a turn that I just couldn’t believe…
Yesterday Allen had spoken. Today Simon replied…
After a recovery day followed by a rest day I did think he would probably go for a run today. So when I saw him pop up on Strava I was a little surprised that he had gone ‘short’ on a Sunday. But then, my eyes bled as I realised his ‘short’ run was out over the fields to one of the few steep inclines near here. And he ran hill repeats. A lot. 710m of ascent in fact! If we weren’t so stunned we would be applauding you too!
Today had turned out to be anything other than just another ordinary day.
So what do all these acts of craziness mean to the overall Challenge? Amazingly there still is no clear winning break! Simon nudges in front of Hannah again by 160m. Dangerous, as we already know this kind of act of provocation is just going lead to another escalation… <<rolling eyes again>> Linda and Allen are still in touch and very much in with a shout… But lets not forget the mini challenge; absolutely anyone could grab that… I look forward to hopefully seeing some posts on Facebook tomorrow 😉
But before we worry about tomorrow, here is today;
| BIB | Athlete | 29-Mar | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Total |
| 1 | Simon Cook | 710 | 2060 | |||||
| 47 | Hannah Bawdon | 338 | 1900 | |||||
| 58 | Linda Wilkie | 277 | 1503 | |||||
| 56 | Allen Bennett | 87 | 1119 | |||||
| 15 | Rob White | 776 | ||||||
| 2 | Michelle Ramsden | 757 | ||||||
| 12 | Lisa Dalton | 240 | 752 | |||||
| 3 | Cat Riona | 34 | 752 | |||||
| 26 | Sally Durant | 183 | 679 | |||||
| 38 | Trevor Piper | 613 | ||||||
| 13 | Stella Barker | 105 | 554 | |||||
| 23 | Viv Black | 157 | 547 | |||||
| 6 | Heidi Brown | 85 | 487 | |||||
| 78 | Amanda Waring | 437 | ||||||
| 104 | Leila Goss | 433 | ||||||
| 103 | Hayley Roberts | 147 | 410 | |||||
| 46 | Emily Calista Walker | 49 | 408 | |||||
| 70 | Beth Morris | 392 | ||||||
| 7 | Kerry Guthrie | 29 | 380 | |||||
| 67 | Tracy Walker | 38 | 375 | |||||
| 43 | Liz Conibere | 54 | 354 | |||||
| 8 | Josie Pickering | 106 | 350 | |||||
| 107 | Sarah Price | 349 | ||||||
| 80 | Ruby Gautama-Marvell | 18 | 342 | |||||
| 35 | Kathryn Milne | 317 | ||||||
| 9 | Steve Pryor-Jones | 121 | 314 | |||||
| 18 | Chris Lowery | 91 | 308 | |||||
| 63 | Katie Godof | 131 | 300 | |||||
| 61 | Nigel Ryalis | 298 | ||||||
| 28 | Charli May | 290 | ||||||
| 40 | Santa Upite | 279 | ||||||
| 97 | Stuart Weaver | 56 | 259 | |||||
| 83 | Ian Mercer | 243 | ||||||
| 49 | Caroline Batty | 221 | ||||||
| 44 | Helen Tailyour | 221 | ||||||
| 17 | Nic Williams | 24 | 207 | |||||
| 81 | M-Louise Dis | 180 | ||||||
| 65 | Corinne Gibbs | 177 | ||||||
| 102 | Morag Finch | 169 | ||||||
| 19 | Neil Williams | 164 | ||||||
| 5 | Andrew Hingston | 161 | ||||||
| 27 | Steve Williams | 71 | 157 | |||||
| 112 | Sarah Hawkins | 117 | ||||||
| 22 | Abby Bambury | 112 | ||||||
| 11 | Sarah Pennell | 109 | ||||||
| 105 | Brendan Coles | 46 | 96 | |||||
| 85 | Simon Bailey | 94 | 94 | |||||
| 48 | Nicola Draycott | 79 | ||||||
| 94 | James Ryan Mitchell | 74 | ||||||
| 4 | Kirsty Hingston | 73 | ||||||
| 111 | Katherine Fisher | 12 | 53 | |||||
| 30 | Mary Anne Mackenzie | 53 |
