This year an elite squad of fifteen people made up of club members, families and friends of the club made the trip to the Canary Islands for a warm weather autumn holiday with a few races thrown in for good measure. The group included ten runners, of which two were friends from Ampthill and Flitwick Flyers and each one entered the four race series which took place over four days. The time between races was spent doing anything from badminton to bolas and cycling to wind surfing for the more active. Crazy golf, ice-creams and the odd beer also proved to be popular activities amongst most people at various points of the week. The weather was the best ever for having a holiday – if a little warm for running – with blue skies and a gentle breeze on most days.

The serious competition of the week started on Sunday with Fiona and Jill taking the annual egg throwing competition on the beach day, with a magnificent effort of 16.5m. Their team name of Strictly Don't Dance With Us was inspired by the previous evening's Cha-Cha-Cha and Jiving. This championship taken by the girls, was followed up by the bolas tournament where Mr & Mrs Inchley senior fought of stiff competition from tall blonde Danish girls and a small Irish contingent to win the final for another year. It just shows what experience can do when the pressure is really on!

Some people took up Ballroom dancing (Badly) and some don't really remember utilising the podiums in the disco! There were cycling trips around the island, a wine drinking trip to an old bodega, badminton tournaments, tennis matches and even a few miles swum. A wonderful time was had by all and most were already talking about next year before the week was out!

There was also some running……..

 

The 10K

Day one of the races was extremely hot and saw mixed performances from the ten runners on the course which started and finished on the CLS track. Jill Richardson, Amy Inchley and Fiona Towell were all pleased to get around the course in the heat, which was a particular issue for Amy and Fiona as they are both very fair and concerned about the conditions with the thought of three further races. Jill lead the team home in a time just under 50 minutes with Amy and Fiona clocking 55 and 57 respectively.

The seven men in the party were split into two teams for the challenge with Fred Watt, Pat Neilan and Richard Inchley making up the Vet 60 squad while Andy Inchley and Ian Hosley were joined by Dave Stanley and his son Terry for the 1st team. The men's challenge was lead by Andy Inchley, aiming to complete his 13th challenge, and his time of just over 38 minutes and 35th position was a best for some years. Ian completed the two lap course in 42 minutes and Fred split the "youth" team with just under 44 minutes, a few seconds ahead of Terry who held off his father as he slowed on the second lap. Pat and Richard finished off the men's team with in 52 and 54 minutes respectively.

Volcano Ridge Run

This race is generally considered the favourite race amongst the Club La Santa faithful, but 13K up a volcanic ridge following the previous days hot 10K is not a walk in the park by any means. It is where the runners aiming for the complete challenge drop those who entered the odd race alone, so you start to know where your individual battles lie. With the exception of a nastly little incline in the last Km, it is basically 4 miles up and 4 miles down, with a spectacular view over the island's northern coast, if you have the energy to look up when you reach the top.

With a bit of breeze keeping the runners slightly cooler, the conditions were not quite so tricky as the previous day and the ladies came home in the same order ranging from 66 to 75 minutes for the multi-terrain course. Jill and Fiona managed to restrain themselves, despite their victorious egg throwing off the previous day giving them excess adrenaline. Andy Inchley enjoyed a second consecutive battle with leading lady, but did manage to sneak away in the end to come home in 32nd place, just outside 50 minutes. On this occasion, Terry found some form from his glory days to come home in second place whilst Fred managed to beat another member of the "A" team by finishing in 58 minutes and voicing a desire to catch Andy in the next two races. Richard and Pat both spent much of the race with Amy before Richard pulled away over the last couple of miles with Pat "saving his legs for the last two days".

The Beach Race

It's only 5K, but its a killer. Virtually everybody detests the beach race as it stretches muscles that most never use and for much of the course you feel like the effort being applied is not matched by the pace achieved. However, that's what makes the challenge what it is, so all ten aching bodies got on the bus over to Puerto Del Carmen on Tuesday morning. The two lap course is quite simply up to the far end of the beach and back taking in the various types of sand along the way.

Jill continued to place in the 30's by completing the gruelling course in a touch under 30 minutes, whilst Amy managed to beat last years' time for the first time finishing just behind Jill and a couple of minutes in front of Fiona. The mens race saw Andy take on Fred's challenge by sneaking into the top 30 in just under 22 minutes, whilst Terry had him in his sights just a minute behind. Fred's aggressive race the previous day inspired Ian to regain his overall advantage over the club's leading V60 as they ducked under 24 and 25 minutes respectively before Dave had a race he'd rather not talk about and Pat and Richard completed the LBAC representation. Pat had been planning to not participate in the final day's half marathon, but apparently his jog around the beach and plenty of nagging by his V60 team mates inspired a change of mind and everyone left the beach with positive thoughts about the following days race.

Vuelta de Tinajo Half Marathon

The final race of the series is a predominantly down hill half marathon, starting 8 miles away from the resort, taking a lap of a volcano, the town of Tinajo and the reverse of part of the Ridge Run course before finishing on the track at Club La Santa. There is one particularly nasty hill at around 4 miles, but the major difficulty is the fact that it's the fourth race of the series and legs are starting to struggle somewhat.

The main battle for the day was between Terry, Ian and Fred for the second spot behind Andy overall, with Terry and Ian starting just 13 seconds apart. Pat had stuck with his promise of the previous day and made the trip over to the start, so all were looking forward to an afternoon where running didn't enter the equation. With the sun blazing down upon the runners, survival was the order of the day in many cases.

A fast start from Fred saw him get away from his two younger challengers, knowing that he needed a couple of minutes on them both, but as the race wore on, the more youthful legs were able to take greater advantage of the down hill sections and Terry, Ian and Dave all came past our leading V60. Continuing his significant improvement on last year, Andy worked through the field and was first home in 1.22 and 29^th place, so took on the role of leading cheerleader with Lesley and our friends from Birmingham. Despite never having raced more than 10K Terry finished extremely strongly  to cross the line in front of Ian and the three of them completed the "A" team. Fred's fast start eventually took too much out of him as he crossed the line behind Dave, who had given absolutely everything. The rest of the V60 team were interspered with the club's ladies team, which was lead home by Jill in 1.49 as all completed in very respectable times at the end of a tough series in extremely hot and testing conditions.

At the final awards presentation on the final evening Amy was recognised for her efforts by winning the F25-29 category (despite claiming to be 24 for the last four years). She was a little embarassed but you have to be in it to win it as they say!