We are obviously all looking forward to brighter days ahead in 2021 and the return of “proper” events at some time in the not too distant future. However, we’re not there yet and so we thought we’d try and come up with something to focus on in the dark days of January, particularly for any of you for whom motivation might be a struggle at the moment!
The Stag season runs from the first Wednesday in October to the first Wednesday in April. Usually the only reason for changing one is if New Year’s day happens to fall on a Wednesday.
Race one of the season had eighteen people show up for the three lap charge around central Leighton. In decent running conditions, ten people beat Dave’s predicted time for them with four claiming new PB’s. First home was Coralie Anderson who smashed her PB by around a minute. Striding home second, in his first ever Stag was Paul Griffiths who will now be in Dave’s sights for next month. Nick Clay showed his experience to come home third ahead of three further PB’ers in James Lowe, Ruth Mitchell and Jo Sharples.
As we all know, there has been a huge dearth of races and meaningful competition since the middle of March. It would appear however that we’re starting to come out the other side now, with race organisers working with the current restrictions to still put on events.
While the track and field season was unfortunately ruined, distance running events are making a return. Interestingly two of the earliest events that club members have taken part in have been at opposite ends of the distance running scale. So here we have two reports from consecutive weekends of racing. Below you’ll find James Bell’s account of the Race the Tide Marathon, but first up is Sam’s take on the NoblePro 5K PB Special. Enjoy!
Following on from last week’s Stag Trophy finale we had one final event to conclude the 2019/20 season.
The traditional Boxing Day handicap that has been the Easter handicap in recent years migrated (hopefully for just one year!) to the late summer. It was also no longer a head to head race but a virtual one spread over nine days where competitors ran the route and we took the times from the Strava segment.
None of this is ideal for anyone; the route is far more interesting if you’re having a battle with a teammate rather than battling round on your own and as we all know, segments can be inconsistent in their time recording. However, it was the same for everyone and there was a serious trophy up for grabs.
As with most things in 2020 we had a big change in our own Stag Trophy. An event that usually runs monthly from October to April, had a lengthy hiatus after the March race and was finally concluded on a cool September evening this week.
When we left the series in March, there were still eight people potentially hunting the prestigious title, four women and four men. Clearly there were favourites with the points in the bag, but the Stag often lends itself to surprising results due to the nature of the handicap system and the fluctuations in form. With no racing for five months, the handicapping was extremely difficult to judge for Dave so those who had trained hard during lockdown were probably more likely to benefit than those who had struggled to get out over the summer.
