Harriers Hob Nob with Cwmbran Elite
Report from Gill Stott:
Chepstow were out in force on Sunday when 15 turned out to compete in the Tour of Torfaen half marathon, a race organised well by Torfaen County Borough Council. The linear race starts at Blaenavon (just over 300m above sea level) down to Cwmbran (50m). Runners were quick to point out, before you start thinking the obvious, that there were some uphills and they were significant and there was an adverse crosswind….. Photo link below.
This was a good race to spectate as it finishes with a lap of Cwmbran Stadium so it was easy for me to act as team photographer. Rob Avery was brilliant as he held up an umbrella for me, otherwise the photographs would have been littered with rain drops. Yes, the weather forecast was not as opitimistic as promised so I suspect this affected winning times which were several minutes down on previous years. Despite this, in the face of adversity, some amazingly fleet of foot Harriers ran personal best times. Some of them had given me target times and some people cheated with these, deliberately elevating them just so that they could get a pint out of me at the bar afterwards.
So well done Mark! PB of 1:16…and self doubting John – PB of 1:25, Rob was dead pleased with a PB of 1:43. and Chris O’Driscoll with a PB of 1.45. Judging by the faces of you all flashing past before my eyes (twice!) most Harriers seemed pleased with their runs. Lou moaned about her target of 1:33, only to make 1:32 AND 4th place, Brenda is coming back on form after injury, Luke made a guest appearance and got a good time, Laurie had a fast time, Matt Creed had a good run, Col waited for his lift from Eddie Stobart but they don’t work on Sundays, Bret stormed into the stadium, somehow keeping his cap on despite lashing wind and rain, Bill looked strong at the finish but my prize for the freshest looking face at the finish goes to Berta – who was so full of beans that she could trot over to the spectators at the finish for a chat immediately afterwards.
There were two other Chepstow ladies who I missed but spotted in the distance after the race – sorry not to have mentioned you. Lou was enjoying her beer so much that she forgot to attend prize giving which was a shame as she’d won 3rd lady – fantastic (1st lady was a vet).
After nearly everybody had gone, with just a few Harriers left propping up the bar, we were deemed important looking enough to be given the equivalent of an airline upgrade – and ushered into a special room where a table groaning with food was waiting to be eaten. So we made polite conversation with the mayor – fantastic bling – and other important people from the Council whilst stuffing our faces. Lou and Rob filled doggy bags with left over food for some waifs and strays back home. Quote of the day “
Pity Col’s gone, he’d have enjoyed this”. My own highlight of the day? – being told by John that he could hear me hollering out his name on the other side of the stadium despite running past a rock band at the time. Sorry Rob Avery, for shocking you with the volume of my yelling – hope your ears aren’t ringing too much.
I think I might have a go at this one day!
Photo link: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/apgstott/TourOfTorfaen2009#
This entry was posted on 25/10/2009 at 08:25 pm and is filed under Races. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.
