Factor 10k

October on the Atlantic coast. You’d usually expect grey skies, strong winds, trees with no leaves and probably rain. Or hail. But in Newquay this morning you were more likely to get a strong waft of suncream than nasal spray (if they weren’t over-powered by the usual Deep Heat!). Soaring temperatures and clear blue skies brought a distinctly summery vibe to this year’s Newquay 10k, the fourteenth (and penultimate) race in the GP season this year. The race saw a great team of 24 TRCers at the start-line, likely one of the largest contingent for some time!

There were some great results for the team with Anne Maskell coming in 4th overall woman and 2nd in her category, Pete Sowerby was 24th overall male and there were a number of category prizes as you can see in the table below: well done to Gary, Anne, Steve, Tony and Nick – plenty of wine for you all I think (see Nick)!  I believe there were some pb’s too -well, one for Diane and me at any rate!! I guess that’s most of us done and dusted for the GP season too – 1 race left if you’ve only done 7 so far, a marathon I believe!  I understand there’s a couple of us signed up for that one too…

All part of the hot team!

Hana’s Hot!

I woke up this morning, grabbed a bowl of Muesli and an apple then decided to see if I could master how to activate my belated birthday Garmin. Instructions easy, but somehow I was not understanding plain English and I couldn’t get the wretched thing to work. Ahhhhh. So I picked up some running kit and headed out to the car with Garmin strapped to my wrist and piece of paper with basic instructions on. Where are the teenagers when you want one???? Grown up and left home in my case. Ringing son in Oman was not an option.

It was 08:15 the sun was up but with some early morning mist lulling me into a false sense of security.

A pleasant drive across to Newquay, on my own this time, as Julie was making her own way to the race, due to family commitments. She had warned me that the parking could be a bit chaotic, but as I drove up the road to the Leisure club, I was able to park right next to the finish line of the race. Bliss, no need for a bag drop today.

I had driven across to Newquay with the delights of air con keeping me cool, but as I opened the driver’s door to get out, I felt a moment of dejavu. Had I taken the wrong turn at Chiverton cross and ended up at Launceston to re-run the Launceston 10, or was I back in Prague with temperatures in the 80’s….No I was at sunny Newquay in October and this was going to be hell!!!!!

Minimal running kit on and I felt no cooler…in fact running naked wouldn’t have made any difference at all, other than scaring the other participants half to death…..could be a plan for next year though, if I want to win the GP. Staying alive was going to be my main priority today…not PB’s.

I entered the race HQ and there sat looking all forlorn and sporting recent injuries to her face, was Lynn. These were due to an altercation with a pedal cycle and a tight turn that went wrong. They looked sore and sweat wasn’t going to make her injuries feel any better either. Poor love.

Time for the off. Race no 55 pinned to my front and I was feeling about that age as well. Dodgy right hip has decided to remind me it is still there.

Oh well, just run through it once again. Pain, what’s pain?

It was though, good to see so many TRC running shirts at the start about 18 I believe (I’m sure Steph will put me right). [24 Hana!!)

The start line was at the bottom of the road leading to the sports centre, and this is where I did battle with birthday Garmin. I’m not sure what I did, but hey, satellites found and timer just needed to be started. Ah, 8 seconds later I found stop, decided this was not the time to try and find delete, I would just have to deduct 8 seconds at the end of the race.

Horn sounded after muffled instructions and off we went. Not a mishap, trip or fall to be seen. It was then slightly down hill towards the boating lake, which was looking like a good place to cool off, and along the road heading out of Newquay before turning right and up hill along a quiet country lane. Shade…Bliss, but not much of it. No views to talk of, but I don’t think any of us were going to be that interested if there were.

From the top of this hill, it was relatively flat and easy going, if it wasn’t for the scorching sun. I could foresee heat exhaustion being a problem today, even if it was only a 10K. St Johns Ambulance who hang around like vultures dying to get their hands on us poor runners at each race, may have some work to do today. Hopefully not on me.

Up ahead I could see Graham, who I thought I may be able to catch, so I decided to try and concentrate on him and maybe my legs and head would ignore the pain. I think it was more lanes before returning to the main road into Newquay and the 5 mile marker but I must have drifted off into a dream. I do remember a teenager passing me on one of those bikes you ride with your knees up around your ears and having thoughts of mugging him so I could coast down the hill on it instead……see what this heat does to me.

As mile 5 approached, my head was telling me that it really didn’t matter that the girl from Hayle runners who had passed me earlier was beatable and within my sights, or that Graham was now further ahead than I wanted, all that mattered was getting to the end and not passing out. The heat was taking it’s toll, there would be no PB for a 10K today for me.

The last 200m were heaven and hell all mixed up together, I was about to finish, but my head was pounding. Dehydration was starting to take hold. Once the line was crossed and the job done, I felt so much better. Belated Birthday Garmin registered 50:07 so minus 8 seconds and  I should be just under the  50 mins mark. Not bad for today’s conditions but no chance once again for any prizes.

So all in all:

1. Would I run this race again….yes. The course isn’t too demanding, if you get rid of the heat.
2. Parking…very good and plenty of it
3. Marshals…Brilliant, no mishaps that I could see and we all ran the right route.
4. Toilets…..Plenty and we didn’t have to use a Porta Loo at all.
5. Showers…..well what an improvement from when I use to play squash at Newquay a few years ago. No rank carpet or mould to be seen. Clean floors, places to hang your clothes and showers that gave you water where you wanted it.
6. Club house……I was able to purchase a large tea for £1 so I was happy and so was the head.
7. Goodie bag…….I was a little choosey and asked the poor girl for a yellow instead of the black bag she was going to hand me (I wasn’t the only one!) not sure what I will use it for, but it won’t be handed on. The T-Shirt is brilliant and is up there with the one from the Mag 7, Prague half and Storm force. It even had pink on the sides, just for us for girls…wow. Chocolate and crisps to re energise and a bottle of water. No banana though, but I’ll forgive them for that.

10 out of 10 Newquay

Hana

Results

Open Competition

Men

1. Dan Nash, East Cornwall Harriers, 0:32:54
2. Hobie Martin, Bristol and West AC, 0:33:09
3. Colin Snook, Cornwall AC, 0:33:26

Women

1. Annabel Gummow, Cornwall AC, 0:34:29
2. Miranda Heathcote, Newquay RR, 0:37:22
3. Revis Crowle, East Cornwall Harriers, 0:40:37
4. Anne Maskell, TRC, 0:41:41

Overall Results

Newquay 10k results - 2011 (.xls file)

TRC Results

Gallery