The final race of the RunFurther series! If I got round this, it would be the first year I'd actually done enough races to be in the series and thus get a supercool hat! I was really excited about this race as it seemed a popular favourite and all the usual suspects would be out and about! The RR website was also very impressive; an array of well-drawn maps, descriptions, route photos and everything you'd ever need...there was no excuse for getting lost on my first lap of Rotherham!
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Scenic lap of the woods :-)
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| Henry enjoying the urban part of the route |
The aim of the day was to get round without being too destroyed to survive OMM a week later! My leg had been a bit painful so I was out for a steady, fun adventure rather than racing! I got chatting to JZ and Nigel, enjoying race talk and not paying much attention to where we were going as everyone said the route was obvious....it was once we actually looked for the signs and tape! But before we did that, we had a nice scenic lap of the woods, probably a couple of circles before I lost the guys and went for another spontaneous adventure in another area of woodland. After realising I'd now run onto a different map to the one I'd been trying to navigate from, I started to pay more attention! The cartoon maps were brilliant, marking out every place of action and all the features to see. I got chatting to a guy who seemed to know the route amazingly well, pointing out the different route changes and local history from the last 30 years. He turned out to be Henry Marston, race director and creator of the well organised website and maps! I enjoyed tagging along with Henry, chatting about orienteering, OMM and how many times the older guys had done Round Rotherham...it seemed like an addictive race, with quite a few people having done over 20 laps! Henry sat down to get a stone out of his shoe, so I took a photo then wandered on, thinking he'd catch me any second...but then he broke his shoelace..still got round though! :-)
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| Where I misplaced Henry! |
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| I love a good field |
The running around Rotherham was much nicer than expected from such an urban area. There were some great, long fields and forest parks mixed in with the more industrial fly-tipping sites! I took some poor quality photos and bumbled on, highly enjoying the checkpoints which had a range of delights. I'd done about 10 miles on my own by the time I reached a checkpoint with a lovely tea marshal. She offered me tea, coffee or soup but I'd zoned out so much she had to ask three times! By then, I realised I had 9 drink options and should think of a response but I got distracted by a guy on his third lap of Rotherham that weekend!! Eventually I grabbed a take-out tea and jogged on along the nice, quiet trails and country lanes.
I caught up with JZ and Nigel at the 40 mile checkpoint, we got a bit competitive and cranked up the speed, scurrying through the mud like we had mere metres to go rather than miles! Just as the last rays of sun left the horizon, we neared the finish at a thundering pace! I told JZ and Nigel that if they weren't sick on the finish line, they hadn't tried hard enough...we weren't sick but I was still proud of our efforts in the last 10 miles! What a fantastic day out! And the organisers even gave us bright orange tshirts to match my new trainers! :-) I'll be back for another lap or five for sure!
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| Very keen for the delicious pasta after a great lap of Rotherham! :-) |
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| And here's my OMM partner Caroline practising putting up the tent...yeah, we need more practise!! |
