Race reports: Stormforce 10 and Cape Pembroke Half Marathon

It has been while since I have put finger-tip to keyboard (pen to paper is so 20^th century), so I thought it was about time I wrote about something mildly interesting. To be honest we haven't actually done anything that was worthy of a blog entry over the last few months. Last winter was dark, felt long and was definitely cold. At the same time, work was busy, stressful and tiring. Christmas and New Year were spent on a long overdue pilgrimage to the mother land – a blissful 4 weeks of seeing family and friends, walking on windswept beaches and coastlines and running on the old training routes. This was followed by the inevitable epic journey back to the South Atlantic, which, due to an overnight stopover in London and a frustrating 5 hour delay (due to high winds at our destination in the Falklands) in Ascension, took far longer than it should have. I then had 3 days to pick myself up, dust myself down and prepare for the next round in the boxing match of work.

Storm clouds are gathering

Before we left the UK, Caz and I competed in the first round of the Cornish Road Running Grand Prix Series, the Stormforce 10, in Camborne. We were both using it for a qualification time to go towards our selection to run for the Falklands at the Small Island Games at the end of June (more on that below), so we were both hoping for good times. This was to be the second qualification race for us both. We had recently raced over 10 miles in Stanley, in very windy conditions. Unfortunately, I was beaten into second by a recently arrived and very strong RAF runner (Matt Blunden). I wasn’t unhappy about the result however, as I managed to finish in just under the hour, when at times it felt like I was running backwards in the wind. Caz finished well, coming in under the 80 minute mark and taking 1^st lady.

We were both hoping for quicker times at Stormforce. While not flat, the course is not the hilliest, and it was doubtful that we would encounter the same ferocity of wind as a typical day's running in the Falklands. It was quite a buzz to be back racing in Cornwall, and something I have missed in recent years. The usual pre-race excitement electrified the air, as 500 or so people donned numbers, warmed up muscles and eyed-up the opposing club colours. Caz and I were definitely in the minority with our Falkland Islands running vests, which prompted the remark of 'a long way to come to race' on more than 1 occasion.

My race strategy was going to be pretty simple – to try and stay with the leaders as long as I could and then see how it goes from there. Training had been going pretty well. I had been putting in consistently high weekly mileage for months now, which had included some speed work (although probably not enough), and I was relatively injury free (aside from the odd overuse niggle that my tendency to over train often results in). As the race started the leading pack of 4 or 5 runners launched themselves into their quickening pace. I was initially conservative and hung a little way off them, however, after a mile or so I appeared to be catching them. By 3 miles I was with the 2 front runners (Tony Brewer and Justin Thomas) and feeling good. In fact at mile 4 I was leading the race and starting to feel confident. Triumphant visions of Cornishman headlines started to appear in my head: Triumphant Return for South Atlantic Runner, Tim Drew Causes a Stir…

…then came the inevitable, with my legs making the decision they were not actually going to play ball with my glory seeking mind. After pushing the pace up the first significant hill and turning onto a short muddier off-road section of the race, I appeared to lose all power, my breathing began to flounder and suddenly there was a gap of about a minute between myself and the other 2 front runners. Gone were the thoughts of triumph and success, replaced now by increasingly irrational visions of stumbling across the finish line in last place. Such thoughts were not helped by being pushed down into 4^th place, as Colin Snook from Cornwall AC came flying past. This was not going well now!

By mile 7, my legs appeared to have rallied. I was running strong again, and although I could not quite close the gap between myself and the first 3, it certainly wasn't getting bigger. I was feeling good again and had a strong last section of the race. I finally crossed the line in 4^th overall, with a pretty reasonable time of 56.35 (90 seconds off the winner). Apart from the 2 or 3 mile meltdown in the middle of the race, I was happy – this was close to my 2009 PB at this distance.

Thoughts now turned to Caz. She was aiming to beat her Stanley 10 time, so everything was expectantly crossed as I waited on the finish line. 3 or 4 cups of water, a free post-race recovery banana and 15 minutes later, the determined face of Caz crossed the line. She had beaten her time by 4 minutes, coming in at 1.15.55. A good day's racing for us both. Next stop was a slap-up meal with grandparents at the Newlyn Meadery.

Let Battle Commence

And they're off...

Will my beard make me go faster?

The Cape Pembroke Half Marathon is the main event hosted by the Stanley Running Club. It would also serve as another qualification race for the runners hoping to go to the Island Games in June. The weather forecast was for light winds and I had been able to put in another 3 weeks of quality training since Stormforce, so I was hopeful that the ingredients were there for a PB. This was also to be my main preparation race for the coming Stanley marathon at the end of March, so a PB in the half would boost my confidence for my crack at a good PB at that race. All was looking good; that is until I succumbed to the bad cold, kindly passed onto me from Caz, on the Tuesday before the race. By Thursday, I was well and truly feeling awful and cursing my luck that, being someone who rarely gets ill, this had to be the week for it to happen. Obviously being male meant my illness was as serious as it gets and a medivac helicopter was on stand-by to get me to the airport for transfer to a specialist influenza unit in the UK. I must have caught a much stronger strain of the cold than Caz had come down with the Sunday before. Thankfully, by Friday I was feeling better, although my quick 2 mile leg stretch left me feeling low in energy, with a few breathing issues.

Race day arrived with its promised light winds and sun. The usual pre-race nerves set in – the wait to start is always the worse part of racing. A record 80 participants had entered, with lots from Mount Pleasant and the Antarctic patrol vessel, HMS Protector, which had come into Stanley in the last few days. It is always difficult to assess the quality of your fellow racers, especially with so many unknown faces, although the friendly faces of Matt from the RAF, as well as some old familiar Stanley runners were present.

Once again, my intended race strategy was very simple. Stick with Matt as long as possible and hope he pulls me to a good PB. This strategy was pretty much blown apart from the off, as Matt shot off like a rocket. He later told me that his first mile was 5 minutes exactly, so no wonder I struggled to keep with him. The pace was fierce. By 2 miles he had stretched a good lead – this was going to be a hard race.

Tough underfoot!

The Cape Pembroke Half is characterised by a challenging 5 miles off-road section around the lighthouse. We were lucky that it was quite dry this year, but the constant shifting of levels and changes of underfoot terrain, ranging from soft sand, wet, muddy peat and large and loose shale-like scree (which is possibly the worst surface in the world to run on), made the going very tough and heavy. I really felt that I was struggling on this section of the race, and the after effects of the cold that week began to tell on my breathing. I had given up on living with Matt's pace, but kept going as hard as I could, which didn't feel particularly effective at this point.

With relief, at about mile 7 or 8 the race hit the road again and I found that my legs, stride, lungs and mental state began to even out a bit more. In fact for the next 2 miles I even felt that I began to make some distance back on Matt ahead. I had no idea on how the race behind me was playing out. After struggling so badly around the lighthouse, I was expecting to be battling hard to maintain my second position, but this never materialized. I would find out at the finish that 3^rd place was well behind me at that point.

Post-race photo for 1st and 2nd. Well done Matt - awesome running!

Crossing the finish line in 2^nd place, I was greeted by my cheering children, as well as the pleasant news that I had just run a PB of 1.13.05. I had just knocked over 3 minutes off my last PB, and as a bonus, I also discovered it was a minute quicker than the previous course record, set a few years before. Unfortunately, this did not mean I was the new record holder. That honour belonged to Matt in 1st place, with an awesome time of 1.10.00. Caz came in a little later, with a great time and new PB of 1.36.24 – a huge 10 minutes quicker than last year. She was happy with her time, but a little disappointed to be just pipped to 3^rd place lady by someone in the military.

Caz smashing it!

Having put in my last big week of full training for the coming marathon, I am just now going into a steady 3 week taper. Training has gone well and it has been consistent with little interruption from injury, so I cannot complain on that front. My long runs have been quicker than last year, with lots more emphasis on my intended marathon race pace in them. I would have to admit that I haven't done as much interval work as last year, but my overall weekly mileage has been consistently higher. I just have to prey to the weather gods to be kind now – surely we will not have a repeat of the conditions from last year…

Once the marathon is out of the way, training will switch to a slightly shorter focus. Although my heart has been pulling towards ultra-distance running over the last few years, both Caz and I have been selected to represent the Falklands in the Small Island Games, which is to be held in Jersey this coming June/July. The event will be the half marathon, as there is no marathon at the Games. It looks to be an exciting trip, with travel, accommodation and team kit being provided, and something that will definitely be worth postponing my ultra marathon ambitions for half a year. I have secured 2 weeks leave from work, albeit unpaid, and my parents have even booked accommodation on the island to come over and watch. It promises to be a good trip, not least because it means we will miss 2 weeks of a Falklands winter at the same time! I will keep you posted on the training. 

As a footnote can I thank the Penguin News for the great photos of the Cape Pembroke Half.