On Sunday 6th February,Wayne and Denise Babynec,Paul Bassnett,Barry Allman and myself completed the annual Torremolinos road race.
This year however was a bit different in that the usual half marathon was cancelled and they made the race a 11.8K instead. Not to be deterred from this as we had booked our cheap flights and cheapish accommodation (£23pp HB per night) months in advance.I also thought a 10am start as opposed to a 9am start,half the usual distance glorious blue skies for three days,early finish meant we had more relaxation time soaking up the sun with more beers!
What I didn't account for was that this was a seriously tough race. The temperature was 17 degrees at the start and the first km is always tough.The route was exactly as its always been apart from the organisers took us off the sea front at around 6K and that's when the fun started .
It was hill after hill with a lot of runners struggling in the heat. I cannot speak for the rest but I was seriously dehydrated and I can only blame "Mr Miguel" for that,which started at around 2pm the day before.
Sea,sand,beers(too many before a race!)football on the beach,running up 250 steps(mini race) blue skies, hot sunshine, does not bode well for race preparation which went completely out of the window.
The field was 789 and the organisation was pretty much the same as previous years with the event being professionally videoed, TV crew. large stage with plenty of trophies. The only difference being the start and finish. No chip timing and I went over the start line 38 seconds after the gun went off. We reached the finish where we waited at least 2 minutes to proceed to the point where an official took our number and it was recorded. Up to that point no one had read our number.
Finishing times are therefore a little out but the times posted on the Spanish web site are
Mark 53.41 242nd
Wayne 57.53 388
Barry 58.16 422
Paul 1.01.53 560
Denise 1.07.11 673
As ever,a brilliant trip and good to share a few drinks abroad with my fellow team members who were great company. Another 21 other club runners from various Northwest Running clubs also stayed at the same hotel. Everyone from all the clubs seemed to get on well and with the weather being as nice as it was, just capped it off nicely.
It was the fifth time in a row for my trip here and I do not see that finishing just yet.
Just over two hours flight time into Malaga's newly built terminal, a 200 yard walk to the new train station,4 stops on the train,3 minute walk to the hotel.The best bit is the start of the race is, yes you've guessed it, 2 minutes away. Happy days!
A lot easier and much less hassle than the majority of local races that we all do in the UK.
There must have been over 50 trophies and three out of the 26 of us picked up trophies.
Certainly one for your diary if you fancy a race abroad
The other good Spanish race is the Palma one in October which is a 10k,Half and full all starting at the same time. Perhaps a club event for 2012?
Pictures of the event on my face book profile,however,not many race shots i'm afraid! but shots of a different type.
Mark Lysycia
0 comments:
Post a Comment