RR Harriers male club captain James Ward has arranged the following events for club members to participate in during the Corona Virus pandemic.
I’ve put together a schedule for a series of virtual club races and fun events. Following on from the success of the Virtual National Relay Championships that the club entered (click to see the results here), we felt it would be a great idea to organise a number of our own events to maintain the momentum, positivity and club spirit. We received some fantastic ideas and I’ve incorporated these into the schedule below. (Thanks to Karolina, Andy Norman, Kev Sutcliffe, Richard Kerry, Ian Lambert for their suggestions).
Please feel free to enter as many events as you want, the more the merrier. Would be great the see everyone having a go. The guys that did the virtual relay found it good fun and motivating. And as an aside, you will be fit by the time lockdown ends in readiness for some ‘real’ races 😊.
W/C Mon 20th April; Running Selfie week - subject, a Run with a View
We’ve got some super scenery around where we all live so let the other Harriers see it! Simply take a selfie whilst out on a run with an interesting view in the background. Use your imagination; could be hills, deserted roads, trees in blossom etc. Post the selfie to our RR Harriers WhatsApp group with your name and description of photo. I will get an independent panel to judge and award a virtual prize for the winner. If you aren’t on the WhatsApp group we can add you – ask Karolina or Gill.
Rules:
The selfie to be taken between 00:00 Mon 20th April and 23:59 Sat 25th April. Leaves Sunday 26th April for judging!
The run must have started from your doorstep! No driving to Llanberis to get a picture of Snowdon in the background!
See the final photos of Run with a View here.
W/C Mon 27th April; Virtual Park Run week
Park Run’s are currently not happening at the moment, so lets do our own 😊. Go out and run 5km as hard or easy as you like, and email me your time. I’ll work out finishing position using an online age grading calculator. Obviously the harder you run, the better your grading will be.
Rules:
The run to be done between 00:00 Mon 27th April and 23:59 Sat 02nd May.
Use whatever device you like to measure your run; Strava, Garmin Connect, Nike Run club.
See the results here.
W/C Mon 4th May; How far can you run in…….1 hour!
One for the tough guys! And you can thank Karolina for this idea (although I extended the time to 1 hour 😊). We want to see how far you can run in a hour. So set your watch, set your GPS, and go out and see what you can do! Email me your results.
Rules: The run to be done between 00:00 Mon 4th May and 23:59 Sat 9th May
See the results here.
W/C Mon 11th May; Running Selfie week - subject, The first Pub you’re going to have a pint in post Lockdown!
Oh how nice would a post run pint sat in a beer garden be!! So the idea of this challenge is to take a selfie of yourself out on a run, outside the first pub you’ll be sprinting towards when the doors open again! Virtual prize for the best photo, judged by an independent panel.
Rules: The run to be done between 00:00 Mon 11th May and 23:59 Sat 16th May. The run must have started from your doorstep.
See the results and photos here.
W/C Mon 18th May; How far can you run in ….10mins!
One for the speed merchants! Lets get your lungs burning, go for a blast, and see how far you can run in 10 minutes. Email me your results……when you’ve got your breath back and the lactic has died down 😊. (You may raise your eyebrows, but a good flat out run does generate a really good feeling…..honest!)
Rules: The run to be done between 00:00 Mon 18th May and 23:59 Sat 23rd May
See the results here.
W/C Mon 25th May; RR Harriers sealed 4 mile Handicap
This is the biggie! Lets have a good turnout for this one. The sealed handicap means that the handicaps aren’t published until after the event. So you go out for a hard 4 mile run, email Bill and I your time, and the handicap will be applied in order to produce the results. The handicaps will be revealed at the same time that the results are published.
I promise to donate a real prize to the winner of this event.
Rules:
The run to be done between 00:00 Mon 25th May and 23:59 Sat 30th May
See the results here.
W/C 1st June; Cake Bake competition
All runners run so they can eat cake, and my facebook feed is full of homemade cakes, so I thought this would be a topical challenge, and chance to let your trainers cool off after the 4 mile handicap. So go bake your favourite cake and post a picture of it on our WhatsApp group (or email me a photo of it).
W/C 8th June; Can we run up Everest?
So this challenge is all about hills, building up the ascent, and seeing if as a club we can run enough feet of ascent in 5 days to climb Everest - OR - how many times even can we climb Everest in 5 days. Hills are a runners friend and help to strengthen you up for future challenges 😊. Everest is 29030ft, so for 30 runners that’s only 1000ft climbing each so we should smash this challenge – and as such that’s why I’ve deliberately only given 5 days to make this a bit harder. Submit your runs to me and I’ll keep a record of the height gained.
See the results here.
W/C 15th June; The Solstice Selfie Challenge
This is the week leading up to the longest day so plenty of hours to get our runs in and with a bit of luck we’ll have a return to the good weather of the past few weeks. Awards for the ‘Early Bird’ (earliest run), and the ‘Night Owl’ (latest run). Hopefully you will also be able to get some good sunrise or sunset pictures.
See the photos here.
W/C 22nd June; The Random Relay Challenge
This will be a 4x4 km relay. I’ll canvass everybody the week before to see who intends to run and then draw names out of a hat to form the teams. Each team member has to run 4km, and I’ll age grade the times. So you need to give your team mates plenty of encouragement. (More details to follow).
See the results here.
Colin Potter Memorial 10k (Mon June 29th to Sat July 11th)
This years Colin Potter 10k would have taken place on July 4th so we thought it would be great to commemorate and acknowledge this by doing some sort of virtual 10k. If you can get down to the actual course that would be great, if not your own local 10k course will be fine. I’ve allocated a 2 week period for this challenge. Working with Jon Kinder on this event and further details to be established.
See the results here.
RR Championship point scoring events 1500m and 3000m (Mon June 29th to Sat July 11th)
This event will run for the same 2 week period as the Colin Potter event and is quite simply a chance to get some RR championship scoring points. You won’t be able to get on the track, so go blast a straight and flat bit of road. We’ll accept a slight margin of Strava measuring error.
3000m results
The Twin Town Challenge (Mon July 13th to Sat July 18th)
Osnabruck is Derby’s twin town 568miles away. The challenge for the Harriers during this week is to run there and back. So 2 x 568m divided by 30 runners is approx. 34 miles each!! Easy peasy! Let me know your miles and I’ll aggregate (unless I can work out some way of using Strava to record).
See the results here.
The Strava Graffiti Challenge (Mon July 20th to Sat July 25th)
A fun challenge. Can you create a picture using Strava? Run as far or as little as you like but try and create a picture of your route using Strava. Just a fun competition. Share your pictures on WhatsApp.
See the pictures here.
Virtual Park Run, Age Graded (Mon July 27th to Sat Aug 1st)
We did do this challenge previously but I think it is a good all encompassing challenge. Again the times will be age graded to produce a finishing order. We’ll also do a second results list comparing your times from the previous challenge to this one – so you should use the same route. No worries if you didn’t do this the first time around, you can still be part of the age graded list.
Piggs 10K (August 3rd to 14th)
The Piggs 10K race, normally a very popular event both for RR Harriers and other local club runners had to be run under a different format this year due to CV restrictions. Instead of a mass race small groups of similar ability runners ran the course on different evenings, some in scorching hot conditions. To avoid using the old railway line trail, very busy with dog walkers and cyclists, Tony Edwards devised a new all road course which took in the old village of Radbourne. This course required a turnaround point on a quiet country lane which Tony manned for each group running and other club members provided lead bike duties so no one went adrift. It proved to be a great success with 30 runners taking part over various evenings. Male winner Gordon Kalwak (37:10) claimed the Piggs Trophy whilst Lady winner Karolina Kucharek (46:53) took the Ted Page Trophy.
See the photos and table of results here.
Broome Cup (September 7th to 11th)
The Broome Cup, normally held earlier in the year and another very popular event on the RRH calendar was again another victim of the CV restrictions. Instead it was run over a series of evenings at Markeaton Park just for RRH members so no inter-departmental competition took place this year though this still allowed the Broome Cup and Ladies Challenge Cup to be awarded to Russ Parkin (first male) and Clare McKittrick (first female) finishers.
See the photos and table of results here.
RRH Handicap (4 miles 5th to 11th October)
The RRH Handicap traditionally marks the end of the previous championship season and the start of the new season. We had a great turn out with 36 Harriers competing either in small groups on a 4 mile course around Markeaton Park or individually over a 4 mile course of their choosing. Taking into account handicap times calculated in advance the winner was Matt Tomlinson followed by Andy Ward and Dean Smith. Joint fastest times were clocked by Tom Mowbray and Russ Parkin in 24min 57sec. Bill Southgate did a fine job calculating the handicaps as usual with just 3 minutes separating 2nd and 33rd places.
RRH Treasure Hunt / Audax Event (31st October to 8th November)
Karolina Kucharek organised a treasure hunt / audax type event based around the north of Derby. This involved navigating your way around a course based on a series of clues to the locations and then answering questions as to what could be seen at those locations. It was a great day out and everyone that attempted it thoroughly enjoyed it. Attached below is Karolina’s write up of the event and the results.
RRH 5K interval challenge (9th to 15th November)
The challenge was to complete 5km as fast as possible but you could do it as an interval session (e.g. 5x1000m, 10x500m, 25x200m with recovery time between each interval. However a maximum of an hour was allowed for the total session. The results were then age graded.
RRH Hilly 10km challenge (16th to 22nd November)
The challenge was to run 10km from your own front door getting in as much ascent as possible. You could do a hill session, loops of a circuit, or just one circuit so long as you didn't exceed 10km in distance.
RRH 10 mile time trial (23rd to 29th November)
The challenge was to run 10 miles as a time trial with the results being age graded.
RRH 5 mile cross country challenge (30th November to 6th December)
The challenge was to run a 5 mile cross country course of your choice, preferably one as muddy as possible!
RRH points scoring (buildings) challenge (7th to 13th December)
The challenge was to plan a maximum 10km route, starting and finishing on your own doorstep, to bag as many points as possible by passing buildings. 10 points for a farm, 5 for a church, 3 for a fire station, 2 for a library and 1 for a pub. As there was no time factor involved this turned into an amazingly competitive event between older and younger members of the club.
RRH Festive Selfie Challenge
No points on offer for this challenge but an opportunity to take some pictures in festive outfits.