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July 2008 Newsletter

Dear _contactName_

1. Series Update
Seven races down five to go - how's your series shaping up? Check out the Vasque series scores here

The last race - The Downland Ultra was extremely hot, with a lot of wilting runners gasping for water and shade at the end of it - well many of us ended it in the pub - what better way to re-hydrate and chat about it all.

The next race - The Devil of the Highlands - 43 miles along the West highland way from Tyndrum to Fort Bill

The Devil race filled up very quickly so please make sure if you are thinking of entering any more of the series and haven't yet - get your entries in now - they are all very popular now!

2. Series Leaders
We have some extremely fit runners amongst the top slots, including the M50 category with David Wade storming ahead at most of his races. See below for some other challenges he's been up to. And Adrian Dixon is still way up in the overall scores let alone his M60 category. We have 3 ladies in the F50 category fighting over the points and any of them could get it (Shirley Coulquhoun, Cath Worth and last years winner Wendy Dodds). A new female leader, Kerry Jenkin with 5 races to go who (if anyone) is gonna catch her as she is also 4th overall!

See all the results here or the leader board here and check out how you are doing against this lot!

3. Grand Slamming
Stuart and Karen are still running and getting stronger all the time, the next two months will be the test as all the races pile in on top of each other for a Grand Slammer. We have already had two runners requesting information on next years races as they are going for the Grand Slam. So for all you thinking of going for the long slog (sorry the Grand Slam) then we will be announcing the races in next years series in October or November. Most of the races stay the same, we only ever change one or two so you know roughly what you will be in for!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. SPOT PRIZES - July 2008

Each month of the series races we will be giving away spot prizes to registered runners of the Vasque Ultra-running champs 2008.

Vasque trail shoes - Richie Cunningham

Box of Clif Bars/Shot Bloks - Russell Ladkin

Thorlo Sox - Sarah Frost

OMM Pack - Shaun Denham

Capestorm Base Layer - Michael Trew

Contact us

The prizes will be posted here on the monthly newsletter and again on the website HERE. the winners will then have to email us their preferred delivery address and size if necessary and we will send out the prize or voucher. Click on the sponsored links to see what sort of stuff is on offer each month.

Some of the previous Spot prizes have not been claimed yet - please click here to see if you are one of them and if yes please contact us to claim your prize. All unclaimed prizes will go into the bag for the prize giving at the end of the year as spot prizes at the presentation.

 

 

 

 

5. Sponsor news.

Many of you will have had a chance to try out the Vasque range of shoes by now and feedback from the team is certainly positive on the Blur (for neutral foot strikers) and the Velocity (for those looking for a support/control shoe). The exciting news is that Vasque are committed to producing a fell shoe - it will be 2009 before they hit
the stands but we can all look forward to something well suited for full-on Fell running in the not too distant future. Meanwhile, Clif have introduced the Shot Blok to the UK. These cuties are easy to digest and suitable for vegetarians. Three of them are equivalent to eating a gel but without the sticky mess. Finally, look out for Capestorm clothing through Lakes runner and a new on-line store coming soon. The vasque team wear this kit and love it too - see their team pages for kit news.

6. The Ultra Scene.
The trend of recent years has continued with much more interest in long rounds beyond the Bob Graham. There have already been quite a few successful completions of both the Paddy Buckley (Wales) and Charlie Ramsay (Scotland) rounds and our congratulations go to them all. A couple of achievements deserve special mention though:

  • Digby Harris completed his Welsh round on July 20th meaning that he has done all three of the 24 hours rounds within a 1 year period.
  • David Waide completed 50 Lakeland summits in his 50th year and the time was hugely impressive. Under 19 hours for a standard BG is still rare but David slotted in another 8 tops within that time too. It's no surprise that he is looking a clear favourite to take the M50 prize in the champs this year.
  • Chris Near equalled Mark Hartells 1993 time for the Paddy Buckley round of 18 hours and 10 minutes. Its amazing that after all those hours the two times should be identical!

As reported on runfurther, 2006 Ultrarunning Champion, Spyke, made a valiant attempt on the long standing Scottish Munros 24 hour record. Although he was up on schedule after 12 hours a widely expected overnight front came through with strong wind, heavy rain and low cloud. In such conditions in Scotland, record breaking is pretty much impossible. Those of us who were there could clearly see the fitness, focus and determination - we all hope he will be back in 2009.

Across the Atlantic, the Ultrarunning scene has brought the best and worst of times. Unprecedented in its 35 year history, the Western States 100 miler had to be cancelled only 3 days before it was due to start. Some 400 runners dreams metraphorically went up in smoke as the extensive forest fires, poor air quality and needs of the emergency services to get fires under control forced cancellation of the event. Amongst those, Jezz Bragg and Nick Ham from the UK, already out there preparing. Three weeks later there were no such problems for Hardrock
although this race was cancelled in 2005 for the same reasons. On the start line was Kyle Scaggs, 23 years old, a temporary Silverton resident and tipped for a great run. What nobody could have dreamed of is that he would knock 3 hours off the course record and finish 6 hours ahead of his nearest competitor to take the mark for this super tough 100 miler to under 24 hours. Unless someone runs on water for 100 miles this is going to be the achievement of the year in the USA for sure.

For anyone who has never had the opportunity to race overseas, check out the growing list of races on our pages here and feel free to email us if you want advice etc. As pretty much anybody who has raced overseas will tell you - it can make a great holiday with fantastic scenery and the great buzz that you get around these races.




Wherever you race, train and run - appreciate the moment and enjoy.

Cheers

Karen, Mark and Si - Team Runfurther

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