Abi Schofield joined 4 lads for a 48-hour Treadmill run in Guernsey, and between them they beat 13 World and British Treadmill records. Abi now holds the British ladies half-marathon Treadmill record, the British and WORLD Marathon records as well as the British 24-hour record.See http://www.epicchallenges.gg (half-way down) for more information.
Abi first met the rest of the team at the London Marathon in April, and decided to join them.
"This weekend I travelled to Guernsey to run for 48 hours on a treadmill to
raise money for children's charities, and break British and World
records.
Details are on here: http://campaign.justgiving.com/charity/e-p-i-c/epic48
I met Robert Young 'marathon man' at the London marathon this year, I
was excited to meet such an inspirational man, he ran 420 marathons in
a year to raise money for charity and speaks openly about his childhood
abuse. He offered me the opportunity to be part of the 'Epic' team with
three other men.
The event itself started at mid-day on Friday 4th
until Sunday 6th mid-day. In total the team covered 691.76 miles, and
broke 4 world records and 9 British treadmill running records.
I broke
the women's half marathon record on my second attempt at 6 am Saturday
morning, as I wanted a less stressful atmosphere second time around,
there were hundreds of supporters, press and photographers, meaning
that for my first attempt, anxiety got the better of me!! I then went
onto break the women's 24 hour British record and world marathon record
and finding a whole new dimension to pain and tiredness. I covered
111.9 miles in total, which shocks me as the furthest I have ever run
is 31 miles prior to this! Treadmill running is much more challenging
mentally, and it was so difficult to retain self-discipline with the
numbers in front of you and the limited scenery. The support team of
medics, chiropractor, masseuse, friends and family kept us pinned
together, and every need catered for!
It was an exhausting but life-
changing experience, I will never complain about being in pain or tired
again, and definitely never run on a treadmill again.
Donations are still open, and massively appreciated!!!! "
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PACTRAC had members competing in at least 11 different
events at the weekend:
The Bala Triathlon was a Qualifier for next
year's European Championships in Lisbon, and as such, attracted a
quality National field.
7 PACTRACers competed, with the best placed
being Antony Brown who won his Age Group. Antony has already qualified
for next May's European Championships, but the others will have to wait
and see how their efforts in this and the previous qualifying races
stack up. Sue Davys gave herself a good chance in 7th place.
132. Antony Brown........ 26.17.... 60.44.... 44.38.. =.. 2.11.39.. AG 1st.
201 Mark Wethersby...... 30.45.... 65.12.... 41.36.. = 2.17.33.. AG 26.
292 Steve Giles.......... 37.53.... 66.52.... 39.11.. =.. 2.23.56.. AG 32.
338. Steve Hope............ 30.34.... 71.29.... 44.47.. =.. 2.26.50.. AG 31.
482. Chris Troop.......... 33.41.... 71.36.... 51.49.. =. 2.37.06.. AG 29.
581. Sue Davys............. 38.10.... 78.07.... 55.18.. =.. 2.51.35.. AG 7.
others:
583. Chris Shaw Fenland Clarion CC.... 41.44.... 73.25.... 56.51.. =.. 2.52.00.. AG 72.
Andrea Robinett didn't finish after completing the bike course with mechanical problems.
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Tristan Matthews competed in the Sundowner Middle-distance Triathlon in
Yorkshire. He described it as "very tough, with cool temperatures and
strong winds. Distances were: swim 1900 meters. Bike 56 miles. Run 13.1
miles.
26th. Tristan Matthews.... 33:57.... 2:42:11.... 42:50.. =.. 4:58:58.. Age Group 11.
Both Tristan and Paul Jephcott (below), are looking to get into the GB Middle Distance Age Group Teams next year, and had good results this weekend.
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Ros Goatly was PACTRAC's sole representative in the Market Harborough Triathlon,
finishing 4th in her Age Group over the distances of 400 meters, 14.5 miles and 3 miles.
62. Ros Goatly.... 7.27.... 51.02.... 25.08.. =.. 83:37
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6 PACTRACers competed at St. Neots in the NiceTri
Sprint and Standard distance triathlons.
Standard Distance - Swim 1500 meters. Bike 28 miles. Run 6.25 miles.
Paul Lunn WON this event outright by 71 seconds. He pulled some time back on the bike and started the run in 2nd place, 2:17 behind the leader.
1st. Paul Lunn.... 25.47.... 72.44.... 35.11.. =.. 2.13.42.. AG 1st.
14. Richard Moys.... 26.44.... 81.59.... 39.20.. =.. 2.28.03.. AG 2nd.
39. Andrew Russell.... 29.42.... 84.43.... 53.09.. =.. 2.47.34.. AG 9.
Sprint Distance -
Swim 750 meters. Bike 16 miles. Run 3 miles.
15. Jon Crowley.... 12.33.... 42.12.... 19.01.. =.. 73.46.. AG 4.
37. Mike Shadwell.... 14.27.... 45.56.... 20.23.. =.. 80.46.. AG 3rd.
50. Gary Shoemake.... 14.58.... 46.57.... 21.28.. =.. 83.23.. AG 11.
180. Terry Murphy.... 24.52.... 61.13.... 29.01.. =.. 1:55.06.. AG 1st.
190. Liz Whittaker.... 40.16.... 72.26.... 25.41.. =.. 1.58.23.. AG 2nd.
PACTRAC recorded a 1 and 2 in Age Group positions in the Standard
Distance race, with Paul Lunn winning the race outright.
In the Sprint
Distance, we had a 1,2,3,4 with Terry Murphy winning his Age Group, and
Mike Shadwell recording 1:20:46 to beat his previous time for the
course by over 8 minutes.
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Liam Stokes competed in
the Ely Aquathlon where they started the fastest swimmers last but
didn't allow them to overtake until the end of the lane, so he did get
held up in "traffic", but still managed to medal in 3rd position.
Distances were: swim 200 meters in the School Outdoor Pool, run 1200
meters - 3 laps of the playing field.
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Paul Jephcott competed in the Bosworth Middle Distance triathlon at Market Bosworth.
Water temperatures were cold, but "the event had a good club feel to
it".
Distances were: Swim 1900 meters. Bike 52.5 miles. Run 13.1 miles.
58. Paul Jephcott.... 40.05.... 3.07.49.... 2.16.10.. =.. 6.04.04
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The British Triathlon Under Twenties Festival took
place at Mallory Park on closed roads. Nathan Tweedie came in, into T2
just a few seconds behind the lead group. He held onto 17th place
overall from 78 starters amongst the most promising Juniors in the
country, and 6th in his Age Group.
3 PACTRACers had a fantastic day out, racing at Mallory
Park in some very competitive races, where drafting was allowed on the
bike. This was a new experience, but one that these athletes will have
to get used to, if they are to make progress towards Elite racing in
the future.
TriStar2 Girls:
The Top 3 from each of the 12 Regions in the UK were selected for this event. Katie
Tasker came out of the water in mid field, made up a couple of positions
before powering on the bike to enter T2 in 7th place. With some very strong
runners in close attendance Katie was able to secure 10th place being the
1st from the Eastern Region to finish. This is a great achievement as Katie
who trains with the PACTRAC Junior section run by Head Coach Sam Fielding,
only took up the sport 3 years ago.
Youth Boys:
Jonathan Oakey had his first real taste of Elite youth racing. He was able
to get in a big group on the bike and taking his turn on the front was able
to finish with a strong run finishing in 37th of the 54 racing. This bodes
well as he will be able to compete in the same category next year. His
finishing time was 37:53 and if he continues to improve in the next 12
months, he could be challenging at the sharp end of the leader board.
Junior Men:
Nathan Tweedie was competing in his last Junior event. He
had a really powerful swim and was able to work with the chase group of
12 riders. 3 athletes were able to breakaway as the chase group worked
hard to claw them back. Nathan started the run 30 seconds down on the
leaders and made a valiant bid to bridge the gap, coming home in 17th
place. A number of the competitors will be challenging for the full GB
team in the near future and this is a measure of his quality, that he
was able to live in such elevated company.
Youth's
37. Jonathan Oakey.... 5:17.... 22:45.... 9:51.. =.. 37:53
From 93 competitor's.
Tri Star 2.
10. Katie Tasker.... 3:47.... 13:52.... 5:31.. =.. 23:10
Junior
17th. Nathan Tweedie.... 8:23.... 34:44.... 20:23.. =.. 63:20
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Tracy McCartney competed in one of her favourite races -
Man verses Mountain in North Wales.
She finished 24th overall and first lady, from a huge field of 1210 finishers. Tracy took just 3.59.37 with the last athlete coming home in 9.30 hours.
This race started at sea level from Caernafon Castle, before going up and down
for 20 miles around North Wales. Athletes climbed up Mount Snowden,
descended, ran around Llanberis and took on the "vertical kilo". This
included a guided abseil and a series of land and water based
obstacles.
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Meanwhile, Sean Beard put the finishing touches to his Berlin Marathon (3 weeks away now), training. He competed in the British Masters over 45 Half-Marathon
Championships in the Wissey half-marathon organised by Ryston Runners.
Sean recorded 1.19.05 to come away with the Bronze Medal.
Another PACTRACer, Yvonne Scarrott, came third and received the Bronze Medal in
the over 45 Ladies race, finishing in a time of 1.35.56. NVH's Philippa
Taylor won the Gold Medal in 1.21.55.
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Kate Armstrong attempted the Coniston End to End 5 1/4 mile swim. "Perfect conditions. Water temp 17 degrees. Hyperthermia by 3 miles so didn't make it to the end. Gutted. So now will have to try again next year - unfinished business."