Ed Prickett Relays 2010

So, another 3 weeks on from Hyde Park, another 3 weeks closer to the Ironman.
Unfortunately this race was even shorter, being 4 legs x 2 miles.
With Rich and Martin (pot-hunting) absent, it was left to Messers Foster, Greenleaf, Kilpin and Woonton to fly the flag back on familiar ground. Only Woonton’s flag must have been made of the infamous denim, and he announced on the eve of the race he was not fit to compete. To be fair to two jeans however, he did lock in a 40 mile bike ride before arriving in Nottm shortly after 1pm, though the number of tea shops this involved was undisclosed.
Being back on the old stomping patch meant we were lucky to have support from some of the 14AC girls, Lizzie, Hannah and Lucie, who were impressed we were still right on course for Nice.
Andy had flown in from South Africa that very morning, bring with him a suitcase but no calendars this time, this dedication to the cause was greatly appreciated, whilst Steve had popped into M&S on the way up to buy some Rocky Road. Machine meanwhile, entertained us with stories of glamour in the Potteries.
Onto the race, and with 3 runner for 4 legs, Baptiste decided to run 1st and 4th leg, with Machine 2nd and Leaf 3rd. We warmed up running round the course whilst the women raced, and Lizzie and Lucie did the girls team proud. We cursed the ‘brainchild’ for shortening the race to 4 legs, though you may think this would have made things harder for our 3 athletes, bear in mind that Matt managed all 4 legs himself last year!

To the start, and Leon was resplendent in the now customary football socks, which were, apparently the first thing Andy packed for SA! The start was carnage, and Leon was soon left behind. Over the course however, he managed to move through with the aid of a Leeds City team mate, and fell down the hill to the finish to hand over to Machine. The next we saw of Matt he was in classic pose, storming up the hill to the Library and down to hand over to Leaf. Andy then took on the two mile loop and looked to be showing no signs of tiredness as he handed over to Leon, who didn’t ease up to bring the team home in 20th position.
Regular readers will be aware that it is customary for the abilities of Team MMX to be so closely matched that a one second margin between splits is not only unheard of, but a standard occurrence. On this occasion though, the team surpassed themselves. In the 7 ½ years of racing each other, things have never been this close:

L.Foster 11.02
M. Kilpin 11.01
A.Greenleaf 11.01
L.Foster* 11.34 * - masquerading as S.Woonton

Honours even, one might say!
With that in mind, Leon decided some extra training was needed and ran to the hotel, actually beating Steve’s soon to be replaced car.
In the hotel, we played the coin game, watching Fulham V Tottenham. Like last time, this was a FA Cup game, but frankly it was awful. It later transpired, our very own Gas Man was at Craven Cottage, I hope he managed to stay awake! As the girls joined us, we switched to the more traditional Wipeout, which was a lot more successful.

Moving onto the city centre for a meal, we passed a big wheel, which now seems to be present in any city that wants to sell itself. For the meal itself, we were joined by old comrades, Alex and Rob, who proceeded to avail themselves of the wine at a fair rate, not being MMX athletes of course! A trendy cocktail bar followed, and another Leaf inspired wind-up. Following the pouring of water on Martin in Leeds (‘No way that was Leaf’), Andy (albeit assisted by Leon) hid Steve’s drink. Steve then assumed it had been cleared away by the barman, and launched into an expletive driven rant, only to find his drink had reappeared. An angry two jeans was not happy, meanwhile Andy became the Laughing wasp, and Leon was a bit bemused. Soon the night wound down, and while this was not in the top 50 MMX carnage events, it was a very nice evening. The sauna of a hotel was very welcome given the freezing conditions!
In the morning, in a great show of team spirit, the team went on 3 separate runs:

Baptiste went City Ground, ½ way to Holme Pierrpoint, back on the Trent, Isis, Canal – 60 mins steady
Leaf and Machine somehow got to Beeston Marina and back in 54 mins – no wonder Leon declined to join them.
Steve did a 30 min run down the canal, passing Leon going the other way, and then being caught by the tempo group on their return for the final few minutes.
With this out the way by 10am, and the sun shining, we found what Woonton described as ‘acceptably quaint for an urban area’ café, for breakfast with the girls, and Matt managed to eat the wrong breakfast!
And after that, we went our separate ways, another weekend of running fun done and dusted, and another weekend closer to the race that matters most!

Next stop: London Marathon and then the Swanage Sojurn!

Hyde Park Relays 2010

The Hyde Park Relays, a 6 x 3.2 mile race, was perhaps not the endurance test that was needed 4 months out from the Ironman, but it was a race that held great memories from Uni days. Since then we’d won the 1st Old Boys team prize at least once (I think twice), and were hopeful of winning once again. It was also the first time, unbelievably, that all 6 MMXers had been together since the ill-fated King’s Lynn – Winchester cycle in that formative Ironman year of 2006. Since then, one or more of us, more often than not Rich, had been absent from our various training events. The race had been in our diaries for many months, and only some last minute Serpentine pressure for Martin and Andy to run in a crucial Met League meeting instead briefly threatened the reunion.

Reminiscing next to the bandstand of years gone by, it soon became apparent that all links with Notts Uni, bar Jonny Thewlis, had been lost. There were a few familiar faces around though, with 14ACers Hannah Whitelam and Anna Ferguson running, albeit in unfamiliar colours.

Gaunt assumed what had traditionally become the preserve of Skipper Greenleaf: the opening leg for 14AC. The Lazy Wasp, his load lightened by the removal of a large piece of Meccano from his shoulder, was being held back for the anchor leg. Gasman opened up with a 16.55 clocking, handing over to Rich in a top 10 place. Meanwhile, the Uni (sporting the famous green, but with Baptiste-inspired diagonal blue and yellow band) were out in front, despite some predictably shambolic baton changeovers. Davies, roared on by the glamorous WAGs by Queen Elizabeth Gate, showed his usual 100% effort all the way to the line, clocking 18.47.

Next up was Baptiste, looking impressively green in his less-than-technical rugby socks. The top ten position was held, as Leon passed on to Two Jeans Woonton with a 17.54 run. Woonton was looking mean and, whisper it quietly, lean, though he would probably have preferred to have swum across the Serpentine, than have to run around it. A 20.54 clocking and next up was Kilpin. Approaching Hyde Park Corner, the Machine’s engines were beginning to fire, and he handed over to Greenleaf with a 17.50 run. Leaf, having begun his marathon training only the day before, and having already done two laps of the Serpentine warming up, was playing down his form. But class is clearly permanent, as he took the honours with the fastest 14AC performance of the day: 16.39.

This was enough to secure 14AC MMX 11th place overall, but would it be enough for the first Old Boys prize? (Some days later it became apparent we were second behind Alehouse.) After much discussion, and much faffing from Leaf (what did he have in all those bags??), we decided to shun the presentations in order to crack on with the Ironman AGM.

Hosted by Martin in his new flat in Greenwich, the evening was the chance to finalise the pre-Ironman plans, as well as the details for the France trip itself. With Machine doing a fine job as secretary, some key decisions for the year ahead were taken:

• A training weekend in Dorset for the Mayday bank holiday weekend, worryingly just a week after the London marathon;
• A cycling weekend in Bromyard later in May. (Curry is off the menu.);
• A 14AC appearance at Ed Prickett Relays;
• Davies, supported by Baptiste, commissioned to design the Official MMX Apparel;
• Leon’s chance to colour in some French railway lines vetoed, with Team MMX heading to Nice by car instead.

Aside, from the AGM, the team kicked off 4 months of carbo-loading with a Gaunt pasta extravaganza. There was also time, obviously, for a game of hearts, and a bizarre betting game involving Man City vs Stoke (Dean Dyer inexplicably absent). The Armchair Athlete got out of the armchair briefly, but only to look into the armchair for his stylus. He eventually made off with a 6ft canvas instead. But the moment of the evening was undoubtedly the extraordinary unveiling of the MMX calendar. Designed in secrecy by Leaf, courtesy of Merrill Lynch’s generous leave entitlement, these caused much amusement (although the significance of the York City emblem had us stumped for a while).

After 5 of the MMXers had spent the night in Greenwich, Woonton and Machine were off, leaving Gaunt, Leaf and Baptiste the remaining survivors for the Sunday morning run. Gaunt and Leaf locked in an hour, Baptiste 1hr30, and it was time to say farewell. A cracking weekend, and the Ironman is finally, worryingly, becoming tangibly close.