Virtual Event this season – we are not timing or marshalling the route
The course is around the Town Fields as per normal and the standard distance is 3 laps (4.8 miles). Runners are invited to run the course anytime they like, starting in October through till March 2021. Runners will need to self time.
Each time you run the course please use this form to submit your time and a monthly report will be produced. Run it as many times as you like. You might want to run it on a club night, its up to you. You can start and finish at any point on the course, but the start and finish must be in the same place. You can run either clockwise or anticlockwise.
All welcome, it is not an official event just a training run so it is run at peoples own risk. We do have younger people taking part who may do 1, 2 or 3 laps. It is up to parents to decide if children should take part.
As a club, through lockdown we have taken part in many excellent virtual challenges. These have been a great success from the and all abilities took part which is what its all about. It kept us motivated and active. We have done virtual miles up to half marathon and then peaking at the 30km Round Donny Run.
Anyway, the Sheffield Run, Jump and Throw series came to Doncaster on 20 August 2020 so a chance to do some real racing. I entered the 800m with the aim of running a PB, which at the time was 2:30. I was in heat 6 out of 7, the fastest heat being heat 1.
The plan was to go with the flow and kick in the last 200m, I was twice the age of the other runners in race 6. The gun fired and a couple of the other runners were fast. I got slightly carried away at first but soon slowed down as you can see on the below graph. I hit 200m in 3rd place and moved in to second. At about 450m I was chasing 1st place down and took the lead at 500m. I felt ok and cruised in to the last 100m, I could hear 2nd place chasing me down and I accelerated slightly just doing enough to take 1st place in 2:24.
This track and field meeting was a great success and the Sheffield Run, Jump and Throw series returned to Doncaster on 20 September 2020 and this time it was a toss up between having another crack at the 800m or getting a time for the 1500m. I had not got a time for the 1500m since 2018 which was 4:51. So the 1500m it was.
This time I had some Masters athletes to run against as well as lots of young people.
I had a chat with Chris Ireland, we would race together and he would take the 1st 400m and I would take the 2nd 400m. We started at the back, they young people were off at serious pace. At 150m which you can see on the below graph, Chris surged from the back to 2nd and I followed him. At 400m I passed Chris which took some effort and paced the second 400m, we went through 800m in around 2:29. Chris then took me and I tired, I tried to chase him down and my pace increased slightly in the last 100m but Chris beat me by just over a second. I finished with 4:51 which I am pleased with. Slightly quicker would have been better 🙂 Thank you to Peter Badger for filming the race, its interesting to see where a runners strengths and weakenesses are 🙂
So 2 great events at our home, Doncaster AC. Our volenteers set up the site and the event was run by Sheffield Run Jumps and Throws.
