Hallam Chase 2021

Race date: Tuesday 1 June 2021

I left my phone in the car, so there's no photos. But picture an idyllic old sports ground, a suburban street, some steep woods and pasture, a pub with a cheering crowd. Or read my 2019 report (https://whatwasfortea.blogspot.com/2019/06/hallam-chase-2019.html).

I'd forgotten to write this until 29 June, so it'll be short and sketchy. On arrival at the Hallam CC ground, we found our race numbers, safety pins and race details (and a disposable facemask, for use if you had to help an injured runner) in plastic bags, pegged to a washing line in a novel COVID safety measure. 

There were lots of Striders and HRRC runners around, and it felt like the old days to be warming up and chatting.

And then we were off. It's a handicap race, with the "slowest" runners out first, and I was about mid-way down the field. By the time we got out of the cricket ground and into the hard, quick descent on tarmac before the off-road section I was losing ground, and more overtook me as we scrambled down the rock-hard valley side and then up to the pub. I don't really have much memory of the rest of the race, because it's so short that you're just going as hard as you can until the second climb, at which point you realise you went out too hard and have to walk. Luckily most people have to walk. I remember feeling like I was doing ok (at least not losing ground) on the Stannington side of the valley, both up and down. And I found a sprint finish from somewhere.

The finishers' reward was a bottle of beer, and the outfield was soon littered with exhausted runners taking their refreshment and catching up after months away.

I'm definitely still off the pace, and I should have worn road shoes given how dry it was. I came away with a niggling shin injury that's only just clearing up. It was a smashing afternoon out though.

I was 32nd of 59 over the line (39th fastest in 32:49). The first across the line was Helen Elmore of Sheffield RC. Fastest man was Andrew Heyes of Hallamshire, in 21:46, and fastest woman was Nicola Squires, also of Hallamshire, in 26:40.

Full results: http://www.thehallamchase.org.uk/resources/Hallam-Chase-Results-2021-(provisional).pdf


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