Boarder's Half Marathon
Even though this one wasn't scheduled to kick off until 8am it was just a stroke of luck that I got there at 6:45am as I was going to register then go down the road and cheer Clairie on in her BRRC 15k. When I got there I found out they moved the start time forward to 7am!
There weren't many adults in the race, I think I was the 9th and final one to sign up. The rest of the crowd were schoolboys so it was great so see fellow PCRG-ers Wayne, Gary and Tammy lining up with me.
The plan was to run just under 5 min pace rather than bust a gut and wreck my training for the week. With no km markers I had no idea if I was doing that but felt comfortable. Heading past the start/finish at BRRC who should be flying in the other direction, just meters from the line, but Clairie! Talk about perfect timing. We exchanged "woohoos" and did the obligatory hand slap :-)
The crowd had really thinned out early, in fact going through South Bank I couldn't see one other runner so was rapt a couple of kms later to be within about 100 meters of a group of four schoolboys - a target! The next song on the iPod was "Boogie Woogie No 5" by Ami & Yumi aka Puffy, Scott's song of the week last week. That was it, I told myself I'd pass them all before the end of the song. And I did ... though their inability to grab a drink at the water table without stopping helped somewhat :-)
I hit the turnaround (and halfway point) at the bottom of the ramp at the Regatta Ferry Terminal in 50:15. It was starting to get a bit warm, so figured the journey back might be slower but wasn't too concerned. The heat was taking its toll and the last few kms were tough. I finished in 1:41.15. I was more than happy with that, it meant an average pace of around 4:50s.
Although it was very low key, it was a terrific event, and almost impossible to fault. The course was great, pretty much the same as the Brisbane Half, just a different start/end point. None of it was on roads. There were water tables at least every 2k (a must in this weather!) with loads of friendly helpers. You could do the lot or be in a team. Though any Year 10 boys entered had to do the whole thing, Year 9s do teams of 2, and Year 8s teams of 3. Relay runners caught the Citycat to the change-over points. There was loads of chopped up fruit and heaps of juice drinks at the finish line. And there were prizes. The one for the first adult was a 'boarders' pack - 2 minute noodles, chockies etc :-)
Afterwards Tammy and Gary introduced me to one of the boys who boards at Churchie (Anglican Church Grammar School). I couldn't beleieve he was the organiser of the event - hence the name "Boarder's Half Marathon". It was a school project and a fundraiser for the Mater Hospital. He deserves an A+ for this one!
There weren't many adults in the race, I think I was the 9th and final one to sign up. The rest of the crowd were schoolboys so it was great so see fellow PCRG-ers Wayne, Gary and Tammy lining up with me.
The plan was to run just under 5 min pace rather than bust a gut and wreck my training for the week. With no km markers I had no idea if I was doing that but felt comfortable. Heading past the start/finish at BRRC who should be flying in the other direction, just meters from the line, but Clairie! Talk about perfect timing. We exchanged "woohoos" and did the obligatory hand slap :-)
The crowd had really thinned out early, in fact going through South Bank I couldn't see one other runner so was rapt a couple of kms later to be within about 100 meters of a group of four schoolboys - a target! The next song on the iPod was "Boogie Woogie No 5" by Ami & Yumi aka Puffy, Scott's song of the week last week. That was it, I told myself I'd pass them all before the end of the song. And I did ... though their inability to grab a drink at the water table without stopping helped somewhat :-)
I hit the turnaround (and halfway point) at the bottom of the ramp at the Regatta Ferry Terminal in 50:15. It was starting to get a bit warm, so figured the journey back might be slower but wasn't too concerned. The heat was taking its toll and the last few kms were tough. I finished in 1:41.15. I was more than happy with that, it meant an average pace of around 4:50s.
Although it was very low key, it was a terrific event, and almost impossible to fault. The course was great, pretty much the same as the Brisbane Half, just a different start/end point. None of it was on roads. There were water tables at least every 2k (a must in this weather!) with loads of friendly helpers. You could do the lot or be in a team. Though any Year 10 boys entered had to do the whole thing, Year 9s do teams of 2, and Year 8s teams of 3. Relay runners caught the Citycat to the change-over points. There was loads of chopped up fruit and heaps of juice drinks at the finish line. And there were prizes. The one for the first adult was a 'boarders' pack - 2 minute noodles, chockies etc :-)
Afterwards Tammy and Gary introduced me to one of the boys who boards at Churchie (Anglican Church Grammar School). I couldn't beleieve he was the organiser of the event - hence the name "Boarder's Half Marathon". It was a school project and a fundraiser for the Mater Hospital. He deserves an A+ for this one!
posted by Tesso at 4:09 PM
14 Comments:
I'll give him an A+ too - that's amazing to organise a half.
So, were you the first non-boarder female to finish Tesso? 1:41 without 'busting a gut' is a fine run. Must have been Clairie's cheering ;)
Great Tesso,
You said none of it was on roads. What kind of surface was it? Well done , fast time, talk about "ride the music!"
Geez Tesso - your chasing school boys now?? I'm expecting your song of the week to be a really tacky cover of Mrs Robinson :-)))))))
now thats what i call cradle snatching!
1:41 and not busting a gut, just think what you could do if you did bust a gut.
Sounds like a great event, especially organized by kids.
sounds like a great run - but i can just imagine 9 grown ups ploughing through a field of school boys. good work!!
Running with the boys, giddyup..nice time.
9 adults...I like those odds...I reckon even I'd have a shot at an age group win! ;)
Sounds like the organiser did a great job...drinks every 2km would be wonderful.
I still say your a machine. 1Hr41 is plenty fast enough, particually if your smashing yourself.
A great run, Tesso! Seems like those boys are being brought up the right way..organizing events at their ages. Great!
As for those PBs you mentioned on my blog, I say : "Take 'em while you can still get 'em!"
I thought it was a race for surfies when I first saw the title!
Nice run though.
That's a good time ... watch out for Kurrawa. The bookmakers have shortened your odds as a result of the recent strong performances.
Tess is now officially my main competition at Kurrawa!!!
Well done matey and thanks for strolling across the group of runners to give me a high 5. I was so focussed on the finish line that I managed to resist the temptation to turn around and run with you for a chat :)
Great effort in maintaining that pace. Bloody hell thats what I would run for an all out effort these days - in that heat!
Well other than that old trick of re-scheduling the race an hour earlier(!) that sounds like a hugely successfuol project for Master Boarder. Congrats on the solid time too :)
Post a Comment
<< Home