The Serpent Trail – Race Report – 100k / 50k / 20k –

3 club members tackled various distances of The Serpent Trail on Saturday.

 

 

Andy Jones – 100k

 

 

Adam Foster – 50k

 

 

Sam Hastie – 20k

 

 

See how they got on…..

 

 

From Andy –

 

The Serpent Trail 100k is a long distance trail located in the South Downs National Park.
The race starts at 6am in Haslemere and finishes in Petersfield.
It’s a picturesque trail that is very runnable for large sections.
I targeted a 12-13hr finish time, worked out my average pace per km and stuck to it the
best I could from start to finish. I had to start working for it from 40k, that’s when
the demons started and physically I began to suffer a bit.

At the 50k halfway point I was okay and quite happy to come in just over 6.10hrs.

50k to 60k went surprisingly well but then 60 to 100 was a slog. All the mind games then came out to play. Convincing myself to continue running when all I wanted to do was lay down. Convincing myself to keep pushing. Counting down the km’s. 30, then 25, if only I can get to the teens and then get to just 10…

All this and keeping up that average pace, trying not to let it slip.

I got to 100k knowing there would be a couple extra km’s, there always is!
But I wasn’t bothered, adrenaline would see me to the finish line.
I finished in 12.24hrs. Which meant I had managed to run the second half only 4 minutes slower than the first half. That despite the physical and mental warfare of the last 40km.

I was 37th place overall and 2nd in my age category.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Sam – 

 

It was my first time running the Serpent Trail 20K. A beautiful trail run on the South Downs, through the forest and country lanes of Hampshire.
The event has a great vibe, is well organised with super friendly people. I’d encourage anyone who loves trials to give it go.

 

 

 

 

 

Results:

 

100k – Andy Jones 12:24:36 (37th overall and 2nd in age category)

 

50k – Adam Foster 05:57:19

 

 

 

 

20k – Sam Hastie – 02:05:30

 

 

 

Well done everyone. So inspiring…

 

Thanet Road Runners AC would like to take this opportunity to give a belated congratulations to Sam Hastie who on 13th April 2024 set a Club Record for running 24hrs.

 

She competed in the Crawley 24hr Track Race. YES that is running around a track constantly for 24hrs.

 

The event at the K2 Leisure Centre, Crawley is a charity event raising monies for orphans and neglected children in Uganda. The 6hr and 12hr events have been taking place since 2006. The 24hr addition started in 2017.

 

In 24hrs Sam managed a total distance of 81.54 miles (131.23 km).

 

Sam has now been added to the Club Records Page.