Race Recap

The Red Hot Toddy was the first race I ran in a snails shirt last year and whilst I can’t say I enjoyed the first 4k I do remember loving the last 6k to finish line. I also knew I had a score to settle and a time to beat!

Back by popular demand, the Red Hot Toddy made its way onto the club championships for this year, and while last year we had a modest group of snails in attendance…this year we had no less than 45 snails cross the start line. As always we had a group of hardcore fans (supporters) who positioned themselves around the course to cheer us on at vital moments.

The Toddy starts in Centre Vale Park in Todmorden, you do 2 laps of the park to get yourself to 2k before the real fun begins. For the next 2k, you’re running (or walking, or a fun mixture of the two) to make your way up an 850ft mountain hill. It was nearly at the top of this hill that our wonderful supporters stood to cheer us on up the last bit. The hill is hard, many runners around me were walking or jeffing up. I went for a 40 steps walk, 30 steps run combo to get to the top and just counting the steps seemed to distract me enough to make it up there.

From the top, it really is all downhill from there. So for the last 6k, you can really make up some time and it’s a great way of getting a 5k PB! Crossing the finish line is always great – but knowing there’s a hot toddy waiting for you makes it better – surely all races should end with alcohol?

All the race results can be found on the Club Championships page, Sean ‘Buster’ Suttle kept up his winning streak by being the first snail home and came 3rd overall. Our division winners were:

· Buster, division 1

· Terry Lamonby-Smith, division 2

· Verity Garside, division 3,

· Brian Crowther, division 4

· Tami Holliday, division 5

Rebecca Pollard was also our first female snail home. Well done to everyone, and thank you again to our supporters.