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Mark Colley reports on his alpine adventure…

The race starts at 7am from the historic centre of Chamonix, heading out of town it climbs though the forest passing the ski resort of Argentiere, this is the easy part. At the village of Vallorcine, you begin a 1000m vertical climb to the top of the Aiguilles des Posettes… but the view of Mont Blanc at the top is enough to take your breath away (if you have any breath left!).

After a moment to check you can still see straight it’s down the other side of the mountain  in places so steep I wish I’d packed a parachute…  Down in the village of Tré le Champ your knees get a rest as you queue to refill your camelback, it’s now 25°C

The final 11k is back up hill through the forest and ski slopes, the terrain is so rocky it’s impossible to run let alone walk. But the organisers kindly save the steepest part for the last 800m to the finish
This is one race I will never forget…. the course & views are breath taking, the organisation is second to none and the whole town of Chamonix is out supporting the runners.

This really is a tough race, as this profile reveals… (click for a full size image).

Split times…

Training tonight is 6 X 800s on the Home Park.

It is going to be very hot, remember to hydrate well before coming to club tonight and bring some water to drink during the session and some to rehydrate with afterwards.

On Tuesday 14th July it is our turn to complete the 5k series, we are going to need about 20 helpers to stage our event so some of the members may be able to run.

We also need everybody to bring some food to feed our guests (sandwiches, savouries etc), nearly 100 Dashers have taken part in the series so far  and have partaken in the other Clubs hospitality so I am expecting a good response from the Dashers.

There will be a list going up at the clubhouse tonight for names to be added to, this list is to include all names whether you are volunteering to help or want to run and also what sort of food you intend to bring, if you are unable to make the club just e mail Dave [chairman (at) datchetdashers.com] and he will add your name to the list.

Once our event is over and everything cleared away we intend to retire to the Cricket Club Bar for a social drink or two.

The Clubhouse will be closed next Tuesday 7th July as most of us will be at Handy cross for their 5k which is also a Club Championship Event (Colin will be sending details of how to get there etc later), don’t forget to wear your Club Vests so you can get your points.

Full results

Brief news from France: on a sweltering hot day (25° at an altitude of 1700m!), Marc Colley finished the awe-inspiring Marathon du Mont Blanc in an impressive 6:33:17, to finish 600th of the 1500 competitors (263rd in category).

The day before, Jo Griffiths placed 5th in her category, was 8th woman overall, and came 47th out of almost 300 runners!

More news to follow once they have both recovered. Altogether now… they’ll be running round the mountain when they come…

10k results

marathon results

Here are some photos from Wednesday’s event. As always, chrisbradfield at gmail dot com if you want originals!

Please contact me or the webmaster (webmaster at datchetdashers dot com) if there are any “bad hair day” photo that you’d like removed).

Maidenhead 5k 2009

Updated: Here are some photos. As always, chrisbradfield at gmail dot com if you want originals

Maidenhead 5k 2009

Updated again July 23 with the final results:

Full results here

Well done Jules on an impressive five and a half minutes off your pb!

A good turnout yesterday to see Kathryn and Simon off to sunnier climes, they will be missed.

Despite having his chain fall off at the beginning of the cycle Philip recovered to get a respectable 5th with a 2.4km run of 9:40.

TriStar 3 Boys - 300m/ 6km/ 2.4km

Full results

Paul and Bee report:

A couple of actual Dashers swapped the rats of the Thames for the jellyfish of Beaulieu. The location and routes on a warm summer Sunday morning were superb, we would highly recommend this venue. The organisers timed the start so that we would have to do the return leg of the swim into the current/tide. The results were split into men and women so the overall places are gender based only.

750m/ 25km/ 6km

Full results

Updated to add the actual Dashers!!

Sprint Distance:

Olympic Distance:

Full results

Rachhpal Bath has broken his own 5k record, taking off 92 seconds at the Marlow 5k to finish in 30:38. He then followed this up with a new 10k record of 1:07:23 at the Wargrave 10k on Sunday.

Want to know what the rest of the records are? Click here…