Torrential rain doesn’t dampen our Toby spirit!
A smaller than usual group of 12 hardy runners set off from Wallsend on Friday 19 August for Whitehaven to run the 140 mile C2C cycle route over three days in aid of St Oswald’s Hospice. I don’t think any of us were prepared for the first eventful moment of the weekend as we headed towards Whitehaven – how many Harriers does it take to change a tyre?! (The answer is three!)
We arrived at Whitehaven and after our traditional photo by the C2C sign, the first leg (Dave Collinson and I) set off. As we would discover over the weekend, six mile legs were often more than six miles and legs described as “flat”, “flatish” and “lumpy” were more like “hilly”, “very hilly” and “undulating”!!
As soon as we set off on Friday it started to rain. Little did we know that the drizzle would turn into never ending torrential rain from Friday till late on Saturday. Added to running through pouring rain, at times we also had gale force winds and even hail. Despite this everyone dug deep and ran up and down the hills with true grit and determination. To brighten everyone’s spirits during the rain, the sight of Kev on a bike cheered us all up! He even did his best impression of Mo and took a tumble too!
During the planning stages I volunteered to run up Hartside pass and I was fully aware of what I was letting myself in for. It seemed like a great idea at the time but with the truly horrendous weather conditions, it made a tough run even more difficult. Thank you Anna French, I think we made a good team pulling each other to the top.
My favourite run of the weekend was my first run and the first leg of Sunday. The rain and dark clouds disappeared and there was finally blue sky, warmth and sunshine. Alan Heslington and I took the off-road route up another(!) big hill from Rookhope to Parkside café. When we got to the top of the moors the view around us was simply stunning. It was an experience that makes the Toby truly special.
Tired legs carried the whole group along the last leg from the bottom of the Bogie Chain to Tynemouth. Well done to all the Toby runners especially the Toby newcomers who ran more than they thought they would over the weekend!
As I write this we are a little short of our target of £30,000 in total money raised over the last nine years for St Oswald’s. Our team justgiving page is still open if you would like to donate. Any spare change would be gratefully received. www.justgiving.com/teams/WallsendToby2016
Thanks to everyone who took part in this year’s Toby, thanks to those who helped organise another successful event, thanks to Bill Todd as always and to all the supporters and donators. More pics on the Gallery page of the website.
Here’s to next year’s Toby and its 10th anniversary!
Elaine (Peggy Pigtails)
Hi, my thoughts would be more personal to my running and the fact that it had become non-existent nearly before the weekend but its definitely brought back the enjoyment to running.
The organisation was magnificent and everyone’s encouragement no matter what your ability really helped.
Weirdly my favourite run was down from Hartside when the wind/rain/hail and visibility were at their worst but equally all of us heading down the Fish Quay up to Tynemouth (where we were described by my other half as a ‘caterpillar’ from a distance) gave me such a sense of achievement that I wanted to stop and tell everyone what we had just achieved!
Sarah Wylie