RACE REPORT – Silverstroomstrand Cross Country – but first a tempo, hilly 30kms run the same morning by Patrick Benade
Runners are often accused of being a little bit nuts, and my sanity was also called into question recently by a few of my fellow club members.
So, I mentioned that after running 30km of 4 Hills 4 Lindsay, I was going to drive 80km to Silverstroomstrand on the West Coast to run a 6km cross country, which does sound a bit excessive.
I’d made prior arrangements to run the cross country and arrange lifts, then realized I’d double booked myself so I couldn’t back out.
My legs were feeling a little second hand on the drive through to Silverstroomstrand, but after walking around a bit and chatting to other runners they warmed up a bit in the sun and didn’t quite feel so bad, and I managed to navigate the course without getting lapped by any of the speedy runners in my age group.
A short while later we were standing waiting for the Master Women’s race when a well known runner from Pinelands came jogging past on her warmup and calmly announced her legs were feeling a bit stiff from the False Bay 50, then calmly proceeded to run her race at a little under 22min.
So, I if there is a message in this story, I guess it’s that cross country is fun and can be a little bit addictive, and everyone should support the club and make an effort to run a few cross country races this season.
It’s great value for money at R30 for one race and R50 if you’d like to run two, and the next one is this Sunday, 21 May at Youngsfield.
Cross Country Schedule for 2023
League 1: 7 May 2023 — Velocity — Silverstroomstrand (Sun)
League 2: 21 May 2 023 — Midas Spartans — Youngsfield, Otterv (Sun)
League 3: 4June 2023 — Topform — Elfindale (Sun)
League 4: 17 June 2023 — TBC (Sat)
Cross Country Relay: July 2023— (Sunday) Details TBC
League 5: 8 JuIy 2023 — Easterns Kraaifontein — Jan Kriel School (Sat)
League 6: 29 July 2023 — Lwandle— Broadlands Farm (Sat)
*Super League: 6 August 2023— commission (Sun)
*WPA CC championships: 19 August 2023 — Details TBC
*Super League Final: 27 August 2023 — commission (Sun)
ASA National CC Championships: 16 September 2023
See you there!