Not much phases Geoff Newton to be fair. In fact, he’ll do just about any race, provided it’s not more than a half marathon in distance. That includes ones over tough, off-road terrain, whatever the conditions may be. Or really hilly ones like the Giants Head Half Marathon which features 1,500ft of elevation.
The amount of climbing involved probably makes it worth a race of a much greater distance than half marathon in terms of effort. Geoff takes it all in his stride though and much prefers to be out there competing than trying motivate himself to get through a long Sunday training run.
The Giants Head Half Marathon is actually part of a weekend event organised by White Star Running which also includes a full Marathon, a Sydling Hill Race, which is about 11k, and a Bell Race. In the Bell Race, participants have to run up a massive hill to get a cow bell medal, then run all the way back with the bell clanging as they go.
It was certainly a far cry from the European Masters Non Stadia Championships in the island of Porto Santo that Geoff took part in the previous month. He finished 4th in his age category in the Half Marathon race in that event, clocking a time of 1 hour 57 minutes.
With all those hills to overcome, the Giants Head Half Marathon was a much tougher prospect but Geoff handled it well, getting round in 2 hours and 23 minutes. That put him 68th place overall out of 291 competitors. That made him first man over 70.
The race was won by Joe Allen in 1 hour 38 minutes, with Joseph Tibble taking 2nd in 1:40:44. Christian Rodiger of Littledown Harriers finished 3rd in 1 hour 41 minutes.
Daisy McClements of Stubbington Green Runners was first female in 1:53:56 which out her 16th overall. Emma Shepherd of Hardley Runners was next over the line in 1:57:29.
There some impressive feats in the Giants Head Marathon weekend. After finishing first female in the Marathon race the day before, Alex Door went on to complete the Half Marathon as well. She said she ran that at a more sensible pace, but some would argue, the most sensible thing would have been not to run it at all the day after a Marathon with 3,200ft of ascent.
Alex certainly likes to challenge herself and do things that most other runners wouldn’t even dare to contemplate. Her Egdon Heath Harriers teammate Robert Welman won the Marathon in 3 hours 18 minutes and 24 seconds.
After finishing 3rd in the Purbeck 10k league race the night before, Matt Underhill finished 2nd in the Marathon, recording a time of 3:27:59. That was another astounding feat of running from him.
Also in half marathon action that day was Anthony Clark who was competing at the RunThrough Southampton Running Festival. Ant had been taking a back seat from the running scene for quite a while to concentrate on his business and other aspects of life. Hence it was a bit of a shock to the system doing the race.
He still did well though on a six lap route with a hill to tackle on each lap. Clocking a time of 1:23:09, Ant finished in 4th place out of 248 runners. And he was first in the V45 category.
Up next for Geoff it was the first race of the Purbeck Trail Series, the Coombe Keynes 10k. Then after that it was a rare road race run out at the Lordshill 10k before he then took back to trail for the Piggy Plod 10k.