Tring2TownTring2Town
Tring
to Town is a forty mile running race between Pently Manor Hotel and a Premier
Travel Inn in Brentford along the Grand Union Canal. Actually it's two
forty mile races because on the Saturday they race from Town up the Canal to
Tring. And you guessed it some people race both days.
Russell Clarke, our intrepid Ultra Distance runner was entered into the one day Tring to Town race his first 40 miler. To help him Sally Withey and I provided logistical support and also provided him with some support along the way. Oh, and to take photos of his exploits to provide his alibi for not doing any decorating. Hopefully Russell will get a chance to pen some comments once he has recovered.
In it's inaugural year in 2005 the race attracted 12 entrants. In 2008, in it's fourth year it attracted over 350 entrants across the two days. A lot of these entrants use the event as training for the Marathon de Sables. You can identify these competitors quite easily. They are the ones carrying 5 days worth of kit on their backs as practice.
The route is pretty simple. Run out of the Pently Manor Hotel to the Grand Union Canal. Make sure that you turn right onto the tow path heading to London rather than left towards Birmingham. Follow the tow path along the canal, crossing the canal where the path crosses. Then, more than a few miles later leave the canal before it hits the Thames and run along Brentford High St and finish at the Premier Travel Inn. Simple really. There were 4 check points along the way and Sally and I added in a few extra viewing points so that we could check in on Russell's progress but also get our own Sunday runs in too.
We allowed Russell to run the first 12 miles on his own. Well he did have over 100 companions to start with. We saw him through Berkhampstead then through the first check point at about 10miles before I ran 10 miles or so with him. Sally checked up on us at about the 15 mile point but then wasn't to be seen at the 20 mile check point. She does claim to have found Chorleywood - three times. Fortunately she made the rendezvous to end my running stint. We saw Russell through the 30 mile check point then Sally joined him at the 32 mile point to accompany him through the final 8 miles. I managed to meet them again at where the 35 mile check point should have been. Guess that means the organisers missed that one. Now who can remember the Top Gear challenge where Richard beat Jeremy through the City on a bike. Well, we have another challenge for Mr Clarkson - race our Mr Clarke. Yep you guessed it - I didn't get through capital's traffic to the finish over the final 5 miles as quick as Russell did on foot. Oh, okay, I'll come clean, I also got lost.
Russell took less than 5 hours 51minutes to cover the course and finished 18th out of 125. Top effort Russell and thank you for asking us to help out.
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