On a Friday afternoon at the start of May, an intrepid (have you ever
tackled the M25 on a Friday afternoon?) bunch of 38 Striders left the comfort of
suburban Hertfordshire for the New Forest for our now annual weekend away, buoyed by the news that temperatures were set to
rocket and be higher than in Spain.
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| Our humble abode in Beaulieu |
Home
for the group (not sure what the collective noun is
for a bunch of Striders – a Farah maybe?) for the next two nights was a school field centre located at Beaulieu in the
heart of the New Forest. Initial impressions were that our temporary home was
comfy, clean, and cosy i.e. small, especially the child-size bunk beds, although
what else would you expect at a school field centre.
After an
initial visit to the local pub, the first job was to unload the contents of
Cathal’s TARDIS van, which despite its small appearance on the outside, contained at
least 17 bikes, and copious boxes of food and drink. Dinner
consisted of a delicious pasta bake, pizza, (necessary carbs for the following
morning's parkrun) salad, fruit and cake – let's face it no Striders occasion
would be complete without cake.
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| Keeping hydrated ahead of the morning runs |
Friday
night entertainment consisted of a further visit to the pub and then
drinking/socialising in the hostel swapping stories of running glories, making
new friends and future plans. Thankfully the games cupboard at the hostel only had children's games, snakes and ladders, monopoly...and, luckily, not
Twister.
On Saturday morning, we awoke to the sight of
some rather tired and weary looking Striders - due to the small beds, or possibly the effects of the previous night’s
alcohol - and over breakfast we played the game of trying to recognise people in
their pyjamas rather than running kit.
We then
set off to the local parkrun at
Brockenhurst with an advance party on bikes, followed by the majority in a convoy
of cars, guided by a mixture of map/GPS/local knowledge (local knowledge
proving to be superior). The 15-minute journey was punctured by stops,
firstly to allow the wild ponies and even cows to meander across the road -
quite a sight for us townies - and then secondly stopping for in-car selfies
with said ponies and cows (not sure where that is covered in the Highway Code).
The
local runners of Brockenhurst were pleased
to see us and very welcoming - as is usually the case with parkrun.
The course
turned out to be four laps of the local college playing field, not the most
inspiring, but maybe a reminder of how lucky we are at St Albans.
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| The 'Minions' at Brockenhurst parkrun |
A good
performance by Striders (dubbed the Minions by one local wag) filled
seven of the top ten places with Cathal our first finisher in 2nd place
(but then
parkrun isn't a race), and at least one PB. Most impressive performances
came
from Ben and Amy, who remembered to run, rather than be Race Directors,
and
most definitely from Charlotte who completed an exceptional jog/walk
whilst
heavily pregnant.
We then moved en masse to the local coffee shop, which proved to be rather traumatic for the woman in charge, as it was the
one day when her boss thought they would be quiet, so had taken the day off, and left her in
sole charge. But she coped admirably and we were in no hurry!
Some hardy souls then departed for a bike ride or for a further run, which included having to cross a raging torrential river (well that’s what they told me) and having that agonising moment that every runner dreads of seeing their brand new trainers get dirty.
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| A group run in the sun |
Saturday
afternoon was spent on smaller group activities, the Striders Facebook page
keeping us informed of each other's activities with regular updates and photos.
The activities included mountain biking, a trip to the beach to see expensive
yachts, Mike’s walking expedition which included the unexpected log challenge, the
Aqua park group (surely a classic example of Hobson’s choice), and a further
bike ride for some, which proved to be longer than expect due to some dubious
map reading.
Once
back
in the hostel and showered, we journeyed into the
neighbouring town with heightened appetites from our excursions. As per
the rest of the trip, the logistics of managing 38 Striders into a
series of taxi/mini buses/restaurant/meal choices was excellently
marshalled
by Jen, with help from Stu. A delightful meal, with interesting and
varied conversation.
Further
drinks were then consumed - well, we had to clear the fridge of the various
bottles of alcohol before Sunday’s departure.
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| A Saturday afternoon bike ride for some, while others hit the beach |
The rest of the morning was spent clearing the
hostel, the cleaning team making the Wombles (70's children TV characters who
were OCD on cleanliness) look like a bunch of work-shy students, so much so,
that we actually left the place (once the last bike group had returned) in a
cleaner state than we had found it!
As the sun had now materialised the majority of us stopped back in Brockenhurst, for a well-deserved beer garden/sun bathing/recovery session and to begin planning next year's trip.
A fantastic weekend away, spent with some
wonderful people. Superbly organised by Jen.
Already looking forward to next year.
Andy Normile
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