Virtual Challenge Reports

Virtual Challenge Reports Summer 2020

Virtual National Road Relays

Forty-two Shufflers took part in the inaugural Virtual National Road Relay Championships, held between Saturday 4th and Wednesday 8th April.

They were among 3,700 athletes around the country running a 5km course local to them, whilst using GPS tracking to record their times.

Shufflers achieved a respectable 111th place in the men’s 12-stage event, with a cumulative time of 4 hours, 1 minute and 9 seconds.

In the women’s 6-stage event, Shropshire Shufflers ‘A’ stormed to an impressive 70th place in 2 hours, 10 minutes and 7 seconds, beating many established athletics clubs. The ‘B’ team clocked a time of 2 hours, 38 minutes and 10 seconds, as they came home in 126th place.

A women’s 12-stage competition was also scored for the first time. Demonstrating the club’s strength in depth, the ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams combined to achieve an excellent 25th place overall.

The innovative event was free to enter, but raised over £7,500 for NHS charities through voluntary donations.

Stuart Smith: Triathlon Polska 2020

Wendy Holm: 200k in 2 Days

Virtual Challenges

Shufflers have been keeping active during lockdown by taking on a series of virtual running challenges.

The first challenge took place between Monday 13th and Sunday 19th April. A team of 124 Shufflers covered more than 2,000 miles during the week as we smashed our target of travelling the 874 miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats. The biggest contribution came from Wendy Holm, who ran an amazing 74 miles as a continuous 24-hour treadmill challenge!

The plucky Shufflers continued to excel in the next challenge viz to ascend the 29,000 feet of Mount Everest. Taking inspiration from Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, we were invited to head for the hills and virtually climb the world’s highest peak. Around 70 club members took part in the challenge between Monday 4th and Sunday 10th May. Our cumulative elevation gain over the seven days was 60,560 feet (18,459 metres) which is more than Everest and K2 put together! Individual accolades went to Martin Streeter (gained 1,127m / 3,698ft) and Helen Crook (gained 878m / 2,879ft), but above all it was a fantastic team effort.

The next challenge was extended to two weeks, as Shufflers ran coast to coast across the USA. Starting in New York on Monday 25th May, we aimed to reach our destination of Los Angeles by Sunday 7th June. At the end of day 12, we were a little behind our target pace with over 700 miles still to go. However, a magnificent final push saw us reach and exceed our target of 3,107 miles. Club members recorded more than 570 individual activities towards the final total of 3,495 miles.

On Sunday 2nd August we embarked on our biggest and most ambitious challenge yet; a circumnavigation of the globe inspired by Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days. We are emulating the route used by Mark Beaumont, the Scottish cyclist who holds the record for the fastest trip around the world by bicycle. He completed the 18,032 mile cycle ride in 78 days, 14 hours and 40 minutes in 2017. Beaumont’s route started and finished in Paris, and passed through Europe, Russia, Mongolia, China, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US.

As of Sunday 13th September we had covered a total of 4,695 miles or 7,512km and had nearly completed our long run through Siberia. Luckily we were running through this area in September when the average temperature is 8 degrees Celsius; in January it is minus 21 degrees!

Finally, the Attingham Park Relays have gone virtual for 2020. Teams consist of three participants, each completing a two mile run, jog or walk over any terrain or course. Entrants have until 30th September to complete the distance and upload their times online. Each finisher receives a bespoke medal, and all profits go to the Lingen Davies Cancer Fund.

As of early September, 85 teams and more than 250 runners had entered the competition. Results for each category can be downloaded from the Attingham Park Relays Facebook page.

Thank you to the committee members involved in organising these challenges, and well done to everyone who took part.

Race Reports

Well done to the following Shufflers who have competed in races since the return to competition in August.

Stuart Smith completed the Triathlon Polska, finishing 16th in a time of 10 hours 28 minutes. In the final leg Stu ran an excellent marathon time of 3 hours 39 minutes, made even more impressive by having swum 3.8km and cycled 180km immediately beforehand!

Philip Jones ran in the Mid-Cheshire 5k, finishing 15th in the Over 40 age category. Congratulations Phil on a new VM40 club record of 16 minutes 31 seconds.

Wayne Millard took part in the Severn Bridge 10k Time Trial. He finished 10th in the Over 55 age group, with a time of 46 minutes 11 seconds.

Thomas Vaughan