Titus Trot, 29th February
Report by Anita Oldham
This is an IGUN special, a jaunt up and down the Leeds/Liverpool canal to celebrate the Leap year.
Three intrepid Ripon Runners ventured over to the World Heritage Site of Saltaire to give the half marathon a go, keeping a careful eye on Storm Jorje as we travelled.
The path we ran was flat as a pancake with just the one short but steep climb next to the five locks. However, recent weather meant that there were many puddles and lots of very muddy patches to navigate. This, combined with the mixture of cobbles, flagstone and grit path caught some runners out occasionally and there was more than one trip along the route. The path was also used by the general public, so runners had to navigate cyclists and dog walkers too. Indeed, Tori nearly ended up in the canal at one point, due to a combination of muddy ground and enthusiastic large dogs rushing to greet her
The weather was kind overall, throwing everything from biting winds, snow flurries to sunny intervals at us but Jorje held off until the race finished. The atmosphere was everything you would expect from an IGUN event – great camaraderie and encouragement throughout and plenty of cake, beer and chocolate to finish with.
All three of us ran the half marathon.
Timings as follows (ish):
Anita Oldham 2:09
Tori Easy 2:27
Nicola Shillam 2:27
I must wave a flag for my wonderful, altruistic running buddies at this point. Both Tori and Nicola witnessed a man stumble, trip and crash onto the flagstones in front of them about a mile before the finish. They both stopped to pull him away from the canal, as he teetered on the edge with one leg in. They then stopped to deal with his injuries and ensure a marshal had been summoned, adding a good 10 minutes or so to their times. So, a flat run is not always the safest option and lets hope others would help out if we ever found ourselves in that unfortunate position.