January Training Camp

Fiona Bunn | Monday, January 21st, 2019

The week before Lent term was the perfect time to get some miles in the bank before the busy-ness of term, and perhaps to burn off any excess Christmas indulgences, ready for the lead up to BUCS. We went to Beverley (which was informatively described as “somewhere between Hull and Scunthorpe” and somewhat less informatively sold as “near the historical city of York”), and stayed in a converted old Friary right by the large and slightly sinister Beverley Minster.

It had all the facilities we could have desired: a Great Hall, and exhibit room, a master couple suite, multiple lounges, bedrooms and bathrooms, pots, pans and cooking equipment galore….except a tin opener. Admittedly tinned peaches probably didn’t form a substantial part of the monk’s diet back in the day.
The days were filled with running, exploring the local sights (including enough churches to satisfy Paul Aste’s “exam revision”), core workouts/cross training for some and finishing off holiday work for others. The running was described as “Just like Ely”….flat, fairly featureless and fast, with views of the river and the

many church spires on the horizon which made it easy to find our way back to the hostel (provided you followed the right spire…). Phil O’dell set some tough group sessions around the undulating Westwood Park which was a convenient 1 mile jog from the hostel and certainly proved to be a welcome change of scenery from Churchill. Paul Aste as our resident tour guide led a run to the historic Meaux Abbey, which didn’t disappoint (see picture!).

Other highlights form the week included…

Sunday: arrivals, some directly from county champs and Quiz night
Monday: Exploring Beverley, following the trail of “Sand sculptures” – only to find that #3 had been deconstructed to build #4….well that was a waste of time.
Tuesday: Session day
Wednesday: Kilo challenges, followed by extreme Sardines around the hostel (when up the chimney wasn’t the best hiding spot of the game you know it has gone too far…*cough cough* Rob Waddy)

Thursday: Tempo runs and Mental night Part 1, including enough hours of karaoke to make you tone-deaf.
Friday: group trip to the exciting sights of Hull, followed by the vastly superior “Inflatanation”- a giant inflatable obstacle course with slides, gladiator podiums and a ball pit with 200,000 balls (Adult only session of course).

Saturday: sesh day (and Mental night Part 2), but more importantly it was Lizzy’s birthday which prompted the baking of 3 large cakes, with no kitchen scales and a lot of guesswork. They turned out edible (which was surprising considering that Lizzy had been the provider of all things sweet and delicious for the rest of the

week as our resident baking expert).

Sunday: Long run and departures.