Dorset Invader Weekend 18th & 19th July 2015
Cider/Cola Wenches View
Another superbly organized race weekend from Andy & the Team at White Star Running.
Half Marathon-ish, Marathon-ish and the Invader Chaos - three roman themed runs!
Rocked up on Friday afternoon to set up the tent and get settled, this was all very new to me!. Had a little stroll around the ‘Athletes Village’ that’ll be the field and farmyard then - cow pats and all - had a look at the newly installed roman bath ready for a quick dip after running - hay bales, black plastic sheet and old tyres filled with water - and returned to find Yeovil Town RRC camped to one side of us and Langport pitching up the other. Lovely barbecue for us in the evening and lots of yapping and laughing with the neighbours and Jason around the camp fire - crackle log on the barbie - before retiring for the night. Early morning alarm call at 7 from the WSR team with a blast of the Beatles and a man with a loudhailer “Come on get up you’ve got a race to run”!
I had volunteered to marshal this one as I really didn’t fancy running a half marathon in the middle of summer, way too hot for my liking! Turns out I was deployed to the LoveStation. Now for those who may have missed the other two WSR race reports, the LoveStation is the best aid station going, food and drink aplenty including cake, watermelon, tomatoes, oranges, bananas, crisps, sausages, scotch eggs, water, coke and cider and hugs if needed and of course being a roman themed run we were all decked out in our togas. Yep TOGAS!
I managed to catch the beginning of the marathon before being shipped out to the middle of nowhere so saw Jason go off. Unfortunately I missed Adrian starting in the half but did see him at halfway as he passed through the LoveStation. Both the half and full were started by a man on horseback in full centurion costume - but of course, expect nothing less now.
There were also numerous people running, yes actually running in costume including one man in full armour with shield and sword and roman sandals! Armour alone weighed 20Kg!!!
Not much time to set up before the first marathoners started coming through and there in fourth place at the 7 mile mark was Jason looking very fresh and bouncy :) It was then all go till everyone had been through once and then a brief lull, very brief and the marathoners were on their way back now reaching mile 21. Again, still in fourth place was Jason and still smiling :)
Everyone had gone through by just after 3, so back to the finish to be feed for a second time (burgers were brought out to us while we kept the runners feed and watered) before a rest and the evenings partying. Unfortunately due to a change in the weather which had been lovely and sunny all day, very few people bothered with the toga theme in the evening but a good day and evening was had none the less.
Invader Chaos
Now this is something completely different!
Just a little race for fun and to raise some money for Parkinson’s Research, approx. 2.5 miles-ish but with a difference lol
Your start at the finished (are you all with me?), they take away your shoes, one goes in one hippo bag the other in another, they then drive off with them to the top of a hill! Of course there has to be a hill it’s WSR. Still with me? You then have to run barefoot or sock-footed to the start at the top of the hill, retrieve your shoes and run for 2 miles along a track, through a barley field and a wood. The shoe retrieval sounded much like a scene from finding Nemo with countless shouts of “Mine, Mine, Mine!” No point standing on ceremony in head first and straight out the other side seemed the best way to go in the free for all scrum.
Then……Then as you come out of the woods and think your heading for home is a big pile of stuff with numbers on it! Stuff like fence posts, barrels, chairs, road cones, tyres, hay bales and alike. Each items has two numbers, so you find your number and wait for the person with the other number to arrive. Now this is all very random so the first person there may have to wait for the last! Soooo the poor girl that got me, Vicky, had to wait for me to arrive before we carried our chair back down the hill to the finish. This was and is going to be the only time I finish in front of Adrian East lol This is a great run for fun and in the process raised £500 for charity and everyone got bling :) And once again another weighty chunk of metal :)
Great weekend with running, camping, fun, beer, and loads of food.
White Star Running do an amazing race and if you fancy one for next year you may want to get in early as all races are going to fill up quickly.
The Bling - Chaos - Half Marathon - Full Marathon