Last night we ran the first Chairman’s Challenge of the year. It has now been renamed the Roy Fisher Challenge in honour of our long-serving previous Chairman who sadly died last week.
It seemed ironic, that our first club meet, after he passed way, should be this race. Roy devised it over a decade ago and it has been held quarterly ever since. Nigel, the new Chair, made a small but poignant speech as he had known him over forty years. He ended by encouraging members to think of Roy as they were navigating the harder parts of the up-hills, and if any expletives came to mind, then his work was done!
The evening was also the inauguration of the Fisher-Lite Challenge, which asked only that we do the first two hills as opposed to all three. I chose to do this one, as I really didn’t want people to be waiting ages for me to finish the big one as I’m even slower in the dark. I have done the big one once, last year, when Roy was still with us and able to get out and about. And I will have another go when it gets lighter. But this slightly shorter version was a good way of keeping my hand (or feet) in. With me were 21 other people, many of whom were still running novices and building up their stamina towards the club’s Couch 2 10K programme. Novices they may have been, but apart from one DNF (Did Not Finish) due to injury, they all completed this tough course brilliantly.
I ran alongside, and often behind, two of the newbies, Rachel and Stef. They had hardly run any hills at all before this, so it was a trial by fire and they stormed it. It just goes to show, that with a little consistency and determination, amazing things can be achieved. It also goes to show how much of a natural born runner I am not!
The full challenge had 25 participants and all of them got to the end. It was lovely to see so many people out on a cold, dark night to salute or to swear at the old chairman.
theleadlesspencil 
I love reading about your running adventures, Rita!