Launceston or Launnie if you wish to fit in with the locals was the next stop on the HuRTS tour chart following on from the success of Berlin last year and with it brought a new batch of travelers that saw the Chairman Tommy H, Robbie Neil, Pommy Paulie Birch, ‘Corky O’Conner, Laura, Elle, Skinny, Quinton(with g/friend Karla), and Charles all heading to Tasmania for the weekend.
Caught the first flight Saturday morning and with only Charles and Skinny doing the same I had a few hours to kill in the local bake house listening to Skinny go through his Strava/Nutrition/ and pre race plans for hours before the team arrived later in the day.
A quiet evening over dinner and early night before we were all up and keen to sit crowd around the telly in anticipation for the England v Italy World Cup match (but more on that later).
On a bitterly cold but clear morning we made our way to the start area and had a warm up with the Chairman & Laura before toeing the line ready for the off. Had great plans to sit in behind Laura but that went right out the window when she flew out the traps knocking out a 3.16 first k whilst I could only muster a 3.28. Tried then to settle and got into a decent rhythm, but as early as the 4k mark I felt the pace drop as all of a sudden people were coming past me, Saw the lead guys on the return and I couldn’t get to the half way mark quick enough as I then got a shock to see ‘Dick Turpin (birchy) not far behind. Thought I’d got through the worst of it but realized why as I was only working about 3.53 pace and knew I had to pick up as even more people were leaving me for dead as they passed by. A young Sydney girl (Audrey) was next to go past around the 8k mark when I said enough is enough and decided to try to stay with her to get me home – lead changed about 5 times over the last 2ks and when she took the lead 800m out I thought that was it but I tucked in and after coming off the highway I had enough kick to finish off the last 400 stronger to get (if nothing else) a minor victory.
Crossed the line in 37.30 – very average time and pretty disappointed if I’m to be honest as I did 37.04 six weeks back on the State 10ks and with some good training done in that time and with a near perfect day and course I was secretly hoping to go at least sub 37.
My disappointment wasn’t to last for long though as I then saw the team all with happy faces and stories of excitement as many a PB was to unfold over the next 4 minutes or so. Tommy H (as always) smashed his way to another great run, this time knocking Barts PB into oblivion to record a 32.07, other superb runs of the day to warrant a mention to go with the words PB were Elle, Corky, Skinny James, Charles whilst Birchy just missed out by a handful of seconds.
Times for the Day were.
Tom 32.07 (PB)
Quinten 32.46
Robbie 33.01
Charles 35.35 (PB)
Laura 36.03
James 36.43(PB)
Timmy 37.30
Paul B 38.46
Elle 39.05 (PB)
Jacqueline 40.34 (PB)
A quick change and the lads were back out, If in Berlin and Munich we were spoilt for choice on boozers, well the same couldn’t be said for Launnie. Although we did find one dodgy one in some backstreet that we settled into whilst we waited for the girls to arrive, a quick trip then to the local Boags Pub and it was on to the one thing you can always rely on in any town and that is a pub with a bloody big ‘Tri Colour’ hanging from the rafters……The Irish Pub, Cracker of an afternoon/evening spent though and I don’t know what it is BUT we managed to find ‘Launnies Looney’ when ‘Stomp Lady’ wanted to show the HuRTS team her best moves on the dance floor. Tommy H is always up for a challenge and soon saw her off and basically it all went downhill after that – must say young Elle can throw a good few shapes on the floor mind you but even so she knew it was a losing battle in helping Tom out when it came to dancing.
Overall a brilliant weekend, great event and course, and I’m sure it will see us return next year – let’s just hope that Stomp lady doesn’t.
In the footy – well what a bloody nightmare start for the boys, saw the first half and honestly thought we were doing OK, knew it was going to be close but received the bad news whilst in the warm up area by some official, It just makes the next match against Uruguay even more important now seeing that they lost as well.
Well done to the Skippy’s who despite losing went down with a bit of fight and dignity I heard (didn’t see it as I was flying) . It’s been brilliant so far with some great matches played and plenty of goals to go with it. The second round of matches begins tonight so let’s hope there is more of the same (except a better result for England)
Had a shocker in the betting stakes , first up Aussies scored to make it a less than impressive start to the weekend, then the Italian Stallion Durante’s boys relieved me of a further $20 then to rub salt into the wounds Dick Turpin (Birchy) smashed me getting within the allocated 1.45 (he got within 1.12)…Bloody Shark.
Cheers
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