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| Funchal |
The Volta a
Cidade in Funchal is the oldest road race in Portugal and this was the 61st
edition of it. It is always held on an evening between Christmas and new year.
I have done it for the last 3 years with Simon, fancying himself as fluent in
Portuguese, sending off my race entry each year so you can imagine my annoyance
when this year he broke the news to me that he had forgotten to send off my
entry. I have no idea how he could have forgotten. He is only just emerging
from the doghouse for it now. I suppose I shouldn’t judge too harshly
though, my one and only attempt to enter myself in this race nearly saw me
entering a race in Brazil.
On arriving
in Funchal I tried to see if there was any way possible to get an entry, maybe
a waiting list to fill any spaces left by any last minute drop outs and yes,
there were. The downside was that they were charging 100 Euros for a late entry
and, keen though I am, there was no way I could justify this for a 5.85k race
so I settled for not running it and sulking extensively about not running it.
And then I had a brain wave - not being someone to give up easily I thought
that maybe the manager of our hotel would have some contacts on the island who
might be able to get me into the race and sure enough, a quick begging message
to the lovely Andre Barreto and I was in the race.
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| Good to go! Thanks Andre x |
As Andre
had clearly pulled a few strings the pressure was most definitely on, I was
obviously going to have to justify my place in the race.
My time
from last year had got me a position in the “blue start” which was basically
the second row back. This wasn’t too bad as it meant I could get off to a half
decent start and avoid getting trapped behind slower runners, the downside being
it also meant quite a lot of hanging about at the start to avoid losing my
position on the start line but it was a fine warm evening and hanging about on
the start line wasn’t too much of a hardship compared with doing the same on a
freezing cold Scottish evening. It did, however, give me a little too much time
to think about the race in front of me and wondering if my time was going to
justify Andre’s effort in getting me into the race. All of the little negatives
danced around my mind like little whirling dervishes – had I eaten enough? How
much had the travelling here taken out of me? How much fitness had the recent
heavy cold depleted me? And don’t get me on to the absence of any speedwork
from my recent training. How could I have expected Andre to pull some strings
for me and get me into the race when I couldn’t even deliver myself to the
start line in decent shape? I distracted myself by watching people carrying out
that favourite and pointless pre-race activity of fiddling with their phones
and Garmins. Maybe though the point of that is to distract you from the task
head? I didn’t have time to ponder this any further as the start gun went.
The race is
set off in waves and chip timed so the blue start were second to go. Despite
being further up the field there was still a lot of barging and elbows flying
and I spent the first few hundred meters avoiding being tripped and throwing a
few elbow jabs of my own before everyone settled down into their pace. I found
a rhythm and was happy to find that all of the way round I was able to build on
that and get faster until the last 200 yards when my legs tied up completely. Oh joy.
The race
always has a fantastic atmosphere and the course wound its way around the
streets of central Funchal under the Christmas lights and cheered on by crowds
of spectators, with the waft of smoke from the roast chestnut stalls drifting
across and the sounds of the funfair on the seafront. I was starting to enjoy
myself although the video footage of my face during the race would suggest
otherwise.
All too
soon I was running past the statue of island hero Christian Ronaldo and through
the finish line into the melee that was the area behind the Christian Ronaldo
CR7 hotel. I hung around until Simon appeared with my dry clothes and the news
that he had spectacularly failed to spot me during the race so there were no
race photos. I changed quickly and then if was off to the Marine Terrace,
another old Funchal favourite restaurant, for dinner.
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| Finished! |
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| Beer, Madeira wine and caco do bolo |
I was happy
with my place of 25th out of over 1000 women and 8th old
lady.
Thank you
so much to Andre for arranging the race entry for me and Simon is very grateful
to Andre too otherwise he was in for some major earache over it.
No idea if
this link will work but I feature at about 24 seconds in.
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