CSSC 10km 2018

The Golden day of Ordnance Survey runners

Guest article by Rob Finch

The Civil Service 10km Championships is a highlight of the year for many of us runners at the Ordnance Survey. The OS may have lost its official Civil Service status a couple of years as we became a Gov Co, but we are still eligible to compete against other governmental departments. These include runners from departments like the HMRC, MOD, DEFRA etc. To take part individuals must be members of the Civil Service Sports Council (see here for info: http://osrunners.uk/about/cssc-civil-service-sports-council/)

There was excited chatter on the minibus as we departed from OSHQ. It felt like we were on a school trip out and there was expectation of the day ahead. We were off to the City, to run, to drink beer & eat burgers!

The course is a convoluted 2.5km loop around the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park (so 4 laps in total). It has a couple of tight turns and may be slightly long, so isn’t conducive to quick times or PBs. It was also a windy day, so all talk turned to the main goal of the day and that was team success. After a Bronze men’s team medal last year and a very close 4th place for the women’s team, we knew we could challenge for medals again. Karen fired up the girls in a team huddle before the start. The key message for everyone was to race person to person, if you could catch and overtake one more person then it could help the team.

The mass of OS runners formed at the start. Everyone took their place, eyed up the competition and whispered last minute motivational messages. How could we do? … We were off!  The leaders sped ahead, and everyone settled into their own rhythms and pace for the day. The first part of the lap is an out and back and this allowed everyone to cheer everyone on as we ran past each other. We could also follow the progress of the race and count back the positions. Shaun. Jon. James. Mark, Paul and Harry running together. Dean. Nicole leading. Karen. Rach. It was looking good!

There were some amazing individual performances, some great debuts competing at the Civil Service Champs, a few podium finishers (see below) and several PBs. Wednesday was a record turnout of 31 OS runners and our large group and the distinct club vests meant we stood out. The goal of the day was to run and race together as a team. This was clearly evident throughout the day, small OS groups running together (working together in the wind), loud shouts of support throughout the course and a large team huddle forming on the final bend to cheer everyone in. We gathered for the prize giving as a group, knowing we’d secured a few medals but with a few pleasant surprises! Notably unexpected, were the Vets individual and team medals (including a medal birthday present for club stalwart Matt P). We then retired to a local brewery for a celebratory drink and some food.

There were 4 men and 3 women to score for each team and it’s not a cliché to say that everyone helped the team’s performance. The strength and depth of our runners helped both teams to win. DWP had strong runners at the front and could have won, but we had more runners packing the top of the field.

Well done to everyone that ran!  A big thank you to Naomi for organising us all and arranging the transport and social after, not the easiest of tasks!

  • 2nd woman – Nicole Frith
  • 3rd Man – Shaun Brown
  • 1st M35 – Jon Sharkey
  • 1st F35 – Karen Connell
  • 1st M70 – Mick Anglim
  • 1st Men’s Team – Shaun Brown, Jon Sharkey, James Clarke, Harry Odell
  • 1st Women’s Team – Nicole Frith, Karen Connell, Rachael Evans
  • 1st Men’s 35-49 Team – Jon Sharkey, Paul Ashley, Matt Pillinger 

Full results here: http://www.sportsystems.co.uk/ss/results/Capital%20Challenge/3698

Romsey Marathon Relay

The Romsey marathon relay is a great event held at Broadlands in Romsey. A marathon distance, but divided across 10 people, so each person runs 2.62 miles.  This makes it accessible to desk to 5k runners and also a speed challenge for some of the faster runners in the club.

OS has won this event for the last 2 years, but we had heard rumours that Romsey Road Runners were assembling a very fast team this year.  Never ones to duck a challenge, OS also sought high and low for the fastest people in the club, determined that RRR would have to work very hard if they hoped to take ‘our’ trophy.

Overall there were 5 teams from Ordnance Survey this year, OS Runners, OS RED (Run Every Day), OS ‘This Girl Can’, OS Project Managers and OS Finance, which meant a total of ~ 50 OS Runners at the event + assorted family and friends.

This was fantastic as a runner and a supporter as there were lots of OSR’s on course at each time and also loads of supporters cheering you on.

Romsey was turned blue and magento on Sunday

Continue reading →

OS Runners London Marathon Place Allocation Criteria

One of the benefits of being an EA Affiliated Club is that we receive club places for the London Marathon, based on the number of first claim EA athletes we have.

For the 2019 event we expect to receive 1 place and the Committee have reviewed and updated the criteria used to allocate the place in 2018, taking into account the nature of the club and also what other local clubs do.  These are as follows; Continue reading →

Great Welsh Marathon

As the name suggests, the Great Welsh Marathon is in Wales.  More specifically, Llanelli, just to west of Swansea.  It was a 2 lap course on the Millennium coast path, which was generally flat and scenic.  Scenic is another way of saying exposed, which given the wind forecast for the day meant it would be a little bit harder than we had anticipated. Continue reading →