Great Britton! Andy hits the ten-mile trail in style

The first Saturday after Lockdown 2 ended, Britton competed in the Sussex Downs Trail 10-mile (16.9k) run, starting at Plumpton Racecourse.

He finished in a respectable time of 1hr 46min 13sec.

“I am not a big fan of hills but I decided to enter anyway because it has been a year devoid of races and events,” Britton said.

“But I thoroughly enjoyed it, the conditions were extremely tough with a cold harsh wind and muddy underfoot; it took forever to get warm but it was great to be competing again. Hopefully, this is the start of many more events to come over the winter period.”

It has been quite a journey for the quietly spoken but determined runner. He started his running career at the age of 53 with the popular Couch to 5k Programme.

He soon caught the running bug and slowly increased his distances and as a result, his times improved dramatically. “I enjoy taking part in all events – 5k, 10k, 10 milers and Half Marathons,” he said. “My current parkrun PB is 24 minutes and once it returns, I will be aiming for 21 minutes.”

Speaking of parkrun, Britton believes that more people will be encouraged to take part in the Saturday morning fun run, jog or walk as a result of the Covid pandemic.

“We are often told that the country has a health crisis and we need to get more people active to reduce the pressure on the NHS.

“You don’t have to complete parkrun in a Mo Farah time, you can walk the 5k course and I think we will see a big increase in numbers once it returns because more people are thinking about their health these days.”

Britton was joined by other Plodders at the Sussex Downs Trail Run: Chris Pullinger (1:27:12), Liam Brooks (1:31:30), Peter Cook (1:44:06), Heather Long (1:54:17), Caroline Skinner (2:03:29) and Vanessa Britton (2:09:05).

Plodders completing the 9k course were: Claire Glenister (1:16:10) and Sarah Critchlow (1:16:29).

A day later, mega mileage Plodder Marco Fortmann competed in his third Goodwood Marathon and 26th marathon. In tough conditions on the motor circuit, Fortmann finished in 4 hr 37min 14sec.