Life, the Universe and... a bit of running: Medal Watch - How Hard Can It Be Events & COD RC Special

Saturday, 8 August 2015

Medal Watch - How Hard Can It Be Events & COD RC Special

For a while now I've wanted to write about some amazing medals from these guys. The problem was that they just have so many that they alone could bring down walls in spare rooms just from the weight of their amazing bling. They also do a lot of multiple and back to back events. The sheer volume of medals that they have available warrants it's own special and so here it is, not I just have to figure out where to start.

I've signed up for the Groundhog Day marathon but really I want to do them all. Saturday racing too, which I love, because it means you can get the train. They're all quite small, relaxed events based in and around Telford but seem quite popular. For more information about any of these races please visit http://www.codrc.co.uk/Welcome.html.

I think the May 4th Be With You and Codopoly are my favourite. Will be watching out for more details about the later.

2015 Pumpkin & Spooky medals

Saturday 31st October
9am - The Pumpkin Marathon
4pm - Spooky Halloween Challenge

So, a marathon double that ends in the dark with a bonfire and mulled wine. Fancy dress for the Spooky is encouraged. You can do either or but both are lap courses so you can drop down to 13.1 instead if you want. If you did them both as halfs then you could get both races in quite easily with a good four gap between. The Pumpkin marathon has a 6 hour cut off. I love that the medal for Pumpkin is also a bottle opener. Each race only has 40 places so it's going to get pretty intimate.

2014 November Nightmare medals
with Pumpkin & Spooky in the centre

Sunday 1st - Friday 6th November
November Nightmare Six Marathons

10am Start each day
You can also enter each race individually. If you complete all six days you get a hoody aw well as the six medals. There's no photos of this year's medals yet but the 2014 nes were pretty nice. If you do Pumpkin and Scare too then you could do 8 marathons in 8 days, if you so wish. The race alternates between two different routes that are within five miles of each other so it's easy to stay in one place. I think this might be one

2015 Sunset to Sunrise Medal

Both Sunrise and Sunset medals

Saturday 14th November
Sunset to Sunrise Challenge

This race, and it's opposite Sunrise to Sunset, is another I really want to do. I love that the medals are mirrow images of each other showing day and night. It's a very clever idea. The aim of the race is to basically run as many 9.4 mile out and back laps as possible between 4:16pm and 7:33am the next day so it could potentially be an ultra in like 14 hours of darkness. You can stop at any point and there's a fire to warm you up along with the usual water station. I'm very tempted to enter this.

2015 Newark Castle Meda

Saturday 28th November
The Newark Castle Festival of Running

The location for these races looks spectacular and the medal is pretty cool. I love the sword design although they do look like they could put someone's eye out. There's a 10k, Half and Full marathon on offer.

2015 Sunrise to Sunset Medal

Saturday 27th December
Sunrise to Sunset Challenge

This time you're running from 8:20 to 16:01 but as with it's darker version you can choose how long you run for. This time though the route is laps of 0.84 of a mile. I wonder if someone keeps count for you. This sounds less appealing then Sunset to Sunrise but I do like how the medals compliment each other.

2015 Groundhog Day Marthon medal

Saturday 5th March 2016
Groundhog Day Marathon

I'm already signed up for this so I hope the 2016 medal is as nice. Yes, it's 105.5 laps of the track but I'm looking forward to it almost as much as Disney. I just hope I don't have to count my own laps or wear 105 bands.

Some more medals from this year or coming up in 2016.