Stubbington Green Runners

HE'S our man in Havana, after "Fidel" Tussler returned from his trip to Cuba. Stubbington's ambassador to Spain is back home after practising his Spanish and impressing the locals with his running after taking part in the Che Guevara Trail Race. John reflects on a busy start to 2007 - from the Hampshire Cross Country Championships in Basingstoke to the 25km run in Cuba.

"Since my last contribution to the website I have been on my travels again. In December I came back to the UK to spend Christmas and the New Year with the family and it was good to catch up with them again as well as various club members at the club training nights.

Whilst over I took part in the Pub to Pub race on December 27th and finished in a time of 56.49 - two minutes quicker than last year, which was encouraging. Then early in January I went to a very wet and windy Basingstoke where I spent my birthday plodding through the mud at the Hampshire Cross Country Championships which was hard going, but at least I didn't come last!

During my visit to the UK I then went on to Cuba for a week to take part in the Che Guevara Trail Race. I joined 36 others who travelled over from the UK with 2:09 Events Ltd. We spent two nights in Havana where we had a tour of both the old part and newer areas, and it was fascinating to see the difference in standard of buildings between the good parts and the poor parts. The same goes for the cars, as there are plenty of the old 50's and 60's American cars around as we were expecting.

The following morning we travelled up country to the venue of the race which was at an isolated area up in the hills about one and a half hour's drive from Havana. The hotel accommodation consisted of a number of cabins surrounding a large swimming pool and was in a great setting with a waterfall nearby.

The day of the race dawned bright, sunny and warm and 26 runners lined up at the start at the front of the hotel - 14 for the 25k and 12 for the marathon. The first couple of miles was on road before we turned off onto trails through lush countryside. The course then proved to be endlessly undulating on rutted tracks, up and down the sides of river valleys with some paths being pitted with small boulders. This entailed about a dozen crossings across small rivers and one stretch of about half a mile along a river bed which still contained water.

At around 10 miles there was a steep ascent of about half a mile which at that stage in the race was not possible to run up. Shortly after that, we emerged from the trails back onto a road for about two miles, after which the race split.

The remainder of the 25k race was on road whilst the marathon runners had a stretch of road before heading back onto trails for the remainder of the race which finished back at the hotel.

The race was held through remote countryside and went past a number of small farms where the families had come out to watch (it was probably a novelty for them to see something different). One farmer had even cut some stems of sugar cane and offered them out as we went past. Everyone tried some and was amazed at how quickly the extracted sugar kicked in. Forget about gels and energy drinks, sugar cane is the way to go!

As you can imagine, with so few participants the field quickly spread out but everyone enjoyed the experience despite the toughness of the course. My quads ached for about two days after; something I don't experience after the Swiss races I do.

I finished in 2hrs 37mins 20sec and was third in the 25k race (should have been 2nd but got caught after I had gone back at one stage to check I was on the right track). I won a pair of Salomon trail shoes. I was also first M55 and actually the oldest competitor.

The following day we left the countryside for three days relaxation at a beach resort about two and a half hours' coach ride from Havana. This was a 300 room hotel situated towards the end of a peninsular and was a bit of a disappointment after the other places we stayed at. The hotel catered for the all-inclusive type of holiday, was a bit shabby and the attitude of the staff left a lot to be desired. The food served buffet style was not very inspiring, although having said that there was a couple of seperate restaurants on site which were very good.

The run in Cuba became the 15th different country in which I have competed in races. Not spectacular by any means but it is a great way to combine two of my main interests of running and travel.

In May I am due to extend this to 16 when I go to Regensburg in Germany to run in the European Masters Road Running races. In between time, I have two or three half marathons lined up over here in Spain as well as travelling across to Portugal for the Runner's World Spring Training camp, so I am certainly keeping active on the running front.

As I am not due to return to the UK again before April, I would like to wish all those members taking part in the London Marathon good luck and look forward to catching up with everyone when I do next come over.'