Sand, sea and a watery half
T
he Cross Bay Challenge leads runners through two counties and two rivers, the only race in the world to cross a tidal bay.
Participant numbers once again rose
this year, and many more people took part in the six-mile Cross Bay walk. A total of around 1,000 participants made this year’s event the best yet, one of the biggest events ever to take place on the sands of Morecambe Bay. First across the finish line was Manchester Frontrunners’ Daniel Murphy with a time of 1:20:50. Paul Muller of Horwich RMI Harriers finished second in 1:20:57, with 3rd place going to Chris Barnes in a time of 1:21:23. Registration for Cross Bay 2012 is now
open at
www.crossbay.org.uk. Barbara Maudsley tells us about
her day and how she got back to running after a battle with cancer.
“I raised money and showed that I’d beaten breast cancer”
Barbara Maudsley, did the first Cross Bay Half in 2006. Then, following chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy for breast cancer, she helped out with the baggage and registration. This year was her return to the race. Her goal was to get round and beat her time of 2:46 of 2006. She finished a fantastic time of 2:17! “I started running in 2003, having
never run before in my life. The goal was to run the London Marathon. I had watched it on TV every year and as a keen fell walker I often sat and thought
38 n RUNNING FREE
‘I’m sure I’m fitter than some of those people.’
“So I entered, and to my shock I got in
first time on the ballot. When I received my acceptance through the post I thought, ‘What do I do now?’
The start – marathon training “I quickly found and followed a marathon training programme, and read the running magazines cover to cover to learn about kit, diet, rest days, cross training etc. Being a full-time nurse practitioner, training was hard to fit into a 40-hour working week, and was mostly limited to long runs on a weekend. The winter was quite harsh and seemed never ending as I tried to pick gaps in the weather to complete a reasonable number of miles. I completed the 26.2 in 5:37 and raised money for special care baby unit at Lancaster. Over the next few years, I ran on and off, then in 2006 I revisited the London Marathon and finished in 5:15, this time raising money for hospices. I was on a roll!
Cancer shock “Then, there was a complete bolt from the blue – I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I underwent intensive chemotherapy followed by an operation and then radiotherapy. At times during the treatment I had very little strength to get out of bed or walk up stairs, a far cry from the fit fell walker and marathon runner I’d become. “On the good days I could manage about a one hundred yard walk up the lane from the house. During those
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