Sportiva Events

20/01/2025

18/01/2025

Thanks to our ace marshals and everyone else who helped tonight at the races. Brilliant to see around ninety under 11s in our kids races plus lots of youngsters taking part in the longer 5K and 10K races. Full results on our website now (see first comment) and photos coming soon

17/01/2025

Course marking today at Haldon Forest for the Haldon Night runs. Here are the markers to look out for: orange arrows with reflective tape and fiberglass snow poles (not easy to see in daylight but highly reflective at night). First video also shows the 10K/5K split

16/01/2025

The UK's maddest ultra running race, the Montane Winter Spine Race is taking place at the moment. It involves running all 268 miles of the Pennine Way in winter as fast as possible. The conditions have been epic with everything from snow & ice to thigh deep bog.
This year's female winner is former pro triathlete and multi-ironman winner Lucy Gossage who improved on last year's third place with a time of 87:52:38. Lucy crossed the line with previous winner, and former elite ironman John Kelly. Turns out some triathletes are pretty good at ultra running too. See first link for an account of the race from ukclimbing

15/01/2025

We have new medals for our gravel events this year. The gravel season kicks off with the return of the Exeter Gravel Races to Escot on Sunday 23rd March, next up is the Haldon Heroic gravel sportive at Haldon Forest on Sunday 13th April. Our summer event on Sunday 24th August is Devon Grit on the best trails that Woodbury Common & East Devon have to offer. The final event of the season is Cornwall Grit on Saturday 13th Sept. It starts & finishes at Marazion near Penzeance on the same day as our Lands End 100 road sportive.

14/01/2025

Why not join your friendly local tri club? If you sign up now you get almost 15 months for the price of 12! And you even get three FREE trial sessions before you need to sign up.
Torbay Tri Club has some great coaches & really does cater for all levels of competitor. And as 'Any Fule Kno', training with other people is the way to ensure training becomes a habit & gets you out even when conditions are sub-optimal! Apparently New Years resolution gym visits start to drop off around the 20th Jan so don't let January drift, happen to you, join Torbay Tri Club instead.

13/01/2025

Before our season proper kicks off in March Sportiva Events staff & volunteers headed to a first aid course on Saturday, hosted by our regular first aid supplier, Medicare. You can never have too much first aid training as, unless you're a medical professional, you don't use it enough to keep it fresh in your mind. Also it changes. For example, until recently the well known Bee Gees song Stayin' Alive was taught as a good way to ensure CPR is delivered at the right speed. Unfortunately this led to situations with lots of people standing round unconscious patients singing in unison! To see how not to do it, check out the American Office First Aid sketch on youtube (link in first comment)

10/01/2025

Last few places for the Haldon Night Races on Saturday 18th Jan. There's a 10K, 10K canicross, 5K + 2K & 1K kids races. After the recent wild weather, it looks like perfect running conditions for next Saturday (dry, 9C & hardly any wind!) so register now to avoid disappointment.
Medals for all, finish line snacks & beer & podium presentations, chip timing with instant results

09/01/2025

Are you ready to take on an iron distance triathlon? Our first ever iron distance triathlon is on Sunday 31st August at the the South West's biggest lake - Roadford Lake. Take on a four lap 3.8K swim, a four lap 185K rolling bike course & a four lap 42K full marathon!
We have 70.3, Standard & Sprint options on the same day

07/01/2025

If you're looking for inspiration to get out running in 2025, look no further than Jeff Galloway. Jeff Galloway ran the 10K for the US Olympic team in 1972 and is still running now. He's had a pretty big influence on training methods over the years & one of his most successful and influential ideas is 'jeffing'. In brief, Jeffing involves mixing up walking & running. Of course it's a key part of any 'couch to 5K' programme but it also turns out to be great for more experienced runners too. It can really help avoid the niggly injuries that plague so many amateur runners but can still lead to fast times particularly in longer distance or hilly events. There's a link to a great Jeffing article in the first comment.

29/12/2024

Plymouth Triathlon returns to Mount Edgcumbe on Sun 15th June. Swim in Barn Pool, coast road bike & a stunning final run through the grounds of Mount Edgcumbe, Great camping site available overlooking Plymouth Sound. Choice of middle distance triathlon, standard distance triathlon & sprint triathlon distances + Junior Aquathlons
Our full programme of 2025 triathlons & open water swims is now on sale

23/12/2024

Alex Yee missed out on SPOTY last week, but Keely Hodgkinson was a very worthy winner, an amazing talent with bags of charisma.
The morning after we stumbled on an old article re-posted by running author & Totnes resident Adharanand Finn. It's an account of the time, 13 years ago, when Adharanand, a decent club-level runner, enlisted the help of top British coach Trevor Painter, Keely's coach of course, to coach him to run a sub 5-minute mile.
His first question to Painter caught our eye, ie 'whether he thought training for a mile on the track would also help me over longer distances?'
Painter replied 'The faster your mile time, the faster your cruising speed will be during a 10K road race.'
That basic principle is now well established in endurance sport. The Olympic pursuit squads, for instance, now spend quite a lot of time doing sessions above race pace. And at pretty much all distances in running or cycling or swimming you need to include sessions at above your race pace. If you train like a diesel, always chugging along at a steady pace, that's exactly how you'll go on race day!
For the record Adharanand achieved his sub 5 minute mile goal. There's a link to the full article in the first comment

21/12/2024

If you've taken part in running events over the last few years in Devon, you'll likely have come across Adam 'Tango' Holland. Adam's always at the sharp end of local races. He doesn't win them all but what shines through is his sheer enthusiasm for running, frequently doing two or three races in one weekend! Now aged 36, this year Adam managed to get his 10K pb down to 32:04 in Brighton in November. But if you think he spent a week tapering for the big day you'd be wrong. Preparation consisted of moving house on Friday, doing Parkrun on saturday morning & then playing a full hockey game on Saturday afternoon, his team lost 3-2, before travelling to Brighton on Saturday evening! So last week, perhaps with a slightly more restful preparation, he ran a 31:39 for a 10K in London. The picture shows Adam in action at the Haldon Night a couple of years ago. We're hoping to see Adam at our Rame Head Race Marathon in June & he'll probably do the local Mount Edgecumbe park run just before the start as a 'warm-up'!

20/12/2024

Today's the day when a lot of people finish work for Christmas, so a good time, we thought, to wish you a Happy Christmas & remind you one last time about our XMAS24 offer. Enter any event by 31st Dec & save 10 percent at checkout using the code XMAS24. All our 2025 events are now open for registrations. We recently enabled Klarna on our site so you can enter events & spread the cost over three interest free payments. There's no better way to keep yourself motivated during the wet & windy winter we've come to expect, than entering some events to target!