Phil Hall (L) and Carla Scowcroft (R) - Click to download high res version.
Nottingham sportsman Phil Hall made a successful return to his other passion last weekend as he took on the Surrey Hills OMM Lite trail running event in Guildford.
Despite being away from the gruelling sport for around 18 months, Hall and teammate Carla Scowcroft overcame blistering heat and a tough 70km all-terrain route to finish 11th, taking 4th in the mixed class in the process.
Hall can usually be found in the codriver's seat of a wide range of leading rally cars across the world. Outings in mainland Europe, Australia and New Zealand have left the 28 year old little time to concentrate on his other passion of endurance running and walking events.
A necessary part of his motorsport activities have been fitness and Hall has ensured he has kept up a training plan since his last endurance event. This enabled him to head to Surrey at the weekend to contest the two-day Mountain Marathon across the tricky terrain of the South East.
The opening day played host the larger distance of the two days, consisting of 45km of trail running across farmland, thankfully with a minimal ascent for the competitors in the 30-degree heat. Hall was overjoyed to end the leg in 8th spot against many more seasoned teams.
The high temperatures would remain for the second day and whilst the route was shorter, the hills and dense woodland provided an immense challenge. Despite dropping back slighter over the closing stages of the route, Hall and partner Scowcroft crossed the finish line in an impressive 11th spot.
“I`m really overjoyed to have finished in such a strong position after 18 months away from competitive events,” said Hall. “To turn up with minimal training and be in the top ten for most the event is really encouraging and it’s great to think once my training regime is back on form then there is the potential to do really well”.
“I’m really excited by our pace” he continues.
“Carla was on top form as always and really helped keep the pace up between us. We really gave it our all but the other, perhaps more experienced competitors had the legs on us in the end. It’s certainly spurred me on to get back into the sport and take on bigger, more challenging events in the future. I`m already eying up the next one!”
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