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Sep 2023
3:53pm, 1 Sep 2023
33,985 posts
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Ness
OK. Here's the round up. I'm not sure if I've got my formatting correct but here goes.....
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Sep 2023
3:55pm, 1 Sep 2023
33,986 posts
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Ness
For August, this month's sporting calendar includes the cycling grand tour, La Vuelta A España so my round up will include some trivia about the Spanish tour. For our top 10 runners, starting with the name.... "‘La vuelta‘ translates as ‘the lap’ but remember that in Castilian Spanish the ‘v’ is pronounced like a soft ‘b’ in English so pucker your lips and start saying /bwelta/ rather than /vwelta/."
1 Joe1970 1,510.2 181.6 +51.2%
2 Pikelet 1,369.9 178.7 +37.2%
3 NDWDave 1,363.3 193.3 +36.5%
4 Minimag 1,362.5 146.8 +36.4%
5 larkim 1,235.4 134.8 +23.7%
6 Chrisull 1,174.6 155.9 +17.6%
7 Hills of Death (HOD) 1,168.9 129.4 +17.1%
8 SooWoo 1,155.6 139.3 +15.7%
9 faithfulred 1,142.0 102.7 +14.4%
10 Jenni-far-far 1,126.3 133.8 +12.8%
For the next group, the race history..... "It started in 1935 and the 2023 Vuelta is the 78th running of the race. There was no race from 1937 to 1940 to ‘accommodate’ the fighting of the Spanish Civil War, in 1943 and 1944 because of the Second World War (although Spain was not a participant) and then again in 1949 and from 1951 to 1954 because… well, who knows? Perhaps Franco had fallen out of love with cycling."
11 minardi 1,116.7 154.0 +11.8%
12 Arthur R 1,113.1 191.3 +11.5%
13 slowblonde 1,098.6 170.1 +10.0%
14 Ness1,085.0 168.0 +8.7%
15 Bintmcskint1,078.2148.4 +8.0%
16 Xstine1,051.342.7+5.3%
17Dillthedog1,047.5119.8+4.9%
18 RRR-CAZ 🇬🇧1,046.2189.5 +4.8%
19 Werrington Whirlwind1,034.0143.2 +3.5%
20 jabberknit 1,029.6135.7 +3.1%
And trivia about who has won.... "Since 1935 Spanish riders have been remarkably good at winning their own race and have done so 32 times. It’s not just because they dominated the race in the 30s, and 40s (which they did, alongside the Belgians); since 2000 the race has been won 10 times by 6 Spanish riders, the most recent of which is, of course, Alberto Contador who has won the race 3 times, more recently in 2014."
21annadav1,021.5126.1+2.3%
22Lisrun1,011.6185.0 +1.3%
23richaca21,011.3114.5+1.3%
24DocM1,009.2131.4 +1.1%
25 Fenland Flier1,004.7126.5+0.6%
26 Finch1,002.3121.6+0.4%
The next group of runners were slightly below the break even point (but only just). For them some distance data.... "Today the race is fought over 23 days in August and September with 21 days of cycling and 2 rest days. The race will cover 3,324 km and there were 219 riders who started the race. In 1935 there were only 50 riders and although the total distance cycled was only marginally greater than the current distance at 3,425 km, the number of stages was only 14, 10 of which were more than 250 km. Bear in mind also that back in 1935 they weren’t riding carbon bikes and didn’t have a legion of minions to change tyres etc…"
27 TBR (TheBeardRunner) 973.1 137.0 -2.6%
28 torey 968.9 94.4 -3.0%
29 mol 956.8 131.9 -4.2%
30 HayleyB 917.9 121.7 -8.1%
31 Nick Turner 911.8 138.8 -8.7%
32 Will_Uyuni 884.4 102.1 -11.4%
33 CogNoscensme AHA 873.2 95.9 -12.6%
About the winners.... "The first winner of the race in 1935 was Belgian cyclist Gustaaf Deloor when he was just 21 years old. He also won the race in 1936 beating his older brother Alfons into 2nd place. By 1936 incidentally, the organisers had had second thoughts about making the race so easy so they increased the length of the race to 4,354 km albeit over the now more traditional 21 stages. The most stage wins in La Vuelta have been won by a Spanish rider – Delio Rodriquez – riding in the 1930s and 40s. Only three riders have ever won La Vuelta 3 times; Tony Rominger (1992, 1993, 1994), Roberto Heras (2000, 2003, 2004) and, of course, Alberto Contador (2008, 2012, 2014)."
34 dpfleet 870.7 118.7 -12.8%
35 Alberon 858.0 149.2 -14.1%
36 Shortcut Cam 843.0 92.4 -15.6%
37 jennyh 823.8 92.0 -17.5%
38 Nicky Boy 820.0 94.4 -17.9%
39 Snoot 780.8 73.2 -21.8%
40 BigEvilC 769.1 18.0 -23.0%
When the race takes place..... "Until 1995 the race was held in the spring but in that year it was moved to early September where it has stayed, more or less, ever since. The 2017 race started on August 19th, one of the earliest post-1995 start dates; in 2012 the race kicked off on August 18th."
41Smoggy754.4103.7-24.5%
42Richard-M683.3128.6 -31.6%
43westmoors660.580.7-33.9%
44Pegg638.573.1-36.1%
45Mascott506.544.7-49.3%
And for the final group of runners, a bit of trivia about the colour of the the stage winner's jersey.. "The leader of La Vuelta wears a red jersey, the equivalent of the yellow jersey in the Tour de France. However, whereas the colour yellow has always been associated with the leader in the Tour de France, things are little more complicated in La Vuelta as explained in the Historical Dictionary of Cycling (2011): It was orange in 1935, white in 1941, orange in 1942, and then white with a red stripe from 1945 to 1950. From 1950 to 1997, the jersey was yellow, with the exception of 1977, when it was orange again, but in 1998, it changed to a darker golden color called the jersey de oro. However, in 2010, the leader’s jersey color was changed to red."
46 billywhizz88 458.7 19.8 -54.1%
47 Rickynzx 337.7 154.1 -66.2%
48 RFP 137.7 0.0 -86.2%
49 Neilio117.6 34.7 -88.2%
50 Wilding200 430.3 0.0 -97.0%
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Sep 2023
6:45am, 2 Sep 2023
3,247 posts
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Neilio
Another great roundup, thanks Ness 
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Sep 2023
8:20am, 2 Sep 2023
9,883 posts
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Fenland Flier
Thanks Ness.
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Sep 2023
9:03pm, 2 Sep 2023
48,131 posts
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DocM
Thanks Ness. This thread has been very quiet, Iist check in more often. Still just on the mileage
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Sep 2023
10:25pm, 2 Sep 2023
9,888 posts
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Fenland Flier
Now I've changed my target to 1500 I'll be poking my nose in a bit more.
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Sep 2023
10:37pm, 2 Sep 2023
34,021 posts
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Ness
👏 I'll try to remember to pop in more often too!
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Sep 2023
10:46am, 4 Sep 2023
416 posts
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torey
Thanks Ness. The cycling season is always great for us to follow having Geraint Thomas as our local pedalling hero!
Fallen a bit behind this last month but should easily catch up and I think I've failed to put some of my August runs here in Fetch. ....
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Sep 2023
2:06pm, 6 Sep 2023
7,657 posts
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westmoors
Thanks for the round up Ness. I'm way behind target and will not reach it this year. I'm enjoying the running I am doing which is more important than reaching an arbitrary number.
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Sep 2023
3:20pm, 6 Sep 2023
848 posts
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Jenni-far-far
Thanks Ness my mileage has picked a bit after having a pair of creaky knees
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