Race Date Tuesday 17th March 2026

A training break in The Algarve is popular with athletes from the UK hoping for some spring sunshine and if the timing is right there’s the chance to include this event which usually takes place mid-March. In town this this year were Seth Kirby with Team Blizzard, 2nd claim Sarah Allcard with Mike Gratton’s 2:09 Events together with a small Steel City group from the Thursday evening track squad. With about 70m of climb the sort of three lap course isn’t flat with a stiff SW breeze making conditions more difficult but at least it was downhill into the wind with a following wind on the uphill sections.

When away for a week’s training like this there’s plenty of potential to vary the normal routine with double days to bump up the mileage, post session ice baths in the swimming pool and an afternoon nap. With this extra activity the coach’s first order is don’t get injured or at least don’t come back in a worse state than you went out. When it comes to the race therefore, a common strategy is to employ it as a lactate threshold session rather than an all out effort. Scanning through the results virtually all of the eighty eight finishers were British with a smattering of Irish. In past years this race has had a strong international flavour but the absence of other countries at the race and out and about is noticeable, perhaps following the closure of the now being demolished Alfa-Mar Hotel which was popular with athletes from all over the world.

Despite best intentions, once the number gets pinned to the vest, plans to run at threshold can be put to one side as Seth Kirby, seeing club colleague Naeem Stevens ahead, put on the afterburners to finish second in 16:37. (With Jack Daniels as our reference, a T Pace of 3:19 per km gives a VDOT of 68 which equates to a 15:18 5k race which would smash his current club record by nearly 30 seconds.) Behind him Steel City packed well to finish in 4th, 5th and 6th positions so it’s a pity that there wasn’t a team prize.

Another group who travel out to Falesia at this time of year are FB Tours. An amalgam from mainly Cheshire clubs they get themselves together and put on a series of training and social events during the week. One of these, spotted by one of the Steel City lads, was a 4x1000m relay on Monday evening on the Cross Country course. This, he thought, would be a nice little excursion except that it tuns out that this was a 4x4x1000m paarlauf and not ideal race preparation, threshold or not. Things did not end well, anchoring his relay team to a solid last and being beaten by a Dalmatian in a poor effort the following day.