Sent: 20 April 2007 00:07
Subject: FW: VS Update - Meanwood update, Reminders, Results, 2 Oceans marathon

 

Meanwood Trail Race

 

Great news, I have received approval from Leo’s Management Committee that we can go ahead with the Yorks Vets race on 22 May and the 2008 Meanwood Valley Trail Race, both using the back field for start and finish.

 

I have bottles of beer for all marshals, please come up on Tuesday to claim.  I have 9 left at the moment but Paul Briscoe will provide more if I run out.  Come and get it, you’ve definitely earned it.

 

Just to say it was Ian Place, Keith Cluderay, Dave Middlemas and John Umpleby who put on the ad-hoc water station in the race, again, special thanks to them.  We will put on an official water station next year, Carole, is your team up for it?

 

Striders first and second claim included

 

Junior 1 mile

  6 Gavin Taylor        7:14 (2nd B7-8)

 10 Josephine M-Hunter  7:34 (3rd G9-10) (Wetherby R)

 

Junior 2 mile

 26 Oliver Watson      14:14 (Leeds Carnegie)

 

Senior race

 55 Andrew Cutts       52:25

127 Jim Towers         57:44 (Nidd Valley)

327 Lyn Eden           78:21 (Nidd Valley)

 

Airedale Triple Trail

Andrew finished 16th out of over 50 runners who completed all three races – Baildon, Guiseley and Meanwood, 26 miles in 14 days.  Andrew is one of only two runners who have completed all 6 series.

 

Reminders

 

- Leeds half marathon entries close Monday 23 April, we usually have 30 Striders running. So if you can’t make up your mind, get your entry in, you’ll have plenty of company.

 

- Next pie and peas will be Tuesday 1 May, please set me know by Sunday 29 April, whether meat or veg pie and whether peas or beans.

 

- Still need a few marshals for the Pulse Race in Roundhay Park on Sunday 20 May.

 

- Still need lots of marshals for the Yorks Vets Race from Leo’s on Tuesday 22 May.  Free food for all marshals!

 

Rotterdam Marathon

 

In temperatures of 30 degrees, only two thirds of the field finished.  The remainder, after 3 and a half hours, were advised either to drop out or walk to the finish.

 

1203 Patrick Barrett  3:47:48

1699 Michael Grant    3:59:46

 

Gin Pit 5 (Tyldesley, Manchester)

 

Lou Gilchrist finished 16th of the 62 women running in 40:23.  This represented an age graded performance of 97.7%, this is Lou’s fourth Valley Striders grade 10 so just one more to be the second Strider to receive a certificate.

 

Correction

 

Sara Dyer had a late start at the handicap last week, so her road time was actually 6 minutes faster than listed last week, sorry Sara!

 

PBs and ABs

 

Three more Striders have submitted theirs including chief inputter Erica Hiorns, so send some more to me to keep her busy.

 

Paul Hunter found an interesting web site www.fetcheveryone.com has articles, polls, and a database into which you can input your own race performances.  Make sure you have at least 30 mins to spare before you log on!

 

Two Oceans Experience (from Annemi van Zyl)

 

The Two Oceans Marathon was held on 7 April 2007, a 56 km run around the beautiful Cape Peninsula. There is also a half marathon race on the same morning, but with a start 20 minutes before the Ultra.

 

The race numbers gets restricted to 10 000 runners in each of the events. Runners who have entered the Ultra race are allowed to downgrade in the last few days before the race if they do not feel ‘up to’ the full distance. This means that the half marathon had nearly 11 000 entries this year, with around 7 000 entries in the ultra. With an estimate of around 10% of the field not showing up on the day, around 9 700 completed the half marathon and 6 700 the ultra marathon.

 

The half marathon is one of the tougher ones around, with a nasty long hill between kilometer 11 and 16, with a climb from 87m to 179m over the 5 km.

 

The Ultra also has a very deceiving start (flattish up to km 28) with a 6km climb from kilometer 28, taking you from 34m to 180m. (this takes you over the absolutely spectacular Chapmans Peak – the views are just endless) After this climb you obviously have to go down, just to start climbing again at km 40 to km 45 (12m to 215m – it just goes on and on!) But then the end is in sight! Other than a nasty little hill at km 53!

Some interesting stats: On race day they use 26460 liter of Coke, 83968 liter of water, 22500 liter Powerade, 300kg of potatoes, 3000 frozen ice cream suckers, 30 tons ice! 2475 volunteers on the refreshment stations (temperatures went up to 34 degrees Celsius this year) 90 toilets along the way!

 

On the Friday (day before the race) there are 5 fun runs – a 56m nappy dash, a 300m toddlers trot a 2,5km, a 5km and a 8 km run.

For Sevenday Adventist there is an exact race, all starting at 6am. A total of 50 runners take part in this – I can just imagine that it gets very far and lonely as there is very little support on the Friday.

We also have an International Friendship Run – 5km jog for all runners visiting South Africa just to come and run the Most Beautiful marathon in the world.

 

To live in a country like South Africa with a large ‘high’ income group, a very medium size ‘middle class’ and a very large ‘very low income group’ and a 35% unemployment is a daily challenge and makes life very interesting  - if I start telling you all the stories of people uplifting themselves from poverty in various ways, I will keep Bob’s email going for a looong time.

 

In the club I run for here, we have at least 10 runners that live off their race monies – they are top runners, so normally the club can pay for their shoes, but their families survives on about 20 pounds a week

With that in mind, it means that a race like 2 Oceans with an entry fee of R120 (about 10 pounds) for South Africans is unaffordable, as they need to travel over 1000km to get here, pay for accommodation etc etc.

 

One of the sponsors pays for 100 runners each year to travel to Cape Town, their accommodation for 3 days and give them a free pair of shoes – I went to a dinner with this group of people the night before the race. Some of them are TOP runners – doing the 56km in around 3h50! (last year there was a gold medalist in this group – under the first 10 runners)  As a very average runner I was very humbled by them as a group. They have an average income of around ZAR2000 a month (around 160pounds), but still they manage to train and run and get excited about being a part! (About half of this years group has never seen the sea before, as most came from the northern provinces) Oh, not to forget the languages spoken amongst them – we have 11 official languages in South Africa, so amongst these runners we had AT LEAST 7 different languages spoken – 4 of those find it easy enough to understand each other, but the other 3 does not understand any of them. I do not understand ANY of those 7 ! So we communicate in English, but if they did not complete at least 6 years of school, they will not understand English very well – told you this is a very interesting place to be! If not interesting, confusing!

 

For those not lucky enough to get into the sponsored village, there is a facility on the finishing field where runners can sleep and shower – they arrive in hundreds at registration with their blankets and gas primus stoves!

 

Having worked with the pre – registration process this year, we try to get Xhosa and Zulu speakers to help in the office to make the process of entry-queries easier. We had to ask a runner living in Kwazulu Natal to pay us more money for his entry, then to fax it to us. He told us very nicely that he will walk to his nearest town in the morning (this will take him an hour), there he will pay the money and if the fax machine at the post office works he will send the proof of payment! That is determination! He will still have to travel around 1200km to get to the start of the race!

 

Despite having 11 official languages in South Africa itself, come the registration days, we have an influx of Germans and Chinese, who does not speak English – then it all gets even better!

 

We had a great race this year – windy in the morning, later you where happy for the wind, as it cooled you down, when temperature where creeping into the 30’s. Fortunately I was ‘in’ by then, having done 5.40 min (bronze medal). Next time I will have to train and try to go for sub 5hr – this gives you a mixed silver/bronze medal! Obviously means much more painful legs as well! The race was won in 3hr 08 this year – 5min slower than the record. The ladies race is dominated by Russia for at least the last 7-8 years. The first lady came in around 3.36 min.

 

Annemi joined Striders in October 2001, she returned to South Africa late 2005 but still remains a club member

 

Heart Monitor For Sale (from Gareth Moules)

 

I am planning on selling a Polar S625X heart rate monitor (incl. foot pod) + infra-red USB connection + Cycling speed and distance sensor. I am considering selling it on EBAY but I would rather sell it to someone I know.  You can check out the spec on the following link :-

 

www.polar.fi/polar/channels/uk/segments/running/S625X.html

 

The unit is approximately a year and a half old and the only blemish is a slight scratch on the watch display. It has only been used for a couple of months then stored away. Contains all manuals inc speed sensor instructions.

 

If anyone is interested please call me on 07782360577 or send me an e-mail. [email protected]

 

Another Satisfied Customer

 

Hi there Bob.

Tracy from Chap A Road Runners here.  Just in response to your mail, I wanted to also extend a huge thanks to you and all the marshals.  I was running the event with a few friends (one of whom was running a race for the first time) and all commented on how well it was organised and the attention to detail - incl the encouragement at the tops of the hills! Thanks a lot for such an enjoyable day Tracy x

 

London Marathon

 

Email or text me your race number, you may get a mention on the radio!