Subject:                          V S Mid-week Update - lasagne, Xmas, membership, WYXC, Peco, OMM report, Treasurer wanted

 

Sent: 27 November 2012 09:34

Saturday 1 December – Roundhay parkrun

 

Just to let you know that the parkrun at Roundhay is the penultimate race in the Leeds Race Series 2012.  Note that it is still not too late to enter the Leeds Race Series and any races that you’ve already done this year will count.  See www.leedsathletics.net for details.

 

Tuesday 4 December - Lasagne, also meeting to decide GP races for 2013

 

“Normal” training sessions, followed by lasagne at 8:20pm - book at [email protected] before 10pm Sunday, choosing meat or veggie lasagne, and whether you want apple pie.  Followed by meeting to discuss races for 2013 Grand Prix.

 

Friday 14 December - Xmas Meal and Presentation Night

 

7:30 pm at Leos – book by Friday 7 December at [email protected] saying whether you want carnivore, veggie or half'n'half (cost is £10.00),

 

Please pay Paul White on or before 11 December so that he can enjoy his meal rather than having to spend the whole evening collecting money.  Send a cheque to 17 Whinmoor Court, Red Hall, Leeds LS14 1NX.  Alternatively you can make an internet banking payment as follows

·         Sort Code: xx-xx-xx

·         Account Number: aaaaaaaa

·         Please ensure you include your name and “Xmas” in the reference.

To check your booking go to www.valleystriders.org.uk, click “For Club Members” and “London & Xmas”

 

Membership Fees

 

If you are still owing for membership, please make payment as soon as possible, or kindly let us know if you are not intending to renew.  Address and bank payment details above.  Normal annual adult membership for renewals for is £20.  Please contact us for rates for juniors, second claim, social membership etc.

 

Also if you’re still owing for West Yorks XC, please pay as soon as possible.  Since the WYXC and Xmas meal are the same price, if you are paying by internet banking please indicate what you are paying for and/or email Paul [email protected] .  Thanks

 

Grand Prix 2012

 

The final two events in this year’s VS Grand Prix took place at the weekend.  There were even a few hardy (or foolhardy) souls doubled up for the honour of Valley Striders and/or to claim their VSGP Points.

 

West Yorks XC at Huddersfield

 

The women’s team finished 8th and the men 6th – excellent results again, considering that we were competing against the best clubs from West Yorkshire (and a few from North Yorks too).  For full results see www.westyorkshireathletics.org.uk .

 

Next race Sunday 9 December at Wakefield, hopefully we can continue the good run (Women 7th,9th,8th, men 5th,6th,6th )

 

Women                                  Dist     Pace/km  GP pts

      33  Myra Jones        0:27:46      5.6k   4:57.5       86

      36  Hayley Nancolas   0:27:54      5.6k   4:58.9       84

      57  Sharon Tansley    0:29:52      5.6k   5:20.0       83

      59  Sue Sunderland    0:30:21      5.6k   5:25.2       81

      83  Sarah Howell      0:33:45      5.6k   6:01.6       80

Men

      32  Jon Parker        0:34:42      9.92k  3:29.9      100

      38  Gwil Thomas       0:35:04      9.92k  3:32.1       99

      44  Jerry Watson      0:35:36      9.92k  3:35.3       97

      55  Paul Kaiser       0:36:10      9.92k  3:38.7       96

      64  Steve Webb        0:36:40      9.92k  3:41.8       94

      78  Paul Fotherby     0:37:22      9.92k  3:46.0       93

     102  Dave Penman       0:38:59      9.92k  3:55.8       91

     106  Alex Nancolas     0:39:23      9.92k  3:58.2       90

     130  Gary Mann         0:41:46      9.92k  4:12.6       89

     152  Nick Barnes       0:45:45      9.92k  4:36.7       87

 

Peco XC race 1 at Fitzwilliam

 

Joe Sherman finished 3rd in the 1 mile race for School Years 4 to 6 and Alex Irvine was 9th (I think) in the 2 mile race for School Years 7 to 12.  With the remaining 4 races more local (and hopefully less wet) perhaps a few more junior Striders will come and run (the series is best 4 races to count).

 

The men started their defence of last season’s premier division title with a convincing victory.  Franco, in his first team outing with the Striders, was in the counting 8.

 

It was disappointing that he women’s team were one short of the required 5, and although not eliminated (as they would have been in  WYXC), were given a huge penalty of 169 points (more than the scoring 4!) and placed them 8th in the premier division.

 

Full results will be on http://www.pecoxc.co.uk/ around the middle of the week.

 

Next race – December 16th at Middleton Park (near John Charles Stadium)

 

Women

     VS sequence                W/M pos    GP Pts

      15  Myra Jones               11       86   

      18  Sue Sunderland           26       83   

      20  Carole Schofield         32       81   

      24  Pascale Fotherby         76       77   

Men

       1  Jon Parker                3      100   

       2  Simon Midwood             7       99   

       3  Paul Kaiser              13       98   

       4  Gwil Thomas              15       97   

       5  Richard Balshaw          21       96   

       6  Franco Pardini           29       95   

       7  Dan Murray               36       94   

       8  Simon Vallance           43       93   

       9  Jeremy Ladyman           44       92   

      10  Gary Mann                54       91   

      11  Dave Penman              56       90   

      12  Richard Irvine           80       89   

      13  Roy Huggins              85       88   

      14  Joe Hanney               99       87   

      16  Rob Marsh               121       85   

      17  Steve Dixon             127       84   

      19  John Wallace            167       82   

      21  Malcolm Coles           174       80   

      22  Tony Haygarth           182       79   

      23  Bob Jackson             186       78   

      25  Dave Jones              213       76   

 

So, subject to checking, I can now announce our Grand Prix Champions, Vets winners and Group winners for 2012.  Or I can just let you look at the website to www.valleystriders.org.uk, click “For Club Members” and “Grand Prix & Fell Champ”

 

Note that if you are in the list of 9 winners, you get a free V S Grand Prix 2012 technical t-shirt.  If you were one of the other 32 Striders who ran 8 races you can purchase one.  You will be contacted in the next couple of days and asked your size!

 

Fell Championships

 

The website has been updated with the Tour of Pendle results which concludes the 2012 Fell Championships.  Again, I’ll point you to the website to find the final finishing positions.

 

OMM 2012 Howgills – report from Mick Loftus

This year 5 Striders completed the OMM.  Simon Redshaw and Richard Adcock did the B Class, Simon Vallance and his running partner Neil did the Elite, as did Mick Wrench and I.

This is how it was for me...

We arrived in a bitter cold wind early on Saturday morning at the start near Sedbergh School.  This year's OMM was in the Howgills which was the nearest  it has been to Leeds in recent years.  Mick and I were attempting the Elite course again with the aim of getting round safely, if not comfortably.  The  sun came up on Saturday morning to reveal a beautifully clear day.  The visibility was perfect but it was to stay very cold until into the afternoon.

You are given maps as you cross the start line.  Ours showed that we had 39km (straight line distance) ahead of us, with 3100m ascent.  We set off positively and picked up the first control easily.  Thus encouraged, we confidently set off down the wrong ridge because you don't need to check your compass when you can see where you are going. After correcting this error, we had probably wasted 15 - 20 minutes within the first hour.

Now with renewed attention to detail we pressed on.  Simon V and Neil passed us at an impressive pace that we couldn't hope to match.  We saw them intermittently getting further and further away.  There were a number of route choice decisions to be made along the way, usually this was a choice of up and over or contour round.  With multiple ridges of varying heights and angles between checkpoints, these decisions were often finely balanced.  Once we had made our choice we executed them reasonably well, although as you are slogging through some bog or over a huge hill you always regret your choice.

The day dragged on with hours flying by.  We kept on going and kept eating bars and drinking from streams.  The course led us across onto Wild Boar Fell.  It was now a little warmer but ground conditions were harder and there were fewer features for navigation.  We were also somewhat jaded as 8 hours passed and then 9 hours.

With the last couple of controls dibbed we hobbled into the Day 1 finish including a wholly gratuitous and sadistic climb up a mud slope churned up by some 2000 runners ahead of us.  It had taken us 9 hours and 41 minutes.

The overnight camp proved to be probably the best I have experienced in the OMM.  It was spacious and well drained rather than the usual crowded mud bath.  It was dark soon after we had got the tent up and the temperature dropped again.  We cooked our food, gradually through the early evening and then crawled into our sleeping bags.

The expected rain began in the early hours.  It got pretty windy too; that dehydrated food can play havoc with one's digestion.

On the Sunday morning we started in light rain, low mist and strong wind.  This continued to varying degrees all day and we spent most of it in full water proofs.  The Day 2 course broadly reversed Day 1 but was only 31.4 km with 2650m of climbing.  It included one leg of over 10km straight line distance over about 5 ridges if you took a direct route.  During this leg we were disorientated for a while when the topography around us didn't seem to correspond to the map or at least our expectation of what it should look like.  We quickly resolved that we were in the right place, the poor visibility and exhaustion had been clouding our judgement.  On and on this leg continued, in the end it took us 3 hours and 8 minutes to complete it.

Once this leg was out of the way, the route choice became easier, it was just a case of not messing it up and keeping going.  The final controls led us back over the top of the 'Calf', the biggest hill in the Howgills.  The weather had now deteriorated to cold driven rain with very little visibility up high.  However, there were big paths over the main peaks and these led us towards the end.

We unexpectedly met Simon and Neil, they had visibly slowed.  We joined up for a while over the tops.  Pressing on to the end we felt the familiar relief and elation welling up.  The finish line was, as ever, just that bit further away than we thought.  Then at last we entered the final muddy field and ran in.  Day 2 had taken us 8 hours and 5 minutes.  We heard that there about 100 teams still on the hill past 5pm, making a very long cold day out.

There was a bus back to the event centre but we were quickly chilled to the bone. My delight at finishing was quickly replaced with the need to 'sort myself out'.  I felt really cold.  I changed into the dry kit I had been carrying as quickly as I could (we were still another bus ride away from the car park).  Then we went to get some hot food.

We had met the other Striders and began to swap stories of another OMM epic.

We came 21st out of only 25 teams completing the elite course; 44 teams had started day 1.

Treasurer Wanted – message from Sarah Smith

 

I am the Secretary of the Management Committee of the Harehills and Chapeltown Law Centre.  Chloe Hudson is the Chairperson. 

 

The Law Centre provide free legal advice to people who cannot afford to pay for legal advice and representation, in the Leeds area.  The legal advice is funded by the Legal Services Commission and also by various grants.

 

We are really keen to have a larger pool of MC members, to ensure that the Law Centre benefits from the experience the members of MC can offer, also to ensure meetings are always quorate.

 

We meet once a month at the start of the month, usually at 6.30 pm.  The dates of next year’s meetings are already fixed.

 

We currently have 9 MC members who attend fairly regularly, 2 are barristers, 5 are solicitors, 2 are non-practising solicitors.  No legal experience is required, however simply a desire to contribute to the smooth and efficient operation of the Law Centre.   

 

The Manager of the LC, Paul Mann, presents an update at the start of each meeting and then invites the views of the MC on a number of issues which may relate to staffing issues, funding difficulties, future planning.  

 

In particular, the MC needs a treasurer.  If you have the experience and skill to perform this role we would love to hear from you.

 

If you are interested in joining please contact me on 07912 093 259, you are welcome to come to a meeting to see what happens before you decide.

 

Pink Leather Gloves

 

Left at Harewood Trail Race, any claimants?