Subject: V S Update - busy Saturday; VSGP/VSJGP; Next XC races; Parties;
Hoodies; London; Sunday&Thursday; Results from XC Relays, WYXC, Guy Fawkes,
Bradford and OMM
Sent: 07 November 2014 00:28
BUSY SATURDAY
Brass Monkey entries open
– Saturday 6a.m.
Knavesmire
Harriers announced that entries for the 2015 Brass Monkey race will open at 6am
on Saturday 8 November, via http://www.resultsbase.net/home.aspx
They have
a new race entry supplier this year. To save time on the day of entering, you
can create an account and password on the Results Base website in advance.
Simply click on “Log in” at the top of their website and follow their
instructions to create an account. You will be able to enter fully from 6am on
Saturday 8 November.
The race
date is Sunday 18 January 2015 and the race starts at 10am. The entry price is
£22 for UKA affiliated runners and £24 for unaffiliated runners. If you
have any questions, please contact brassmonkeyhalfmarathon@gmail.com.
From Bob
- note that this is a perfect course for a PB, but as for 2014, we won’t be
including it in the VS Grand Prix.
Roy’s 250th
Parkrun – Saturday 9a.m.
It will
be Roy Huggins’ 250th parkrun this Saturday. He’s done 245 of
the 249 at Leeds (Hyde Park) and this week will be no exception. So it
would be great if Striders parkrunners diverted to Hyde Park this Saturday to
support Roy (even if most of us won’t see him after the first 100 metres!)
Leos Bonfire – Saturday
6:30pm
Probably
the biggest bonfire in the area! Bonfire at 6:30pm, fireworks at 7:15pm,
bar and hot food (of course), all welcome (need not be Leos or Striders
members)
OTHER DATES
VS Grand Prix Races
Just 4
races to go in this year’s Grand Prix, prizes will be presented at VS Xmas
Party on 12 December
·
Sat
15 Nov - Harriers v Cyclists (also in the Fell Championship)
·
Sun 16 Nov - Abbey Dash 10k – ENTRIES STILL OPEN
·
Sat 22 Nov - West Yorks XC race 3 at Keighley - see below
·
Sun 30 Nov - Peco XC race 1 at Barnbow (Crossgates) - see below
The first
4 races of next year’s GP will be
·
Sun
14 Dec - Peco XC race 2 at Pontefract or Nostell Priory
·
Fri 26 Dec – Chevin Chase
·
Sun 4 Jan - Peco XC race 3 at West Park Leeds
·
TBA – VS Xmas/NewYear Handicap – either Sunday 28 December or
Sunday 11 January
VS Junior
GP 2013/4 prizes will be presented at the VS Juniors Xmas Party on 9 December
VS Junior
GP 2014/5 races include Abbey Dash Junior Race and all Peco races (dates listed
above)
VS Fell
Championship – updated on website (go via the “for Club members” tab)
Food – Tuesday 18 November
Pie and
peas, normal arrangements, details on front page of website.
WYXC race 3 – Saturday 22
November at Keighley
If you’ve
not registered yet and you’re wanting to run this race, please email teams@valleystriders.org.uk by
Wednesday 12 November – no late entries!
To check
whether you have been registered go to www.valleystriders.org.uk/vsteams.htm
Peco race 1 – Sunday 30
November at Barnbow (Crossgates)
Anyone
who ran a peco race last year has been registered.
To check
whether you have been registered go to www.valleystriders.org.uk/vsteams.htm
If you’re
not registered and you’re wanting to run this race, please email teams@valleystriders.org.uk by
Friday 21 November – no late entries!
For the
other dates in the series see www.valleystriders.org.uk/vsdates.htm
Juniors
(school years 4 to 12) need not register. Ages 16 and above may run in
the senior race at the discretion of the Race Organiser (please contact me)
VS Junior Xmas Party –
Tuesday 9 December – save the date
VS Xmas Party – Friday 12
December – save the date
Hooded Tops (Adults and
Juniors) – Deadline for Xmas orders - Sunday 23 November 2014
Message
from Mr Kit – Last chance to order a hooded top ahead of Christmas. The options
/ costs are:
·
Adult
Black Hoody (no zip) - £20
·
Adult Black or Grey Hoody (full zip) – £24.50
·
Kids Black Hoody (no zip) – £15
·
Kids Black or Grey Hoody (full zip) - £19
Each
hoody comes as either male or female and will have ‘Valley Striders Leeds’ on
the back (heat applied) and the same on the chest only smaller and embroidered.
The price also includes for your name or initials to be embroidered on the
chest so you don’t get it mixed up with other Striders. If someone doesn’t want
their name adding, a slight saving to the prices above can be offered. An image
of the tops can be found on Facebook.
Sizing
info can be found using the links below:
Full zip
hoody: (black or grey): http://www.sg-clothing.com/index.php/collection/11/29
Pullover
hoody: (black): http://www.sg-clothing.com/index.php/collection/11/28
Can I
please request orders by no later than Sunday 23rd November 2014 to kit@valleystriders.org.uk.
London Marathon ballot
I have
applied for club places in the London Marathon 2014 – we usually get 4.
There is
a priority system for allocation of these places
1. With
rejection slips (members prior to 1 Jan 2014 & have never had club place)
2. With
rejection slips (members prior to 1 Jan 2014 but have previously had club
place)
3. Without
rejection slips (members prior to 1 Jan 2014)
4. With
rejection slips (members since 1 Jan 2014)
5. Without
rejection slips (members since 1 Jan 2014)
If you
would like your name to be put into the ballot which will take place at the VS
Xmas Party, let me know by Tuesday 9 December 10pm
Email London@valleystriders.org.uk and say
which of the above 5 categories your application falls. Names will be
listed at www.valleystriders.org.uk/vsmarathon.htm
Sunday and Thursday
Training
About 12
of us got together on Tuesday to discuss Sunday and Thursday sessions.
With so
many races on Sundays before Xmas, the discussion has been deferred for a few
weeks to give more Striders opportunity for input. In the meantime Tim
will continue to issue his weekly email (thanks) to give the opportunity for people
to meet at Smithy Mills at 09:00 or possibly make other arrangements. If
you’re not on Tim’s email list (i.e. you didn’t get one today) and you’d like
to be, then please email Sunday@valleystriders.org.uk
Regarding
Thursday sessions, Mike Hall volunteered to take over co-ordinating these
sessions (thanks) while Richard Irvine recovers from injury and John Wallace
recovers from his operation.
There
were three main decisions made
·
the
Thursday run should be a continuous run, not stop-start, and therefore at
pre-determined points, lead runners should loop back to pick up the group
·
the route should be published in advance
·
if sufficient numbers, there should be 2 groups
Mike will
publish details each week on Facebook and also via the Thursday email
list. If you’re not on Richard’s email list (i.e. you didn’t get one
today from Mike), then please email Thursday@valleystriders.org.uk
RESULTS
National XC Relays
Valley
Striders finished 59th out of 143 teams (although there were another
24 “teams” who had 1, 2 or 3 runners, so started but didn’t finish)
Striders
were 2nd team from Leeds (actually we were the only other club from
Leeds who turned up), but also featured well amongst Yorkshire teams.
Selected
results
1
Stockport 1:01:10
2
Morpeth 1:01:34
3
Highgate 1:01:54
7
Leeds City 1:02:44
30 Leeds
City ‘B’ 1:06:50
59 Valley
Striders 1:10:57
Gwil Thomas 17:49 *
Paul Fotherby 18:00
John Hobbs 17:33
Matt Hallam 17:35
Yorkshire
teams - 17 Hallamshire, 31 Holmfirth, 36 Rotherham, 41 City of Sheffield,
48 Sheffield RC, 49 City of York, 56 Wakefield, 75 Keighley & Craven, 77
Barnsley AC, 78 Doncaster ‘B’, 84 Barnsley H, 85 Knavesmire H, 91 Sheffield RC
‘B’, 93 Wakefield ‘B’, 108 Barnsley H ‘B’, 115 Steel City 1:21:19, 116 Sheffield
Hallam, 129 Doncaster ‘B’, 143 Barnsley H ‘C’.
* Sorry
Gwil, but there’s a little note on the website that says “due to the start line
being positioned differently to the changeover line first stage legs were
shorter”
WYXC race 2
The women
finished 7th, but retained their 3rd place overall in the
series. Well done to Rachel Mackie in her first race in Valley Striders
colours.
Dist
Pace GP pts
11 Myra Jones
0:22:38 5.9 3:50.2 89
43 Rebecca Fishburn 0:24:24 5.9
4:08.1 84
50 Rachel Mackie 0:24:56
5.9 4:13.6 82
59 Louise Cazan
0:25:41 5.9 4:21.2 81
62 Claire Senior 0:26:06
5.9 4:25.4 80
63 Sue Sunderland 0:26:15
5.9 4:26.9 79
66 Chloe Hudson
0:26:31 5.9 4:29.7 78
68 Pascale Fotherby 0:26:48 5.9
4:32.5 77
72 Gemma Midwood 0:27:47
5.9 4:42.5 76
The men
finished 2nd , and retained their 2nd place overall
in the series
16 Matthew Hallam 0:29:10
8.7 3:21.1 100
20 Jon Parker
0:29:30 8.7 3:23.4 99
27 John Hobbs
0:29:54 8.7 3:26.2 98
30 Dan Fisher
0:30:06 8.7 3:27.6 97
35 Gwil Thomas
0:30:18 8.7 3:29.0 96
42 Paul Fotherby 0:30:29
8.7 3:30.2 95
43 Andy
May
0:30:29 8.7 3:30.2 95
56 Jon Pownall 0:31:00
8.7 3:33.8 93
69 Jerry Watson 0:31:53
8.7 3:39.9 92
72 James Tarran
0:32:05 8.7 3:41.3 91
96 Kevin Mcmullan 0:33:04
8.7 3:48.0 90
111 Gary Mann
0:33:49 8.7 3:53.2 88
129 Vernon Long
0:35:07 8.7 4:02.2 87
132 David Merritt 0:35:12
8.7 4:02.8 86
137 Andy Pagdin
0:35:55 8.7 4:07.7 85
145 Adam Parton
0:36:42 8.7 4:13.1 83
NB Grand Prix points have been calculated by guessing the lap distance and the
start and finish distance and then getting an average time per km.
Guy Fawkes 10
44 Ian Sanderson 1:08:18
100
127 Graham Pawley
1:13:55 97
128 Joe
Steele
1:13:58 93
134 Paul
Smith 1:14:18
90
186 Sue Sunderland
1:17:42 87
216 Mike Robins
1:19:11 83
341 Stephanie Gledhill 1:24:37 80
Bradford City Runs (from
Bob)
By far
the most topologically interesting race I’ve ever run, there were 3 races
taking place concurrently – a 5k, a 10k and a half marathon.
Easy-peasy
to design the 5k and 10k, just make the 10k two laps of the 5k. But for
the half marathon – trust Mark Hetherington (also Peco XC organiser) to come up
with a devious solution – it had 4 laps but an extra loop of 1.1k during the
first lap to make up to the required 21.1k. So what about the poor
marshal who would have to separate the 800 total runners after a mile? Simples,
start the half marathon 10 minutes before the other two races, all the half
marathon runners would be off on their loop before any of the 5k or 10k runners
arrived.
Got all
of that? OK! So I set off with the other 3 Valley Striders – all of whom
had entered the half (my theory was that although the half was most
expensive, the cost per lap was least expensive). Out on the loop and
then back onto the main lap. A nice hairpin bend with an out-and-back so
I could see how far Leroy was ahead of me (quite a bit) and how far Holly was
behind (not much). And then towards the end of this 1st lap, a
few of the 5k runners came flying by – and I mean flying as they were running
about 3:20 per km and I was running about 5:10. Coming to the end of the
lap back to City Park, there was also a stretch with runners on their next lap
coming out from City Park, more about this later. Words of encouragement
from Tom in City Park (he’d entered the Wednesday before the race and twisted
his ankle the following day). Second lap, and 10km runners started to come
past. Into the hairpin and the gaps (Leroy ahead, Holly behind) had got a
bit wider. Tom again in City Park. Onto the 3rd lap, and
in the middle of this lap, the 3 lead runners in the half came past a full lap
ahead (they were the only ones who did, they had a big lead). Round the 3rd
lap, and lapping some of the very slow 10k runners. Coming into the end
of the 3rd lap, just starting her 3rd lap was Maureen,
and just behind her, starting his 4th lap was Leroy. Tom again
in City Park. For the 4th lap the gaps between runners were
getting wider, I think I was overtaken by just two half marathoners even though
I slowed a bit.
Certainly
all of this took the mind off the route which was hilly (it was Bradford),
windy (it was Bradford) and not very scenic (ditto). But the marshals
were brilliant, many of the key locations being supported by clubs in the
Bradford network.
Finally
to the finish, and considering the route, I was pleased to get under
1:50. I had a gap of a minute over the next runner – it was ex-Strider
James Forbes. He said he’d been getting faster since he’d stopped coming
to our Tuesday sessions, but I suspected it was more due to him being a stone
or two lighter, not due to radical training plans!
Half
Marathon
Gun Chip
40
Leroy Sutton 1:40:05 1:39:43
93
Bob Jackson 1:48:59 1:48:51
110 Holly
Button 1:54:32 1:54:16
214
Maureen Coffey 2:20:26 2:20:08 (1st and only F65)
239
finished
OMM 2014 Elite Class Race
Report – from Mick Loftus
We pushed
through buffeting winds towards the glow of lights from the overnight
camp. It had been a very long day and we were battling with mud and
tussocks by the light of our head torches to finish the first day of the 2014
Original Mountain Marathon (OMM) Elite Class. We jogged and stumbled in
after 11 hours and 36 minutes of completing on the hills.
The day
had started at 5:30 before Mick Wrench and I drove into the heart of the Northumberland
National Park, just south of The Cheviot Hills. We had registered and set
off at around 8:00 into a strong wind which was to be a feature throughout the
weekend. We took a poor line to the first control but then settled into a
steady pace over runnable ground to the next controls. The good ground
didn’t last long. Soon we were floundering in mud and tussock
grass. This terrain saps your energy, breaks your rhythm and threatens to
break your ankles. I fell several times each day and seemed to find
hidden deep holes regularly. We constantly scanned the ground ahead for
any small paths or quad bike tracks to ease our passage. There were a lot
of fences and boundaries which mostly had parallel tracks even when they were
not marked on the map. We adopted a strategy of following these as we
slowly made progress. The straight line distance for the day was 42km
with 2580m of climb. Depending on route choice, this meant we would be
covering well over 30 miles. It became clear early on that it was going
to a very long day. After about 6 or 7 hours we had a big climb followed
by a traverse of some particularly soul destroying ground. This left me
light headed and energyless. We pressed on doggedly to a control in some
forestry. This control proved problematic for us and other teams.
The maps this year were not as good quality as usual and we really struggled to
find the control. After at least 20 minutes of frustration we came across
the control and pressed on into the approaching dark. It was fully dark
by the time we reached the next control. Then the final leg of about 1.5
miles took us 80 minutes of confusion in the dark (top teams did it in 30
minutes in daylight) until it was finally over.
It had
been our longest day ever in a mountain marathon. We wondered how many
other teams would make it around. The wind remained strong at the
campsite as we struggled with exhaustion to get the tent up. Eventually
organised, we got changed and cooked our food. Provisional results showed that
we were 17th out of only 18 teams completing the day. It wasn’t clear how
many had started but 34 teams had entered.
We had a
good rest overnight, good sleep was too much to hope for with the howling
wind. We were relieved and slightly surprised that our lightweight tent
has survived the night at all. At the start of day 2, ‘bad weather
courses’ were announced which shortened our 36km route, a bit. The
weather was actually better than day 1,with the the same wind but less rain (it
had rained intermittently throughout day 1). We weren’t complaining
though (at least not about a shortened course). We knew that we only had
to complete the day to get our highest ever placing, our previous best was
21st. However, just completing was going to be a massive challenge.
The
pattern of day 2 was similar to the previous day; miles of running along high
boundary fences, across almost impenetrable tussock grass, with a little track
and road running towards the end. We were very weary and the time flew by
without great progress being made. The accumulated aches, pains, abrasions,
knocks and twists were also slowing us down. The cut off time for the day began
to get uncomfortably close as we neared the end. We got to the last
control after 8 hours and then trotted in to the finish with a half hour to
spare. Day 2 had taken 8 hours and 17 minutes.
The
results showed that we had come in solidly last position but in 13th
place! Only 13 teams had completed the OMM Elite Class, the lowest number
in recent years. So this was our very best or our worst ever result,
depending on how you look at it. After just under 20 hours of running, I
think I will choose to look at it as our best ever result.
Simon
Vallance went for the Elite course with non-Strider Neil Gascoyne. They
had a slightly later start time than us and found themselves looking for that
difficult control in the woods in the dark. They couldn’t find it and had
to abandon the event.
Ann-Kristin
Koehler and John Marsham had a successful 10 hour 40 minute running weekend in
the B Class to come 16th overall out of 68 finishers and 3rd ‘mixed’ team.
Mick
Loftus (www.runmuddy.co.uk)
P.S. if I’ve missed any reports, please re-email
to me and I’ll publish next week.