Sorry, no VS Update last week, but quite a lot in this week’s edition so make yourself a drink, settle down and read on

 

Lasagne on Tuesday 4 August

 

Normal training sessions at 6pm and 7pm followed by lasagne

 

For food at 7:15pm book at earlyfood@valleystriders.org.uk , for food at 8:15pm, book at food@valleystriders.org.uk

 

In each case, choose meat or veggie lasagne (£3.50). NB ice creams will be available afterwards.  Please book before 10pm Sunday 2 August.

 

Leeds Country Way – Sunday 6 September – 6 runners needed

 

We’ve been getting frequent emails and we now have 66 names.  On this basis I have booked 6 teams, so we need 7 more runners.

 

For those of you that have requested to run, I can tell you the good news is that if you were one of the 57 who booked in by last Sunday 26^th July (the cut-off), you definitely have a place.

 

If you booked in after Sunday, then if we can get a 6^th team, you are definitely in, otherwise you’ll need to wait for the selections.

 

We have already selected a men’s team and a ladies team.  We will select the vets team by next Tuesday (somewhat delayed by Myra moving house).  The remaining teams will be announced by Friday 7^th.

 

So we’re extending the deadline in the hope of filling our 6^th team (and not disappointing the 6 names without a place at present).

 

So please email teams@valleystriders.org.uk before next Monday (3^rd).  NB names can be checked at www.valleystriders.org.uk/vsteams.htm

 

Please please note that it is impossible for you to be too slow for our 6^th team.  Provided you can run 10 miles (perhaps with walking up the hills), you can be in this team. 

 

V S Takeover of Roundhay parkrun Saturday 15 August (from Alex Watson-Usher)

 

Alex has posted on Facebook

 

I’m writing to ask for your help as Graham Pawley has suggested another Valley Strider Roundhay parkrun takeover and the wheels are already in motion…..

 

So far, we have a date picked (Saturday 15th August) and we already have a run director – Joel Giddings!

 

So now I’m asking for a few more volunteers to fill the various roles available. In previous takeovers, we’ve also been able to field a full complement of pacers and it’d be nice if we could do that again this time.

 

If you are free to help out, please do post below with any preferences. https://www.facebook.com/groups/291402584033/   or email Alex alexlouise@hotmail.co.uk or go to the “Future roster” page http://www.parkrun.org.uk/roundhay/futureroster/

 

For those of you that have helped in the past, you’ll know these takeovers have always been a huge success and an excellent morning out representing the club. And, for those that haven’t yet discovered the joy of parkrun – be warned! You’ll be addicted/utterly in love in no time.

 

Thanks very much in advance. :

 

AWU :-)

 

2 * Timekeeper

Number Checker

2 * Finish Tokens

2 * Barcode scanner

Token Sorting

Unscannables

Funnel manager

5 * Marshals

11 * Pacers at one minute intervals 20 to 30 mins

 

Bob says “there are some vacancies to fill but if all are occupied, then come along and run!”

 

The Spine Race (from Pete Wilkie, Roundhay Runners)

 

“Good evening all. I've arranged for a screening of this year's Spine Race film in Leeds on the 8th September at Seven Arts Cafe in Chapel Allerton. The film directors are attending and will be doing a talk about making the film and the event itself. I figured this would be of particular interest to this group. I also thought it'd be a good chance to promote a bit of social mixing between people with similar interests in different running clubs in the Leeds area. It'd be good to see some of you there if you fancied it. You can buy tickets through the Seven website.”

 

http://www.sevenleeds.co.uk/event/screen-seven-the-railway-man/

 

The Sicklinghall Sizzler (near Wetherby)

 

There were a dozen or more Striders at the Bardsey Blast last night – results will be in next week’s V S Update.

 

This was organized by Roundhay Runners and was the 3^rd race in Jason Praill’s series of Yorkshire Evening Trail Races.  The final race will be:

 

Wednesday 26th August, start any time 6.30pm to 7.30pm  From the Scotts Arms, Sicklinghall LS22 4BD  Under UKA Rules, TRA permit

 

See www.countrytrailraces.co.uk

 

The Sizzler is 5.3 miles (minimum age 16), but there will also be a 3.1 mile option (minimum age 12) for juniors and anyone else who prefers (which I believe is a new concept), so hopefully we’ll have a few of our older juniors running too.

 

Cost for the main race is only £5 and includes a £2 voucher for the Scotts Arms.

 

RESULTS and REPORTS

 

Leeds (run for all) 10k

 

  Gun pos                   Gun time  Chip time  Chip pos     

     48  Abdoulaye Kodokod  0:36:51   0:36:43       47        

     70  Jonathan Smyth     0:37:38   0:37:37       70        

     92  Gary Mann          0:38:35   0:38:28       95         

    131  Kevin McMullan     0:39:36   0:39:30      134        

    309  Keith Sexton       0:42:51   0:42:29      330        

    361  Samantha Harris    0:43:29   0:43:14      408   1st F35

    556  Stephen Diamond    0:45:26   0:45:16      680         

    558  Mike Powell        0:45:26   0:44:59      635        

    790  Chloe Hudson       0:47:45   0:47:23      999        

    969  Pascale Fotherby   0:48:59   0:47:39     1041        

   1597  Iain Currie        0:53:43   0:53:01     2229         

   1598  Eleanor Currie     0:53:43   0:53:02     2230        

   2024  John McDermott     0:56:39   0:51:39     1907        

   2637  Yup Ping Mong      1:00:42   0:42:36      345        

   2806  Paul Kelly         1:01:38   0:57:18     3304         

   3004  Ian Place          1:02:58   0:51:35     1889        

   3147  Sarah Ord          1:03:50   1:01:42     4403        

   3331  Rebecca Frankland  1:05:13   0:54:27     2580        

   3728  Alex Watson-Usher  1:07:59   0:57:05     3249         

 

Golden Acre Relay

 

24 Shank's Donkeys         Men's Open  

    Andy Pagdin             18:56 

    John Shanks             16:03 

    Graham Jones            17:36    52:35

44 Valley Stragglers       Ladies Open  (2^nd position)

    Myra Jones              17:28 

    Hannah Corne            17:32 

    Allison Skillicorn      19:44    54:44

67 Valley Sprites          Ladies Open 

    Louise Cazan            19:11 

    Sarah Shanks            19:49 

    Samantha Harris         19:33    58:33

70 Team Irvine             Men's Open 

    Alex Irvine             19:52 

    Joe Irvine              21:40 

    Richard Irvine          17:56    59:28

75 Valley Vixens           Ladies Vets 

    Liz Wood                19:51 

    Sue Sunderland          21:04 

    Rachel Mackie           19:19   1:00:14

97 Striders Golden Girls   Mixed       

    Nicola Hartley          22:45 

    Holly Button            21:38 

    Alex Irvine             21:03   1:05:26

104 Go Striders             Ladies Open 

    Pascale Fotherby        21:38 

    Rebecca Frankland       23:20 

    Gemma Merritt           21:04   1:06:02

110 Valley Of The Dolls     Ladies Vets 

    Sarah Pagdin            23:58 

    Liz Reddington          21:52 

    Claire Senior           21:23   1:07:13

 

Also, Alex Pagdin ran the 2nd leg in  14:50 for Skyrac AC Mixed team, they finished 4th overall and 1st mixed team

 

Also, Graham Needham ran the 2nd leg in 18:01 for Striders From Mars who finished in 18th place

 

Washburn Valley Relay

 

The ladies team of Rachel Mackie, Myra Jones and Allison Skillicorn were VS only representatives in this race, finishing 16^th out of 72 teams and 2^nd ladies team.

 

Snowdon International Mountain Race (from Simon Redshaw)

 

A fantastic day out!  10 miles straight to the top of Snowden and back down the same path.

 

I drove there Friday night with my friend Rob and we Mountain biked up the Snowdon main path approx. two thirds of the way before pitching our tents for the night.  The wind was gusting all night but it wasn’t cold.  We woke early and completed the ride to the summit so we could take the Rangers path descent back down to Llanberis. A classic MTB descent which was very technical and rocky in places but with some stunning views.  After a full breakfast in ‘Pete’s eats’ we drove to the shores of Llyn Padarn and donned the wet suits for a refreshing dip.  We had a couple of hours to kill before the start of the race so brewed up a cup of tea and relaxed in the sunshine.

 

Warning, beware of tourists and keep to the left, giving way to downhill runners!  Kenny Stuart, still the record holder of over 30yrs in a time of 1:02:49 led the procession to the start line in the village.

 

After a very sunny start the first part of the course followed a steep tarmac road for half a mile that must be almost 1 in 4.  This certainly wakes the legs up in prep for what is to come, due to footpath preservation this is an extremely rocky trail route.  It was extremely warm on the lower slopes and thankfully two water stations were provided on the route up.  I reached two thirds of the way up having just crossed under the railway line for the second time to see the Elite runners coming down and what a site! An Irish National runner tripped and fell very badly into the rocky path right next to me, with cries of pain!  It didn’t look good.  I carried on and reached the last section of the climb which is extremely rocky and passed a fresh pool of blood, another reminder to be careful!  The weather turned cooler and quite windy as I got nearer the top.  My decision to wear a Helly Hansen long sleeve was spot but it was very warm at the beginning in the sunshine. After touching the trig point the descent was incredible, dodging the tourists and trying to prevent being blown sidewards into runners still ascending. At times I was able to sprint full on.  My quads and calves were on fire when I reached the bottom and I literally had nothing left to give. I was reasonably happy with my result on the back of no training and my second trip of the day up the mountain, a very impressive strong field of runners up front.

 

1. Emanuele Manzi (Itlay) 1:10:18

4. Rob Hope(Team Salomon) 1:13:10

5. Tom Adams(England) 1:13:24

14. Ian Holmes 1:16:07

307. Simon Redshaw 1:50:13

603 finished, last runner 3:08:21

 

Salomon 4 Trails race, Germany & Austria, 8th to 11th July, 86.5m, 30,740ft (from Ross Bibby)

 

A three week off road running “holiday” in the Alps that began for me in Venice and took in Cortina (Skyrace and 30 mile trail race), Chamonix, Grindelwald and Salzburg came to its conclusion at my first multi day race- the Salomon 4 Trails in Germany and Austria. Despite having run 110 miles at altitude and in high temperatures during the previous 10 days I arrived in Bavaria feeling quite fresh. The race itself was four stages long, taking in three towns in Germany and two in Austria. It is incredibly well organised, as you receive a personalised bag with which to transport your gear- the organisers pick this up at your hotel in the morning and drop it off at whichever hotel you are staying at in the next town. Each town puts on a pasta party every evening and this incorporates the stage prize giving and race briefing for the next day.

 

Day 1, Berchestesgaden to Bad Reichenhall, 15.5m, 5900ft

The first stage was shortened due to impending thunder and lightning, which kept us off one of the two high points of the day. Thankfully the temperature had cooled from the previous days 37 degrees but was still 26 degrees, muggy and a little bit damp, which although didn’t really cool you down meant quite slippy conditions. I was joined for the first day by Andreas Mayer, whose family live nearby in this part of Germany. We were both surprised by how steep and quite technical the day was, with roped sections and “no-overtaking allowed” in certain areas. I finished in 3hr11m, 110^th overall (473 finishers). Andreas ended the “Schnuppertrail” in 3hr38m and 22^nd place (60 finishers).

 

Day 2, Bad Reichenhall to Ruhpolding, 21.3m, 6240ft

Day two brought much cooler temperatures which for me meant a much more enjoyable day of running. We climbed out of Bad Reichenhall and dropped down in to the village of Inzell, where Andreas and family were providing the Strider support. A few miles of relatively flat running enabled a decent pace until the final climb through a forest, with damp and muddy conditions that favoured the English fell runners, before a nice runnable descent into the picturesque village of Ruhpolding, a famous German winter sports resort. I couldn’t quite get under 4 hours and ended in 4hr07m and 76^th place (468 finishers), but was pleased as I felt far better than the day before and had improved considerably.

 

Day 3, Ruhpolding to Lofer, 23m, 8700ft

Day 3 saw a short bus ride and later start time due to forestry works, which meant a 9.30am start from Weissbach instead of the usual 8am. The revised start meant an impressive and technical run through a gorge to start the day, followed by a ridiculously steep climb of 2000ft in one mile! The climb eventually did end and dropped us down into Austria through the village of Unken, where one of the three aid stations that day came as a welcome relief with the temperatures getting up to the late twenties. Having loved the previous three hours of running, it is fair to say I really didn’t enjoy the next two, as we climbed steeply back up and dropped sharply into the small village of Lofer to the finish. Finishing in 5hr05m and 108^th (446 finishers) I had lost a lot of places in the last few hours, and had really suffered in the heat.  

 

Day 4, Lofer to Maria Alm, 26.7m, 9900ft

Having spoken to people who had previously taken part in multi day races, they had talked about how as the race wears on how much more difficult it is to manage to eat, with you really having to force food down over the final few days. I had started to get to that point, really unable to eat breakfast on the final day and still suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion from the day before. Not ideal preparation for the final stage, which was also the longest, had most climbing, highest point of the race and the hottest day so far (30 degrees)! It is fair to say I set off slowly, and got even slower!

 

The final day was also the most spectacular scenery-wise, as we climbed steadily through forests, past lakes and up to the start of the “steinernen meer”, and the highest point of the race at 7500ft. Translated as “the sea of stones”, it took me about two and a half hours to cross these bright white undulating boulder fields, with running proving difficult in the heat and sun, especially with a number of snow fields to cross. After toiling for a long time I eventually reached the edge of the steinernen meer at a huge stone gateway of the sommerstein and breithorn mountains, with spectacular views down to the valley. This 5 mile and 5000ft descent incorporated a number of steep and tricky wired and roped sections before eventually leading into the finish of the day and the race at Maria Alm, another picture postcard Austrian village. This final day had been a case of damage limitation for me and it showed in my time of 7hr43m and 197^th (431 finishers). I ended the overall race in 127^th out of 431 finishers, a little disappointed I had dropped so many places on the final day but some lessons learnt for the future. I would thoroughly recommend this event, with excellent organisation, spectacular, varied and challenging terrain and a good atmosphere adding to an excellent experience. The return shuttle the following morning took us directly to Munich city centre, allowing the added bonus of some well-earned post-race beers………

 

1. Miguel Caballero, La Sportiva (Spain), 13hr30m

23. Helen Bonsor, Team Mammut (GB), 16h15m (1^st female)

127. Ross Bibby, Valley Striders, 20hr07m

(431 finishers, 473 started)

 

Leeds Xpress Triathlon (from Mike Furby)

 

26th July 2015 - 400m pool swim, 14.5 mile bike, 3 mile run - Location Leeds Grammar School.

Weather. Fine sunny start, quite windy, started raining right at the end when most had finished.

 

Valley Striders Triathlon Club made a big impression at this race on Sunday. Being one of our most local races it wasn’t a surprise that many of our members turned out, but in all we had 10 Striders listed plus a couple of other in the start sheet that are also Striders and so by far our biggest turnout yet. However, we weren’t just here to make up the numbers, we had ambitions too and so it was a just a case of seeing how it would shake out in the final standings.

 

As with all swimming pool based triathlons though the start is carried out over a period of time with a few athletes starting out at a time. The first wave off at 08:30 am, and final wave at 11:30am. The start waves were based on estimated swim times with a couple of us being landed in the “Elite” waves much to our amusement. The 400m pool swim included quite a long walk (no running allowed pool side) out to the transition area.

 

Interesting to see the different bikes in transition all the way from high end time trial machines to a few mountain bikes and hybrids with most riding standard road bikes. The bike course out on the A61 through Harewood to the roundabout halfway to Harrogate and return. It’s quite a hilly course that includes one of our favourite club climbs - Harewood bank. Marshalls on the course were noting down the folks who were stopped at the traffic lights so that their overall times could be adjusted. The way back was slightly harder due to an unfavourable wind but never too much and it stayed dry thankfully.

 

Back to the grammar school and into transition to leave the bike and head out for the 3 mile trail run consisting of two laps within the grounds of the school.

 

At the end of the race we started to compare times and it was clear that it was going to be a close run thing. Finally after the adjustments had been made we got the final results. For the men’s race, Dan Price came out the club winner by a mere 6 seconds over both John Shanks and myself who registered the exact same time. Overall we ended up in 4th, 5th and 6th position overall, just missing out on the top 3. John Shanks actually taking the fastest run on the day. Myself and Dan were awarded age groups wins as the actual winners of our age groups were awarded 2nd and 3rd place overall, however, it gives us free entry to another event which we are pleased accept and a “winners” mug. These results though gave us the overall team victory and another “winners” mug. Also in the men’s race, Mick Tinker placed well in his age category.

In the women’s race, rather like in the men’s, we had a close battle between Anna Hobbs, Alison Campbell-Price and Sarah Shanks , with Anna pipping Alison by a few seconds only and just a few minutes ahead of Sarah. Also in the ladies some new faces with Helen Downie, Sue Carr and Mary Butterworth competing for the first time this year and indeed for Sue, in here first triathlon ever. Helen and Sue also now in a new (and probably they won’t thank me for mentioning this) Female Vet category on the VSTC Grand Prix.

A couple other Striders were noted, Neil Holloway finishing 9th overall and Erica Hiorns claiming 2nd place in her age category.
In addition there was another Striders Victory in the team relay event with Anne McAffreys team coming first….out of 1, but hey, a win is a win so we’ll take that.

 

Results (including the overall winners for M and F)

 

   1 David Stevens     M 50-54 Triangle 01:08:35
   4 Daniel Price      M 30-34 VSTC 01:10:15
  =5 John Shanks       M 30-34 VSTC 01:10:21
  =5 Mike Furby        M 40-44 VSTC 01:10:21
   9 Neil Holloway     M 40-44 LBT 01:12:58
  23 Annaliese Nevins  F 35-39 Triangle 01:18:22
  43 Anna Hobbs        F 35-39 VSTC 01:22:06
  46 Alison Campbell   F 35-39 VSTC 01:22:50
  76 Sarah Shanks      F 30-34 VSTC 01:28:12
  79 Mick Tinker       M 60-64 VSTC 01:28:45
111 Erica Hiorns      F 50-54 LBT  01:34:51
 143 Helen Downie      F 45-49 VSTC 01:43:06
170 Sue Carr          F 50-54 VSTC 01:48:11
194 Mary Butterworth  F       VSTC 02:10:18

 

VSTC Grand Prix(from Mike Furby)

 

The VSTC GP table is also shaping up nicely with a number of folks having completed 4 or more scoring races. The scoring is based on the %age of time versus AG winning time, with the 4 best results in the year counting. Plus bonuses are given for the variety and number of events completed of different types and distances. Alison deservedly in the lead with a high number of races completed including both duathlon and triathlon over sprint, standard and half iron distances. In addition to the Leeds Xpress results, Mark Metcalfe moves up with his excellent performance at the Gauntlet Half Iron distance triathlon last weekend too. Club members are also lined up in a few more remaining events including the Leeds Triathlon based in roundhay park on 13th Sept and is still open for entries into both sprint and standard distance races.

 

Pos Cat Name            Cat   Pts

    Pos

 1  1 Alison Campbell  FSen 455.4

  2  1 John Shanks      MSen 433.6

  3  2 Sophie Johnstone FSen 422.0

  4  3 Sarah Shanks     FSen 410.9 

  5  2 Dan Price        MSen 407.2

  6  4 Anna Hobbs       FSen 337.7

  7  1 Mike Furby       MVet 331.6 

  8    Neil Holloway    MVet2ndClaim 224.2

  9  2 Vernon Long      MVet 222.8

 10  3 Matt Kasher      MSen 211.2

 11  3 Mark Metcalfe    MVet 195.7

 12  4 Ross Bibby       MSen 185.3

 13  5 Kim Spence       FSen 125.0

 14    Erica Hiorns     FVet2ndClaim 119.9

 15  1 Helen Downie     FVet 114.6

 16  4 Mick Tinker      MVet 113.7

 17  5 Steve Wilkins    MSen 112.9

 18  6 Dan Murray       MSen 111.9

 19  2 Sue Carr         FVet 108.2

 20  6 Katherine Hogg   FSen 105.9

 21  7 Greg Skerrett    MSen 105.4

 22  5 John Batchelor   MVet 100.4

 23  7 Becky Murray     FSen 94.2

 24  6 Paul Felton      MVet 86.7

 25  7 Richard Clough   MVet 85.8

 26  8 Mary Butterworth FSen 85.7

 27  9 Tanya Wilkins    FSen 83.9

 

To find out more about Valley Striders Triathlon Club, please contact triathlon@valleystriders.org.uk or join our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/valleystriderstriathlon/