V S Update - 10 November

Another VSU !
- Training and food and parents/juniors committee meeting 15 November
- Entries still open till 12 November for Peco and WYXC
- Entries now open to Yorkshire XC, Northern XC and National XC
- Club entries for London and Brighton
- Results from Abbey Dash, Shepherds Skyline and OMM

Tuesday 15 November - training and food

- 6pm sessions for juniors and adult beginners/improvers at Leos
- 7pm sessions for intermediate and experienced runners from Leos
- All details on the front page of the website.
- Pie and peas will be served at 7:15pm and 8:30pm, see the green box on the front page of website www.valleystriders.org.uk for how to book.

Tuesday 15 November - parents/juniors committee/open meeting

At the same time as the early pie'n'peas will be a meeting of parents of juniors, open to all parents and older juniors.  Richard will be letting you know about the changes on the VSAC committee and how we are setting up a committee to represent juniors and parents which in many ways mirrors the VSAC structure.  There will then be an open discussion.

Cross Country Entries

- We are still able to book "late" places for Peco adults until 12 November.
- We are definitely still taking registrations for Peco juniors - response has been a little disappointing - this is a good introduction to XC at local club level.
- We can still get you in to West Yorks XC for races 3 and 4, at 50% off the price, until 12 November
- We now have dates, locations and prices for Yorkshire XC, Northern XC and National XC Championships.
- All details in the blue box on the front page of the website www.valleystriders.org.uk.  All "requests" via the "teams" email address.  All payments to the AC Payments account.

VSAC Membership

As at 4 November, 58% of all members had renewed.  See yellow box on the front page of website to check your status and how to renew.

London Marathon places

We have 3 guaranteed places for the London marathon.  Anyone who has joined V S prior to 1 Jan 2016 is eligible.  Priority will be given to those who have rejection slips, and those who have not previously had a V S club place.  Please email [email protected] before 30 November and state your credentials!

Brighton Marathon places

The Brighton marathon (9 April) entries have closed but we have access to 6 club places.  Information on the marathon is at www.brightonmarathon.co.uk   NB cost is £69.50.

If you want a club place, please email [email protected].  Note that if, in 2016, you have run a marathon sub 2:45 men, 3:15 women, or a half marathon sub 1:20 men, 1:30 women, you are entitled to free entry.  Note that all club places must be applied for via our club secretary, you can't apply directly.

RESULTS AND REPORTS

Abbey Dash

Gun Pos

Chip Time

GP Pts

74

John Hobbs

00:32:18

100

129

Daryl Hibberd

00:33:41

99

139

Matthew Hallam

00:33:51

98

175

Rav Panesar

00:34:30

97

179

Jonathan Smyth

00:34:39

96

220

Paul Fotherby

00:35:11

95

226

Tom Venning

00:35:22

94

251

Jon Pownall

00:35:48

93

312

Dave Penman

00:36:44

92

355

Gwil Thomas

00:37:25

91

416

Ian Sanderson

00:38:05

90

566

David Merritt

00:39:43

89

632

Roy Huggins

00:40:20

87

645

Rob Marsh

00:40:16

88

723

Jake Towler

00:40:48

84

724

Alex Brennan

00:40:33

85

751

Russell Cliffe

00:40:20

87

915

Louise Cazan

00:42:11

83

1097

Ken Fox

00:43:34

82

1301

Leroy Sutton

00:44:23

81

1406

Paul Sanderson

00:44:59

79

1430

Alex Irvine

00:44:55

80

1439

Paul White

00:45:54

78

1901

Jason Twigg

00:47:05

77

1935

Claire Capper

00:47:29

76

1981

Liz Reddington

00:48:19

73

2050

Eamon O'Brien

00:47:55

75

2246

Jeremy Richardson

00:48:27

72

2323

Pascale Fotherby

00:50:03

71

2419

Anne Worrall

00:50:48

68

2665

Iain Currie

00:52:37

64

2683

Eleanor Currie

00:52:41

63

2719

Stuart Harris

00:51:41

66

2763

Paul Jones

00:52:11

65

2906

Rob Hamilton

00:48:05

74

3066

Nicola Hartley

00:50:22

69

3349

Alex Watson-Usher

00:50:12

70

3469

Brian Tyrrell

00:51:13

67

4232

Maureen Coffey

00:58:09

60

4330

Kate Brady

00:54:41

62

4518

Vicki Johnstone

00:55:24

61

4651

Caroline Tolan

00:58:19

59

5669

Christine Huckerby

01:02:42

57

6764

Meryll Cripps

01:00:36

58

 

Just 2 more races in 2016 VSGP - Harriers vs Cyclists this Saturday and Peco race 1 on 27 November

Abbey Junior Race

10

Sophie Turner

00:06:31

f

3

11

Tally Diamond

00:06:31

f

4

15

Jamie Walker

00:06:42

m

10

22

Keira Jones

00:07:03

m

15

27

Imogen Idle

00:07:07

f

10

28

Josie Pawley

00:07:08

f

11

52

Jessica Baxter

00:07:42

f

18

56

Toby Walker

00:07:47

m

41

 

Shepherds Skyline Fell Race, Todmorden (VSFC-BS, 10K, 350m) 5 November 2016

1. Thomas Corrigan, Barlick Fell Runners, 44.04
26. Ross Bibby, Valley Striders,                 50.46
34.
Sarah Tipler, Barlick Fell Runners,       52.03 (1st female)
175. Holly Button, Valley Striders,             68.50
177.
Keith Brewster, Valley Striders,         69.00
251.
Alun Davies, Valley Striders,              83.03

OMM 2016 – race report

This year's OMM (Original Mountain Marathon) was in the hills of Galloway, South West Scotland, with the event centre based at the small village of Glentrool.   It was an odd sensation to driving up on the Friday evening with the temperature gauge reading 13 degrees and the forecast very benign.  Usually when I spend 2 days running back to back marathons with full camping and cooking kit, the weather is dreadful. 

In recent years, the event organisers have been criticised for making the tougher courses too long, with the effect that many of the teams that just want to get round, failed to do so.  When we picked up the map on the Saturday morning, we were pleasantly surprised to find that this year's day one was only 32.6km long with total climb of 2595m.  Of course, this is a straight line distance – it's up to us to decide the best way to get between the controls, which can mean running considerably more than that.   Our next thought was, it's probably going to be very tough going.  Neil, my partner, recalled having competed in the same area a few years previously and anticipated huge tussocks and plentiful bogs.  He wasn't wrong.

Despite the forecast, as the sun came up, the cloud was down and delivering that very Scottish of rain, so fine that the Scots discount it as actual precipitation.  We had an early start (they are kind to old men, giving us more daylight than the young whippets with later start times) and headed off into the clag.  Despite the forecast suggesting that cloud was high and the weather dry, it was neither.  For most of the day we saw little more than 100 metres or so as we climbed, dropped, fought through tussocks, waded through bogs and reasonably efficiently found the controls.  The map took us into the north of the competition area, with one very long leg up and over the Range of the Awful Hand (what a great name).  Despite the weather, there were times when we could see what a beautiful area this was, with glistening lochs bordered by white sandy beaches, and deciduous woods displaying their autumn golds and red.  It almost made up for the pain of yet again falling into another bog.

The day was long and strength sapping, with strong winds making it essential that we keep moving as we were by now quite wet.  Sadly we made a serious navigational error at control 10 and spent 1 and ¼ hours searching fruitlessly for a grassy knoll in low visibility.  Despite teaming up with another pair, we could not find the control until a helpful shout ensured we located it and could descend before hypothermia could set it. 

Our mistake was to prove costly as, when we got to the overnight camp, some 10 hours and 4 minutes after we had set off, in the gathering gloom, we were in 21st place and an hour behind the leading vets team.  Still, spirits were high and after a delicious meal and a cosy night's sleep we were ready to go again.  In fact, as I said to the organisers at the start of day 2, this was the only OMM where I have slept soundly and been warm on the overnight camp.

Day two was shorter still with a mere 24.7km to cover and climb of 2025m.  This time the race planners sent us east and south in the competition area, towards the Minnigaff hills.  Today, the cloud was higher and we were able to see more of the Galloway Forest Park, looking back northwards to where we had run the previous day.  Again, we were quire efficient with both our route choices and locating the controls.  For a while we ran with our nearest vet competitors who, once having established who we were, shot off, not to be seen until the prize-giving at the end of the day. 

We pressed on, staggered home in 8 hours and 7 minutes, now an hour and a half behind the leading vets team.  However, get home we did, with almost an hour before cut-off and in time to see the prize-giving presentation.  The winners in our event, the elite, Shane Ohly and Duncan Archer posted an unbelievable total time of 10 hours and 51 minutes.  It had taken us 18 hours and 11 minutes.  At least they had the good grace of wearing their GB tops to receive their prize so that the rest of us didn't feel so bad about being so far behind them.

Neil and I always have 4 objectives for the OMM:
1.         Stay alive
2.         Get round
3.         Get round in daylight
4.         Be competitive.

This is very definitely in this order.  We achieved the first three, and could almost claim the fourth – 18th place and second vets, until you realise that only 19 teams finished and there were, by the end, only two vets teams.  Still, I'll take that.  We were both pretty chuffed with our performances and, after a suitable period of time, decided that we had enjoyed it.

The BBC Adventure Show were there, filming footage of the elite competition.  If this report piques your interest, I strongly recommend that you watch it to get a sense of what goes on.  And look out for me – I'm the one in the orange buff. 

Simon Vallance