V S Update - 20 May 2017

- V S Junior races and Club Handicap Tuesday 23 May
- V S Grand Prix
- V S Fell Championship
- Yorkshire Vets Series
- Leeds Race Series
- Country Trail Races
- Reports from Coniston & Fellsman
- Results from Leeds half and Roche Abbey

Club Junior Races and Club Handicap Tuesday 23 May

All races are free to enter and all races are open to club members and non-members including friends of existing members and juniors on the waiting list.  Could non-members and waiting list please email [email protected] to let us know in advance?

Meeting place for race start and postcode for parking are on the front page of the website www.valleystriders.org.uk.  Note that it is a 3 minute jog / 6 minute walk from Alwoodley Lane to the start.

On the night, we will be asking parents of juniors to marshal along the half mile length of the junior route as (especially if it is a nice evening) there are likely to be walkers, dogs and bicycles on the route.

We need a few marshals for the 5 mile race, if you can help please email Sue Sunderland [email protected] . The race can't take place without these marshals.

In the Club Handicap, runners are allocated start times based on recent "form" and it is the handicapper's objective for everyone to finish at the same time (except those who've recently won the club handicap, they get an extra penalty.

For the Club Handicap, please arrive for 6:45pm, see if your name is on a sheet pinned up on the fence, if it is, you will find your start time on it, if not, see Sue Sunderland or Paul Sanderson and tell them your recent or estimated 5k or 10k time and they will calculate your start time.  Note that the cup can only be won by someone with their name on the list.  Note that start times will be called out but it's your responsibility to be at the start line for your time (and not warming up or taking a comfort break).

Note that Grand Prix points are awarded based on "chip" time. 

Training Tuesday 30 May

All groups from Far Moss, see website

V S Grand Prix

Next races - Club handicap on 23 May, Ilkley Trail Race (cakes highly recommended) on 29 May, Apperley Bridge Canter on 1 June, Wharfedale off-road half on 3 June (not yet full, surprisingly), Otley 10 on 7 June, Pudsey 10k on 18 June (filling fast), Hyde Park mile on 28 June, Eccup 10 on 2 July (filling fast).

V S Fell Championship

All fell races count but there are extra points for running in selected races.  The next selected races are Ilkley Trail Race on 29 May, Otley Chevin on 1 June, Settle Hills on 18 June, Beamsley Beacon on 22 June.

Yorkshire Vets Series (from Ken Fox)

There are a couple of great little Yorkshire Vets' races coming up - at Kirkstall on Tuesday 30th May at 7:30pm and Lythe near Whitby on Sunday 4th June at 11:10am. Both are multi-terrain with a few hilly bits and cover about 6 miles. Just £5 to enter on the day. Just have to be over 35. Full details on the YVAA web site: http://www.yvaa.org/grand-prix/

Leeds Race Series (from Bob Jackson)

It's not too late to enter the Leeds Race Series 2017.  In fact, of the 22 races in this year's series, only 3 have gone.  The Leeds Race Series consists of all races in Leeds that are organised by local athletics clubs plus each of the 6 parkruns in Leeds.  The Series itself is free to enter.  See www.leedsathletics.net and click on link to Leeds Race Series where you'll find "rules" and a calendar of races.

Next races - Crossflatts parkrun on 27 May, Otley Fell Race on 31 May, ABC on 1 June, Roundhay parkrun 4 dates (3 & 24 June and 8 &15 July), Otley 10 on 7 June, Pudsey 10k on 18 June.

Country Trail Races

This is an interesting format introduced to Leeds a few years ago by our own Jason Praill.  Runners can start any time between 6:30pm and 7:30pm and are given navigation instructions. The net time is calculated for the results. Start at or near a pub and the race entry fee includes £2 drinks voucher (not sure if anyone has taken advantage of this before setting off).

The next race is the Bardsey Bound from the Bingley Arms in Bardsey on 7 June, https://www.facebook.com/countrytrailraces/  

RACE RESULTS and REPORTS

Please send your reports to [email protected]

Please send your results to [email protected] (in particular any marathons, half marathons and ultra races - all of these are eligible for GP points)

Ross Bibby sent a couple of results in

For any other marathon - Ultra Trail Barcelona (marathon)- 20th position, time- 4.18

For any ultra - Hardmoors 30 (miles)- 3rd position, time- 4.05. Winners time- 3.59

If anyone has sent me a report and it has not yet been published, I apologise for losing it in my inbox, please re-send.

Coniston, 8.7m, 1065m. The "Lancashire 3 peaks"? (from John Marsham)

A busy w/e of fell races. Coniston(M), 3 peaks(L), Fellsman (very L). Did anyone do a short? Here's my Coniston report.

I've wanted to do this race for a while, and finally got around to it this year. It's always on the May day bank holiday and this year that clashed with Yorkshire Three Peaks (always the last w/e of April). Not a problem for me though as I wasn't fit or injury free enough for 22 miles and hadn't done any qualifying races anyway. 8.7 miles doesn't sound far, but it would be the longest race I'd done in a while, and Coniston's steep - I did a few sums, roughly the same height gain/mile as Sedburgh or Borrowdale.

It's a real 'village race' park at the Junior school (parking fee to school funds). Register in the village hall (with soup, sandwiches, tea & cake after). Ceilidh in the church hall that night. Camping nearby. The run completes the classic horseshoe above the village, taking in 3 peaks, with the Old Man of Coniston as the final one. The Old Man was the highest summit in Lancashire before it became Cumbria (hence the 'Old Counties Tops' race over The Old Man, Scafell Pike and Helvellyn).

For a ridgeline horsehoe the actual line is surprisingly devious, using the main paths relatively little. Instead it's a case of follow the leader up the big climb out of the village and then over grassy trods to reach the ridge crest, and then along the ridge, but also with some cunning contouring lines to avoid any unnecessary height gain. Here the views are spectacular - fells on one side, sea on the other, which takes your mind off the undulations as you work around to the Old Man. By now the field had spread out and the best line off the summit, which drops 740 m in 3km is notoriously tricky to find. Luckily there were just enough people for me to follow, and a strategy of 'if in doubt head down' seemed to work, but I can't say I ran this descent very smoothly, which I think is a very fast line if you're up to it.

I think the clash with the other Three peaks distracted a few runners, so I was pleasingly far up the field, but Tom's not unused to winning races, so I was happy to be 'only' 25 mins behind him.

1 1:08:13 Tom Addison
10 1:17:49 Richard Mellon
32 1:25:47 Lou Roberts
52 1:33:35 John Marsham (M40) - Valley Striders

Leeds Half Marathon

Many Striders did not show with their club name in the results either because they were new members or because they'd signed up immediately after last year's race and there was no prompt for club name.  Here are the results Graham and I have managed to find.

Pos.

Name

Cat.

Gun Time

Chip Time

Gen

der Pos.

Cat. Pos.

Chip Pos.

GP Pts

Age grade

%

2

John Hobbs

M35

01:12:59

01:12:59

2

1

2

100

81.76

16

Daryl Hibberd

M

01:17:27

01:16:41

16

12

10

99

76.14

28

Jeremy Ladyman

M35

01:20:47

01:20:45

28

7

29

98

73.90

62

Gwilym Thomas

M40

01:23:38

01:23:27

60

7

64

97

72.44

144

Ian Sanderson

M45

01:28:10

01:27:58

138

13

158

96

71.57

353

Roy Huggins

M50

01:34:02

01:33:51

335

17

386

95

71.92

398

Kevin McMullan

M45

01:35:14

01:34:40

376

45

416

94

68.23

412

Martin Cliff

M45

01:35:33

01:35:08

390

46

443

93

66.74

447

Iain Currie

M45

01:36:22

01:35:47

423

50

484

92

67.43

473

Ken Fox

M55

01:36:46

01:35:50

445

11

486

91

73.06

531

Graham Pawley

M45

01:37:57

01:37:01

498

58

557

90

66.58

724

Louise Wardman

F

01:41:00

01:40:32

58

33

836

89

65.14

786

Sue Sunderland

F55

01:41:50

01:41:42

66

3

931

87

78.54

872

Leroy Sutton

M55

01:43:13

01:41:23

793

25

905

88

69.71

1208

Chris Sawyer

M55

01:48:07

01:46:58

1072

32

1469

86

65.45

1510

Steph Gledhill

F35

01:51:54

01:48:49

196

28

1695

85

61.29

1560

Lisa Koi

F35

01:52:36

01:52:31

202

31

2181

83

TBA

1848

John Wallace

M50

01:57:29

01:55:40

1593

115

2551

80

56.33

2435

Eamon O'Brien

M45

02:05:30

01:54:06

2036

242

2353

81

55.65

2449

Kat Martin

F35

02:05:36

01:50:35

405

67

1925

84

59.77

2662

Chloe Hudson

F35

02:08:01

02:05:12

480

79

3782

73

53.02

2666

Elizabeth O'Shea

F35

02:08:04

01:53:45

483

80

2322

82

58.95

2669

Bob Jackson

M65

02:08:05

02:04:29

2186

7

3691

75

60.78

2709

Nicola Hartley

F

02:08:33

01:57:09

500

271

2734

78

55.72

3025

Philippa Cox

F40

02:11:55

01:59:25

622

89

3092

77

57.27

3598

Stuart Harris

M35

02:17:43

02:04:59

2746

429

3761

74

46.95

3621

Neil Hall

M35

02:17:55

02:05:28

2762

431

3812

72

46.77

3872

Rachael Oliver

F40

02:20:29

01:56:24

975

150

2643

79

58.34

4376

Louise Jennings

F45

02:26:43

02:12:47

1204

116

4660

71

52.84

4602

Abi Frankland

F35

02:29:48

02:04:28

1318

208

3688

76

53.87

5133

Maureen Coffey

F65

02:36:36

02:25:18

1623

3

5724

70

65.00

6110

Stuart Dustan

M50

02:55:28

02:31:05

3880

336

6003

69

43.88

 

If you ran and are not on this list, please email [email protected]

You'll see a couple of extra columns on the right hand side. 

The right most column is the age graded percentage.  Most of you will know what this is because it is  shown on all parkrun results, but for more information see www.valleystriders.org.uk/vsagegrd.htm .  John Hobbs scored the highest AG% of all Striders and for this he will be awarded the Vadim Kuznetsov trophy see www.valleystriders.org.uk/vsvadim.htm

The column next to the right shows the V S Grand Prix points, based, as always, on chip time.

John Carr 5k Series at Esholt

We have these results (thanks to Rob Hamilton for sending the first race) but I am going to publish them in the next V S Update as by then we will have calculated the V S Grand Prix points.

Roche Abbey half marathon and 10k (from Amanda Spencer)

This event was in the "Its Grim Up North" series and offered distances of 5k, 10k, half marathon, full marathon and ultra marathon

Half marathon
2nd Adam Parton 1:42:43

10K
1st woman (equal 1st overall) Sarah Graham 45:50
4th woman (13th overall) Amanda Spencer 52:21
6th woman (15th overall) Dawn Parton 54:35

Fellsman (from Anthony Fryer)

The plan was simple, build up to the Fellsman over the months leading up to it. Do the Howarth Hobble, then do the Calderdale Hike and see how they go before I make a decision. None of that happened, so there I was start of April, 3 weeks before the start of the Fellsman and I am emailing Mick Loftus, who I knew had done it previously, asking if a 61 mile fell race is wingable as I have done no prep or build up.

"If you are fit, then winging it is definitely possible and probably no more painful that preparing for it." - Mick Loftus

And with those wise words and a quick read of his blog report which really didn't sell the race at all. I went and recced parts of the route and thought that will have to do. I have done multi day running events and done long 15 hour back to back days when mountain biking so I knew what to expect and knew how to keep going for many hours so it was not completely unknown. It was just simply 35 miles longer than any running race I have finished before.

Using Mick's previous time as my only point of reference, I decided I would like to finish same time give or take an hour so I had a 14 - 16 hour window. So far so good, I had managed to keep science, logic and a solid plan well away from my race and build up, they just get in the way.

Race day came quickly and Sarah and I made our way up to Threshfield on the Friday night. Registered and faffed around a bit then tried to sleep. Our coach was one of the last to leave at 6.30am. We met up with Paul Sanderson who was back for a 3rd time in a hope to get round. A shame a knee injury previously sustained on his bike forced an early retirement from Paul (next year?).

Once the race started I ran up Ingleborough, not really pushing it but soon realised I was a bit far up in the race. The sun was also getting up and I was getting hot. First layer off. Clipped in at Inglebrough then took a fast direct route NNW from the summit straight down a steep grassy slope then cut back to the walkers slabs once down. The day was just getting hotter and I never really settled in a rhythm at all up to Dent. This, in itself is an AL fell race of about 18 miles or in Fellsman terms, the warm up! I got there far too warm and not feeling like I had got into it at all. I thought I had dropped loads of places and unfounded doubt set in. I was thinking this was going to be a LONG day. 

Over the next 15 miles things eventually started to click. I was a good temperature and a breeze appeared, and I was moving okay. Stonehouse was next, I was actually feeling better 30 miles in than the first 10 miles? This was the first serious food checkpoint. One of the things I had thought previous to the race was what I wanted to eat at each of these checkpoints (they send you a menu!), but once presented with food, trays of cake and vats of soup I just did not fancy much at all. I did however taker a sudden fancy to cheese sandwiches with thickly buttered white bread. Strange as I typically don't like cheese sandwiches?

It was from here that I was starting to push on a bit, I felt that I was really trying all the way up to Fleet Moss. I was starting to pull people back and move back up the field.

At this point I got settled running with another guy. He knew the route well but maybe was not quite as fast. I decided that for the slight delay in running speed would be made up for by running the right way in the first place. My slight mistake was I should have dropped him earlier once I got past the difficult nav but, but that kind of felt unfair, we had been running for a good couple of hours together now. In fact I think I ran with this guy with no name from just after half way right to the finish. I am going to guess Paul? I could be wrong. I am not great with names. I could tell you loads about his life and his teenage kids, just not his name :(

The dreaded Fleet Moss was not that bad, then after middle tongue we were taking good lines and we even had a bit of a spurt on to avoid getting grouped at Cray. Turned out we had loads of time but I didn't tell the man with no name this as it may have slowed him down. Unfortunately that meant he was struggling on the next section which involved a climb over Buckden Pike, then round to Park Rash, a bit I know reasonably well, however we again took sneaky shortcuts and straight lined parts of the race through tussocks and bogs.

Park Rash we were grouped and at this point a sub 14 was there or thereabouts. Two hours from Park Rash to the finish, I could do that, but could everyone else? We went up Great Whernside just as the sun was setting. After a promise of a great line down from Great Whernside from one of our new found team mates we set off from the summit on a low line. This started off as a great grassy trod on the hillside, slightly downhill, enough to make it easy on the legs, it soon disappeared into the darkness and left us with yomping over tussock and bogs again.  After that is was a slow jog  to the final checkpoint when all that was left was a road run downhill to the finish. This was cruel! Uphill fine, but a fast concrete downhill hurt a lot.

On getting in to the finish all I could think of was bed. Not food, rest etc, BED! So quick shower then spent the rest of the evening trying to sleep but waking myself every 30 minutes whenever I moved or cramped.

Final result initially was 25th but an error with some peoples finish time not deducting the time waiting to form group I have been pushed back to 27th.

This was a great race, painful but an amazing event, The volunteers do an amazing job to put on such a well supported and organised event and its great value for money. It's on my to do list for next year already!

Anthony Fryer: 14:12
Sarah Smith: 20:38
Paul Sanderson: Retired