Subject: V S Annual Awards 2014

Sent: 04 January 2015 17:41

In alphabetical order of award:

Also-ran Trophy

This is for the runner who has tried hardest during the year but not won anything.  Previous winners are ineligible.

In the voting (by the Committee) there were several nominations but the winner, by a majority decision, was Andy Pagdin

One of those who nominated him said “It's got to be Andy Pagdin for me - he's turned up to almost EVERYTHING this year and is definitely a proud Strider. He always cheers everyone on at all the races and has encouraged his wife to join us too.  He's run 2 marathons - going ten minutes quicker in York than Wakefield and has run more GP races than anyone else.  He really is everywhere allllllllll of the time, running hard and improving his times to boot!”

There was an objection in that Andy had been a member of the VS team that won the V40 category at the Peco Relays.  However since there were no other teams entered in this category, the objection was overruled,

Cycling Awards  (for pictures of the trophies, follow the “cycling” link in the top bar of the website)

VSCC Grand Prix Winner	Andy Stoneman	96 Points
VSCC Grand Prix Second place	Danny Murray	59 Points
VSCC Grand Prix Third place	John Bucktrout	47 Points
King of Mountains	Carl McCreddin	438,767 Feet – (100 times the height of Ben Nevis) NB Andy Stoneman a close second only 1,198 feet behind
Queen of Mountains	Caroline Tolan	124,501 Feet NB Hannah Stoneman a close second with 122,044 feet
Monster Miles	Andy Stoneman	7,481 Miles – (900 miles short of cycling Leeds to Australia!)
Most Improved Riders	Anna Hobbs and Katherine Hogg
Warrior Award	Carl McCreddin	For being the most regular, consistent rider, out in all conditions, wind, rain, snow and ice
Chapeau Award	Bill McCaffrey	For his 205+ mile ride on the Tommy Godwin
Broom Wagon Award	Howard King	For being off his bike more than on it and for always bonking on rides (that’s hitting the wall in runner speak!)
A special mention	Gav Taylor	for being signed up by the Vertex Race Team

Fell Championships

The champions were awarded the perpetual trophies designed and modelled by Geoff*.

· Men’s champion – STEVE WEBB

· Ladies champion – KIM SPENCE

13 Striders ran 5 or more races and a further 47 ran at least one fell race.

For full results, click on “For Club Members” in the top bar of the website, then click on “Grand Prix & Fell Champ” on the left.

The meeting to decide events for the 2015 Fell Championships will be Tuesday 6 January at Leos.

* Just to resolve any misunderstandings, Geoff made the trophies out of clay, he wasn’t the artist’s model for them.

Grand Prix

All those named below won “Valley Striders Grand Prix 2014” t-shirts.

Men’s Champion	JOHN HOBBS
Ladies’ Champion	MYRA JONES
MV40 winner	JAMES TARRAN
MV50 winner	STEVE WEBB
FV35 winner	SUE SUNDERLAND
Group B winner	JOEL GIDDINGS
Group C winner	MIKE FURBY
Group D winner	ANDREW
Group E winner	STEPH GLEDHILL
Group F winner	LIZ REDDINGTON

A further 38 Striders ran 8 or more races, this is an all-time record.  And 230 Striders ran at least one race.

For full results, click on “For Club Members” in the top bar of the website, then click on “Grand Prix & Fell Champ” on the left.

Some of the races for 2015 have already been decided, see the Dates page www.valleystriders.org.uk/vsdates.htm

Junior Grand Prix

1st Boy	Callum Parton
=2nd Boy	Alex Irvine
=2nd Boy	Joe Sherman
1st Boy School Year 2	Sam Chambers
1st Boy School Year 4	Henry Firth
1st Boy School Year 5	Sam Hollis
1st Boy School Year 7	Callum Chambers
1st Boy School Year 12	Stephen Diamond
2nd Boy School Year 4	Ben Redshaw
2nd Boy School Year 7	Joe Irvine
2nd Boy School Year 10	Jordan Diamond
3rd Boy School Year 4	Ben Easton
=3rd Boy School Year 7	Ben Hollis
=3rd Boy School Year 7	Adam Mills
=1st Girl	Tally Diamond
=1st Girl	Aileen Loftus
3rd Girl	Imogen Idle
1st Girl School Year 3	Josephine Pawley
1st Girl School Year 5	Sarah Brady
2nd Girl School Year 3	Ella Hollis

All the above were awarded trophies. 

85 junior Striders ran at least one race.  For full results and pictures of the trophy winners, follow the “Juniors” link in the top bar of the website.

There have already been 6 events in the 2014/5 Grand Prix, follow the same link for results and table so far.

Junior Performance Certificates

Performance certificates are awarded to runners who achieve in 5 races times that are better than a factor of the world best for that distance for a person of the same sex and age.  For juniors, these must be in at least 3 different events and at least 2 different distances.

· Grade 5 - CALLUM PARTON, CEARA SEXTON and TALLY DIAMOND

· Grade 4 – IMOGEN IDLE, SAM CHAMBERS, SAM HOLLIS

· Grade 3 – ALEX IRINE

· Grade 2 – ELLA HOLLIS, JOE IRVINE

For full details of the races and times and pictures of the trophy winners, follow the “Juniors” link in the top bar of the website

Junior Training Medals

These are new awards

· Silver medals (with black and white ribbons) were awarded to the following who had completed 50 or more training sessions by 2 December – Callum Chambers, Finlay Chambers, Sam Chambers, Eleanor Ford, Sam Hollis, Ella Hollis, Sarah Brady, Max Vine, Ben Hollis, Cleo Vine, Alex Irvine.

· Bronze medals (with black and white ribbons) were awarded to the following who had completed 25 or more training sessions by 2 December – Ella Blythe, Joe Irvine, Joe Sherman, Yasmin Ellis, Tally Diamond, Nathan Ellis, Isaac Durrant, Emily Stoneman, Finlay Hunt, Abigail Stoneman, Ben Dyal, Jordan Diamond, Daniel Fotherby, Nick Tynan, Isaac Carver, Carina Font, Rebecca Noad, Callum Blythe, Stephen Diamond, Imogen Idle.

For pictures of the medal winners, follow the “Juniors” link in the top bar of the website.

Going forward, medals will be awarded monthly as juniors pass the 25 and 50 marks.  As several have already attended over 70 training sessions, we will need to purchase gold medals in the second half of 2015 for 100 sessions.

Marathon Trophy

Awarded for the best marathon performer / performance of the year.

Over half of the Committee voted for MYRA JONES, for her 2^nd place at Windermere, 1^st place at Kielder and PB at Valencia.

Max Jones trophy

Awarded for the best age-graded performance of the year – previous winners ineligible.

The winner was MALCOLM COLES who ran 21:24 at Leeds parkrun on 31 May at the age of 73.  This compares with a theoretical world best for an M73 of 18:21, so Malcolm scored 85.7%.

Just to note that Max’s “protégé” Lou Gilchrist ran 28:45 at Heaton parkrun on 21 September at the age of 81.  This compares with a theoretical world best for an F81 of 27:17, so Lou scored 94.9%.  But she was ineligible having won the trophy previously.

Performance Certificates (Seniors)

Performance certificates are awarded to runners who achieve in 5 races times that are better than a factor of the world best for that distance for a person of the same sex and age.  For seniors, these must be in at least 3 different events and at least 3 different distances, and at least 4 must be on officially measured routes i.e. only 1 may be a  club handicap or off-road race.

· Grade 7 – ANDY MAY, GWIL THOMAS, JAMES TARRAN, MARY EGAN, RUTH WARREN, SUE SUNDERLAND

· Grade 6 – JAMES TARRAN, JOEL GIDDINGS, MYRA JONES, PAUL WHITE, ROY HUGGINS

· Grade 5 – ALISTAIR SMYTH, ANDY PAGDIN, BOB JACKSON, DAVE PENMAN, GARY MANN, GRAHAM JONES, HANNAH CORNE, IAN SANDERSON, KEVIN McMULLAN, LEROY SUTTON, LIZ REDDINGTON, MIKE ROBINS, RAV PANESAR, TIM TOWLER

Other grades are still being calculated!  I hope to have this done and on the website by mid January – will wait to receive all results to the end of December.

Special Mention

Was made of

· Simon Redshaw, who completed the Bob Graham Round – a 66 mile route covering 42 of the highest peaks in the Lake District – with a time limit of 24 hours. As at the end of 2013, 1,848 people had achieved this – fewer than the number that have been to the top of Everest.  NB number 1832 was John Marsham.

· Richard Adcock – who completed the “Marathon des Sables” (the equivalent of 6 marathons in 6 days across the Sahara) and the “Atlantic Coast Challenge” (80 miles in 3 days in Cornwall).

Vadim Kuznetsov Trophy

This is awarded for the best age-graded performance in the Leeds Half Marathon.

The winner was MARY EGAN who ran 1:45:18 at the age of 59.  This compares with a theoretical world best for an F59 of 1:26:33, so Mary scored 82.2%.

So now …

Good luck to everyone for 2015!