Sent: 16 April 2009 00:55
Subject: V S Update - Dates, Leeds, Meanwood, London, Race Reports, Messages

Events Diary

Club Handicap, Tuesday 21 April

Meet by the Reservoir at the bottom of the hill from Alwoodley Lane at 6:50pm, first runners will start at 7pm prompt. 

Afterwards, pie and peas – please book by email, stating whether you want meat pie or vegetarian bake (£2.50), whether you want mushy peas or baked beans, and whether you want apple pie (£1.50).

Help Wanted

Meanwood Valley Trail – We’re now halfway to our target of 70 marshals and helpers for the race on Saturday 16 May. If you volunteer early you have a chance to choose your spot – near Leos, in Adel Woods, by Seven Arches, near the Ring Road or in Meanwood Park.  Please let me know!

We will be having a recce run of the route on Tuesday 5 May, meet at Leos at the usual time of 6:45pm.  I know many of you have a busy time that week running Rothwell 10k or Esholt 5k or Leeds Half (or maybe all three), but this will be a gentle run with plenty of stops and starts.  And pie and peas (or maybe lasagna) after.

Leeds Half Marathon - We have 4 volunteers so far to help at the on Sunday 10 May, but a few more are wanted please.  I believe we have been allocated spots on Stonegate Road so it will be an early start but also an early finish.  Please let me know in the next few days as I need to let the organisers know.

NB although the official closing date for Leeds Half has now passed, the race may still be taking entries for a few more days – see www.leeds.gov.uk/runleeds

Other Grand Prix and Fell Championship Races

Sat 25 Apr - Three Peaks (AL) (VSFC) CLOSED – good luck!

Sun 26 Apr - London Marathon (VSGP) CLOSED – good luck!

Mon  4 May - Rothwell 10k (VSGP) (ukr)

Wed  6 May - Esholt 5k series race 1 (VSGP) (Yorks vets champs)

Sun 10 May - Leeds Half Marathon (VSGP)

Tue 12 May - Jack Bloor fell race (AS) (VSFC and VSGP)

Wed 13 May - Esholt 5k series race 2 (VSGP)

Sun 17 May - Windermere marathon (in the “Any Other Marathon” category of VSGP)

Wed 20 May - Esholt 5k series race 3 (VSGP)

Sun 24 May - Ilkley Trail Race (CM) (VSFC and VSGP)

London Marathon Runners

If you’re running for charity, let me know the details (who you’re running for and how we can sponsor you) on or before Monday 20 April and I’ll send out an email on the Tuesday or Wednesday.

If you’re not running for charity, let me know too, and then we can look for you on TV.

Peco Presentation Night

The annual presentation night for the Peco XC League will be Friday 24 April at the Faversham.

We have a men’s team runners-up trophy to collect and four individual awards – Sue Sunderland, Sara Dyer, Malcolm Coles and Bob Wilkes.

If you want to go to the do, contact me for further details.

Contact details

Thanks to the 15 of you who have supplied contact details including emergency contacts and also notified us if you’ve changed address recently.  Could the other 160 of you do the same please.

Message from Nick Barnes - on the subject of emergency details, a few people have noticed a blue wristband I've been wearing to club sessions.  This is an ID wristband run by the CramAlert scheme www.cramalert.co.uk and aimed at runners.  Its easily worn and is meant to identify you if you have an accident out running so that you can be quickly identified and your relatives contacted by the emergency services, especially as I suspect many of us take no other ID when we go out.  It was set up by Steve Cram, whose brother was killed in such an accident and wasn't identified in the hospital for two days, nor reported as missing because he was living alone at the time and no-one knew he was even out running. I'm not championing this particular scheme because there are several out there, but its something to think about should the worst happen if you're out training on your own.

Race Results and Reports – Sunday 5 April

Sunday 5 April was very busy for Striders, with the club represented in at least 7 (yes seven!) different races, so, in alphabetical order of race:

Baildon Boundary Way

A lovely day for running (last year it snowed as we finished)

  13 Steve Webb         1:26:16      100 

  17 Gwil Thomas        1:27:56       99 

  24 Rob Bumstead       1:31:24       98 

  35 Simon Vallance     1:33:50       96 

  62 Joel Giddings      1:39:58       95 

  69 Alan Hutchinson    1:41:06       94 

  76 Ian Sanderson      1:42:08       93 

  84 Andrew Cutts       1:43:38       91 

  88 Bob Jackson        1:44:40       90 

 118 Alistair Smyth     1:48:39       89 

 131 Xanthe Hannah      1:50:38       88 

 137 Richard Adcock     1:51:23       86 

 168 Sue Sunderland     1:55:02       85 

 191 Mick Tinker        1:57:23       84 

 201 Steve Dixon        1:59:21       83 

 227 Bob Wilkes         2:04:25       81 

 312 Sara Dyer          2:19:31       80 

Blackpool Marathon and Half

 35 Eric Green         3:04:00     

 53 Gary Sutherland    3:12:06     

 19 Jeremy Ladyman     1:23:33     

199 Chloe Hudson       1:42:44     

Paris Marathon (from Hayley Nancolas)

Last Sunday 31,000 runners stood with the Arc de Triomphe behind them ready to run the Paris Marathon and I was one of them.

Got a good start and managed to run at a fair pace despite the crowds - but that makes the atmosphere though doesn't it? Spectacular route through Paris. Absolutely brilliant running down the Champs Elysees up to the Place de la Concorde. There was a runner who had stopped at the place and was running round the whole marathon with his camera taking photos of all the sights! The weather was very warm and sunny. The spectators were brilliant, and although not a patch on London could be heard encouraging "allez" for virtually the whole course, along with some bands and entertainment.

Running through the parkland for 10km was also a welcome relief with some shade and we ran past a beautiful chateau to the left. Laura and my husband cheered me on at half way, I felt brilliant and was running really quickly and easily up to 22 miles - when I had been well on for running 3:15 or less. But unfortunately I must have "hit the wall" as at around 22 miles I felt dizzy and my legs no longer felt part of my body. Those last 4 miles were the hardest 4 miles I have ever run (if I can call it running). But I made it to the end with the encouragement of the other runners - in 3:23:05 a PB! Beautiful day, beautiful city and a good run. I would recommend the Paris Marathon to any-one.

 3941 Hayley Nancolas   3:23:05

28196 Meg Galsworthy    5:10:49

 also Tom Button        3:23 approx (not on results)

Rochdale Springhill Hospice 4 mile

   94 Lou Gilchrist      0:36:22

Rotterdam Marathon

 1565 Michael Grant      3:32:37

 6289 Sheila Grant       5:06:57

Our Striders couldn’t quite keep up with Duncan Kibet who ran the third fastest marathon of all time 3:04:27

White Horse Half Marathon (from Nick Barnes)

I travelled down to Grove (near Oxford) to take part in this race, which is close to where I grew up and my Mum still lives.  It’s very similar to the Brass Monkey, on quiet country roads (I love that sort of race) with a short out and back section and a loop in the middle, and pancake flat but for a couple of railway bridges, though with a much smaller entry limit that also fills way before the closing date.  It was recently listed in Runners World as one of the top 10 PB hunters races, and it didn't disappoint!

The day was perfect, sunny and not too warm with just the lightest breeze and I ran 1:32:13 for 92nd place (out of 487 - not too shabby for fat legs!) and took about 3 minutes off my PB from Brass Monkey earlier in the year (which was a PB itself by 7 mins at the time).  I actually ran this race 2 years ago in a nightmarish 1:47, about a month before I joined the Striders, so it shows what 2 years of Tuesday night sessions can do!  I also ran sub 70-mins by 4 seconds at the 10-mile board for the 1st time too, so does that count?  Results and photos (to prove I ran! my number was 285; and you can check out my wristband) are linked to the half marathon page on the White Horse Harriers website http://www.whitehorseharriers.org/halfmarathon.html

Wakefield 10k (from Ian Rosser)

Dan Fisher and I went along to the Wakefield 10k last Sunday. It was a new course, and an out-and-in course replaced the one lap course of last year, although the start was the same, in Thornes Park.

The organisers described it as "flat and fast". It was definitely not flat, but it was fast. It would be more accurate to describe it as gently undulating, with two gradual climbs.

I found the climbs and downhills much more interesting than the flatness of the Dewsbury 10k. In fact, I did it 10 seconds quicker than Dewsbury to knock 10 seconds off my pb (set earlier at Dewsbury).

There were 1,132 runners, and the winner was Andrew Pearson of Longwood Harriers in 31.25.

The Valley Striders that took part were:

 20 Kevin McMullan     0:36:04

 25 Dan Fisher         0:36:27

 56 Ian Rosser         0:38:37

110 Adam Parton        0:40:31

367 Rachael Nevins     0:46:26

611 Carole Towler      0:52:17

Race Results and Reports – Saturday 11 April

There were 2 races, one of 3 miles, the other 35 miles

Hyde Park Parkrun

Congratulations to Gwil Thomas, RACE WINNER in 17:53

  1 Gwil Thomas        0:17:53

  7 Ian Sanderson      0:19:32

 11 Alistair Smyth     0:20:23     

 27 Paul White         0:22:00

 47 Richard Adcock     0:24:48     

Two Oceans Marathon (from John Wallace)

The event itself was as magnificent as last year, albeit with contrasting fortunes for each of us.

Suffice to say I beat JB, overtaking him just shy of the marathon mark with him suffering majorly from cramp, something I am still waiting for (with trepidation). We both went through 42k slower than last year, but JB going backwards and me still in reasonable form.

The last climb went on forever and involved a lot of walking, but I managed to run over the summit, holding up my Flag of St George and extolling the crowd to give a cheer for England (which they did). Carried on in quite good form after that until the last 6k, but still finished 5 min up on LY in 5.42. JB came in at about 5.56 after a SA runner gave him some tablets for his cramp which got him going.

It was incredibly hot, definitely up on LY (forecast was c.28 degrees for noon). We are now both shattered and looking forward to an evening of beer to rehydrate us.

Look forward to seeing you at the handicap (a generous one please - I won't have recovered) where all congratulations will be gratefully received.

Big John

Message from Annemi Van Zyl

Looong time you have not heard from me - I met up with Jonathan and John a number of times over the weekend. Oceans was great fun as usual, although it was run under really warm conditions and (at least) less wind than last year. Both John and Jonathan finished under 6 hours, meaning they received a bronze medal (after 6 hours they receive a blue medal - something similar to your 'Also Run Trophy).

The 2 Valley striders are currently enjoying the very hot South African weather, and no doubt the very good South African wines!

I am still waiting for other brave Striders to take up the race and come and visit me!!!

Annemi was a member of Striders from 2001 to 2004 but then returned to her home country.  Every year she helps on the registration desk for the Two Oceans.

Grand Prix

21 marathons or off-road equivalents by Striders so far, here’s how the “Any Other Marathon” category of the Grand Prix currently stands:

                         Time      GP Pts  Race Pos

    1 Eric Green         3:04:00      100     35 Blackpool

    2 Gary Sutherland    3:12:06       99     53 Blackpool

    3 Tom Button         3:23:00       98      0 Paris

    4 Hayley Nancolas    3:23:05       96   3941 Paris

    5 Michael Grant      3:32:37       95   1565 Rotterdam

    6 Simon Vallance     3:48:37       94     26 Rombalds             

    7 Alan Hutchinson    3:51:00       93      0 Trollers             

    8 Rob Bumstead       3:53:07       92     30 Rombalds             

    9 Eirik Stangnes     3:54:00       91      0 Trollers             

   10 Alan 2 Hutchinson  4:09:00              51 Rombalds             

   11 John Wallace       4:12:36       89      0 Two Oceans split time

   12 Jonathan Brownbill 4:14:13       88      0 Two Oceans split time

   13 Richard Adcock     4:19:00       87      0 Trollers             

   14 David Cusack       4:39:02       86    108 Rombalds             

   15 Madeleine Watson   4:40:25       85    116 Rombalds             

   16 John 2 Wallace     4:51:06             129 Rombalds             

   17 Richard 2 Adcock   4:53:17             138 Rombalds             

   18 Paul Sanderson     4:55:00       84    148 Rombalds             

   19 Sheila Grant       5:06:57       82   6289 Rotterdam

   20 Meg Galsworthy     5:10:49       81  28196 Paris

   21 Peter Stevenson    5:20:52       80      0 Rombalds  

The Grand Prix table on the website is now up to date.  Three Striders – Gwil Thomas, John Wallace and Sue Sunderland have already qualified for a 2009 Grand Prix T-shirt by running 8 races.  79 Striders have run at least 1 race.

Messages

From Jules Barltrop

Hi! I hope all Striders are well. I hope those who are running London are starting their wind-down. I have had to pull out again this year because...I'm pregnant!! Liam and I are very excited and judging by the way it was kicking its legs about on the scan, I'm hoping it'll be a runner! It's due in September, so I'm just over 4 months now and starting to look tubby.

As a result, we are hoping to move back up north as soon as we can organise employment. It'll probably be the Manchester area but I harbour hopes of making it to the odd Striders training session (once I'm through the essential baby bits!).

From Mike O’Callaghan

Please note new email address as I am about to move to Australia [email protected]

PS - Still an avid cyclist and I continue to be amazed at the quality of cyclists in the area and the depth of participation and quality within the sport - not to mention the dedication (a usual Sunday ride lasts anything up to 6 hours with no breaks!!!)

From Vicky Whitehead

I have a brand new (still boxed) Wii, Wii Fit and rechargeable balance board battery pack for sale.

Everything is still boxed, it has never been unpacked or used.   It cost £250 but will sell for £215.

If anyone is interested please give me a call on 07801 676 033 or drop me an email [email protected]