Sent: 09 October 2009 00:23
Subject: V S Update - Key dates, AGM, Race reports, survey
Event reminders – some critical
Sun 11 Oct – 1st
Tue 13 Oct – Training at Leeds Met Track, meet 7:05pm ready
to run.
Tue 13 Oct – Brass Monkey half marathon entry forms
available – I hope to have them at the Track Session. Entries certain to
close within a week. Bring your cheque books and a stamped addressed
envelope and we could send off a bulk order. Do not delay!
Tue 13 Oct – closing date for nominations for V S Committee
and agenda items for AGM. Two of our committee are standing down, the
other 8 are available for re-election, so we need at least 2 to stand as
candidates.
Thu 15 Oct – curry night at Ruchee
Sun 18 Oct – 12 marshals required for Cancer Research 10k at
Harewood. This is a nice event to help at, about 1250 runners, and you
get a hot drink and a bacon sandwich or burger for your troubles. Please
contact me if available.
Tue 20 Oct – Valley Striders AGM – see below. Bottles
of Harewood Trail Ale available for collection.
Sun 1 Nov – second West Yorks XC at
Sun 8 Nov – first Peco Sport Direct XC at Golden Acre.
Enter on the day. Valley and Abbey will jointly share the admin and
marshalling duties – please contact me if you are available to help set up the
course before the race, marshal during the race or both!
Sat 14 Nov – Burley Bridge Hike 20 miles from Ben Rhydding.
NB Grand Prix points available.
Sat 21 Nov – third West Yorks XC at
Sun 22 Nov – Abbey Dash 10k – popular for Striders, we had
over 40 runners last year. NB Grand Prix points available
Sun 29 Nov – Thirsk 10 mile – this is the fourth Abbey –
Valley Challenge Race. Valley lead 2-1 in the series but Abbey are the
current cup-holders. All runners count in the scoring system, three slow
runners are worth more than one fast runner, so let’s get a team of quantity
(and also, if possible, quality). NB Grand Prix points available.
Sat 5 Dec – second Peco XC somewhere
Sun 6 Dec – fourth West Yorks XC at Guiseley
Sun 13 Dec – Calderdale Way Relay – teams of 12 – we have
entered 2 teams. If you’re interested in running, contact Anthony Fryer [email protected]
Fri 18 Dec – Striders Xmas meal and presentation night
Valley Striders AGM – Tuesday 20 October
As mentioned above, nominations for committee members and
agenda items need to be submitted 7 days before the meeting i.e. Tuesday 13
October.
For new members to the club, I’d better explain that we have
rather an unusual structure in that we elect Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and
between 4 and 7 general committee members. Also at the AGM, we elect or
accept volunteers for specific roles e.g. mens and womens relays captains, mens
and womens cross-country captains, race organizers and deputies etc.
These need not be committee members. So you can be a committee member
(and attend approx. 9 meetings a year) with a specific role or a general
role. Or you can have a specific role without having to attend the
meetings.
Just to let you know that I will be proposing at the AGM
that reflective bibs are compulsory for Tuesday and Thursday training
nights. The plan is for group leaders have some spare bibs to borrow but
first call on these will be for new members. If you don’t have a bib,
suggest you buy one before October 22!
Almost last but not least, the AGM is a pie and peas night,
meat pie or veg bake, peas or beans, nb no apple pie, order by 10pm Sunday 18
October.
Finally, I will be tendering my resignation at the AGM as
catering manager, looking for someone to take it over. Suggest we could
be a bit more technical about this e.g. use a bulletin board. Or use an
email address that I set up but never used [email protected] (nb don’t
email to this, you won’t get a reply!). Volunteer(s) please!
Membership Fees
Membership fees are in theory agreed at the AGM. The
committee’s recommendation is £15 and I know that about 30 of you have already
paid this amount. If you want to pay for the V S Year September 2009 to
August 2010, send a cheque for £15, payable to “Valley Striders”, to Paul
White,
Helicopter Heroes
Apologies to those who set their video recorder to 9:15pm
when the program was on 09:15 in the morning. I have a DVD available to
borrow.
Race Result
Eric Green and
This looks like a good race for first time marathoners and
for fast runners. There were 2173 finishers, one-third of whom were over
4½ hours. But there were also 53 runners who broke 3 hours.
Race Reports
The Rab Mountain Marathon Report – report by Mick
Loftus
Anthony Fryer and I travelled to Sedbergh for the Rab
Mountain Marathon on the 26th - 27th September. The Rab MM really is the
'acceptable face' of mountain marathons, even the weather has been perfect for
the last two years. It is not too big but well organised.
Crucially it is a 'score' event, meaning that you have a
choice of checkpoints to visit within a set time limit. Checkpoints have
points associated with each depending on their difficulty or inaccessibility.
This means that you can be very competitive or just take
it easy and have a good day in the hills. I took the latter option on day
one while Anthony went all out for maximum points.
We ended day one with Anthony in an excellent 10th place
and I in 20th in the Elite class. This class is a bit of a misnomer
because it only indicates a longer time limit of 7 and 6 hours for day 1 and 2
respectively.
The campsite was fine, although not terribly remote.
There was even a cafe on site! So we had dehydrated lightweight rations
followed by chips, scones, ice cream and in some cases beer.
Day two was cooler and misty at first. We both had a
good competitive day. Anthony gained an excellent final 7th position and
I was 17th.
The terrain throughout was very 'runnable', navigation was
reasonably straight forward assisted by mainly clear visibility. The
atmosphere was great. I would definitely recommend it to anyone thinking
of having a go at a mountain marathon but is perhaps slightly intimidated by
the prospect of the OMM.
Leeds Triathlon - Roundhay Park 27th Sept – race
report by John Bucktrout
1500m swim, 40k bike, 10k run.
I am not in the same league as our illustrious Ironman, Bill Murphy, and it has
been a couple of years since I last did a triathlon but the chance for an
early morning dip in Roundhay Park lake was too good to miss.
I must
admit my training had been wholly inadequate, so I entered the chilly
September water at 0815hrs with 80 other novices and beginners with a degree of
intrepidation (the more accomplished swimmers followed in 3 further waves at 15
minute intervals).
A mixture of front crawl and breast stroke got me round the murky
waters of an L shape course in about 38 mins (fastest swim was about
22mins) getting out at the rowing landing, then a quick dash to the transition
area up near the cricket pavilion.
Then followed a tricky and demanding bike course which took us up Wetherby
Road, across the ring road and onto Bardsey, completing two circuits of Wike
and Scarcroft before returning to the park via Slaid Hill (past the Dexter).
I was looking forward to a easy finishing run with what I thought would be
my best discipline but the sharp inclines around Wike and Bardsey on the bike
course really sapped the energy from these old legs. Bike time 1hr 35mins
(fastest bike was 1hr 8mins - a full carbon job with teardrop helmet!)
The final 10k run (actually 9.8K) consisted of three laps from the cricket
pavilion, up hill 60, down to Oakwood clock and returning via the Mansion
path. The second lap reduced me to a shuffle half way up hill 60 when
the muscles around my knees packed up, but I regained a degree of dignity on
the final run-in down the main central path proudly displaying the old Valley
Striders vest, finishing in 55 minutes (fastest run was 33 mins).
My overall time was 3 hrs and 19 mins finishing 267 out of 314 finishers
(12 DNF and 13 DQ) - which just goes to show that I am no better at triathlon
than I am at running (still in the lower quartile!)
However, the organisation and camaraderie amongst the competitors was
superb and would recommend it anyone who fancies a bit of a challenge next
year.
Message from Michaela McGarry ( [email protected]
)
My youngest daughter, for part of her food technology
GCSE, is studying 'Health related convenience foods ~with a view to people
involved in sport'. If people could find a couple of minutes to complete the
questionnaire www.valleystriders.org.uk/FoodTechQuestionnaire1.doc
and email it to me, she would really appreciate their input.