Sent: 02 November 2009 23:59
Subject: V S Update - reminders and announcements, diary, grand prix,
thank you, agm, race reports & results, 2 new striders, messages
Sorry, it’s been a while since the last V S Update so
this email is rather longer than normal – make a cup of tea, sit yourself down
…
Quick reminders and announcements
Next Tuesday (November 3) between mouthfuls of lasagne
we will discuss Grand Prix events for 2010. If you’re not able to
get to Leo’s that night and have some suggestions, please mail them to [email protected]
. NB too late to order lasagne now.
NB we’ll have a meeting to discuss Fell
Championship 2010 in a few weeks time.
Next Sunday (November 8) is the first Peco XC
league race at
The following Tuesday (November 10) is the regular
second Tuesday in the month track session at
Abbey Runners have also asked if Striders can help marshal
at the Abbey Dash (22 November). They need 90 marshals and not
surprisingly are having difficulty getting that number. Email me if you
can help. (So far, we have me, Geoff, Sylvia, the Umplebys, the Careys
and Xanthe – thank you!)
Don’t forget the Thirsk 10. Postal
entries close on 7 November so get your entries in this week. We hope to
have 40 to 50 Striders running there in the hope / expectation of winning back
the Abbey-Valley Challenge Cup. Every Strider who runs will score points,
the cup will be won as much by quantity as quality. It’s a simple scoring
system – the first runner (from one of the 2 clubs) scores 150 points, the last
runner scores 50 and everyone else is in between. Therefore even the 3
slowest runners score in total more than the fastest. And the scoring
system also leads to some exciting head-to-head race finishes. If you
intend to run but don’t have transport, or if you want to share transport, let
me know.
Membership subscriptions
are due now. If you haven’t already paid (you can check at www.valleystriders.org.uk/vsmemreg.htm
) send a cheque for £15, payable to Valley Striders, to Paul White, 17 Whinmoor
Court, Redhall,
Also a repeat reminder for you to check www.valleystriders.org.uk/vsmemreg.htm
. If the last column is not a “Y”, we do not have emergency contact
details for you, in which case, please email me with the name and phone number
someone to contact for you in case of emergency. Thank you to the 10
people who replied last week, we now details for 74 of you but that is less
than half the number of active members in the club.
Events diary for rest
of 2009 and early 2010
2010
Dan Murray
says “Ladies and Gents, entries now open for the Chevin Chase, get your Tu Tu
at the ready!!” http://www.airecentre-pacers.co.uk/
Regarding
major Cross Country events (Yorkshire, Northern, Yorks Vets,
Grand Prix 2009
Just 4
races to go. 29 Striders have already run 8 races, therefore have already
qualified for a 2009 Grand Prix performance vest or shirt. But another 32
have run 4 or more races – they too could qualify. Who will win the men’s
and ladies’ championships? Who will win the vets prizes and the
groups? Click on www.valleystriders.org.uk/vsclubch.htm
and follow the links for Grand Prix points table and Grand Prix points table by
group.
And a
statistic for you – Striders have now run 94 marathons this year – 56 measured
road marathons and 38 off-road marathons of 24 miles or more. If you’ve
run a marathon this year, check that your run has been included in the “Any
Other Marathons” section in www.valleystriders.org.uk/vsgp09r.htm
Performance
Spreadsheet
This is now updated to the middle of October. If you’ve run a race in a
remote part of
Thank You! – two
letters received
From
Ruth at Lineham Farm
Just a
small note to say “thank you hugely” for all your hard work and determination
for the recent Harewood Races. The day was really fun and we are so
pleased to be associated with the Valley Striders.
Please pass
on out greatest thanks to all concerned.
(Bob
says - NB we are still calculating the final profit, but it appears to be about
£3,800 to be shared between Lineham Farm and
From
Imogen at Cancer Research
I just
wanted to pass on my thanks to Valley Striders for coming along to volunteer at
this year’s Cancer Research UK Run 10k at Harewood House. I hope you
enjoyed the day. Our Run 10k events could not take place without the help
of our volunteers and your support is very much appreciated. Thank
you!
2009 has
been a really successful year with over 1700 men and women taking part in the
event at Harewood. This was our biggest year there to date which is a
fantastic success. We have already raised £43,000 and look set to smash
the target of raising £74,000 from Harewood alone. Every penny will go
directly towards Cancer Research
Thanks
again for your help and hope to see you next year.
AGM – Chairman’s Brief
Notes
42 Striders
attended the AGM last week. There were some excellent reports by committee
members and other officials – the minutes will be available shortly and will
include several of the reports in full, available to everyone to read.
Laura Clark
and Tracy Stewart have resigned from the committee due to other
commitments. Although they were only on the committee for one year, both
have supported the club for several years – Laura as women’s captain and
And I’d
like to welcome Xanthe Hannah and John Wallace as new members of the
committee.
Information
about the AGM and the committee can be found at www.valleystriders.org.uk/vsconst.htm
and www.valleystriders.org.uk/vscommittee.htm
Message from Valley
Striders founder and vice-president
Hi
Bob & just a brief note before next Tuesday & the yearly lift off once
again. Hope things are going well - they seem to be according to the missives I
keep receiving - & that you are in fine fettle; what will they do without
your catering expertise & who will get the pies in? Besides wishing
everybody all the best @ the AGM the reasons I'm emailing are two-fold. I am
clearing out old stuff which has remained untouched / undiscovered for yonks
& have come across, besides lots of my medals for forgotten events of the
past, the original Club Resolution & some really early course &
events stuff that I wrote when the Striders was virtually my life. I wondered
if you would like them for the archives, if you have such a thing, as they
are not doing much sat up here in
Secondly,
I'm migrating for the winter to
Take
care.
Love
Stuart.
(Bob says - If you want to read a brief and entertaining history
of the first few years of the Striders, go to www.valleystriders.org.uk/vslife.htm
)
Race Reports and
Results
I went over to
Sunday morning turned out to be cool and sunny and I was surprised to see
Eric hanging around at the start - can't believe I travelled that far and still
wasn't the leading Strider! I started at the back of the 3:30 pen and
feeling quite apprehensive after missing this target by some way in
I'd thoroughly recommend
Results at http://evenementen.uitslagen.nl/2009/amsterdammarathon/index-en.html if
you enter my number 1545, where there are links to photos and videos every 5k
from halfway.
Holmfirth
15 on 25 October - report by Rob Hamilton
Holmfirth lies 5.5 miles from
I stayed in
There was a brief downpour of rain
before the start, with patches of breeze on route; otherwise the weather was
ideal for running. I probably started too fast and by the first lap I was
feeling the effects of going out the night before. My conscience said to drop
out, but I gritted my teeth and continued finishing 34th out of 170 finishers.
To my surprise I received a prize for first M40.
The winner: Stuart Macdonald.
Bingley Harriers. 1.24.45.
Panos 1:28:13 was 4th just missing
out on 3rd by 2 seconds.
Ian Sanderson 1:39:37 24th
Rob Hamilton 1:43:06 34th, 1st M40
Andrew Thompson 1:43:38 38th, 2nd
M40
James Tarran 1:44:30 40th
Ruth Warren 1:56:57 87th, 2nd F50
There were encouraging marshals
and mandatory cake and sandwich stall, but I have been to better organised
events. Overall it’s worth a visit even its just to see the picturesque Peak
District or see where the late glamorous! 'Nora Batty' and 'Compo' performed in
the Last of the Summer Wine.
Dublin
Marathon on 26 October – race and tour report from Jonathan Brownbill
A
Brilliant race, a Brilliant trip and a Brilliant time had by all.
On the 26
October 2009 at 9am, a Valley Strider Reconnaissance Mission embarked upon the
inaugural Autumn Marathon Club Trip Race. In times to come these early Street
Pounders will be revered and regaled as the first of a long line Autumn Trip
Club Marathon Runners. Plans are in hand for the 2010 mission and further
details will be available in due course.
Back to
this year.
A couple
of highlights of the run were the Special VS Vest which we had made that
provided a real sense of belonging, Matt finishing sub 3 hours which was a
brilliant run. The genuine excitement level of all leaving the hotel at the
same time on the morning of the run to get the start at the same time and
finding laughter round every corner on the 10 minute walk that took care of any
nerves and reinforced the fact that we are members of a running club.
After the
race we all relaxed and submerged ourselves in what
A couple
of our brave party deserve special mention as they brought a little bit extra
to the experience. The first person worthy of recognition is Tom Button who
must receive the award for 'best use of lips' ... his bugle playing and
rendition of 'Papas got a Brand New Pig Bag' was brilliant. Up next is Dr
Alistair who went to the aid of a collapsed runner just after the race while in
the pub, he took the stricken runner’s pulse and told him it was very weak and
he should remain prone for a couple of minutes. When the collapsed runner had
left the pub Alistair was asked how weak the pulse was 'No idea', came the
reply 'I could not find it'. How good is Dr Alistair, he made the dead
live again. Now turning to the most lame excuse on the trip, please step up
Alan Hutchinson. Alan had to call it an early one on Monday evening as his
burger was stuck in his Oesophagus, nothing to do with 9 pints of Guinness
Alan? Finally the organiser and Rick Astley look-a-like, Mr Patrick Barrett,
who receives warm thanks and special award for his interpretation of Irish
Dancing merged with a manic head banging set at a Motorhead concert. Truly
inspiring Patrick and to think you claim to have Irish Blood in you. Now how do
you say Slainte?
Grand Prix pts
287
Matt Allen
2:59:52 100
404
Dan Fisher
3:05:55 98
481
Alan Hutchinson 3:09:23
97
488
Alistair Smyth
3:09:37 95
606
Dan Murray
3:13:31 94
828
Liz Wood
3:19:46 92
875
Dave Thompson
3:21:07 91 (Billericay Striders and
VS 2nd claim)
933
Patrick Barrett 3:22:28
91
1119
Tom Button
3:25:41 89
1617
Greg Skerrett
3:33:18 88
1616
Jonathan Brownbill 3:33:19 88
2126
John Wallace
3:40:27 85
3378
Gary Mann
3:55:24 83
5006
Paul Sanderson
4:12:56 82
8092
Mary Egan
4:59:20 80
Tom Button has uploaded some photos - you can see them
at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=166500&id=732215478&l=b04d3f299e
he says you don't need to be registered on facebook to view them.
2 Gwilym Thomas 17:00
11
Rob Hamilton 18:40
12
Ian Sanderson 18:44
15
Roy Huggins 18:57
19
Ian Rosser 19:08
20
James Tarran 19:15
54
Leroy Sutton 21:40
103
Paul Holloway 25:00
For other
parkrun results see http://www.parkrun.org.uk/leeds/Home.aspx
42 Striders
have raced at least one Parkrun and between them have run 292 races.
Gwil has 7
race wins, Caz 2, and Elika and Vicky 1 each. James Tarran only needs to
run 3 more races to get a T-shirt for 50 races. Not too far behind are
Ian Rosser on 31, Paul Holloway on 29 and Ian Sanderson on 28.
English
National Cross Country Relay at
Striders
finished 68th out of 151 teams, this was about 30 places up on last year.
The race was chip-timed so we have results to the nearest one-hundredth of a
second!
Leg
1 Panos Aristotelous 17:10.95
Leg
2 Dan Fisher
18:13.90
Leg
3 Rob De Giovanni 17:53.55
Leg
4 Simon Midwood 18:00.35
NB Dan was
running just 5 days after
Ladies
48
Hayley Nancolas 25:55
58
74
Chloe
75
Madeleine Watson 28:02
94
Lyn
Team
9th
Men
15
Panos Aristotelous 29:57
52
Gwil Thomas 32:23
57
Steve Webb 32:28
70
87
Alex Nancolas 33:53
101
Rob Hamilton 34:33
130
Joel Giddings 35:56
136
Rob Bumstead 36:12
141
Lewis Balfour 36:21
161
James Tarran 37:36
170
Roy Huggins 38:12
176
Mark Hunter 38:29
180
Tahir Akhtar 38:59
189
Malcolm Coles 39:54
199
Tony Haygarth 41:40
200
Paul White 41:41
205
Mick Tinker 42:28
215
Jim Towers 44:22 (Ilkley H)
218
Geoff Webster 46:01
219
Bob Wilkes 46:17
Team
6th
Photos at www.photos-dsb.co.uk
A
plea – after
each cross country could at least 4 Striders stay behind to help dismantle the
tent. On Sunday, Sylvia was holding one corner and nearly floated off to
Bramhope, the wind was so strong.
Jerry
Watson had an
unfortunate and unusual accident. I’ll let him tell the story
Was going
pretty well following through just behind
Kevin finished 89th
and as the people around me at the time finished in the 76-96 bracket I think I
was going well as I didn't break 100 last year and it was a big field so
probably better.
Really p****d off as
I'm off to Seattle to run the marathon at the end of the month and I can't see
me running a step at least for a week so this screws any plans of me racing it,
as I've already lost a couple of weeks of buildup in October through a chesty
cough.
Ah well. Old men
should not be allowed out!
New(born) Striders
From
Jools Barltrop
Just to let
you know, Christian Luke, the latest addition to Striders, was born on Sept
25th weighing 6lbs 2oz. Judging by his delivery, he should have a decent sprint
finish! We're both doing fantastically well. Love to all.
From
Gwil Thomas
Could you
let everyone know that Emma and I had our daughter on Monday, 26th October at
8:14pm. Her name's Erin and she weighed in at an athletic 8lbs 9, 3/4
ozs.
Messages
From Ian Nixon, Up and Running, Headingley
Injury has
all cleared up now, so hopefully will be able to get down in the next month
once I can get use of the car! Can you let club members know that we now have
in stock the book recently published by your very own president, Charlie
Spedding, in store now, which with 10% club discount will be cheaper than
anywhere else! Perfect for Christmas!! Hopefully see you soon.
(Bob
says, but if you buy direct from Charlie you can get your copy personally
inscribed)
From Michaela McGarry
A big 'THANK YOU' to everyone who was kind enough to
complete my daughter, Vicky's, food questionnaire. It was most appreciated.
That’s all, folks!