Sent: 31 May 2011 00:22
Subject: V S Update - club dates, GP & FC races, MVT thanks, Sunday
run, River Moy report, Results, Help Holly
Club dates
Max’s
run – Thursday 2 June
Just a
reminder that this week’s Thursday run starts at OAKWOOD CLOCK at 6:45pm.
This is to celebrate what would have been Max Jones’s 84th
birthday. Max had a 1.9 mile (3km) route that he used to run regularly,
and if he was training for an ultramarathon he’d run it 10 or more times.
We’re just going to run one lap, in his memory, then go for a run round the
lake at
Lou
Gilchrist will be coming over from
Pie
and Peas – Tuesday 7 June
Usual
arrangements apply - book at [email protected]
before 10pm Sunday 5th, choosing meat pie or vegetarian bake, mushy peas or
baked beans, and whether you want apple pie
On the
evening of 28 June we’re hosting the 4th race in the Yorkshire Vets
series 2011. We need 25 marshals. If we get more than 25
volunteers, then the extras will be able to run the race (yes, even if you’re
under 35) So please email me if you’re able to marshal, also saying
whether you’d like to run (if there are sufficient marshals).
Grand Prix and Fell
Championship dates
A busy
couple of months coming up if you’re active in the Valley Striders Grand Prix
Club Championship (GP) and/or in the Valley Striders Fell Championship (FC).
And even if
you’ve not started either, you have many opportunities to get in your 8 GP
races and/or 5 FC races to put you in the lists to qualify for prizes. The
Wharfedale events and Round Hill Fell race are particularly attractive as they
count in both championships!!
Note the
Fell Championship has a pair of category letters see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fell_running
for explanation.
Note that
the Hyde Park traditional series of 3 races has been replaced by a single race
on Wednesday 20 July in memory of John Lunn, one of the great characters of
athletics in
Wed
1 Jun - Otley Chevin 3.5m 900' [FC category AS]
Sat
4 Jun - Wharfedale off road marathon 25.0m 2600' [GP Long race, FC
category CL]
Sat
4 Jun - Wharfedale off road half marathon [GP Long race, FC category BL]
Wed
8 Jun - Otley 10 [GP medium race]
Sat
18 Jun - Buckden Pike [FC category AS]
Sat
2 Jul - Wharfedale TTT day 2 [FC category AM]
Tue
5 Jul – provisional date for Summer Handicap [GP handicap race]
Sun
10 Jul - Eccup 10 [GP medium race]
Sun
17 Jul - Holme Moss [FC category
Wed
20 Jul - "John Lunn"
Sun
7 Aug - Round Hill, Timble, nr Otley (CM) 9.0m 1100' [GP fell/trail, FC
category CM]
Meanwood Valley Trail
Thank you
to everyone who helped for the race. One or two Striders had last minute
cancellations of their previous commitments and turned up on the day and I
believe we had exactly 70 helpers on the day.
Special
thanks to Striders friends and relations including Ian Place’s wife and sister
(drinks), Ged Coll’s wife and 2 children (drinks), Andy Jones’ wife and friend
(marshals), Andy Stoneman’s mum (marshal), Greg Skerrett’s daughter (marshal)
and Xanthe Hannah’s dog.
We also had
lots of helpers before the race, some of whom weren’t available on race day so
did their bit in advance, including
· John, Roy, James, Ian, Ruth, Michaela, Tony Mills’ kids and more - handing out entry forms at races
· Paul Briscoe – delivering beer and printing beer labels
· About 10 of you - labelling the beer Tuesday evening
· Mark Woodhead - snipping the nettles and brambles near The Myrtle
· Paul Sanderson - collecting the prize vouchers
· Ged Coll - purchasing and donating the water
· Roy Huggins - providing the table and delivering the cups, water and bins to Meanwood
· Sorry if I’ve missed anyone
It is the quantity and quality of the support that gives
much of the character to this race – myself and the finish marshals received
many compliments about the marshalling which I’m now passing on to you.
By the way, there are about 30 bottles of beer in Leos
clubhouse for those marshals who couldn’t collect theirs on Saturday.
Those of you who have marshaled before will have noticed
that race numbers were down on previous years – 63 junior finishers (100 last
year) and 218 senior finishers (255 last year and 342 the year before).
There are a number of possible reasons including - bank holiday, poor weather
at 8am, Apperley Bridge & Ilkley Trail same weekend, parkruns, low
publicity, proximity to Yorkshire Vets race. If you know any runners who
did or didn’t run MVT please ask them why they did or didn’t run and feed back
to me.
In spite of the lower number of runners, we’ve still managed
to make a reasonable profit from the race all to be donated to Lineham Farm –
about £500-£600 from the race itself, plus £250 in additional donations to
Lineham Farm, plus £60 as the gift aid effect on the £250 donations.
So thank you all.
Our next event is the Yorkshire Vets race at Leos on 28 June
(see above for details). We’ll also need about 8 marshals for our Club
Handicap on Tuesday 5 July (NB we nearly lost a couple of runners in the May
Handicap so better to be safe than sorry). So if you haven’t helped
recently but are free on one of these two dates, please let me know.
Bridlington 10k – Saturday 4 June - message from Mark Hetherington
Mark
Hetherington has emailed “Abbey are taking a coach over
(leaving on Saturday at 11.00am and getting back at about midnight). We will
definitely have spare seats on the coach, so we would be happy to offer
Striders seats at £5 each (heavily subsidised!) and tickets for the evening’s
entertainment at The Spa at a discounted rate of £5 each (instead of £7). Email
or call me (07753 614624) if you are interested?”
The Sunday Run – message from Tim (and Carole) Towler
Traditionally
the Sunday run from Smithy Mills has catered for runners who race a half
between 1.20 and about 1.40. Slower runners have understandably been put off,
fearful of being left on their own. Carole has been joining us over the last
few weeks. I have been struggling with injury and have been happy to run with
her so she doesn’t get left. As it happens she is running so well at the moment,
more often than not she has coped with the pace.
It has got
us thinking of the runners in the club who race a half in a time range of about
1.40 to 1.55, and who are likely to come down to Smithy Mills if there was a
slightly slower group, and there was no fear of being dropped. Carole has
already been in contact with 4 Striders who are all interested in joining such
a group. Carole (and I) are happy to coordinate a second group, in a similar
way to the way the current Sunday running group is coordinated.
If you are
interested, please email me and Carole ([email protected]
and [email protected]
)
Race Results and Reports
River Moy
Half Marathon – report from Tom Button
River Moy Half Marathon, Ballina,
Co.
In the week before
After the night before's standard
pre-race meal of beer and pizza, 9 Striders + 1 support team member (John
Batchelor on a bike) joined over 200 other runners for this very friendly half
marathon. The course was undulating for the first 6 miles with climbs in the 4th
and 6th miles, with the latter being in to a headwind. But, once we
turned at 6 miles, the old Irish blessing of “May the road rise up to meet you
and the wind be on your back” came true. After 3 more miles of mainly downhill
we ran through very picturesque woods before a final 3 miles along the banks of
the River Moy itself and a finish in front of their club house.
First Strider home (and first
overseas runner) was Dan Murray in 6th place and a time of 1:24:39.
There was then a trio of Striders all under 1:30 in 13th, 14th
and 15th: Greg Skerrett,
After the race we were served tea
and sandwiches in the club house by the lady mayor before retiring to a local
hostelry for the prize-giving and the special black “recovery” drink that they
specialise in. This recovery drink clearly works as by Monday morning we were
running barefoot along a beach in driving rain (the seaweed baths afterwards
helped sooth the pains too).
We really did received “a hundred
thousand welcomes” over the weekend and everyone seemed to know why we were
there (except for one who asked if there was a circus in town!). Special thanks
must go to Patrick for arranging the trip and especially all his relatives who
ferried us around all weekend.
Results
6 Dan
Murray 01:24:39
13 Greg
Skerrett 01:28:53
14
15 John
Wallace 01:29:39
20
31 Patrick Barrett
01:34:21 2nd M50
37 Alan Hutchinson
01:35:19 3rd M50
45
69
Windermere Marathon
72 Greg
Skerrett 3:22:09
89
106 Simon
Redshaw 3:32:58
125 Bob Jackson
3:37:25 2nd M60
Joe
Hanney 3:38:05
Steve
Dixon 3:51:34
Sarah
Smith 4:02:43
Meg
Galsworthy 4:10:51
All the times for Windermere and Edinburgh have been entered
into the Grand Prix “Any Other Marathon” category and the scores have been
updated on the website,
6 Simon Midwood 36:03
11 Daniel Fisher 37:16
37 Roy Huggins 40:20
44 David Vidal 40:59
45 Dan Murray 41:01
49 Gary Mann
41:14
51 Eirik Stangnes 41:16
52 Robert Bumstead 41:19
61 Greg Skerrett 42:10
75 John Wallace 43:13
116
121
Leroy Sutton 46:13
150
Keith Brewster 47:42
163
Chloe
172
Mike Midgley 48:35 1st
M65
192
235
278
Kay Duggleby 54:46
295
Julie Walker 55:22
New beginners group at Middleton Park – message from Holly
Hello all Valley Striders,
I have spoken to a few of you about my idea for setting up
a group for people in the mental health system to get into running and now I'm
putting my money (actually, my time) where my mouth is.
There are a lot of barriers to people experiencing mental
health difficulties to get into normal activities, the biggest one is stigma.
There is an ongoing campaign, run by NHS, to obliterate MH stigma and I think
they're on the right lines.
Exercising actually helps reduce stress levels, opens up
opportunities for making friends, having a laugh, working towards a goal and
reducing drug use (prescribed and non-prescribed).
I want to combine the two ideas: reducing stigma by opening
up the beginners session to all (whether that have a diagnosis or not) and
getting people active.
I am setting up a "Run Leeds" beginner's group
(similar to Strider's beginner's sessions) in
I will be running this by myself and at the moment I'm
looking for someone (or a group of people, on a rota system) to help take the
group out. You do not need to have any qualifications, I have the insurance we
need and everyone who comes will do so on their own back (i.e. if they get
injured we're not liable).
I am being backed by Community Links, Adult Social Care
(the old Social services provision of day services) and England Athletics.
I have not set a start date yet so please let me know if
you are willing/able to help be at the session or with other things that may
crop up that need doing.
I will be flyering around the whole of Leeds, this will
include places where MH services run other sessions, where the psychiatrists
hang out, hospitals (if I'm allowed) local newsagents, dentists, doctors,
willing people's places of work...the list goes on!
Please ask me as many questions as you can think of...I
tend to just see the positives so if you think of anything that could hold this
project back I would like to problem solve them before the group gets going.
So...what do you reckon? Can you help practically? Or give
me some advice?
Warm regards
Holly