Subject: V S Weekly Update - Leeds
half, Tracks on Tuesday, Marshals wanted 25 June, Races and dates, VS on
Twitter, Bramham challenge, Club Handicap results, Fellsman report
Sent: 10 May 2013 10:40
Expecting to see lots
of Striders on the start line on Sunday. For those spectating, the usual
Striders vantage points are the centre of Meanwood Village and anywhere on the
steep hill after Meanwood (runners need plenty of support here) and the top of
Stonegate Road on the roundabout before the drop down to the Ring Road.
Dedicated Striders spectators park “inside” the route and can then get across
to Kirkstall Road.
There have been some
requests for race numbers on Facebook, just remember the 17 rules www.valleystriders.org.uk/17rules.htm and since the
runner’s name is on the race number, be prepared to respond to your alias!
Track Training
Tuesday 14 May
All training sessions
at the track next week, the beginners/improvers and juniors groups at Grammar
School at Leeds at 6pm and the intermediates and experienced runners at Leeds
Met at 7pm.
And it’s the Jack
Bloor Races at Ilkley that night too.
Tuesday 21 May
Advanced notice that
there will be pie and peas on Tuesday 21 May, two sittings 7:15 and 8:30.
Please book saying whether you want meat or veggie pie, whether you want baked
beans or mushy peas and also whether you want apple pie. NB Parents could
you book the number of portions you want – half portions permitted!
Please email [email protected] by 10pm Sunday 19
May (don’t forget to say whether 7:15 or 8:30).
Marshals Wanted –
Tuesday 25 June
This is the evening
that we’re hosting the Yorkshire Veterans AA league race. The race starts
at 7:30. We need about 30 marshals from 7pm to 8:30pm.
Please email [email protected] if you can
help. If we have too many marshals, then some Striders will be able to
enter the race. Race details at www.yvaa.org
That evening there
will be a session for the juniors at 6pm, not sure about beginners/improvers,
definitely no 7pm groups!
Other Events
We still need 20 or
so runners to get 3 teams for the Bradford Millennium Way Relay on Sunday 16
June, email [email protected] if you want to run
or need more info.
See www.valleystriders.org.uk/vsdates.htm (this is also available via
the website Club Members tab) for a calendar of
races including Grand Prix and Fell Championship.
Here’s a link to a
new 3k track race https://racebest.com/races/leeds-3k-track-races
If you’re intending
to run several races in Leeds this year, why not enter the Leeds Race Series,
it’s free to enter. www.leedsathletics.net Joel Giddings and
Gary Mann were age-group winners in the 2012 series. There’s also a
Junior Race Series.
Valley Striders on
Twitter
We have a Twitter
account and a new Tweetmaster (or maybe Tweetmistress!) so try https://www.twitter.com/valleystriders
Lots of tweets this
week about Leeds Half and the John Carr series at Esholt.
8 Valley Striders in
attendance at the John Carr Race series last night. Highest placed Strider in
13th place: Dan Fisher with 16.17 :-)
Bramham Challenge Run
Please can you
promote the “Bramham Challenge Run” for me. As Charity of the Year at the
Bramham International Horse Trials for 2013 we have been offered the unique
opportunity of organising the “Bramham Challenge Run” at 1pm on Sunday 9th
June at Bramham Park, near Wetherby. The run is over the 6km cross
country course, over the jumps, hot on the hoof of the last equine competitor.
The run caters for all and participants can run, jog or walk the course. For
the serious runners first pass the post wins £200, 2nd place £100
and 3rd place £50. The race can be ran in fancy dress(optional) with
an M&S drinks hamper on offer for the best fancy dress. Registration is £10
and individuals are asked to raise an additional £50 for the Fire Fighters
Charity. Registration is on line at www.firefighterscharity.org.uk . If you have any questions please feel free to call me on
07825 182 621 or email me at [email protected] It would be brilliant if you could support this
fundraiser in any way.
Please help make the
“Bramham Challenge Run” a real success and help support your local fire
fighters when they find themselves in times of need.
The Fire Fighters
Charity - every 30 seconds in the UK, fire fighters are called to an incident,
putting their lives on the line, and often sustaining injuries whilst carrying
out their duties. The Fire Fighters Charity is the UK’s leading provider of
services that enhance the quality of life for serving and retired fire service
personnel and their families. Our three centres in Cumbria, Devon and
West Sussex offer rehabilitation programmes to serving and retired members of
the fire community, and their dependants, as well as recuperation breaks
following illness, injury or bereavement. Our beneficiary support service
offers a free confidential and impartial helpline for the fire and rescue community-providing
advice and support on a broad range of issues- as well as having a nationwide
network of professional staff and trained volunteers. It costs £9m every
year to keep the charity running, and with no government funding, we are completely
reliant upon donations from the fire and rescue community and the general
public.
Results - Club Handicap 5 miles
Apologies for the delay publishing the results, but there was a query
about the handicap calculations.
After a discussion with the Committee on Tuesday, here are the adjusted
results. Congratulations to John Hallas who wins the trophy and to Simon
Midwood for fastest time.
If you want to find out how the handicaps are calculated, see www.valleystriders.org.uk/vshcrule.htm (this is also available via the website Club Members tab / Grand
Prix page). If anyone is interested I’ll demo the system after the food
on Tuesday 4 June (please let me know if you are interested)
Race
Race Hand- Run
Pts
Pos
Time icap Time
1 John Hallas 0:52:49
0:16:00 0:36:49 71
2 Melanie Murray 0:53:39
0:04:00 0:49:39 42
3 Nick Barnes 0:53:52
0:20:15 0:33:37 86
4 Jacqueline Hunt 0:53:59 0:08:15
0:45:44 49
5 Natalie Ross 0:53:59
0:08:15 0:45:44 49
6 Rich Clough 0:54:37
0:10:30 0:44:07 53
7 Joel Giddings 0:54:45
0:23:30 0:31:15 98
8 Sean Fitzgerald 0:54:58 0:19:00
0:35:58 76
9 Mike Higgins 0:54:59
0:20:00 0:34:59 80
10 Kirsty Myers 0:55:07
0:10:00 0:45:07 50
11 Simon Barker 0:55:17
0:18:00 0:37:17 69
12 Becky Murray 0:55:22
0:06:30 0:48:52 43
13 Liz Reddington 0:55:28
0:14:45 0:40:43 64
14 John Wallace 0:55:38
0:20:45 0:34:53 81
15 Liz Holmes
0:55:42 0:13:30 0:42:12 55
16 Liz Guthrie 0:55:45
0:12:15 0:43:30 54
17 Gemma Midwood 0:55:47 0:14:45
0:41:02 61
18 Julie McGurk 0:55:55
0:14:00 0:41:55 57
19 Chloe Hudson 0:55:59
0:14:30 0:41:29 59
20 Simon Midwood 0:56:00
0:27:45 0:28:15 100
21 Alex Watson-Usher 0:56:01 0:17:00
0:39:01 67
22 Rav Panesar 0:56:02
0:23:15 0:32:47 92
23 John Batchelor 0:56:03
0:23:30 0:32:33 93
24 Paul Fotherby 0:56:05
0:25:30 0:30:35 99
25 Myra Jones
0:56:18 0:22:45 0:33:33 88
26 Gareth Chambers 0:56:24 0:11:45
0:44:39 51
27 Sarah Clark 0:56:27
0:12:00 0:44:27 52
28 Pascale Fotherby 0:56:28 0:15:15
0:41:13 60
29 Tomas Mildorf 0:56:40
0:20:15 0:36:25 74
30 Sue Sunderland 0:56:42
0:19:00 0:37:42 68
31 Tony Mills
0:56:46 0:24:45 0:32:01 96
32 Roy Huggins 0:56:47
0:24:15 0:32:32 94
33 John Shanks 0:56:48
0:25:15 0:31:33 97
34 Andy Thorpe 0:56:49
0:24:30 0:32:19 95
35 Andy Stoneman 0:57:05
0:24:15 0:32:50 91
36 Keith Brewster 0:57:18
0:20:15 0:37:03 70
37 Sarah Graham 0:57:23
0:24:00 0:33:23 89
38 Ronan Loftus 0:57:27
0:23:15 0:34:12 83
39 Paul White
0:57:28 0:18:15 0:39:13 66
40 Paul Smith
0:57:30 0:23:00 0:34:30 82
41 Sue
Carr 0:57:35
0:09:15 0:48:20 44
42 Bob Jackson 0:57:36
0:18:00 0:39:36 65
43 Adam Parton 0:57:41
0:21:30 0:36:11 75
44 Graham Ford 0:57:48
0:15:45 0:42:03 56
45 Paul Sanderson 0:57:53
0:22:45 0:35:08 79
46 Aileen Loftus 0:57:57
0:17:00 0:40:57 62
47 Mike Nelson 0:58:05
0:24:30 0:33:35 87
48 Richard Irvine 0:58:15
0:24:30 0:33:45 85
49 Brian Kenny 0:58:24
0:16:45 0:41:39 58
50 Sarah Harper 0:58:32
0:17:45 0:40:47 63
51 Andy Settle 0:58:33
0:22:00 0:36:33 72
52 Dan Murray
0:58:40 0:24:30 0:34:10 84
53 Alan Hutchinson 0:58:44 0:22:15
0:36:29 73
54 Grace Thomas 0:59:37
0:13:15 0:46:22 47
55 Mick Loftus 1:00:23
0:25:15 0:35:08 79
56 Holly Williams 1:00:23
0:27:30 0:32:53 90
57 Rob Hamilton 1:01:47
0:26:00 0:35:47 77
58 Claire Senior 1:02:25
0:14:30 0:47:55 46
59 Jill Senior 1:02:25
0:14:30 0:47:55 46
Race Report –
Fellsman – from Simon Redshaw
27th April 2013 -
51st Fellsman - 61 miles and over 11,000ft of ascent
It was 4:30am when the alarm went off for an early start to drive to the Finish
at Threshfield. We (co runner, Kippax Harrier, Martyn Hewitt a Fellsman
veteran 7 attempts) checked in some kit and got straight on the 6am bus transfer
to Ingleton. After registration we were subjected to a rigorous kit check
and rightly so. (The event had to be stopped due to the weather in 2012
as many were on the verge of hypothermia). We sat checking our kit,
again! Drinking cups of tea until the start at 9am.
It was quite cool outside but things soon
warmed up as we started to climb Ingleborough. Martyn, a better climber
than me had gone off much faster, we planned to run together knowing I would
make up the time on the downhill and as our pace slowed later on, we would
continue on together pretty much. Ingleborough had a good sprinkling of
fine powder snow on the top which made it a little slippy underfoot.
I caught up with Martyn after the Hill Inn
checkpoint we chatted and he left me going uphill on the way up Whernside, just
as the Hail Stones started. As I reached the top of the steep climb up
Whernside I caught sight of Nicky Spinks near the front doing well, a truly
inspirational fell runner. Martyn was not far behind her at this point
and I continued to chase him down to Kingsdale.
The checkpoints are organised on this event
such that food and drink are available in the valley bottoms and manned check
points at the tops with a tent. There is even a menu published in the
handbook that comes with your entry, so I enjoyed a flapjack at Kingsdale and
was looking forward to sausage rolls at Dent.
Gragareth took a lot out of me and I started
to cramp on the way up, but it wasn't until we were running across the bogs
along to Great Coum that I had two shooting instances of cramp as I twisted my
leg in some deep bogs. Cramp always seemed to linger at the back of my
legs from then on, I had to keep that monkey in a cage though as there was
plenty more mileage to do.
It was a beautiful day in Dent and the
sausage rolls went down well but I just couldn't stomach the baked beans!
Eating is vital on this kind of event in order to sustain the calories
you are burning continually. There is a gruelling long climb out of Dent
up to Blea Moor which I had done in training; it just seems to go on forever!
The route continues back down to Stonehouse,
up Great Knoutberry then along to the only reason I decided to do this run, the
checkpoint that was my namesake 'Redshaw'. Okay not entirely true :-)
The bean casserole here was superb and really set me up for the traverse
on to Dodd fell and Fleet Moss. The rules state that Grouping begins at
particular times throughout the night when It gets dark depending on which
check point you are at. It was our aim to get through Fleet Moss before
being grouped. (Being grouped means you have to stay in a group of not less
than 4 people and at each checkpoint it is verified that you are all together,
one person was apparently disqualified overnight for not remaining with his
group).
The fells after Fleet Moss are very hard
work; ankle deep in peat bogs with very rough ground, the terrain really takes
a lot out of you for sure. We made it all the way to Cray before being
grouped with four other people and with approx 15 miles to go it was now all in
the dark. Two big climbs left, Buckden Pike and Great Whernside. It
got very cold as we left Park Rash, not even the rice pudding was attractive
now! The ground started to Freeze beneath us and even with Gloves and a
hat, my fingers were still tingling from the cold. It was a relief to be
running down out of the wind from Great Whernside, all be it quite painful on
your quads and calves. My left ankle was definitely sprained at this
point as well from the rough ground, but that was another monkey I had to lock
away!
We had a great group of sociable people all
of similar ability, making friends and having a chat helped the time to pass
quicker. You can only travel as fast as the slowest person in your group.
In our case there wasn't very much in it as we all seemed to be of
similar ability. We were un-grouped at the last checkpoint before the
final two miles downhill, all on punishing tarmac (legs are really suffering at
this point). As a show of good companionship we all remained together and
finished together. Waiting times for grouping are subtracted from your
finish time, so depending on how long you waited to be put into a group, this
time would ultimately determine your finish time.
Martyn and I finished in a time of 17 hours
and 44 minutes 100th/101st out of 402 starters and 303 finishers.
The winner was Adam Perry in 10hrs 34mins.
Last place was Brian Finlay in 27hrs 22mins
I was quite pleased with that as I was hoping
for around 18hours. It's not really safe to drive after such an event so
we collected our sleeping bags and sleeping mats and crashed in the school hall
along with everyone else. Full cooked breakfast at 6:30am and much
discussion and camaraderie at the end made this a truly fantastic and well
organised event. I believe some of the most stunning scenery in the
country (if not the world).
2 marathons and a bit in one day over some
serious terrain! It does require a lot of physical and mental
preparation. Although steps are a minor problem (written the day after)
already the pains are easing and like childbirth (apparently) you quickly
forget... again...Who knows...