VS adult 1 mile, junior 1 mile and club handicap (5 miles) - Tuesday 15 September

 

·         Juniors and beginners/improvers 1 mile races meet by Eccup reservoir 6:10pm.  This is an out-and-back route, half a mile each way.  Adult race will start at 6:10pm, junior race at 6:22pm.  NB parents may run with younger juniors.

·         Adult club handicap (5 miles) meet by Eccup reservoir 6:40pm.  This is also an out-and-back route, with a difference which will be explained on the night.  Slowest runner sets off first, fastest last.  If you’ve not run a club handicap before you will be given a start mark on the night, when you arrive please tell me your estimated time for 5km or 10km.  The first runners will start at 6:50pm, the final runners at 7:10pm.  This is about 15 minutes earlier than usual (due to dark evenings) you have been warned!

·         All club members welcome, guests too

·         All races start on the reservoir “towpath” nearest the lodge on Goodrick Lane (this is the steep hill that goes down to the reservoir from Alwoodley Lane), postcode LS17 7RW

·         Or see map http://valleystriders.org.uk/hcap10k.jpg for start point

 

Lasagne - Tuesday 22 September

 

Normal training sessions at 6pm and 7pm followed by lasagne

 

For food at 7:15pm book at earlyfood@valleystriders.org.uk , for food at 8:30pm, book at food@valleystriders.org.uk

 

In each case, choose meat or veggie lasagne (£3.50). NB ice creams will be available afterwards.  Please book before 10pm Sunday 20 September.

 

West Yorkshire Cross Country – closing date 30 September

 

All Valley Striders running members (aged 9 or over on 17^th October) are eligible to run in the West Yorkshire XC League.

 

There will be 4 events - Sunday 18 October at Wakefield, Saturday 31 October at Huddersfield, 14 or 15 November at Keighley, and Sunday 6 December at Yeadon.

 

Email teams@valleystriders.org.uk  if you wish to be entered - click www.valleystriders.org.uk/vsteams.htm to check list of entries.

 

If you want to run in the first race, names must be in by 30 September.

 

Fees for whole series are £12 for adults, £6 for juniors, please pay account “AC Payments” Sort Code: 53-70-00 A/c Number: 72143851, include your name and “WYXC” in the reference

 

Annual Running Meeting – Tuesday 6 October

 

Please put this date in your diaries, this corresponds to the AGM but only to discuss running activities (and a half of duathlons and a third of triathlons)

 

More information in the next V S Update.  NB there will be food that night!

 

Harewood Trail Races – Sunday 8 November

 

Race entries are now online at www.racebest.com , please tell your friends.  VS juniors please enter now!  VS adults if you want to run, please let us know at help@valleystriders.org.uk – we need to ensure we have sufficient marshals before we can “allow” our members to run.

 

We need some help before the race to hand out and/or deliver our 5,000 shiny postcard-sized flyers that were printed last week.  Emma has already placed 850 on car windscreens at Wetherby, several of our LCW runners handed out cards at the end of their legs, Ross Bibby has taken 400 to be distributed to Leeds Leisure Centres, and we’ve handed over 1,500 to go in the goody bags for Vale of York Half.  We still need to cover several local races, including all the local parkruns and junior parkruns.  And we need to put some in sports shops, schools (?), etc.  If you can help then please reply to Emma’s post on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/291402584033/permalink/10153508302289034/ .  Don’t worry about handing too many out, we can buy another 5,000.

 

If you’d like to help on the day, please email help@valleystriders.org.uk or “join” the Facebook event https://www.facebook.com/events/451741091665235/ .  List of marshals will be at www.valleystriders.org.uk/vsmarshals.htm (but may be a few days behind)

 

We have 33 entries so far.

 

Membership

 

Thank you to everyone who had paid so far – after just 2 days we have had 21 adult renewals and 2 juniors renewals. 

 

If you are in doubt whether you need to renew, please check www.valleystriders.org.uk/vsmemreg.htm .  This page also has your England Athletics number, and the page can also be accessed from the “For Club Members” tab on the website.

 

For how to renew, click on http://www.valleystriders.org.uk/renewal2015-6.htm .  Note that if running and cycling, you’ll need to make separate payments.

 

Leeds Country Way Results

 

Excellent results for the Valley Striders teams last Sunday

·         Men picked up the winners trophy and 4 fastest leg trophies

·         Ladies picked up the ladies runners-up trophy and 2 fastest leg trophies

·         Vets picked up the vets runners-up trophy (there are no fastest leg trophies for vets but I’m sure they would have picked up some if there had been)

·         “B” team were 7^th overall, the next best placed B team were 15^th

·         “C” team were 24^th overall, exactly half way

  

Men's "A"                         Leg time    Cum time

1 John Hobbs & Andy May           1:08:28  1  1:08:28  1 F

2 Paul Fotherby & Simon Midwood   1:15:44  3  2:24:12  2

3 Rav Panesar & Jon Pownall       1:05:46  1  3:29:58  1 F

4 Dan Fisher & Matthew Hallam     1:14:25  1  4:44:23  1 F

5 Daryl Hibberd & Gwil Thomas     1:06:45  3  5:51:08  1

6 Jeremy Ladyman & Jon Parker     1:04:38  1  6:55:46  1 F

Ladies

1 Liz Wood & Allison Skillicorn   1:30:45 22  1:30:45 22

2 Hayley Nancolas & Alison Price  1:32:35 17  3:03:20 18

3 Samantha Harris & Pam Lomoro    1:19:52 13  4:23:12 13 F

4 Rachel Mackie & Sarah Grant     1:32:05 14  5:55:17 13 F

5 Pascale Fotherby & Chloe Hudson 1:30:59 23  7:26:16 15

6 Sue Sunderland & Ruth Warren    1:21:01 20  8:47:17 18

Vets

1 Roy Huggins & Paul Smith        1:24:16 13  1:24:16 13

2 Ian Sanderson & Joel Giddings   1:22:58  8  2:47:14  9

3 Kevin Mcmullan & Rob Hamilton   1:18:59 10  4:06:13  9

4 James Tarran & Steve Webb       1:22:12  3  5:28:25  7

5 John Batchelor & Richard Irvine 1:22:20 17  6:50:45  8

6 Tahir Akhtar & Simon Vallance   1:12:07 12  8:02:52  9

"B" team

1 Tom Button & Joe Hanney         1:27:55 15  1:27:55 15

2 Andrew Bennett & Gary Mann      1:17:33  4  2:45:28  8

3 Sean Fitzgerald & Vernon Long   1:23:55 15  4:09:23 10

4 Alex Nancolas & Ben Hall        1:23:29  7  5:32:52  8

5 John Shanks & Clive Bandy       1:10:19  5  6:43:21  7

6 Michael Hall & Dave Simms       1:10:23  8  7:53:44  7

"C" team

1 Mike Robins & Paul Crossan      1:32:02 24  1:32:02 24

2 Mick Tinker & Bob Jackson       1:45:32 33  3:17:34 29

3 John Wallace & Martin Oddy      1:27:44 22  4:45:18 27

4 Steph Gledhill & Sarah Smith    1:47:59 30  6:33:17 30

5 Liz Reddington & Nicola Hartley 1:35:25 27  8:08:42 26

6 Paul White & Paul Sanderson     1:19:12 17  9:27:54 24

 

Notes

·         The runners-up men’s team was a team “Airedale Athletics” which is a composite picking the best runners from Baildon Runners, Bradford Airedale AC, Eccleshill RR, Queensbury RC, Saltaire Striders and Skyrac AC, i.e. most of the clubs in Bradford plus one inside the Leeds boundary too.   So the actual result was Valley Striders beat whole of Bradford.,

·         The winning ladies team was from Wakefield Harriers.  They started the last leg a couple of minutes behind Sue and Ruth, caught them, got lost, caught them again, and then decided to stay with them for all but the last half mile, when they raced ahead to the finish.  Good tactics or bad sportsmanship, for you to decide.  Their tactics won the team prize but because they slowed for our ladies, this pair missed out on fastest leg for leg 6 by 30 seconds, what a pity!

·         The winning vets team was from St Theresas and finished 6^th overall.  Their “A” team was a vets team, whereas two of our vets were in our “A” team.  We mustn’t complain, it’s a strategy we have used in the past.

 

As reported in the Bradford Telegraph and Argus http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/13709374.Airedale_foiled_again_by_Valley_Striders/  The LEEDS COUNTRY WAY on Sunday saw another ding-dong battle with Valley Striders. Both teams were over ten minutes quicker than last year on the six-leg, 64-mile course but it was the north Leeds club who won for the third year in a row. This year saw the two clubs head to head from the off, with Will Kerr and Carl Kernick a few yards adrift at the first changeover. But already both clubs were three minutes ahead of Horsforth and Rothwell, who ended up third and fourth of the 47 teams competing. Matt Nowell and Andy Bedford took Airedale into the lead on the leg from Stanley to Scotchman Lane but Valley took a decisive 12-minute lead on the next two legs. Quentin Lewis and Michael Maylon reduced the gap on the leg from Golden Acre Park to Thorner but it was not enough. The time of 7hr 6min 19sec for Airedale was a team record. They have now been second four times and third twice since 2010. Saltaire Striders were 22nd and Baildon 28th and 47th.

 

Thank you to

·         Team managers Myra, Gwil and Simon

·         The 6 Leg managers who managed to get all 10 runners to the start of their leg in time, and also arranged transport so they could get home without having to retrace their steps

·         Gwil, Vernon, John W, Steph and Nic who subbed in the last week

·         Richard Adcock and Graham Pawley who, in the middle of the week, volunteered to be on standby, but fortunately weren’t needed

·         Pam who travelled from London and Tosh who travelled from Birmingham to take part

·         All 60 Striders, none of whom managed to get lost or even noticeably mislaid!

 

Wetherby races (running, not horse-racing)

 

And while 60 Striders were running the Leeds Country Way …

 

Junior race

    2 Sophie Turner       10:27 (1^st girl)

    5 Tally Diamond       10:57 (1^st U-11 girl)

   10 Keira Jones         12:02 (4^th girl)

   15 Imogen Idle         13:00

   92 finished

5k

   20 Stephen Diamond     21:46

   68 finished

10k

                            AG%    Chip     Gun

   16 Jonathan Smyth  M S   71.92  0:37:28  0:37:30

   53 Adam Parton     M45   70.90  0:40:43  0:40:46

   98 Callum Parton   MU20  61.84  0:43:33  0:43:37

  112 Leroy Sutton    M50   72.26  0:44:10  0:44:30

  167 Michael Robins  M50   67.49  0:46:29  0:46:48

  249 Dawn Parton     F40   62.57  0:50:08  0:50:18

  384 Stephen Diamond MU20  48.48  0:55:25  0:55:38

  516 Sarah Clark     F45   53.85  0:59:56  1:00:58

  541 Maureen Coffey  F65+  65.11  1:01:40  1:02:01

  572 Sarah Howell    F S   46.82  1:02:51  1:03:54

  603 Sarah Ord       F35   46.43  1:04:19  1:05:07

  621 Helen Gill      F40   48.44  1:05:34  1:06:37

  708 finished

 

Junior Grand Prix

 

Note that the Junior Race was the first race of the Valley Striders Junior Grand Prix 2015/6.  The next race will be the junior race at Kirkstall on 27 September.

 

The (provisional) final positions in VSJGP 2014/5 can be found at  http://www.valleystriders.org.uk/VS%20Junior%20GP%20Table%202014-5.xls

 

Junior 100m

 

I’ve found the manual for the stopwatch and the results from August and September will be in next week’s V S Update

 

Welsh 3000ers, 23 miles ~10 000 feet climb (John Marsham)

 

This is the shortest route between the highest summits in what is arguably the most spectacular mountain range in England and Wales, crossing the three massifs of Snowdon, the Glyderau and the Carneddau. I’d been meaning to do it for years. With a baby due, I thought I should finally get around to it; a good way to round off what, for me, has been a year of Welsh-running.

 

The record holders on the route are a small ‘Who’s Who’ of the post-war and subsequent establishment of the UK outdoor world. John Disley in 1952, 6 hours by Bertie Robertson in 1953 (Chris Brasher ran 6 hours 58 minutes on the same day), Eric Beard three times in 1962 to 1965. In 1973 Joss Naylor ran 4 hours 46 minutes (on a misty day, on unfamiliar ground, and partly without pacers). In 1988 Colin Donnelly set the current record at 4 hours 19 minutes. In 1989 Angela Carson, Donnelly’s wife at the time, set the current women’s record of 5 hours 28 minutes.

 

The fact the records have not been broken for almost thirty years is at least partly because they are simply very hard to beat. Anyone who has never run at the front of a mountainous fell race and wondered how fast the best runners can descend (or ever complained the terrain on the Yorkshire 3 peaks ‘isn’t very runnable’) should watch the film of Colin’s run (http://www.ukclimbing.com/videos/play.php?i=1872). It’s a very ‘80s film, but an amazing piece of running. There are perhaps other reasons the record hasn’t been broken though. I think the focus has shifted from such ‘short’ routes to more ultra-type runs, and there are now many more organised events to choose from if you want to do such a route.  Some also argue that the route is ‘inelegant’, in that it starts on the top of Snowdon and finishes at the summit of Foel Fras, rather than in two valley bases. What this does mean though is that it is ‘only’ 23 miles and it really is a run, not a prolonged plod.

 

When some tourists on Snowdon’s summit congratulated me, I had to point out that I’d taken the train up! There was an icy wind and Crib Goch was still damp in places and I missed the best lines, not having recced this section. The next big descent was also unfamiliar, and I was hesitant, so it was with some relief that I reached the road. The traverse of the Glyderau was great, sunshine and energy in the legs, and you can see Snowdon on one side and the Carneddau on the other. Tiredness set in on the difficult descent to and traverse of Tryfan. I was too hot on the last big climb up Pen Yr Ole Wen, and didn’t really recover from that brutal climb until the last few summits of the Carneddau, with the unfamiliar traverse to Yr Elen also slowing me down. I was met by Ann on the final uphill run to Foel Fras, where you come to a sudden end of the mountains with a view out over the sea; it felt like a good ending to a great day.

 

I enjoyed being alone and independent in the hills after relying on pacers for the PaddyB - not that I didn’t enjoy their company then! I don’t run alone that often, and it reinforced how much harder it is to set such records without a race, or pacers. A friend who’d made an attempt a few years ago had given me a table of Colin Donnelly’s splits, which allows some geeky post-run analysis of my 6hour 44min time. I was about 1.4 times slower than Colin on the ascents, but over twice as slow on the hardest descents, and only 1.2 times as slow on the final easy summits: I’m sure with more days off beforehand, more than five hours sleep the night before and a proper recce I could do it faster, but my times on the technical ground and descents also confirm that often I was limited by my skills in running the terrain, as well as fitness. I clearly need to spend more time running down hills.