V S Update - 12 April 2018

- Training and food
- Peco relays 6 May
- Junior Races at Leos Tuesday 15 May entries and meeting
- Sportshoes discount
- Results from Yorkshire Junior Road Races and Senior Road Relays, Leeds/Liverpool half, Ackworth half, Liverpool half (incl. report), Guiseley Gallop, Baildon Boundary Way, Manchester marathon, Thirsk 10
- Reports from Tour of Bradwell and High Cup Nick.

Training and Food

Please see Facebook (or the website if you're not on Facebook) for details of training sessions.

All Tuesday groups will be training from Leos on 17 April. There will be lasagne available at 7:15pm for the 6pm groups, to book, please email [email protected], saying how many full portions you want and how many half portions you want, and whether any of these should be veggie. Please book by 10pm Sunday 15 April.

There will be a brief meeting to announce/discuss arrangements for the junior races on Tuesday 17 April at 7:05pm i.e. just after the 6pm sessions and just before the food, please could all parents stay for an extra 10 minutes even if you're not having lasagne.

Training on 24 April will probably be at Grammar School at Leeds for 6pm sessions and from Leos for 7pm sessions.

Peco Relays 6 May

Still waiting for confirmation!

Junior Races at Leos Tuesday 15 May

Entries will be open late next week.

See note above re meeting at Leos for parents on 17 April.

Discount code for www.sportsshoes.com

Members of Valley Striders can have a 10% discount and free delivery on purchases.

This is available to all members of Valley Striders including juniors, cyclists and triathletes.

Please don't share this code with people who are not a member of VS and please do not copy to any social media site open to the public.

The code for this month is: (see Facebook)

Good luck

To our men's 12 stage relay team and women's 6 stage relay team taking part in the National Road Relays at Sutton Coldfield on Saturday.

RESULTS

Yorkshire Junior Road Running Championships

This was the first year that this event has taken place at Bodington/Brownlee Cycle Circuit. With the exception of the parking arrangements, everyone agreed it was a great success and the event will almost certainly return to Bodington next year.

In the junior races, Striders had full teams of 3 at U13B and U15B, this is the first time we've had juniors at this event.

Photos of U13 races https://t.co/jgdelpfRLJ

Photos of U15 races https://t.co/GhPloWrENF

Under 13 girls (3.2km)

1 R Simpson (Hallamshire) 11:39
19 Josephine Pawley 13:37
20 Hannah Taylor 13:41
33 ran 16:41

Under 13 Boys (3.2km)

1 Sam Conroy (Keighley) 11:11
7 Leon Jones 11:48
10 Jamie Walker 12:20
19 Alfie Jones 12:47
34 ran 17:56
Team Result (3 to score)
1 Richmond & Zetland 22
2 Rotherham Harriers 24
3 Keighley & Craven 26
4 Valley Striders 36
5 Holmfirth Harriers 59
6 Halifax Harriers 65
7 Rothwell Harriers 77

Under 15 Boys (3.2km)

1 F Hutchinson(C.of York) 10:13
27 James Preston 12:28
31 Feargus Hagerty 13:55
32 Isaac Rose 14:10
32 ran
Team Result (3 to score)
1 Richmond & Zetland 18
2 Keighley & Craven 26
3 Wharfedale H 38
4 Rothwell Harriers 54
5 Valley Striders 90

Yorkshire Road Relays

Striders had two ladies teams (of 4) and one mens team (of 4), its probably 10 years since we last had teams at these events (please email back to correct me if I'm wrong).

I'm listing all results of all teams in the hope that next year we will have A, B, C and possibly D teams of ladies and men, I'm sure that our C and D teams could be competitive.

NB although advertised as 3.2km and 4.8km, think 2 and 3 miles - these races were 2 and 3 laps of the Bodington cycle circuit which has a lap distance of almost exactly one mile.

Photos of ladies' relay https://t.co/X3vqIOrTht

Photos of men's relay https://t.co/LmYl0JwikH and https://t.co/Q8RigwOHlS

Ladies (over 17) (4 x 3.2km)

1 Wakefield Dist. H. 'A' 46:17
2 Holmfirth Harriers 'A' 48:35
3 Barnsley AC 'A' 51:24
4 Bingley Harriers 'A' 51:34
5 Wetherby Runners 'A' 51:37
6 Keighley & Craven 'A' 52:24
7 Valley Striders 'A' 53:46
Chloe Hudson 13:52 13:52 16
Sarah Mann 14:12 28:04 14
Rachel Bentley 13:20 41:24 11
Myra Jones 12:22 53:46 7
8 Wakefield Dist. H. 'B' 54:16
9 Halifax Harriers 'A' 55:17
10 Ilkley Harriers 'A' 55:20
11 Baildon Runners 'A' 55:39
12 Holmfirth Harriers 'B' 55:42
13 Rothwell Harriers 'A' 56:44
14 Keighley & Craven 'B' 57:06
15 Valley Striders 'B' 57:13
Steph Gledhill 13:53 13:53 17
Aileen Loftus 14:41 28:34 15
Alex Watson-Usher 14:33 43:07 16
Claire Capper 14:06 57:13 15
16 Bingley Harriers 'B' 58:12
17 Barnsley Harriers 'A' 61:18
18 Baildon Runners 'B' 61:28
19 Spenborough AC 'A' 65:28
20 Rothwell Harriers 'B' 66:27
21 Barnsley Harriers 'B' 69:11
22 Rothwell Harriers 'C' 69:42
23 Baildon Runners 'C' 70:57

Men (Over 17) (4 x 4.8km)

1 Rotherham Harriers 'A' 61:06
2 Richmond & Zetland 'A' 61:59
3 Hallamshire H. 'A' 62:53
4 Holmfirth Harriers 'A' 63:42
5 Halifax Harriers 'A' 63:48
6 Rotherham Harriers 'B' 65:35
7 Spenborough AC 'A' 65:38
8 Wakefield Dist. H. 'A' 66:08
9 Ilkley Harriers 'A' 66:35
10 Bingley Harriers 'A' 66:37
11 Holmfirth Harriers 'B' 66:38
12 Rothwell Harriers 'A' 67:46
13 Barnsley Harriers 'A' 69:32
14 Barnsley AC 'A' 69:58
15 Valley Striders 'A' 70:17
Daryl Hibberd 16:14 16:14 10
Kevin Mcmullan 18:10 34:24 15
James Tarran 18:07 52:31 16
Jon Pownall 17:46 70:17 15
16 Longwood Harriers 'A' 70:31
17 Wetherby Runners 'A' 70:55
18 Holmfirth Harriers 'C' 71:21
19 Halifax Harriers 'C' 71:32
20 Wakefield Dist. H. 'B' 72:31
21 Skyrac AC 'A' 72:36
22 Keighley & Craven 'A' 73:17
23 Halifax Harriers 'B' 75:02
24 Holmfirth Harriers 'D' 75:09
25 Bingley Harriers 'B' 76:49
26 Baildon Runners 'A' 77:13
27 Rothwell Harriers 'B' 77:28
28 Holmfirth Harriers 'E' 77:41
29 Sheffield Running Club 78:24
30 Halifax Harriers 'E' 78:38
31 Longwood Harriers 'B' 79:33
32 Ilkley Harriers 'B' 80:03
33 Barnsley Harriers 'B' 81:19
34 Bingley Harriers 'C' 81:47
35 Holmfirth Harriers 'F' 82:01
36 Halifax Harriers 'D' 82:26
37 Baildon Runners 'B' 85:03
38 Bingley Harriers 'D' 101:22

Three Half Marathons all scoring VSGP "Any Other Half" points

Leeds/Liverpool Canal Half Marathon

1 Terry Midgley

Ackworth Half

24	Joel Giddings	1:27:20
109	Sarah Mann	1:48:21
130	Ruth Warren	1:52:21
200	Elaine Craiggs	2:08:00

Liverpool Nearly Half (report from Iain Currie)

Two Valley Striders ran the Liverpool Half Marathon on Sunday 25 March. The event is billed as a personal best course as it is basically a flat course on closed roads and through parks on the south side of Liverpool. Unfortunately this year course amendments because of roadworks near the start resulted in the course being around 400m too short. On the Tuesday after the race the race director sent out a very apologetic e-mail – you can tell he is really upset that he made one too many amendments to the course.

The race starts at Pier Head in the city centre and heads towards Sefton Park. After some loops around Sefton Park the final 4 miles home were along the banks of the River Mersey into a slight head wind. The race then finishes where it starts close to Pier Head. As gun times were provided at 10 miles as well as the finish I have calculated how long it would take for us to run the additional 400 metres by assuming the final 400m would be run at the average pace taken to run the final 3.1 miles.

The results are

Pos Gun Time Chip Time add 400m Est.Half
Iain Currie 354 1:32:34 1:32:06 1:44 1:33:50
Chris Sawyer 823 1:42:13 1:40:58 2:01 1:42:59

Apart from the mix up over the distance the event was well organised with four drink stations and the customary medal and t-shirt at the finish.

Guiseley Gallop (VSGP)

15	Gary Mann	0:42:45	100
19	Tim Straughan	0:43:40	98
49	Vernon Long	0:47:01	96
53	Jonathan Smyth	0:47:16	94
119	David Merritt	0:51:38	92
127	Alistair Smyth	0:52:11	90
139	Ken Fox	0:53:11	88
172	Leroy Sutton	0:55:11	86
202	Amanda Spencer	0:57:21	84
260	Gemma Merritt	1:01:31	82
321	Andy Wicks	1:06:11	80

Baildon Boundary Way (VSGP)

5	Huw Lippiatt	1:33:37	100
22	Tim Straughan	1:42:06	98
35	Joel Giddings	1:45:44	97
46	Vernon Long	1:49:03	95
100	Alistair Smyth	1:59:59	93
103	Sean Fitzgerald	2:00:18	92
108	Josie Rothera	2:00:32	90
121	Alan Hutchinson	2:02:52	88
128	Michael Robins	2:03:47	87
130	Mike Furby	2:03:59	85
138	Steve Dixon	2:05:10	83
149	Steph Gledhill	2:07:28	82
176	Chloe Hudson	2:12:54	80

Manchester Marathon (VSGP Any Other Marathon)

10	John Hobbs	02:31:34
164	Andrew Bennett	02:51:40
625	Rich Gaffey	03:05:25
4075	Tony Owen	03:56:42
6209	Anne Worrall	04:26:10
6568	Martin Sutcliffe	04:31:19
6838	Justin Mong	04:36:08
6924	Claire Senior	04:37:36

John's time was the fastest by any Strider this century.

Thirsk 10

26	Gary Mann	01:01:19
150	Rachel Bentley	01:11:46
214	Leroy Sutton	01:15:25
271	Amanda Spencer	01:19:17
332	Ruth Warren	01:22:40

Winter short tour of Bradwell (Report from Amanda Seims)

10th Feb - 15 miles, 900m of ascent

163 runners turned up on this cold, damp and windy day in February to run around what is normally quite a challenging course even in summer conditions (held in August). The course was similar to the summer's (which today included an icy and slippery descent down Cave Dale into Castleton) apart from a change to the descent off Loose Hill due to fields being waterlogged but this meant more on the road which I found tough.

This is a navigational event (no GPS allowed), however the route instructions are excellent and the navigation is not as difficult as a typical fell race with it being mainly on good paths and bridleways. It starts with a very long and dull climb up past a quarry but eventually you are rewarded with a long, technical and fun descent down Cavedale along the Limestone Way into Castleton. A short stretch on the road then leads you to another long climb up to the fells, eventually running along the ridge to the summit of Loose Hill where it's back down again to a few miles of undulating road before the final big climb up to a checkpoint above Ladybower. After here it's downhill and along a flat bridleway for a few miles until a tough undulating final 2 miles.

I was only 5 minutes slower than my summer time in 2015 which I was happy with, given the weather and mud and somehow I had a lot of PRs on segments I've previously ran so that was ll really good!

These events always seem to attract a relatively small field which surprises me given that they are incredibly cheap compared to a standard trail race. The entry fee was around £10 from memory and this included two checkpoints stocked with the usual water, jelly babies and biscuits (tangfantastic was a nice surprise) and we were treated to lovely home-made soup, bread, sandwiches and fruit cake and the end. The cheap entry fee means it is a low-key affair, with prizes typically consisting of beer and wine which have been donated. I was given a lovely gift set of local craft beer which I gave away to a fellow strider due to it being something I don't drink (it looked very nice though!).

1st man Matthew Roberts: Calder Valley Fell Runners: 1:53:52
1st lady (21st) Hannah Jarvis: Mynydd du: 2:18:18
5th lady (54th) Amanda Seims: Valley Striders: 2:44:20
146 finished, having visited all checkpoints (last runner in 4:13:17)
12 were disqualified for missing checkpoints
5 retired during the race.

For some unknown reason I got a bottle of beer for being 2nd v40 even though I'm not a V40 yet... I did make them aware of this but it seems their system added a year onto everyone's age!

High Cup Nick Fell Race (report from Amanda Seims)

9 miles, 534 m ascent

This is a race I've wanted to do for years, having seen photos and been told how amazing the views are and how delicious the post-race cakes are! It was a good turnout with a large representation from Leeds' clubs so lots of familiar faces. The weather was clear and dry with blue skies although we were running in a fairly strong a biting cold wind. After an initial fast start along a road we were soon onto energy-sapping boggy ground before heading towards the famous big climb up on to the ridge. Most people (if not all!) do not even attempt to run this as it turns from a path into a bit of a rocky scramble but it's all great fun. When you've finally hauled yourself up, you're treated to a great view back down to the valley and then after a short undulating section on the top it's a long and fast descent down a bridleway. A great day out with lots of amazing home-made cakes sold at very reasonable prices.

Local Kirkstall Harrier Rose George has written a nice blog with some great photos if you're interested. http://running.rosegeorge.com/high-cup-nick-2018/

1st Sam Stead: Keswick AC: 1:02:02
1st lady (29th) Sarah McCormack: Ambleside AC: 1:12:36
194th (13th lady) Amanda Seims: Valley Striders: 1:31:29
209th Mark Woodhead: VS: 1:33:41
385th (84th lady, 15th FV50) Sarah Smith: VS: 2:01:35
419 ran - final runner home in 2:46.