Valley

Striders

News

August 2004

2004 Issue 2

London Marathon

Tracey and her Valley Striders vest have been on the front page of The Times and the front page of Athletics Weekly. Now it's time for them to be the headline feature of this edition of V S News.

I don't think anyone will disagree that the highlight of the last 6 months was at 11:33am on Sunday 18th April when Tracey crossed the finishing line of the London Marathon. I certainly heard the cheer 150 miles away from Stuart StJohn's house in Dumfries. Well done, Tracey!

And then there was all that publicity. Front and back pages of all the national newspapers. Local, national and satellite TV. "Tracey's Column" every other week in the Daily Mail. And she was spotted in some unlikely places including Eve, Woman & Home and Retail Week (I only take the last of these three).

I'm not allowed to tell you how Tracey's training has been going as the Daily Mail has exclusive rights, but I do have an exclusive for you in the form of an email of best wishes and advice from Olympic bronze medallist and Striders President Charlie Spedding (see page 3).

Now we all (except Tracey) look forward to sitting in front of our TV screens at 4p.m. on Sunday 22 August to see the next instalment of the story. We'll all be with you Tracey, good luck!

Other Headlines

The Meanwood Trail Race was a great success. Our new junior race had 30 runners and we will repeat this next year. We had a record total number of runners and raised a record over £1000. Thank you!

Congratulations to

· Lisa Wilyman, winner of the Leeds Half Marathon

· Sam Harris, winner of the Yorkshire 10k Championship

Forthcoming Events include the Leeds Country Way, Autumn Handicap, Briscoe's Fell Race, the Annual General Meeting and the Harewood Trail Race.

More details of these on page 2 and the back page. And I hope you enjoy the rest of the magazine!

In This Issue

Page

Email from Charlie Spedding........................................................................ 3

Concluding 2003............................................................................................ 4

Identify the Strider (1).................................................................................... 5

Grand Prix 2004............................................................................................. 6

Grand Prix Results and Reports..................................................................... 6

Grand Prix 2004 Remaining Events............................................................... 13

Medical Advice............................................................................................ 14

Joint Pain? Suffer no longer! (from Steve O'Callaghan)................................... 14

DHMO - the new undetectable wonder drug?.................................................. 15

New members.............................................................................................. 20

Birthdays, Births and Farewells................................................................... 21

Other Race Reports...................................................................................... 22

Buttermere Round - 15 February (from Eric Green)........................................ 22

Pafos Marathon (Cyprus) - 14 March (from Ian Place).................................... 24

Belfast Marathon - 3 May (from Brian Hanley)............................................... 25

German Report (from Ingo Zoller)................................................................. 26

Helen Windsor 10k - 7 July (from Brian Hanley).............................................. 27

Ironman Triathlon New Zealand - 6 March (from Bill Murphy)............................ 28

Ironman Triathlon Austria - 4 July (from Bill Murphy)....................................... 30

Identify the Strider (2).................................................................................. 34

Bradford Millennium Way Relay.................................................................. 35

Cross Country............................................................................................... 36

Fell & Trail Running..................................................................................... 38

Forthcoming Races/Events........................................................................... 40

Striders & Spiders Contacts.......................................................................... 40

Thanks to those mentioned above for their reports and also to the usual suspects for their comments and paragraphs. My proof-readers were EG, IP and PW, but it's not a hanging offence if the punctuation of the final product is not as good as Lynne Truss's (or should that be Truss')

AGM - Tuesday 28 September, 8:30 at Leo's

We will look back on the year and elect a new committee. I am hoping to book Tony to do the catering (see page 14 for the review of the home made pie following the most recent Club Handicap). And if you've suggestions for agenda items, let me know and I will circulate these to Striders on email (anonymously if you prefer).

I know one item for discussion will be Women's Striders Vests (see page 5)

Also we will have Club Membership Cards available for distribution (see opposite)

Email from Charlie Spedding

It was my pleasure and privilege to be made President of Valley Striders during the '80s. When I was commentating on the London Marathon for Radio Five Live on Sunday I was thrilled to see a Valley Striders athlete doing so well. I managed to mention on air what a sociable club Tracey Morris runs for, but Tracey is now getting so much publicity that Valley Striders must be getting more exposure than you ever imagined. Well done to her, of course, but well done to the whole club for creating an atmosphere in which her talents could thrive.

I would appreciate it if you could pass on the following to Tracey.

Dear Tracey,

Twenty years ago I ran the London Marathon. I was in my 30s, it was my second marathon, it was the Olympic trial, and with two men certain to be selected there was only one place available. I certainly wasn't the favourite to do so, but I finished first and went on to the Olympics Games.

There is a thread of coincidence between us here, which becomes more interesting when I tell you that because of my achievements (and perhaps my attitudes) the members of your club at that time voted for me to be the President of Valley Striders, an honour which I happily accepted. I don't like to tempt fate, but I went on to win a bronze medal at the Los Angeles Olympics, so I sincerely hope the thread of similarities remains unbroken.

I am very aware that you will be bombarded with advice for weeks to come, and prominent coaches may well be telling you that they can make you into an even better runner, and the sport will want you to go on training camps. I am reluctant to pile more advice on you, but I feel I must say "don't change what already works", and beware of other runners wanting to compete in training at training camps - they leave their best running behind.

As well as Los Angeles, I was 6th in Seoul. Both these races were extremely hot. If you want any advice on how to cope with the heat, or the Olympic experience, or, of course, the marathon please get in touch. I would be happy to help in any way I can. Whatever you do, I wish you the best race of your life.

Regards,

Charlie Spedding

Club Membership Cards

Note that all Striders paid up for Sep2003-Aug2004 and/or Sep2004-Aug2005 will be registered with the North of England A.A. for 2004/5 and will receive their membership cards at the AGM. With these you will get £1 discount off races and 10% discount at Up & Running!

Concluding 2003

I know we're now nearer 2005 than 2003, but I never did tell you who won the two main trophies for 2003 at the Presentation Night.

However I could make an excuse that by mentioning it now you could get your thinking caps on and put forward some suggestions for the award winners for 2004.

The Horsforth Marathon Cup, originally presented by Janet Kitchen, is awarded to the best marathon performance (not necessarily the fastest) by a Strider.

There were a few nominations for this, so in reverse sequence

· Disqualified: Jerry Watson 2:43 at London but in a Thames Hare & Hounds vest

· 7th: Paul Briscoe, 7th in the Three Peaks Race

· 6th: The men's winning marathon team at Leeds - Terry Bean 2:48, Jerry Watson 2:54, Drew Taylor 3:07

· 5th: Mick Wrench, joint winner of the Burley Bridge Hike

· 4th Kathy Kaiser, 2nd W50-54 at London marathon 3:11:59

· 3rd: Mark Hoon, based in Washington USA, Corning Marathon winner in 2:33

· 2nd: Lisa Wilyman, an excellent debut marathon at London in 3:01:34

· 1st: Lisa Wilyman, an even better Leeds marathon win in 3:00:10 (shame about the 10 seconds but hope the trophy and cheque was some compensation)

NB Since winning Leeds and then running the Leeds Country Way, Lisa has not run much with the Striders due to work commitments and then taking a course and qualifying as a personal trainer in April 2004. However she had obviously been doing more than a little training on her own as her performance at the 2004 Leeds Half Marathon was to show.

The Also-Ran Trophy, originally presented by club founder Stuart StJohn, is awarded to the Strider who tries hardest without winning anything. Note that this is not a sign of incompetence but an indication that winners have an opportunity to go on to greater things. Previous winners include Geoff Webster, Dick Dale, Bob Wilkes, Paul White and Mark Bean, and a few others who paid me not to mention their names.

Our winner for 2003 is a regular runner on Tuesdays and Thursdays, ran 7 races in the Club Championship, ran in the Leeds Country Way (but not for any of the teams that were placed second) and had an almost unsurpassable record in races throughout the year, finishing last Strider in 15 races.

There was just one blip in this form, when she won the Yorkshire Vets 5k championships W45-49 category at Hyde Park in September.

Despite this, we still awarded Debbi Wagman the Also Ran Trophy.

Identify the Strider (1)

Number & Name	VLS00172
Age	24
Year and Reason Started Running	1996 - Wanted to get school 800m record and didn’t like it when people didn’t turn up for hockey and netball practice.
Date Joined Striders	October 2003
PB’s	Time	Venue	Date
- 800m	2:58	School (not record)
- 1500m	5:50	School (record)
- 5K	17:50	Esholt	May 2004
- 10K	37:40	Wheldrake	June 2004
- 10 Mile	63:08	Eccup	July 2004
- Half Marathon	87:14	Great North Run	September 2000
Achievements	Represented Yorkshire in Inter-Counties X-Country 2001 and 2004.
Disappointments	Ran very badly in Inter-Counties 2004.
Ambitions	To run faster.
Avge Weekly Mileage	Not sure as it is gradually increasing – probably about 60 at the moment.
Favourite Training Run	Eccup Reservoir.
Favourite Pre-Race Meal	Toast and Honey.
Favourite Race	Any flat road race of a standard distance.
Tips	Don’t assume 10Ks will be measured in kilometres.
Likes	Cross country, flat road races, chocolate, pic’n’mix.
Dislikes	I'm sure there must be plenty I just can't think of them at the moment (I must be in a good mood today!).
Other Interests	You mean there is more to life than running!

Answer on page 15

Valley Striders Women's Vests/Tops

I have not looked personally but have been told that there is only a limited range at The Complete Runner at Ilkley. We hope to have some proposals by the AGM.

There is also a suggestion that we should carry a full range of club kit - your comments?

Grand Prix 2004

Grand Prix Results and Reports

Chevin Chase - 26 December 2003

This was the first run in Striders colours for Richard, who hung on to Martin for the first one and a half laps but had to concede the 100 points on the last lap. Striders won no prizes but packed the middle of the field well.

Summer Trail Handicap- Tuesday 20 July

Clock Hand- Run Grand Prix

Pos Name Time icap Time Points

1 Mivvy Tekchandani 39.54 3.00 36.54 83

2 Natalie Crossland 41.00 3.30 37.30 80

3 Paul Hunter 41.46 8.00 33.46 91

4 Brian Hanley 41.53 13.45 28.08 100

5 Tony Haygarth 42.01 6.30 35.31 87

6 Elika Tasker 42.02 5.30 36.32 84

7 Rob Liddle 42.05 9.15 32.50 96

8 Mick Loftus 42.16 11.30 30.46 99

9 Carole Schofield 42.17 6.00 36.17 86

10 Martin Horbury 42.20 10.45 31.35 98

11 Simon Redshaw 42.32 5.30 37.02 82

12 Paul White 42.33 7.15 35.18 88

13 Alan Hutchinson 42.38 9.45 32.53 94

14 Mick Tinker 42.50 8.30 34.20 89

15 Andrew Cutts 43.12 10.15 32.57 93

16 Bob Jackson 43.27 9.30 33.57 90

17 Eric Green 43.32 6.15 37.17 81

18 Ross Anderson 43.35 10.45 32.50 96

19 Steve Purnell 44.02 4.30 39.32 79

20 Richard King 44.39 11.30 33.09 92

21 Ken Kaiser 44.57 8.30 36.27 85

22 Sam Harris 45.04 12.15 32.49 97

23 Kathy Kaiser 46.32 6.15 40.17 78

Mivvy was the dark horse and she exceeded all expectations from her 1:49 at Leeds ... or maybe it's a great advert for what 2 months training with the Striders can do for you.

The cup was presented to Mivvy by John Umpleby who originally bought the cup for the Striders in 1987. John then took it away again and by the time you read this the engraving should be up to date - thanks John. Thanks also to Mike & Eileen for timekeeping and recording.

The pie'n'peas turned out to be a home baked steak pie and a vegetable bake (potatoes, onions, tomatoes and peppers) with cheese - every plate was cleared! Next booking for Tony's catering is Tuesday 7 September (the Autumn Handicap) and you can book a meal without running the handicap.
Grand Prix Groups for 2004 and Current Positions

Note that all runners who have completed 3 races or more are shown in the following list. There are still 12 races left so even runners who haven't started could get the eight races to qualify for a Grand Prix T-shirt and possibly even win a category prize.

The points cover 16 races up to and including the Summer Handicap.

Group A Brian Hanley 794, Bob Jackson 762, Roy Flesher 670 (7)

Steve Webb 486 (5), Tracey Morris 479 (5), Mick Loftus 473 (5),

Jerry Watson 464 (5), Andrew Cutts 461 (5), Mick Wrench 265 (3)

Drew Taylor 263 (3)

Group B Sam Harris 761, Martin Horbury 675 (7), Rob Liddle 556 (6)

Paul White 533 (6) , Alan Hutchinson 365 (4), Simon Vallance 264 (3)

Group C Eric Green 754, Mick Tinker 750, Tony Haygarth 530 (6),

Geoff Webster 435 (5), Paul Hunter 347 (4)

Group D Simon Redshaw 715, Bob Wilkes 425 (5), Paul Morris 407 (5),

Hayley Palmer 333 (4), Sara Dyer 329 (4), Natalie Crossland 310 (4),

Gary Sutherland 242 (3),

Group E Debbi Wagman 324 (4), Kay Mason 229 (3)

The above scores include penalty points where runners have not completed 5 different types of race (if they've completed more than 5 races they may still be penalty points if they aren't different types). The types are shown in the events list below but note that all the Medium races have been contested this year.

Grand Prix 2004 Remaining Events

Cat Day Date Time Type Event

Short Sun Aug 1 10:30. Short Harrogate 10k

Fell Sun Aug 8 11:00. Fell Round Hill Fell Race, near Otley

Hcap Tue Sep 7 18:45 Hcap Autumn handicap 10k

Fell Sat Sep 11 15:00. Fell Briscoe's Fell Race, from Otley

X-C w/e Oct 16/17 13:30 X/c West Yorks cross country 2004 race 1

Fell Sun Oct 24 11:30. Fell Withins Skyline, near Haworth

X-C w/e Oct 30/31 13:30 X/c West Yorks cross country 2004 race 2 ***

Long Sun Oct 31 10:30. Long Holmfirth 15

Trail Sat Nov 13 a.m. Trail Burley Bridge Hike 20

X-C w/e Nov 20/21 13:30 X/c West Yorks cross country 2004 race 3 ***

Short Sun Nov 21 11:05. Short Roundhay 5 mile

Short Sun Nov 28 a.m. Short Abbey Dash 10k

X-C w/e Dec 4/5 13:30 X/c West Yorks cross country 2004 race 4

*** Note we will choose one of these two races for VSGP

Medical Advice

Joint Pain? Suffer no longer! (from Steve O'Callaghan)

After 34 years of running and many years of heavy mileage to run fast marathons I now suffer with wear and tear damage to my upper foot joints. This is because my running action involves a certain amount of rolling from a heel strike to the take off on the ball of my foot. I now wear orthotics, which helps, but due to the problem I no longer race very much as the stress involved leaves me limping for days. I have for some time taken Glucosamine Sulphate, which has helped the problem, but not sufficiently to take away the pain completely. If I trained hard I found that the only way to keep going was to take Ibuprofen to ease the pain. This however I did not want to do on a daily basis so I contented myself to train easy and thereby keep a certain level of fitness.

I read an article about collagen in the Daily Mail relating to a woman who had knee problems and had to stop running because of the soft tissue damage where bone was wearing upon bone. The surgeon advised her to try collagen which she did and within a few months she was back running and went on to set PBs at all distances. I tried to get some from Holland & Barratt but because of this article they were sold out for weeks. I saw an advert in the press and went on the Collagen Collection website and ordered some which came in a capsule form. The website has testimonies from Olympic and other athletes. Since taking it I have noticed a marked improvement with the pain in my foot joints and have not taken any Ibuprofen for some months now.

Recently I was contacted by the company who are now supplying 3 times the amount for about the same cost in a 10g sachet format. Research has proved that this dosage gives greatest benefit to joint conditions. 3 months supply for £95.88 (introductory offer.) About £1 a day.

If this has helped me then I am sure it can help others and who knows I might even get back to racing again.

For more information, see website http://www.collagencollection.com

or contact Steve (0113) 267-7779

The 14th Rule for "Borrowing" Race Numbers

Do you remember the 13 rules from the last V S News? There was a guy at the Baildon Boundary Way who used rule 14. Make up any number and stick it on. Run the route and through the finishing funnel. Come in the top 20. Don't stick around for the prize-giving because the woman bearing the official version of the number and who was awarded first place is still on the course. Let the race organisers have to sort out exchanging trophies and vouchers because all the women have won higher denomination vouchers than they were awarded in the presentation.

DHMO - the new undetectable wonder drug?

Usually Striders News contains original contributions, but this has been borrowed from the Sheffield Tri Club website. Hope you enjoy it!

Some of you may have read or heard about a new performance enhancing substance gaining popularity with athletes, from professionals to amateurs, primarily due to its apparent low cost, ease of administration and low traceability once in an athlete's body. I have even heard rumours that certain members of Sheffield Tri Club have tried experimenting with the substance, however this has not been confirmed. The British Triathlon Union have issued a press release on the substance and the implications for triathlon, which is available on their website for the more inquisitive amongst you

What is Dihydrogen Monoxide? DHMO is a colourless and odourless chemical compound, also referred to by some as Dihydrogen Oxide, Hydrogen Hydroxide, Hydronium Hydroxide, or simply Hydric acid. Its basis is the unstable radical Hydroxide, the components of which are found in a number of caustic, explosive and poisonous compounds such as Sulphuric Acid, Nitroglycerine and Ethyl Alcohol.

The dangers, uses and potential threats posed by this chemical, Dihydrogen
Monoxide, are widespread:

· Some call Dihydrogen Monoxide the "Invisible Killer".

· Others think Dihydrogen monoxide should be Banned

· Athletes use DIHYDROGEN MONOXIDE, or DHMO, to enhance performance.

· Dihydrogen Monoxide is a major component of acid rain

· Thousands die each year after inhaling Dihydrogen monoxide

· It corrodes metal

· Dihydrogen Monoxide can be deadly

Find out the truth about Dihydrogen Monoxide see

http://www.dhmo.org/dihydrogen-monoxide/

The guy from Sheffield Tri said "I prefer mine with hops and fermented with an ethanol content, or neat when on the bike"

I'm sure most of you have worked it out by now, but if not, get your magnifying glasses out ... Dihydrogen is H₂ and monoxide is O, so put it together and you get H₂O!

Identify the Strider (1) - answer

Strider VLS00172 on page 5 is Sam Harris

Other Race Results

There have been a lot of Striders competing in a lot of places. Keep this VS News handy for next year and if you think you might enter a particular race in 2005 there is a good chance another Strider ran it in 2004.

Woodkirk 10k - Sunday 18 January

An excellent run from Brian, a PB on a tough course, and only beaten by Leeds City's Darran Bilton and Otley's Ian Fisher both of whom you would normally expect to win most races they enter. The women's section was won by Tracey's training partner Gill Keddie of Leeds City, 12th in 59.03, so also an excellent run from Sam to finish 2nd with a PB.

New members

187. Kirsten Jackson. Kirsten emailed me back in October last year - she had found our website and was interested in the age-graded and weight-graded tables. It was a week before she was due to run the Melbourne marathon and I guess that with much less training to do that week she'd found some spare time on her hands. Max, Ian Place and myself all replied. She ran 3:08. Max paid her subs, so she is now our furthest away Strider. Last month she had entered the Gold Coast marathon but the day before the race was ill (I shall say politely that she lost all her carboloading) and did well to get to 15 miles. The next target is sub 3 hours for Melbourne this October. Good luck!

188. Julia Barltrop. Jules was the flood of enquiries about the club following Tracey's success. She ran her first ever race at the Abbey Dash last December in 44:34 and then in January received the usual begging letters that we all get asking us to run the London Marathon for charity. Only she said yes! It was another thing to cross off the list of things to do before she was 30. Training did not go well with niggly injuries caused by new shoes and increased miles but she managed to run 3:18:32 (what could she have done with uninterrupted training?). A few days later I received an enquiry by email...

189 Richard King: Although Richard joined after Julia, his first appearance at Striders was just before Tracey day. He had run his first race at the Guiseley Gallop and with little experience of off-road running achieved 45:13 ahead of quite a few of our own off-road regulars. At Guiseley he asked about clubs local to Headingley and someone kindly pointed out the Striders. He's already given Martin Horbury a fright at the Hyde Park 5k and with a Striders vest and a decent pair of shorts will go even faster.

190 Myfanwy Tekchandani. Mivvy was another to find us via the website, having run 1:49 at the Leeds half marathon, finishing 750th. She ran in the Welsh cross country championships as a schoolgirl, and now, a little over the age of 30, has returned to running. Do I have a sense of deja vu here? Call in Steve O'Callaghan for advice!

191 Alison Bogie. Alison and Johnny Harrison are Chapel Allerton Road Runners who came along a couple of times on a Tuesday with Dave Milner who is Chapel Allerton but second claim with us. Alison has also decided to join us second claim and went on several of Geoff and Steve's scenic Tuesday expeditions in preparation for running the Lyke Wake 42 mile race in July. Report on that in next VS News.

192 Hannah Scott. Hannah would have run the Leeds half marathon but was injured just 3 weeks before the race. Her brother ran 1:23 at Leeds so there is obviously some talent in the family! (He is a St Albans Strider which is Hannah's home town). She did run the St Albans half marathon in June in 2hrs 7 mins. With a few Tuesday and Thursday sessions, her next half marathon will be 1:59:59 or faster!

Finally in this section, welcome back to Mike Evans who has rejoined the Striders after a 4 year absence.

Birthdays, Births and Farewells

Birthdays

Notable or notorious birthdays that have passed recently or are due soon include:

(40) Mark Hunter, Kay Mason, Steve Purnell, Erica Hiorns

(45) Terry Bean

(50) Mick Tinker, Martyn Hopson, Ian Townsley, Howard Jeffrey, Mary Egan

(55) John Sutcliffe, Mike Henry, Ian Place

(60) Dave More

(75) Ruth Anderson - is it really 5 years since Ruth came to see us on her 70th birthday and was awarded honorary membership before competing in the WAVA championships at Gateshead?

Births

News of three new Striders now preparing for the 2024/2028/2032 Olympics

An email from Erica Hiorns and Mark Hunter "Just to let you know that I gave birth to a baby daughter - Zoe - on Jan 19th. She was 6lb 2oz and is doing fine."

An email from Claire Taylor who "on Wed 31 March, 10.48 am, gave birth to baby girl, Lara, weighing in at a bouncing 8lbs 8ozs - don't ask me where all that fitted inside me! Baby healthy and happy, parents tired but over the moon. Thought you might want to let other Striders know Jairo's and my good news".

A phone call from Paul Briscoe: Jo gave birth to a baby boy, on 7th May at midday, 7lb 13oz, "long and thin with big hands and feet", said Paul.

He was eventually named Sam(uel) James, but suggestions sent to Paul included

· Chevin Chaser, Rombalds Reviver or Burnsall Classic.

· Steven John (after Webb and Whalley) - since he was 8 days late arriving.

· Pen Ernie Ingo (for the Three Peaks enthusiast)

Congratulations to all nine (parents and babies)!!!

Farewells (but membership retained) to

Annemi Van Zyl who ran her last race in Striders' colours in the successful Bradford Millennium Way mixed team. 10 days later she was flying back to South Africa to take up a new job as a dietician associated with a medical practice in Cape Town. We wish her every success and hope she will visit us again some time.

Tim and Natalie Crossland who have sold their house in Roundhay and moved to Belfast during Tim's 2 year tour of duty there, rather than Tim coming back to Leeds for 8 days in 30. I'm told they will both be back to attempt PBs at the Abbey Dash!

Other Race Reports

Buttermere Round - 15 February (from Eric Green)

<< Keswick's Athletics Club's challenging annual road race. 22miles starting in Keswick, running alongside Derwent Water to Grange, onto Borrowdale then Rosthwaite. From Seatoller then over Honister pass past Buttermere Lake, through Buttermere then up over Newlands pass. Back to Keswick through Stair, Swinside, Portinscale>>

Not a popular race, only 82 ran it this year which was a few more than last year's 66. The weather helped, from Wednesday when it forecast overcast with light showers for the weekend in the lakes it changed each day to be slightly better than the last. The morning of the race broke to glorious sunshine albeit cold with frost on the ground. That started a great debate as to what to run in. Someone who'd cycled Honister and staying at the Youth Hostel where I'd booked in for the night before, advised leggings as up on top of Honister pass it was bleak and cold. I looked at the sun and thought it couldn't be that cold, certainly not as cold as the week before in the sleet at Rombald's Stride. But as he'd been on top of the moors before and knew what to expect I went back to the car to pick up leggings and gloves previously deposited there when I saw the sun.

We then set off for Moot Hall in the centre of Keswick at 9.45. No sign of any registration, slight panic, had we got the right day. As Moot Hall was a tourist information place, we went inside and asked the guy behind the counter, he'd not even heard of the race. No problem we said, we'd come back in half an hour.

Luckily we spotted a small group of people who looked like runners and they directed us to the cricket pavilion to register. Only £4 for the race so we weren't expecting T-shirts medals etc at the end. My running partner was a member of a virtual club on the net, whatever one of those is, do they go running round the ether?, and joined this specially for this race. All the entry forms said you must be a member of a running club, experienced and a Senior. Certainly I fulfilled two of those categories. Not sure about the experienced however. When we got to the registration desk a sign stuck to the desk said £4 club runners, £5 unattached, and they were charging everyone £4 with no real checks or questions, so much for the entry forms.

Registration completed, we'd time to complete final checks for what we were carrying and head back to the centre back to Moot Hall. Lucky we'd recce'd where things were.

This time there were a few runners congregating by Moot Hall with family, friends giving words of encouragement. Most of the competitors looked experienced fells runners, but there were a few who looked steady runners. I was hoping I wouldn't come last, last but one would have been OK, but I wasn't thinking about a time, when I was asked I was hoping for anything under 4 hours as I'd never done this length on the road before. Ten minutes to go and nerves were setting in for some of the runners, one girl who'd done it last year and vowed never to do it again said she felt sick. Two minutes to go and we got a few words from the organiser, keep to the left, follow the roads round in one long loop and have fun. Then we were off.

As I was running with no niggles or injuries I thought I'd keep my pace to around 8 min miles for the first seven miles till we reached Honister Pass then take it from there. Although the contour map showed this first third as flat, it was definitely undulating. Anyway I left my running colleague a little way behind, she asked me to push the pace for her till we got to Honister as she was training for the Paris marathon. However, I soon found another runner to talk to, someone from Blackpool, Wesham Road Runners, she was running comfortably at that stage and I thought I'd try to keep up with her for as long as I could. Long blond hair, attractive may also have been a factor.

Well the moment of truth arrived when we hit the bottom of Honister, looking up we realised how far we had to climb in a very short space of time. A mix of walking and running, mostly walking got us to the top. Half way up I regretted the leggings as it was getting very warm at that stage. I stripped off my long sleeved top and left my Valley Striders vest on. At the top there was quite a crowd, well at least six or seven, shouting well done to everyone. My new running friend was ahead of me at that stage but as I picked up speed on the downhill I soon caught her up. She suggested we might be on for about 3h 10m but as I'd no idea how far there was left to go I suggested, to manage expectations, 3h 20m.

The next few miles were spectacular scenery but fairly flattish. We then turned sharply right at Buttermere and saw Newlands pass stretching upwards for as far as the eye could see. To fortify us we had squash and a single jelly baby from the water station. Newlands was not as steep as Honister but still a difficult climb, again we quickly settled into a walking/running alternate pace. This time I got to the top before my new friend, she'd admitted to only ever doing 18 miles before so I suspect she was tiring at this point, not that I wasn't, maybe just a little less tired then her. A swift down hill followed and I was fairly pleased to overtake two on the way down.

A little over two hours had gone by and at the next water station I asked how far there was to go, about 5 miles mostly downhill was the answer, quick calculations and it seemed possible I could break the 3 hour mark. But then again allowing for a substantial margin of error on the "about 5 miles" and I thought perhaps not. Pressing on I saw two ahead of me and resolved not to look behind me, over the next mile I caught the two ahead of me as we reached the last unmanned water stop at Stair. A short distance further ahead I saw the first direction sign for Keswick, 3 miles. Three miles to go. Next sign 1³/₄ miles. Then seeing the yachts at Portinscale marina and I realised I was at the north end of Derwent water, not far to go. At a road side corner at this late stage in the race were the St John's Ambulance asking if runners were alright. I thought they really should have been half way up Honister or Newlands pass not in a car park with a mile to go.

The last mile was really difficult. Keswick getting closer and closer but not fast enough for the three hour mark, we turned following the arrows into the outskirts of Keswick then into Fitz Park at that point I knew there was only a few hundred yards to go. The sight of the cricket pavilion was so very welcome. I tried to run faster for the last twenty yards or so, to impress the crowd, but had nothing left to give. At the finish line I stopped my watch on 3h 3m 10s. Despite missing 3hrs I was still pleased with the time, two minutes later my new friend from Blackpool came in.

A few minutes after the race had finished the results were posted on the door of the pavilion. I was pleased to have not come last but just beat the 50^th person in.

Very welcome at the end was hot sweet tea, scones and mince pies, the prize for completing the 22 miles was a slate coaster, not much but for £4's we had brilliant organisation, magnificent scenery, and great weather. What more could you ask for. I'll be there next year, just have to convince Bob to put it on the grand Prix list.

Pafos Marathon (Cyprus) - 14 March (from Ian Place)

Having not completed or competed in a Marathon since Leeds2001 (Amsterdam 2003 DNF), my confidence was down. This was my comeback Marathon.

Plainly the way I started (8min mile pace) I was determined to finish rather than go for time. Every KM was marked, so my maths was tested. I gave myself a mental kick at 8KM going through at 39mins. I increased my pace to 07.45 and met a guy called Rick from Texas at 20KM, he had overtaken me at 5KM. We decided to run together and after finding out he had only run one previous Marathon in Egypt in which he had walked some of the distance, I told him I wasn’t planning to walk and to stick close to me. I injected some pace concentrated on my running and forgot about Rick. Through 32KM(20miles) the course kinked around the outskirts of Pafos and at 34KM joined the half marathon/10km race course, where there were still remnants of the half marathon runners walking/jogging. At this point we were out of the cool wind and the temperature rose considerably. I was surprised to see Rick just behind me at the turn 36KM. We turned and I told him to stick in behind me for the last 6KM down to the Port. At this point there were a few interested people walking along the paths, but as the race organisers decided to go low key, no one knew what was going on. We finished on a hilly dirt track alongside the medieval fort on the quay-side of Pafos port. I finished in 3hrs 27mins 13secs. Rick just finished behind me and I congratulated him on his Marathon PB.

Verdict a good long run, but I would not recommend this race to anyone as the finish area just off the main road was chaotic, jammed pack with cars/buses and people walking and very dangerous. Apart from the economical use of the truth the course is not “mainly flat” and the statement “Effective traffic control/management is assured” is highly inaccurate. My concern is that someone may get hurt. I've sent an e-mail to Stavros (the race organiser) and hope he takes heed.

Still having said that I am back into Marathon running and that’s all that counts-------- Bob writes: Here's Stavros's report of the event that I received by e-mail:

"A bright sunny morning assisted in producing a festive atmosphere as 500 runners assembled for the various events (Marathon, Half Marathon and 10km Road Race). The Marathon course started from Petra tou Romiou (Birthplace of Aphrodite goddess of love and beauty) and finished at the Pafos Mediaeval Fort square. The other two races (Half Marathon & 10 km Road Race) started and finished at the Pafos Mediaeval Fort square. The events were successfully organised by NIKI Sports Management. The starting gun fired by the Deputy Mayor of Pafos Mr. Savvas Vergas saw the Marathon depart at 8:30 a.m. followed by the Half Marathon at 9:15 a.m. and the 10km at 9:30 a.m."

"The number of runners that participated indicated the big impact of the event, as most of the runners came from abroad, especially to participate in the event. There were runners from more than 15 different countries such as UK, Germany, France, Italy, Greece, Belgium, Lebanon, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Austria, Finland, Holland, Norway, Switzerland etc."

"The French runner Ditier Pommey won the SpiderNet Pafos Marathon 2004 finishing in a time of 2:52:41 which is a new course record. Mr. Mikhail Gogolin from Russia was second in 2:57:24. Ms Seidel Susanne of Germany clocking 3:27:23 won the women’s race with German Marathoner Josi Guttenberger in second place with a time of 3:27:24."

Belfast Marathon - 3 May (from Brian Hanley)

I was trying to figure out how to send this to the addresses of everybody who sent me all those nice e-mails, but I couldn't manage it, so I may have to go via you instead! I might as well give a race report as I never have before.

So thank you to those people who sent e-mails (and the others who were at the John Carr race yesterday) - it would appear that you knew my result before I did, as my computer was a victim of the Sasser virus. I only found out at about 5:15 p.m. yesterday.

The start was quite good - the queue for toilets was reasonably short and I managed to hop in on the front line about a minute before the start - so no having to hang about getting cold (it was raining at this point). There were quite a lot of people lined up as a relay over the total distance is held at the same time as the main marathon. This caused a bit of congestion as the relay runners were not separated like they are at the Leeds half. But no matter, as they proved quite handy allies when battling the wind (as I like to stick in behind people as much as possible, or maybe you know that already).

The actual 'start' was a mess though - a local DJ saying "Away ye go!" is not really what anybody expected (the Kenyans beside me looked particularly confused) and as nobody actually moved, we were simply implored to "GO, GO NOW!" and off we went. A photographer took a picture of the opening 20 yards and so in the 'Irish News' you can clearly see a Valley Striders vest. They seem to be everywhere these days.

Nothing happened for the first five miles, apart from what is apparently "the sharpest corner in world marathons" but which was actually quite disappointing when you went round it. The Falls Road was interesting, lots of murals to look at to pass the time. And all was okay up to about half-way, as it actually felt like a race: there were people out supporting, I could see other people running, and the roads were mostly closed.

After half-way was a bit more tricky. I saw no other runners for about an hour. I went the wrong way at one point due to a misinterpretation of a marshal's instructions (northerner-southerner communication problem); and as we had to run on the pavements for most of the remainder of the race, the number of obstacles increased and indeed I crashed into an old man who seemed to come out of nowhere. Still, I got to 20 miles in 2:00:25, so I felt like I was going to be fine. Even the sun had come out.

This is the point where I had read that many athletes consider it only a 10k race left to go. I tried to use this idea to motivate myself to keep going but it simply didn't work. In fact, nothing seemed to get me moving any faster than shuffling. A runner materialised from the ether and passed me after about 24 miles, disappearing very rapidly. Being told that 300 yards were all that was left didn't work either. Next time I shall have to import
Joyce Lambert to shout at me and transport her about the course!

The finish was the typical mix of relief and pain. Official organisation was absent at this point, and I had no idea where I finished or where to get my special t-shirt (still not discovered). Still, I got a nice shiny medal and my mother took a photo of me with the winner. A nice little race, but next time I aim for the slightly flatter Dublin route...

P.S. The reason I'm down as England is because the entry form asks for nothing but your name and address. The official programme has me down as 'Leeds'. They put in house numbers for some of the entries!

German Report (from Ingo Zoller)

Just returned to serious competition, and bagged in a few age group 2nds and one 1st. Starting with two half marathons, which I used as a first test out of normal training, and where I came 2nd (I finished 2nd M30 twice before in the first one, so I had to take it easy to ensure the 3rd consecutive 2nd M30. Unfortunately it will be the last time there as well, since I'll have to start in the M35 age group next year). The places of these half marathons are probably completely unknown in the UK (Grosskrotzenburg and Kahl), but at least the first one is suited to train your tongues! At Kahl I raced in a 10k race a few weeks later again, finishing 7th overall (again 2nd M30), and just a week later topped this performance at Mainaschaff, when I finished unlucky 4th in an undulating 10k race. At least I won my age group there by half a mile or so. Now that the endurance base seems to be solid I should be well prepared for my trip to the Swiss Alps for two big races: Thyon-Dixence and Sierre-Zinal. And there I should face good, proper opposition again - a few English fell runners will be there!

Keep on running - Ingo

Helen Windsor 10k - 7 July (from Brian Hanley)

This story actually begins at the Reservoir Bogs race near Hebden Bridge. The winner was kind enough to give me a lift to the train station, and happened to mention he was doing the Yorkshire Championships the following week as part of the Helen Windsor 10k. I knew nothing about this but it sounded interesting so I told another Strider that I knew who would be dead keen and so Sam and I sent off our entry forms the next day, just in time.

It was a nice day in Leeds but this being Halifax it was cloudy and windy. We noticed that there was a problem with the car upon arriving (liquid was leaking out, and this being a girl's car, was appropriately pink). Despite not being able to drive or knowing anything about cars, I managed to persuade Sam into not panicking and to worry about the race instead.

I had injured my leg badly in the Skipton Tough 10 three days beforehand (please do NOT look up the results) but I badly wanted to win a Yorkshire medal having suffered coming 4th in the 20 mile version at Spen. A Yorkshire medal is not a novelty to Sam but these elite women must keep up appearances.

The race was quite hilly. Ian Fisher took off at the start and I didn't see him again for 34 minutes. Jon Cordingley of Bingley was also too fast so it was between some guy from Meltham and myself for third. He got ahead at the start and I knew from Newton's law of motion that his heavier body would lose less momentum in the wind than mine, but I was hoping that Newton was wrong. He wasn't and I never caught him.

At the end, I made sure to run around and congratulate all three men who had finished ahead of me. Naturally this was a good means of checking if they were actually entered in the championships. Jon Cordingley was missing the magic red dot on his number so I knew I had a bronze medal!

I ran back along the route to see how Sam was doing. She was near the finish but Samantha 'PhD student in Mathematics' Harris had not realised that the distance markers were in miles and not kilometres. She had got to 6 miles thinking there was another 4,000 metres to go, rather than 400. Luckily she had already bothered to get ahead of all the other women by then, and won both the race and Yorkshires.

For that she got a nice medal, a large cup with strange covering, and some vouchers.

Host club Halifax Harriers did well to keep this race a secret - they won both team championships, although they seemed much more interested in holding a raffle. That's Yorkshire folk for you.

The treasurer of the Scarcroft Show Society writes: Brian, the trophy was a "rose bowl" and the strange covering was wire mesh. When you buy Sam some flowers, she can fill the bowl with water and then push the flower stems through the mesh so they stay upright. Alternatively you could buy her some goldfish and her cats will not be able to get at them through the mesh.

Ironman Triathlon New Zealand - 6 March (from Bill Murphy)

I was warm, it was nervous, I couldn’t get comfortable and I was facing 12 hours of it. Food would be restricted, energy output would be difficult to assess and I would doubtless face severe dehydration by the end of it.

That was just the flight.

Whatever possessed me to enter a long course triathlon and the end of the New Zealand summer? For months I had found no enjoyment in my beloved bike – I had in fact got to the point where only looking at it made me feel cold. Long hours in the swimming pool; thousands (and I mean it!) of cold hours on the bike, and many nights of running in the dark were the wages that this particular sin (not death, but sometimes I thought it came pretty close) had paid. However, as I watched the bike slip down the luggage conveyor belt at Leeds & Bradford Airport all of that began to fade from my mind only to be replaced by potential panic about whether the bike would arrive in Auckland.

I don’t really have much to say about the flight to be honest. Leeds – Heathrow was painless; the 10-12 hours to Los Angeles was quite pleasant; and the last 12(ish) hours to Auckland was passed in blissful (sleepy) oblivion. The bike arrived; I got to my hotel and spent a day being a tourist in Auckland. I drove to Taupo the following day and relaxed I was ready to race. The only shock of the journey was reading the New Zealand papers who were reporting on extensive flooding and the worst summer weather ever recorded – so much for sunshine and a wind free ride…

The whole Ironman experience was a whole week in the making with various lead up events in the offing. Seminars about how to eat right, train better and go faster abounded. A trade show was on and there were options to ride the bike course, run the run course and splash about in the water (in other words – do the swim). I of course approached the whole event with the usual studied gravity, namely I settled down to have three days with my feet up and have a few beers.

A pre-race pasta party actually had genuinely good food and a Parade of Nations through the town gave me the opportunity to meet fellow Brits. A traditional Maori welcome allowed all the northern hemisphere athletes the chance to pick up their first sunburn of the year.

Race morning dawned bright and clear (again, as these things always do). Dawn broke just before some 1355 athletes made the frantic dash into Lake Taupo at the sound of an army cannon. The swim was the usual chaotic frantic affair but the water was warm (as far as I was concerned) and the course was easy enough to follow. I actually managed to navigate a more-or-less straight line out and back without adding the usual 200-300 m of zig-zag swimming to the distance. A mere 1 hour and 23 minutes after the cannon fired I was leaving the water for the bike. Into transition, I changed and then was off for the bike leg.

A perfect start was about to be somewhat disrupted by three days of dietary laxity. I really should know better about not eating foods I am not accustomed to prior to a long race, but hey, I was still in transition 1 so what was the problem. Nature’s call answered – off I went for the 112 miles of cycling.

The bike leg was quite a chilly start, but hardly cold but having nature screaming loudly in my ear at about the 18 mile mark was unwelcome. It was even more unwelcome at the 30 mile mark; the 70 mile mark and the 90 mile mark. With such a disrupted session on the bike, it was never going to be swift, and just to add insult to injury a stiff head wind picked up later in the day gusting to 30 miles per hour. Some 7 hours (and 4 toilet stops) after leaving Taupo I was back in Transition 2 and changing for the marathon.

As I changed, and I dragged my shorts along the backs of my legs (this is doubtless an image none of you actually wanted…) I realised that this was an area that I had missed with the sunblock: my calves were an interesting radiant red colour, which lit up the immediate area with a warm glow. Similar patches were found on my arms at the edge of my cycling shirt and my legs at the edge of my shorts. I had an interesting striped appearance on my head where the ventilation slits were on my helmet. However more sunblock on I went out on the run – paused at the first support station to have some coke, a cookie and some crisps.

Doubtless there will be some Striders who view starting a marathon by munching sweets as a bad move (Snickers Bars were also available), but by this time I needed the sugar, the caffeine and I desperately needed the salt from the crisps. I exchanged some pleasantries with a Kiwi lass at the station and headed off for the run.

The run was a two lap affair and the course was more or less flat along the lake shore with a couple of short (c. 50 m) climbs of about similar steepness to the summer hill training sessions and one longer one (c. 300-400 m) similar to Stonegate Rd. These were the only interruptions to an otherwise flat course. Of course, you did have to do them four times on the two lap, out and back, course.

There was not much to say about the marathon course. It went, I ran it in 4:33 and a few seconds and finished. It was always warm even when night fell and although I had a T-shirt in my special needs back at the 22 km stage I didn’t feel the need to put it on. Perhaps this was the benefit of winter training – namely even in the cold parts of the day, I felt fine.

I finished the marathon strong after suffering calf problems in the 18-22 mile stage. I normally found that if I stopped at an aid station for water/coke and some crisps and walked the 20m from one end to the other while I took on some fuel it was fine. The end result was that I did the last 3 km in just under 14 minutes and managed a sort of sprint finish to the line. The atmosphere on the last kilometre was amazing: crowds lined the route and were cheering you on all the time and the last 200 m as you turned towards the finish line had massive support. It really made for an electric finish. My final time of 13:30:52 was acceptable, but I feel that with more experience and less injury niggles (and strategic use of over-the-counter medications) I could do substantially better – but don’t hold your breath for a Striders Gold – Kiwi athlete Cameron Brown won the race in 8:30:30 finishing with a marathon of 2:42 – a time most of us would be happy with even of we hadn’t done all the other bits.

This was a fantastic race. The atmosphere was great, the organisation could not be faulted and the people of Taupo were out to support from 7am to midnight. The post race party and awards was a great evening and the food was again, excellent. This is a race about which I have nothing negative to say. There were 1700 volunteers supporting athletes around the course: it was well marshalled and the food and fluid stations were frequent, well stocked and invariably what was needed.

Will I do a full Ironman race again – I’ll answer that when the blisters heal and I can walk from one end of the street to the other without using the Ironman Shuffle!

Ironman Triathlon Austria - 4 July (from Bill Murphy)

It will come to no surprise to any Striders that a mammoth session was involved. The plan was simple: drive to race, do race, drive home. This is a format that we are all very familiar with. Of course when the said race is a ferry journey and c. 900 mile drive then the situation becomes somewhat more complex. Nevertheless after the dubious joys of Ironman New Zealand I felt the logistics would be somewhat simpler. In fact a combination of The AA, P & O Ferries and Mastercard (official sponsors of Bill’s Euro 2004 tour) meant that in fact up until the time of writing (and I am still in Klagenfurt) things have gone well. Of course you don’t want to hear about all of this nonsense, you want to hear about the plan, the venue and of course, the race.

The tedium of the autobahn over I arrived in the home of Ironman Austria. Klagenfurt is a medium sized town in the Austrian Canton on Caranthia that is nestled in a valley between the Dolomites and the Tyrolean Alps. There are significant differences between these two sets of mountains, but they are principally geographical and geological (and therefore, by definition pretty dull). Sufficient to say that ‘up’ was a word that I heard shouted quite a lot on race day. I found the Hotel Dermuth with the minimum of fuss (and German) and settled in. It is worth having a slight diversion here to say that I can now speak several orders of magnitude more German than I could before I arrived. On reflection, I should have learned more of the language as “Achtung Spitfire” and “Hander Hoch Englander” were never going to serve me well. However I now know more practical phrases like “no I am not drowning, I always swim this way” and “where the f%$k is my bike?????”

My first full day in Klagenfurt was taken up with finding the town centre, finding the race location and generally sorting my life out. The town Centre itself has a central square with a large statue of a dragon. The town heraldry has a castle and a dragon on it – presumably this is “klagen” and “furt”. About 4 km west of the town Centre is the Worther See which is the race venue (about 1.5 km from where I was staying). This is a large glacial lake which is heated by thermal springs at the base. Therefore, it tends to be 18-21^oC at this time of year. This should have set different alarm bells of a different kind ringing in my mind.

The second (Friday 2^nd July) day involved race registration in the morning and a pasta party in the evening. I had met up with two other triathletes with whom I went to register James (from Belfast) and Matt (from San Francisco) – no jokes about “A Scotsman, American and an Irishman…” please. Thursday night and Friday provided a horrid warning for the weekend. Specifically, the rain was falling in sheets. Visibility was extremely limited and I once again thought I saw a pair of small mountain goats looking hopefully for a passing ark and the spectre of Llanberis loomed large. The heavy rain that persisted all day on Friday turned the pasta party into a prelude of the swim with decking put down to allow athletes and staff to pass by with some degree of freedom. This was only partially successful as a few large ponds developed as the race director was giving the welcome speech. The job of the entertainers was made a bit trickier by these – the acrobat coped OK, but the fire breathers were looking distinctly soggy.

Saturday (3^rd July) was given over to race instructions in the morning and bike and kit bag check in during the afternoon. This done, I could relax and prepare for Sunday and the race.

Being lakeside on Saturday gave rise to the odd problem. Namely 7 mosquito bites in the space of about 30 minutes resulted in a near constant itching that was pretty unpleasant and made me dash for the insect repellent that I had wisely brought with me from England. This particular variety of repellent was one that showed up another shortcoming of the SA80 assault rifle. It had been kindly forwarded to me by a friend who was based at HQ Royal Marines in Portsmouth some years ago. The problem was that the level of DEET used was such, that it used the melt the lightweight rifle butts. This is what I liberally sprayed over myself for the next four days. This was moderately successful but the Klagenfurt mosquito was obviously tougher than that which the British Army is used to facing: it only slowed the furious assault of blood sucking flies, but didn’t halt it. It was at this point I realised that the dragon statue in the town centre was in fact a monstrous mosquito.

Race day dawned bright and clear as always (and once again it did, is this evidence of global warning???). The hotel provided food from 4am and by 7am I was on the starting line in my wetsuit wondering what to do with an old pair of Asics Kayano shoes that I had forgot to check in with the rest of my dry kit. While pondering this, the start sounded. The race had begun.

At this point some 2300 competitors rushed to the water to start the 3.8km (2.4 mile) swim. This year in recognition of the fact that the race had grown in size it started from two beaches. I was on the left hand beach at the right hand side. The swim course was relatively complex. The two groups of triathletes surged into the water and met c. 200 m offshore. At this point what had been a pleasant morning swim became a thrashing melee of hands, knees and elbows. I found myself reflecting on the fact I should have brought boxing gloves as the bunfight got under way in earnest. Having reached the first marker the melee turned for shore eventually reaching the beach, running around another marker, and then surged back into the water for the remaining 1.8km of swimming. The involved navigating your way around a third marker and swimming 800 m up a canal (the water in which was an interesting shade of green) which was, to say the least congested. Out of the water in a mere 1 hour 22 minutes and into transition where a quick change saw me out on the bike for the 180 km bike ride. Sadly, I did not move quickly enough to avoid picking up another four mosquito bites.

The bike course was a three lap loop that basically went up a mountain and came down a mountain. The first 15 km was effectively flat on the lake side. The incentive to go faster arose from the clouds of hungry mosquitoes that lurked around the water edge in a threateningly Bill-shaped cloud. The next 15 km was effectively uphill with the maximum gradient of 10^o. This brought us through the town of St Egyden where athletes were met by a wall of sound as the crowds cheered us up the hill. The support was immense and it inspired me to push that much faster – that and the fact I was not yet high enough to escape the miasma of blood sucking insects that seemed to lurk around every corner – so up I went. All the way up the hill people were out cheering, often shouting “up, up, up!” sometimes offering beer and occasionally sympathy. On reaching the top of the hill a quick descent ultimately saw us back in Klagenfurt. If the second climb up the mountain was tough, the third was truly horrid. By this time many of the spectators were back in Klagenfurt to watch the professional triathletes do the marathon. Therefore, not only was the third lap horrid, but it was pretty lonely and (in spite of being told there is never a wind in Ironman Austria) a stiff wind had arisen which you had to ride into on the descent. However, I consoled myself with the fact that it was back to the town for the marathon.

Transition 2 was slower (6 bites) as I took some time to eat some pretzels. It had taken me 6:09 (and some meaningless amount of seconds) to cycle the 180 km. This was almost an hour quicker than the bike stage of the New Zealand Ironman in March, so I was feeling good starting the run. This feel-good component lasted for c. 500 m when I realised that 1. the right knee injury I had picked up in training 10 days ago still had not healed and 2. it was still very hot. However, I also realised that the knee injury would not get any worse so I could live with the discomfort for 42km. The marathon was a two loop affair. You left the race venue: ran c. 8 km west along the lake shore to the town of Krumpmendorf and then turned around ran past transition and then along the canal to Klagenfurt town Centre, around the Dragon / mosquito and back to Transition. This made the first 21km – you then repeated the course for the whole marathon. There was relatively little shade on the section to Krumpmendorf but plenty from transition to Klagenfurt. Again the support was fantastic and a large number of people lined the route to cheer athletes on. At Krumpmendorf the first significant obstacle appeared – mostly in pairs – as the park that we had to run through appeared to contain a nudist section. The organisers had suggested that they hoped this would be the first time that an Ironman race would be completed in less than 8 hours. The fact that the winning man (a Ukranian Soldier called Viktor Zyemtsev in c. 8 hours 14 minutes) was significantly slower than he did it last year may suddenly have been explained by the large collection of comely ladies who were in the park.

However, not all on the run was so simple. The first warning of a nutritional problem was the sight of an athlete from Rochdale Tri Club lying on the ground suffering from extreme cramp. This is when I realised that there was in fact no source of salt anywhere on the marathon course. By this time competitors had been on the course c. 8 hours and while many would have had some form of salt on their bikes, some did not (at this point I was glad I had stopped for the pretzels). The result of this salt deficient course was a relatively large number of athletes suffering from cramp – or having to walk to avoid it. While I was on the first lap I passed both James (who had hung around the park to the point where he was in danger of getting arrested (and possibly slapped by an irate husband as well) and Matt coming the other way on their second lap, both very comfortably in front of me. John Fisher, another Leeds based athlete, also passed me at this point on his way to a cracking 10 hour 25 minute finish.

The marathon was generally uneventful – long (surprise, surprise??), hot and for the most part relatively painful. The course was effectively flat apart from a rise of some 5 m along the canal. I say that it was c. 5m when I walked along the canal path on Thursday, however, on the second lap of the run course on Sunday it re-wrote my understanding of the tectonics of the Alps. Somehow it had become a monstrous impediment that reduced otherwise fit men and women to gasping, struggling wrecks. Ultimately I got past this obstacle and passed the 39 km mark. The end was in sight and I got a touch of white line fever. I picked up pace and by the time I crossed the finish line, some 4 hours 29 minutes after dumping the bike I was almost at a sprint. Sadly this means that I once again forgot to smile for the photographer and so have another grumpy finisher’s photo. I arrived at the line in 12:23:32 taking 1131^st place. Approximately 300-400 people did not finish and I surprised myself by sneaking into the upper half of the field in a triathlon for the first time.

Bike collected, kit accumulated I managed to cycle the traumatic 1.5km back to the hotel. The post race lack of pace however gave the Klagenfurt mosquito another chance allowing me to accumulate another 11 bites on the ride home. “I’ll be back” I said to John Fisher (in the predictably bad Austrian Schwarzenegger accent) for the fireworks at midnight. However, the fact that James Nisbett had already got the beer in at the hotel dealt the Coup de Grace to that idea. Two glasses and I was a dribbling wreck. As a cheap method of getting drunk though, Ironman Triathlon will not catch on.

On the whole this was a great race. It certainly had one of the most spectacular backdrops I have ever seen. Coming over the mountain on the bike course gave you one of the most amazing views of any race I have ever done. A fast course, but not for the faint hearted.

And so, to Half Ironman UK at Sherborne – should be a doddle really. We shall wait and see.

Identify the Strider (2)

Number	VLS00179
Age	27
Year and Reason Started Running	1987 – because our neighbour took us to the local club.
Date Joined Striders	August 2003
PB's	Time	Venue	Date
- 5K	16:31	Tullamore	May 1996
- 10K	33:56	Wakefield	April 2004
- 10 Mile	55:58	Eccup	July 2004
- Half Marathon	1:14:19	Brass Monkey	January 2004
- Marathon	2:41:36	Belfast	May 2004
Achievements	Coached athletes to national standard in the sprints, hurdles, and heptathlon - one became national champion.
Disappointments	Suffering so badly at the end of my first marathon. Hadn’t eaten enough carbohydrate the day before.
Ambitions	Represent Yorkshire at any distance.
Avge Weekly Mileage	I don’t know, as I never really worry about distance as compared to how fast I do it. I suppose between 50 and 60.
Favourite Training Run	22 miles on a Friday night. It includes running the Kirkstall 10k route three times. It’s quite painful but my stopwatch keeps me company.
Favourite Pre-Race Meal	Rice Krispies. They’re 87% carbohydrate and only 1% fat!
Favourite Race	The English Cross-Country Championships. I’ve only done one, mind.
Tips	More Valley Striders should do Valley Stretches. Before and after running. It might mean I’m not always last to the reservoir.
Likes	Running races. Planning complicated training sessions. Buying new trainers.
Dislikes	Being injured - the word ‘dislike’ is not strong enough. Bananas. Falling over and getting lost in fell races.
Other Interests	Going to the cinema. Going to football matches, especially internationals.

Answer on page 37

Bradford Millennium Way Relay

Valley Striders "A"

1. Mark Bean & Bill Murphy 1:32:34 (16) 1:32:34 (16)

2. Martin Horbury & Bob Jackson 1:23:14 (9) 2:55:38 (12)

3. Keith Cluderay & David Cusack 1:12:07 (7) 4:07:46 (12)

4. Andrew Cutts & Alan Hutchinson 1:12:32 (1) 5:20:18 (7)

5. Peter Lambert & Ian Place 1:36:03 (12) 6:56:21 (7)

Valley Striders "Mixed"

1. Lisa Wilyman & Steve Webb 1:18:55 (2) 1:18:55 (2)

2. Sam Harris & Brian Hanley 1:18:59 (7) 2:37:54 (3)

3. Janet Parkinson & Steve O'Callaghan 1:11:51 (5) 3:49:45 (4)

4. Sylvia Watson & Geoff Webster 1:29:59 (18) 5:19:44 (6)

5. Annemi Van Zyl & Tim Towler 1:38:19 (14) 6:58:03 (9)

Congratulations to the Mixed Team who retained their winners' shield. Having won by 30 seconds in 2002 and 50 minutes in 2003, it was going to be a closer thing this year with a team from Pudsey and Bramley to contend with and who had Sarah Rowell on the first leg. Lisa and Steve had a great run to finish 2nd overall. The team that had led then got lost and Sam and Brian found themselves in 1st place before being overtaken by two Wakefield teams. They still increased the lead over P&B to 6 mins (and now hold the leg 2 course record for a mixed team). Neither Wakefield pair on leg 3 was ready at the start at Laycock so Janet and Steve O set off in first place. They ran very well to record the 5th fastest time on that leg, although dropped a position. Sylvia and Geoff dropped a couple of positions but still handed over a 2 minute lead to Annemi and Tim. Would it be enough with Jack Maitland running for P&B? It looked hopeful as Jack was carrying a map and his partner did not look an experienced runner. Annemi had run this leg in 2002 and Tim in 2003 so they knew the way. Yes they held out and in fact stretched the lead - we won by 3 minutes!

Meanwhile the "A" team had a steady start with last minute sub Bill managing for the first time not to turn his ankle in an off-road race. They then gained places for the rest of the race. I was hoping for a steady run after Martin had suffered at Thirsk two weeks earlier, but he was back fully fit and chatting with his old team-mates from Keighley & Craven as we passed them. I puffed and panted behind and the gentleman that he is opened the gates for me and we managed to beat the time that I ran with Vicky last year by 11 seconds (Vicky, you should have held the gates open for me last year).

Andrew and Hutch had a stormer and were fastest pair on leg 4. They both looked as though they had "tried" - it looked like neither wanted to slow the other down.

Cross Country

Final Race in West Yorks Championships at Bodington Hall

Striders finished 87th out of 116 teams, one place behind Dorking and Mole Valley AC

The race was won by Glyn Tromans of Coventry Godiva who did not finish topless but did finish without one shoe, the other being left somewhere in the specially prepared glutinous mud near the farm (it was the colour of mud but had a different smell).

Identify the Strider (2) - answer

Number 2 is Brian Hanley (we were going to put "speaking Gaelic" as an interest, but that might have been too easy)

Fell & Trail Running

Blubberhouses Moor 25 (from G.W. & B.J.)

Only 4 Spiders turned out this year to tackle the route round Blubberhouses Moor and part of the Washburn Valley with the final steep uphill on the road to Bland Hill. Times were slower than usual due to the strong headwind for the first 8 miles. This did not stop Steve Webo finishing first in the good time of 3hr 20min.

Some way back G.W. and Bob J. were racing for the highly valuable Fell Championship points. G.W. got away on the steep descent off Beamsley Beacon, but Bob caught up again on the long steady climb to Rocking Hall. Bob arrived at Bland Hill in 4hr 4min with G.W. following in 4hr 8min. However, they had no chance to get the old blokes prize because this was taken by former Spider Tony Wimbush in 3hr 58min.

Steve received a big trophy and Bob and G.W. were given medals for 2^nd and 3^rd old men.

Heavy rain started just after G.W. finished, so Sara was well soaked when she arrived about an hour later.

Badgerstone Relay (from G.W.)

Teams of 3, 3 miles per leg, on Ilkley Moor. Only one VS team this year, consisting of Sara, Sylvia and G.W. Sara went off on first leg and, having run the Wharfedale Off-road Marathon on the previous Sunday, soon secured last place. This was not improved on by Sylvia. G.W. almost bust a gut trying to catch up - all to no avail. The Spiders definitely did not win anything.

The Three Peaks 2004 (from Mick Loftus)

It was the 50th Anniversary Race this year, with a record entry of over 600 runners (508 starters, 407 finishers). The day was absolutely perfect - for spectating. It was over 20C, without a cloud in the sky and only a slight breeze on the tops.

As it turned out it wasn't going to be one of my best performances. I completed the race in 4h17min, way outside my pb. Thanks to Kathy, Ken and Sylvia for their support out on the course and sorry for being completely uncommunicative!

It was televised this year by Yorkshire TV. It was inspiring to watch, even though neither GW (finish time 4h50min) nor I featured in the coverage.

Every runner should have a go at The Three Peaks once. It's a superb event.

Get qualifying now!

GW writes: There was a high drop out rate with a lot of runners suffering from dehydration. The two Spiders have been declared heroes by the V.S.F.R. Committee!

Bob J comments: It is not surprising that runners dropped out when they claimed to carry full body cover, map, compass, drink and emergency food in a 4"x4"x8" bumbag!

Fell Championship Points so far

Steve W 413, G.W. 379, Sylvia 218, Brian 199, Bob J 193, Andrew 166, Sara 163,

Mick L 158, Mick T 94, Ian 93, Hutch 82, Jane 82, Martin H 59, Eric G 57,

Bob W 51, P.Lambo 48, Rob B 48, Roy F 48, Lisa 46, Simon V 45, Tony F 40,

Tony H 34, Jerry W 33, Madeleine W 30, Rob L 30, Paul Hunter 27, Terry B 26,

Janet 21, Steve O 21, Dave C 19, Keith C 19, Hayley 19, Sam 19, Laura B 15,

Lily 13, Annemi 12, Tim 12, Simon R 10, Mark 9, Bill 9

Steve Webo is piling up the points at the head of the table but is being hotly pursued by G.W.. Sylvia and Sara representing the wimmin, had been battling for third place, but Sara has now been overtaken by Brian and Bob J. Last year's champion is in 6th place but has not posted all of his results to the Fell Committee and so he is probably the dark horse. But no results - no points. If he continues like this he may be called before the Committee to present his credentials and have his particulars taken down.

The next race in both the Fell Championship and the Grand Prix is the Round Hill Fell Race. Let's have a big turn out!

Remaining races

Day Date Time Type Event

Sun Aug 8 1100 FG Round Hill 9/1100' Timble nr Otley

Tue Aug 10 1930 F Withens & Windmills 5/1000' Ogden Res

Sat Aug 14 1500 F Arncliffe Gala 2/443' Arncliffe nr Skipton

Sat Aug 21 1700 F Burnsall Classic 1½/900' (pre-enter)

Sun Aug 22 1200 F Sedbergh Hills 14/6000'

Sun Aug 29 1130 F Norland Moor 7/800' Copley Village nr Halifax

Sat Sep 4 1500 F Mount Skip 4½/1000' Mytholmroyd

Wed Sep 8 1900 F Ilkley Incline 1/560' tarmac then track!

Sat Sep 11 1500 FG Briscoe's Fell Race 3½/900' Otley

Sun Sep 12 1000 LT Yorkshireman Off-road Marathon 26/3065'

also Half Marathon 13/1750' (both Westfield Lodge nr Haworth, both pre-enter)

Sun Sep 19 0830 LT Lockwood Bounder Trail 22/3300' nr Skelton N Yorks

Sat Sep 25 1500 F Thieveley Pike 4/1000' near Burnley

Sat Oct 2 1030 T Autumn Leaves 10/1200' Kiln Green Church

Diggle nr Saddleworth

Sun Oct 24 1130 FG Withins Skyline 7/1000' Penistone Hill Haworth

Sat Nov 6 1400 F Shepherds Skyline 6/1150' near Todmorden

Sat Nov 13? 0800 TG Burley Bridge Hike 21 Ben Rhydding nr Ilkley

Sat Nov 13 1100 F Great Whernside 4/1555' Kettlewell

Sun Nov 14 1030 F Cop Hill (mixed terrain) 7/900' Meltham Cricket Ground

Sun Nov 28 1100 F Rivock Edge 10/1500' Silsden Park near Keighley

Forthcoming Races/Events

Leeds Country Way - Sunday 5 September

We had 4 teams of 12 last year and are attempting the same again. Expect to be contacted shortly, or better still, phone Paul Furness if you are available. First come, first served (and first choice of leg)

Club Handicap - Tuesday 7 September

This will be 10k round the Res path to Eccup and back. Pie and peas (see review on page 14) will be available, please book early (i.e. by Sunday 5th!)

Briscoe's Fell Race - Saturday 11 September

Support your local brewer! NB you'll need special training for this, you have to drink a pint of beer after crossing the line. A sprint finish is not always advisable!

Harewood Trail Race - Sunday 10 October

Entry forms are now out so contact me if you can put some out a local sports centre or shop or take some to a race. Please, everyone, keep this date free to marshal - you are all required! There will be a recce run on Tuesday 14 September, meet 6:45 at Harewood Village Hall - all welcome!

website http://freespace.virgin.net/bob.jackson/striders.htm or http://run.to/striders

e-mail [email protected] (note new email address)

We have over 120 Striders or potential Striders on the e-mail distribution list - if you have e-mail and are not receiving the Electronic Striders Updates that come out every two weeks or so, e-mail the [email protected] address and ask to be included.

If you don't have email, then, if you ask, I will send you printed versions of the Electronic Striders updates every 4-6 weeks in between Newsletters.

In This Issue

Page

Thanks to those mentioned above for their reports and also to the usual suspects for their comments and paragraphs. My proof-readers were EG, IP and PW, but it's not a hanging offence if the punctuation of the final product is not as good as Lynne Truss's (or should that be Truss')

AGM - Tuesday 28 September, 8:30 at Leo's

Club Membership Cards

Valley Striders Women's Vests/Tops

Chevin Chase - 26 December 2003

Christmas Handicap- 28 December 2003

4th West Yorks Cross Country at Bodington Hall - 10 January

(See Cross-Country section for results and report)

Brass Monkey Half Marathon - Sunday 25 January

Rombalds Stride - Saturday 7 February

Baildon Boundary Way - Sunday 7 March

Spen 20 - Sunday 14 March

East Hull 19.4 - Sunday 14 March

Ackworth Half Marathon - Sunday 28 March

Spring Handicap - Tuesday 6 April

London Marathon - Sunday 18 April

Jack Bloor Fell Race - Tuesday 9 May

Leeds Half Marathon - Sunday 16 May

Thirsk 10 - Sunday 6 June

Edinburgh, Blackpool & Potteries (Stoke-on-Trent) Marathons

Stoke-on-Trent marathon - 20 June (from Bob)

Hyde Park 5k - Wednesday 7 July

Summer Trail Handicap- Tuesday 20 July

Joint Pain? Suffer no longer! (from Steve O'Callaghan)

The 14th Rule for "Borrowing" Race Numbers

Identify the Strider (1) - answer

Woodkirk 10k - Sunday 18 January

Dewsbury 10k - Sunday 1 February

Liversedge half marathon - Sunday 15 February

Snake Lane 10 - Sunday 22 February

Radcliffe 12 mile Trail Race - Sunday 29 February

Huddersfield 10k (hilly) - Sunday 29 February

South Leeds 5 - Sunday 21 March

Morecambe 20 - Sunday 21 March

Wakefield 10k - Sunday 4 April (windy)

Salford 10k - Friday 9 April

Guiseley Gallop - Sunday 11 April

Rothwell 10k - Sunday 25 April

Sheffield ½ marathon - Sunday 2 May

Goodricke Gallop - Tuesday 27 April

Race for Life at Templenewsam

John Carr 5k race series Esholt - Tuesdays 5/19/26 May

John Carr individual race results

Sandal Castle 10k - Sunday 16 May

Bluebell Trail Race - Sunday 23 May

West Yorks 5 - Sunday 6 June

North of England 5k at Horwich - Sunday 20 June

Humber Bridge ½ marathon - Sunday 27 June

Otley 10 - Wednesday 30 June

Wheldrake 10k

Skipton Tough 10 - Sunday 4 July

Helen Windsor 10k (incl. Yorks Champs) - Wednesday 7 July

Roundhay Pulse Race 3 mile - Sunday 11 July

Roundhay Pulse Race 5 mile - Sunday 11 July

Thorpe Edge 10k - Sunday 11 July

Eccup 10 - Sunday 18 July