Newsletter February 2005
Word version was too big to put on the web site, but here’s the ‘pdf’ (still 935k, I’m afraid!).
To read the newsletter on screen, click here :-
Four Villages
Sunday January 23rd.
It was a chilly start scraping the ice off the car but by the time we approached Helsby the sunny, crisp conditions were looking ideal for a Sunday morning run in the country. The first hurdle was to get past the bacon butty stall cunningly positioned next to registration. We were up to the challenge and instead joined Tom and Mike’s traditional slightly-too-long, slightly-too-fast warm up run before lining up at the start.
There was a rather chaotic start as we all shuffled through the gate with one or two cross country elbows flying as we veered sharp right onto the main road and got into our stride.
The Four Villages course follows a rough star shape heading out to points at the villages and returning back towards Helsby before setting off again. Fortunately there were plenty of marshals pointing the way. Mike Halman apparently arrived at the first fork before the marshals – not a problem for the rest of us.
The air was pleasantly cooling as we raced down the country lanes. The low winter sun was dazzling but hadn’t quite melted the black ice in the shadows of the high hedges. My only plan was to keep Jim, Graham and Stuart in sight for as long as possible and the first few miles went past at a cracking 5.30 – 5.50 mile pace. So far so good but I’d not done this for more than a few miles before. Would the Tuesday night reps deliver the stamina for 13 miles? As I juggled with a cup of water at the 5 mile mark Graham and Stuart pulled away and Jim caught up. A couple of miles later I heard a ping and saw Jim take a dive down to the left.
Grinning, Jim re-appeared clutching his “chip” that had flown off his shoe.
By mile 8 the pace had dipped slightly as we stretched out and the road started to undulate and I passed the 10 mile clock at almost exactly 1 hour. The route was now more obvious; on the road ahead I could see runners moving up and past a line of trees on the hill ahead. As we climbed the view opened up to reveal the Frodsham area and snow on the Welsh mountains. On the other side of the M56 Runcorn smouldered unhealthily in the crisp sunshine. All this climbing and admiring the view had reduced the pace but cresting the hill at 11 miles Jim and I were finally making inroads on Stuart and Graham’s lead.
I was looking forward to the long run in down Towers Lane but in the event it just brought on a stitch and sore toes as Graham and Stuart skipped away again. I felt better as the road levelled off at 12 miles and managed to catch up some time on the run into Helsby. Mike Halman (looking relaxed after spending only 71 minutes out on the course) was there to cheer us into the last 200m and as we raced down the cul-de-sac finish the order was Stuart, Graham, Rob, Jim all within 30s of 78 minutes.
By the time I’d unravelled my chip from my laces another stream of Wilmslow vests had entered the funnel around 1:25 à 1:30 – some great performances and PB (well at least SB) smiles all round. I remember Mike Cooper and Kate Ayres particularly both grinning from ear to ear at respectively meeting and beating the 1:30 mark.
We were well represented at the award ceremony with Mike Halman an amazing 5th overall and Sally Gilliver, Jane Clark, Kate Ayres and Tom McGaff all winning veteran categories. We also picked up both team prizes to round off a great day out for the club.
Rob Downs
(Rob finished the Four Villages between Graham and Jim. Unfortunately they didn’t have a chip for his race number at the start so he was given a new chip and race number 1256.)
5 Mike Halman 1:11:21
16 Tom McGaff 1:15:11 1st.V50
35 Stuart Parrott 1:18:01
39 Graham Taylor 1:18:10
41 Rob Downes 1:18:16
44 Jim Pendrill 1:18:32
111 Ray Noble 1:25:01
112 Ian Smallwood 1:24:34
119 Mike Cunningham 1:25:29
124 Andrew Penney 1:25:02
131 Sally Gilliver 1:25:35 3rd.L40
145 Tony Hulme 1:26:46
148 Jane Clarke 1:26:32 1st.L35
221 Gavin Mendham 1:29:01
222 Kate Ayres 1:29:43 1St.L45
252 Andy Watts 1:30:28
265 Mike Cooper 1:30:57
304 Daniel Black 1:33:09
312 Steve Smith 1:32:51
372 Steve Russell 1:35:09
536 Paul Ayres 1:39:37
608 Bill Staniard 1:41:33
754 Kate Sutton 1:45:45
788 Roy Pownall 1:46:50
832 Amanda Bradbury 1:47:55
857 Sean Barry 1:46:34
870 Ian Ashcroft 1:49:23
999 Stephen Feber 1:53:09
1031 Julie Lucas 1:53:19
1088 Trevor Faulkner 1:55:37
1504 finished
WILMSLOW HALF MARATHON
Sunday 20th. March
Important Reminder
Long serving club members will know that it is a requirement of Running Club members to marshal on the day or to provide a substitute for themselves if running the race.
The Running Club’s responsibility is the vitally important task of organising the finish.
Could all members please contact either Kate Sutton or Ian Ashcroft by email, text or phone stating either that they themselves will marshal and giving contact details (phone, email and address) or the name of their substitute marshal and his/her contact details.
Kate: [email protected]
07808 472267
0161 448 1978
Ian: [email protected]
07990 562890
Alsager 5
Sunday February 6th.
After the glories of Helsby, the Wilmslow turn-out for the second Cheshire Grand Prix event had something of the ‘night after’ feel. However with many, but by no means all, of the stars missing it gave the youngsters an opportunity to show what they could do. Some of you may have forgotten that Tony failed to register a single scoring run through the eight races of the 2004 season, but with only eight Wilmslow men and six to count, this was his big chance.
The ladies were not in much better shape (not to be taken too literally), the twins were making their Wilmslow debuts but are not yet eligible to count in the Grand Prix, leaving us with the bare minimum of four.
54 Stuart Parrott 27:54
125 Ray Noble 30:07
131 Tony Hulme 30:16
30 Jane Clarke 31:49
189 Mike Cooper 32:04
45 Carly McBride 33:38
305 Don Bullough 34:44
350 Ian Ashcroft 35:38
64 Linda Ely 36:00
73 Kim McBride 36:42
403 Roy Pownall 36:53
102 Julie Lucas 38:54
111 Penny Hinke 39:20
543 Trevor Faulkner 41:49
finishers: 667 men
307 ladies
www.race-results.co.uk/results/2005/alsager.htm
Ian Ashcroft
Woodbank Park
Cheshire Cross-Country
Sunday February 13th.
Cross Country at Woodbank Park
The mere title of this article is enough to depress anyone who has run at the location. The venue has a lot going for it, nice flat parkland, undulating woods and riverside paths. But the organisers always manage to avoid the beautiful parts of Woodbank Park and challenge the runners to a new route, which results in a mad panic and much asking of ‘Where are we going this time?’
So on Sunday with the going determined as "soft" or "very soft" several Wilmslow runners were seen splashing on the grass, gracefully leaping puddles and tip-toeing through the mud. This was before the start! The race itself was a startlingly sight with runners appearing up the hill covered from head to toe in mud. My initial thoughts of trying to keep my feet dry, quickly evaporated, as did the thought of trying to avoid the muddy bits. I attribute the conditions to Rob Downs, who appears to run only at Cross Country races when the "Mud" factor is high.
Ian Smallwood
Senior/Veteran Men (about 7.2km)
3 1 Malcolm Fowler 23:53
6 4 Tom McGaff 24:39
10 Mike Halman 25:23
11 5 Rob Downs 25:31
27 13 Ian Smallwood 27:05
34 18 Tony Hulme 27:48
43 24 Mike Cooper 28:56
49 28 Gavin Mendham 29:16
64 40 Ian Ashcroft 33:31
69 44 Trevor Faulkner 39:48
Teams
1 Trafford (1,2,9,17) 29
2 Wilmslow (3,6,10,11) 30
3 Manchester (13,16,26,29) 84
after 2 races
1 Trafford 49
2 Wilmslow 62
3 West Cheshire 233
Veteran Teams
1 Wilmslow (1,4,5,13) 23
2 Stockport (10,16,17,19) 62
3 Manchester (6,12,14,37) 69
after two races
1 Wilmslow 50
2 West Cheshire 108
3 Macclesfield 179
Ladies 4.8km
6 3 Kate Ayres 19:39
10 6 Nicky Mowat 21:09
14 9 Linda Ely 21:38
Teams
1 Macclesfield (2,3,7,8) 20
2 Stockport (4,9,18,19) 50
3 Trafford (11,15,16,21) 63
4 Wilmslow (6,10,14,[40]) 70
after two races
1 Macclesfield 76
2 Wilmslow 125
3 Stockport 140
Veteran Teams
1 Stockport (2,5,12,16) 35
2 Manchester (14,23,24,25) 86
3 Wilmslow (3,6,9,[27]) 45
4 Trafford (7,10,17,[27]) 61
5 Macclesfield (1,4,[27,28]) 60
after two races
1 Wilmslow 83
2 Stockport 87
3 Macclesfield 93
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Cheshire League Cross Country
Ladies & Men
Final round
Sunday 13th March Macclesfield
Kate
[email protected]
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Cheshire Grand Prix
No resting on laurels – the 2005 Cheshire Grand Prix started with Four Villages and the Alsager 5, and there are at least a further 6 races are mapped out for this year. Let’s see if we can repeat our success of last year!
The Cheshire Grand Prix is organised by the Cheshire County Athletic Association (see ‘Useful Links’). Next races in the Grand Prix series are:-
· Wilmslow Half, Sunday 20th March (should get a good turn out for that one!)
· Chester Spring 5, Tuesday 5th April
· Christleton 5k, Friday 13th May
· Birchwood 10k, Sunday 21st August
· Sutton 6 (10k), Sunday 25th September
· Mystery event (organisers not yet decided, but I guess Chester Zoo 10k might be a contender).
Road Races
Trafford 10k Sun. March 6th.
Salford 10k Good Friday, March 25th.
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Club Summer Series
Tony has announced the first two races:-
Chester Spring 5 Tuesday 5th April
Christleton 5k Friday 13th May
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The Envy of Stockport Harriers
Roy and I returned to our old training group headed by Darren Dunn’s celebrated dad Alec for the annual Christmas fancy dress seven mile race. The emphasis is on the costume being aerodynamic as well as tacky and in my case politically correct – my 2003 outfit as Al Jolson was deemed out of order and dangerous to pedestrians in the dark.
We got in conversation after the run with Stuart Parrot’s nemesis Alan Pover. At vet 55 Alan earns money running the seniors in America he is that good. The Stockport 10 had just been run and Alec’s group are all Stockport Harriers. The first thing that was mentioned was Tom McGaff’s performance as vet 50, the second was Wilmslow’s team performance. Alan was extremely complimentary about the fact that our less than 100 members could turn out a team which beat theirs with over 600 members. He put this down to our team spirit which ensured we always had our first string turning out for races whereas they did not. According to Alan they are more interested in beating each other up in training.
So what we possibly take for granted, at least one other club has noted. All credit to Tony for engendering the right spirit with the right training also Tom for his performances at Stockport and the cross country.
Roy made a valiant attempt to get Alan to jump clubs but he wasn’t having it.
Rob Dunkley – Medical Update
News has reached the group 4 gossips that our diagnosis of Rob Dunkley’s malaise was not anaemia brought on by the large number of blood tests Robs put himself through. The latest bulletin tells us his adrenal gland is malfunctioning and he has to stop running for two months to rectify the problem. Both the club and Saturday afternoons are the lesser for his absence and we look forward to tales of the Llandudno 10 and Tour of Tameside come April.
Simon Fenton
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Fancy A Racing Weekend in France
Whilst the prospect of a weekend in France including a race created initial interest in the bar, no-one responded in any concrete manner to George’s suggestion in the last newsletter.
The idea would be a cheapo flight to Nice. Two or three nights in the local chamber d’hote (around 70 euros for a room for two) and a race.
If those who are interested could talk or email me, we could get an idea of numbers and preferred timing and link this into available races (George was talking about second weekend in May or final weekend in October).
Please let me know if you’re potentially interested.
Ian Ashcroft
***************************************
*** RUNNER OF THE MONTH ***
FEBRUARY 2005
Rob Downs, Mike Cooper and Sally Gilliver all had their supporters this month but we have taken a different approach. Two years ago Angela Lee was nominated. She needed mileage for the Wilmslow Half but sacrificed this to be the last counter in the cross-country enabling the ladies to take first place. We gave runner of the month to someone else but subsequently felt bad about not recognising a runner who put the team first in what is essentially an individual sport. This month we would like to recognise Linda Ely who not only makes herself available whenever the ladies are struggling for numbers but also contributes some useful scores
Grumpy Old Men
update – a month to Wilmslow
We first caught up with Professor Coombs. You may recall that he ‘had given himself a good talking to’ over his eating disorder. Not a lot of progress. The following week he had scheduled three university dinners, a social dinner and a Burns night. On the positive side he has signed himself up to the Simon Fenton school of mileage which means 25 miles per weekend and as a consequence is running rather well.
Alf Tupper cartoon from Rob Downs
Roy made a promising start at Helsby but it went wrong in the second half. His problem is not eating but drinking, particularly on a Saturday night. His solution, to do his long run on Saturday, scores well for pragmatism but perhaps less highly on the Paula Radcliffe scale of athletic dedication.
Stephen Feber’s and Ian Ashcroft’s runs at the Four Villages were similar to Roy’s if you exclude the bit about a promising start. Ian did better at Alsager but a training programme of 5 miles a weekend points to a lack of commitment to the cause. Stephen’s current form has an air of despondency; he is in danger of starting as favourite for the wooden spoon. He has decided that the half-marathon is not his distance, but I remember Kate Ayres drawing a similar conclusion after a disappointing Wilmslow and look at her time at Helsby.
Simon’s the mileage man. An enigma who nowadays rarely races but can, seemingly from nowhere, produce a brilliant run, see Wilmslow 2003. Is 2005 going to his year again? Peter Watson has recovered from injury and illness and his rhythm is flowing again. Like Simon he has no race form against which judge but is capable, on his day, of beating the rest of the group. Is it possible that either might, at Wilmslow, challenge Rocket’s over-60 club half-marathon record?
Kate Sutton is another whose attitude has sadly lacked the necessary dedication. Two weeks ski-ing in February is not appropriate preparation and she’s likely to pay the penalty.
The bookies favourite is ‘Ringo’ Ayres, who ran an excellent Four Villages. Even though he has many of the attributes of a GOM, biologically he’s too young and a similar run at Wilmslow is likely to see him excommunicated.
Finally Roy won the prize for the Grumpy Old Man moment of the month. After Alsager he talked a wide-eyed Jane through his 3 hour 14 minute London Marathon. I believe it was the same year as the famous Dunkley Llandudno 10 and Roger Bannister’s four-minute mile.
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News from the WRC exiles (Aveyron chapter).
As I write this the view from the window is snowy! We have had several falls since the New Year and seem, like much of Europe to be in the grip of a really cold spell. Not good for running as I found at the end of January as I managed to find an icy patch in the forest and take a tumble on my back. The result – very sore ribs and no real chance to run until they mend. Ideal preparation for the Half!! That will teach me to disobey orders!
Training had been going well and just prior to Christmas we joined a running club based in Decazeville which is 25 minutes from here. It is actually classed as an Association although I am not yet sure why. There are about 40 members and the big difference is that training is only twice weekly, with a long run on Sunday and a shorter run Wednesday with some hills included. So less demanding than Tuesday on the track at WRC, but I believe that as the weather improves we use the cinder track around the rugby pitch in Decazeville. The Rugby Club is fairly big, but there does not seem to be the same involvement as in Wilmslow. I have been made very welcome and the runners are great company, so I get to run and work on the language too.
The Sunday run can be halted for latecomers who park their car where we meet them and join in. One of the guys has appeared late a couple of times, and when I asked why the rest explained that he works as an artificial inseminator and his clients are not always able to allow him to be there on time!
As George found at his sessions the French find it odd that we should train in shorts and tee shirt. Having acquired the club kit I can see why they overdress – there is so much of it.
The members have an active social calendar, we had a long Sunday lunch 2 weeks ago and on March 4 we have a soiree to meet the new club sponsor (local branch of Geant which is a huge hypermarket). We follow this with drinks and food and surprise, surprise the meeting is at a pizzeria in town (also one of the sponsors). But it isn’t all fun! There is a full list of races which they want me to do including the Cassis – Marseilles in October which George has mentioned. This is an away fixture and a full excursion is planned. We stay with an ex member who lives in the area –so all is sorted. There are many more events and the race supplement which arrived with the January magazine was the size of a Thompson Local!
The club President had arranged for Sue and I to be interviewed by “Depeche Midi” which is the regional daily. We went along to meet the local journalist and had a long chat. The interview duly appeared with photo, and made us feel very special – the club value their sponsors highly and the interview helps the club profile. So now we are local celebs.
We continue to explore the local area and have a good selection of walks logged now. We hope that spring is really around the corner and once we return from England after the half, we will venture further. In the meantime we have builders, plumbers and kitchen fitters to try to organise. There are plenty of conversions and building works in the village, and a shortage of tradesmen. Patience is definitely a virtue when you are dealing with the local builders etc.
We have French lessons every week (2 hours) with 3 other exiles who live locally and homework as well! I didn’t expect to have to homework again! The effort is worth it and we feel we are making progress. Some of the locals do speak in patois so no amount of homework would help! We have been here for 6 months now and still find we have to do a double take as we are around and about the village. We came back from a week away on Friday last, and it certainly felt like coming home.
Snow is falling again so I’ll throw another log on the fire, mail this to the Editor and return to homework. I’m sure that we do not have the 300 days of sunshine that George does in the south west, but neither do we have the vines, so no back breaking vendage for us.
Best wishes to everyone – I look forward to the newsletter and am delighted to read about the many successes the members are having.
A bientot, and see you on March 20th.
Peter and Sue
Tough of the Track
Alf Tupper lived in one of the four D.C. Thomson (publishers of Dandy and Beano) boys’ comics. I can remember Wizzard, Rover and Hotspur but the name of the fourth, and which owned Alf, have escaped me. Alf was the athletic equivalent of the more famous ‘Roy of the Rovers’. Roy had a make-over in the 70s exchanging brylcream for shoulder-length hair but, until the cartoons arrived from Rob Downs, I do not think I had heard of Alf for 45 years.
Alf was a working-class hero who had to fight the prejudice of the ‘snooty’ members of the local athletic club. He had an honest job but this was an era when everyone aspired to be a ‘white collar’ worker and the working classes aspired only to the like of the council houses being built in places such as Wythenshawe Garden Suburb.
Alf’s loyalty to his employee meant he frequently arrived at the last minute for races, snatching a hasty tea of fish and chips from his Daily Sketch.
However, as the first cartoon shows, he transcended all these disadvantages through pure talent bursting through the field in the final yards to breast the tape.
Can anyone correct and/or complete this?
Ian
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Softie’s Men’s Changing Room
A reminder to please remove your shoes after training before going onto the carpet.
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something to aim at:-
WILMSLOW HALF MARATHON
Sunday March 23rd., 2004
27 Mile Halman 1:13:47
30 Tom McGaff 1:14:23
36 Darren Dunn 1:15:16
68 Nick Bishop 1:18:52
82 Stuart Parrott 1:20:04
88 Jim Pendrill 1:20:40
117 Ray Noble 1:22:48
136 Mick Fairs 1:23:51
174 Steve Smith 1:25:54
176 Ian Smallwood 1:25:57
201 Bill Heaton 1:26:58
227 Sally Gilliver 1:27:44
288 Steve Russell 1:30:00
292 Gavin Mendham 1:30:04
311 Martin Brown 1:30:34
392 Andrew Penney 1:32:31
443 Jane Clarke 1:33:53
467 Kate Ayres 1:34:17
468 Peter Nelson 1:34:19
589 Paul Ayres 1:36:59
656 George Livesey 1:38:01
828 Ian Ashcroft 1:41:20
840 John Porteous 1:41:27
922 Rod Coombs 1:42:51
924 Bill Staniard 1:42:53
1072 Roy Pownall 1:44:56
1130 Kate Sutton 1:45:49
1447 Gareth Trimble 1:50:03
1547 Cheryl Barlow 1:51:26
1553 Leanne Ayres 1:51:52
1588 Dave Mangnall 1:52:07
1679 Amanda Hynes 1:53:36
1691 Trevor Faulkner 1:53:41
1816 Simon Poyser 1:55:31
1941 Ned Spencer 1:57:11
2030 Ken Smart 1:58:28
2031 Julie Lucas 1:58:29
2078 Ron Reed 1:59:05
2241 Sally Maddock 2:01:31
2317 Pauline Stubbs 2:02:51
2512 Zoe McKeown 2:06:28
2962 Yvonne Brown 2:19:07
3132 C Lawledge 2:28:43
3241 runners finished