With the triple challenge of Summer Series, Grand Prix and Cheshire County Championship, Birchwood was never going to be an easy place to pick up mug points. As we set off mob-handed in Mike Cooper’s Vectra the five of us talked up our excuses and wondered how many of our rivals would be on holiday.
On arrival it was soon clear that at least as far as Wilmslow runners go everyone had taken Graham’s advice and cancelled their holiday for the chance to once again pull on the blue and gold vest. No less than 30 Wilmslow runners contributed to a record turnout of over 900 for the event.
The start was crowded and I struggled to get past a couple of bum bag wearing wide-elbowed joggers. After the first chaotic kilometre I pulled level with Jim and Stuart. Up ahead I could still see Damian on Mike Halman’s shoulder – clearly a bit of cagey racing going on there – and Zola the race leader just beginning to disappear out of sight.
They do like their roundabouts in Birchwood and the first half of the race visited most of them as we toiled around the business park. None of the roads were closed but the marshals did a good job with the traffic. Even so at one point a juggernaut crossed the mini-roundabout and slipped into 10th place. Doubling back from yet another roundabout I saw Bill Heaton (striding out in his new red racers) and guessed that there were some more Wilmslow runners in between. Having been on the receiving end of sprint finishes at the Pie & Peas I decided not to look back and pressed on.
After crossing the motorway the route improved with some undulations and a bit of shade. We maintained a hard pace through the second half of the race and one by one our closest rivals from Warrington, Stockport and Altrincham seemed to fall away.
Past km 8 and I could hear Stuart’s trademark breathing getting louder behind me – it’s always difficult to tell whether he’s getting closer or just getting louder. The question was answered as he came bounding past on the climb up to the final motorway bridge with Jim and Tom no doubt queuing up behind. We traded places again as we chased into the woods for the final kilometre followed by a Preston Harrier who was clearly enjoying the spectacle.
My legs were getting a touch wobbly as we turned into the final straight and I just concentrated in running in a straight line. 400m, 200m, into the last 100m and suddenly someone was sprinting up behind – Stuart?, Jim?, Tom?, Bill? All four? No – it was the patient guy from Preston nipping past to claim 13th.
Looking at the results there were some great individual performances with both Damian (5th) and Mike H (6th) running well under 33 mins and PB’s from at least Mike C (by over a minute), Jim (under 35 mins), Stuart and Rob. There were vet category prizes for Ron, Jane, Kate A, Tom, Stuart and Rob. And yet another successful comeback for Bill H.
The men’s team won by a large margin and I calculated that our second 4 would have only just been beaten for 2nd place by Salford. I think that the ladies team were 2nd.
Rob
5 Damian Nicholls 32.45
6 Michael Halman 32.51
14 Rob Downs M40 34.29
15 Stuart Parrott M40 34.36
17 Jim Pendrill 34.51
19 Tom McGaff M50 34.58
36 Bill Heaton M40 35.49
64 Ray Noble 37.17
82 Mick Fairs M55 38.11
93 Tony Hulme M55 38.27
119 Mike Cooper M40 39.16
148 Jane Clarke F35 40.19
179 Kate Ayres F45 41.17
222 Peter Carne M40 42.20
274 Katy Green F 43.42
275 Kim Simpson F 43.43
280 Sean Barry 43.50
350 Steve Russell 45.30
351 Tracy Alderson F 45.32
352 Ian Ashcroft M55 45.35
371 Bill Staniard M40 45.57
374 Paul Ayres M45 45.59
383 Rod Coombs M50 46.14
395 Sally Maddock F 46.43
407 Peter Watson M60 46.52
429 Kate Sutton F40 47.26
471 Don Bullough M45 48.27
490 Sue Wright F40 48.48
585 Ken Smart M65 50.59
664 Ronald Reed M75 53.13
938 finishers
Full results at: http://www.race-results.co.uk/results/2005/birchwood10k.htm
Team prize.
More photos at http://www.spectrumstriders.co.uk/races/10k/2005/10kphotos.htm and http://www.taimages.com/html/birchwood_10k.htm