Sighting of missing shoes means a possible return to Black Knight ( very !)
My missing shoes have been traced at the scene of Tuesday’s events : I have to return to Daisy Nook and with it Black Knight .
If time allows a will be back at WRC for our Thursday run : if not I will be retracing some of our Tuesday race with the EHC pack for their Thursday run : Twice in a week !
How will the course appear two days on !
More to follow .
Nick.
VENI VIDI VICI
or
I saw Rob Downs’ ghost
The Daisy Nook race will no doubt go down in the annals of Wilmslow Running Club as one of those rare memorable events that we especially enjoy looking back on, in the same league as the Morecambe Bay Half Marathon last year. But look at it from the perspective of the host club, East Cheshire Harriers. They saw this horde of 25 blue and gold raiders appear from out of their area, steal all the prizes, and then disappear, never to be seen again! Let’s hope that Tony continues to include similar odd-ball races in our Summer Series so that we can repeat this smash and grab operation every year.
For me, the whole experience started much earlier, when I spent the afternoon negotiating with Penny and Catriona whether to leave Wilmslow at 5.10 or 5.25pm. We eventually met Catriona at 5.35, sitting on the kerb outside her office like a lost waif. Our escape from the traffic jam on the M6 was made good by diverting around Portwood Road and we eventually arrived at the ECH HQ at 6.55. Thank goodness I had ignored Penny’s advice not to bring maps: “It doesn’t look that difficult. I was just up in that area (Bury) today” she had emailed (!). Our little group was fortunate in following local runners to the race start without getting lost.
The race itself unfolded as usual at the beginning. One by one they went by: Penny, Julie, Catriona, and I watched as Cat gradually slipped past Julie but kept them both in sight all the way round Loop 1. This was mostly flat, a disappointment for me, because I had hoped for more hills to keep nearer to the others. Soon after the start of Loop 2, a disparate trio of Wilmslow men passed me, apparently after warming up for the race via Ashton town centre and starting six minutes late. Loop 2 turned out to be better, in fact quite hilly, and at 3½ miles into the race I had almost caught up with Julie. I became aware of Rob Downs, just behind my right shoulder. “Aha!” I thought “Another late starter”. But he did not pass. I guessed that he must have held back to admire the cunning overtaking manoeuvre past Julie and two others I was about to make on the inside curve of an uphill path. But he still did not pass! I glanced behind, and he was nowhere to be seen! Had I dreamt it? Was it a ghost? It later transpired that Rob was not a late starter, but had gone off route, and only realised it when he recognised that he was climbing the same hill for the second time.
For the rest of the race, I concentrated on trying to gain as much ground on Julie as possible, both on the hills and along the tricky narrow paths beside the clough. My great hope was that the finish would include the last part of Loop 1, which was uphill. But it was not to be. The last half mile was along the flat canal path and my leg speed could not match Julie as she eased by and finished well ahead. It had been a great, competitive, race – but why were some familiar faces missing around the drinks bottles? It is understandable if elite sprinters let their legs rather than their brains do the talking for them, but surely we do not expect the intellectuals of Group 4A to go off route?!
We planned to leave early, after warming-down back to the HQ and changing beside the car (“Trevor – don’t turn round”), but as we were going we saw the second waif of the evening: Jo was standing on the corner getting cold in just her race kit. She was waiting to be picked up by Tim, whom she had left at the start area car park, but who had never been to the race venue! A quick drive into the housing estate soon showed us that it was not possible to drive to the start by the route we had used to run there. How could Tim ever find where Jo was, when she had no phone and did not know his mobile number? She was still standing there when we returned, and we exchanged some phone numbers so that contact could be made about her predicament via her parents in Devon! In a last desperate attempt to help, I consulted the map that I was told not to bring, and devised an extremely complicated route that would take us back to the start area car park. And there was Tim’s blue car, parked near where we had all run across the road on to a footpath. He soon appeared, and followed us back to the clubhouse where Jo had taken refuge. The bizarreness of the evening was finally made complete when we learned on the Wilmslow Bypass that both Penny and Catriona had won their age categories, the first race prizes that they had ever won, and both highly deserved.
Trevor Faulkner
WFW363
Correction: I won what I thought would be my first and last age category prize last year at Shady Oak.
Correction (2)
In the 2006 Shady Oak Tough 10k race, Kate Ayres was 1st FV45 and 2nd Lady (to Jane Clarke). Penny was 2nd FV45 (and 8th Lady). No doubt she was awarded the FV45 prize on the ‘no more than one prize’ rule.
In the 2007 6 mile trail race at Daisy Nook, Penny was truly 1st FV45 (and 3rd Lady). This was her most outstanding success so far.
Trevor