Warrington 10k
A course of twists and turns, it has not, in the past, been one of the more popular, but a Grand Prix race this year and back in the Series for the first time since 2006, Warrington brought a bumper turn-out of, I think, 42 Wilmslow vests. A cooler, 19 o, evening with a noticeable breeze.
We were light on Group One and will have to see how the Men's Grand Prix team fared. Damian won another race, and our counters look like Rob 6th., Graham 19th, Andy 76th., Matt 81st.and Richard 86th. I can't find Rob Gilbert in the results, James Gowin was 185th. in 48:22 but not listed as Wilmslow. Don will update the tables when the queries have been sorted and, if they're reasonably quick at Langley, take the two races together.
Clare ,robbed by injury last year, now has her first T-shirt and mug already in the bag and made it 9 races out of 9. She's the only ever-present but a further 9 have completed 8 races.
Don Bullough, Christine Geraghty, Rod Coombs and Monique Geraghty made it 15 names on the 2010 T-shirt.
After Damian the table looks likely to be Tony second, Richard third, Don, Clare, Kate, Sarah, Christine up to 8th., Ian, Owen, Rod up to 11th., Julie, Roy, Monique jumping to 14th. and Martin. Katy is the leading runner on six races and Graham on five. As we approach halfway in the Series, this leader-board reflects a mix of enthusiasm and ability but, as we move through the summer, sadly, the latter will start to dominate.
Louise was 68th and 3rd. lady overall. We had a strong ladies' team for the Grand Prix; Clare, 113th and 1st.L45., Christine at 116th and Sarah 127th. were our team counters.
The Ladies' continues to be the most interesting table. Katy (4), Louise (4) and Clare have the wins. Clare retains top place in the table. Sarah's points here replace in her best-7 her walk round the Chester Half and take her above Kate. Christine comes into the leaders at 4th. then Julie with Monique moving up to 6th. Katy has 4 wins and two seconds, Penny is 8th, then Gail, Sharon, Nina and 12th. Louise, who is unbeaten in her four races.
Tony registered his third Group 3/4 victory. Louise was second, Andy (a bit of gentle exercise between the Bob Graham and the Tour de France étape, but clearly in good shape) third, Matt 4th. and Richard 5th. Paul Norris, in his first Wilmslow race, was 6th. Then came Jamie, Gareth and Gavin, whose knee seems to holding-up well. Chris was running his first race of the season and should, like last year, steadily improve as he works-off the winter excesses.
Steve Smith and Tony both have 3 wins, James 2, and Peter 1. Tony has led the table since Goyt Valley but Steve and James are going to be difficult to hold-off. Richard is second, Don jumps up to third. Christine moves up to 4th. I have Kate ,Clare and Sarah tied on 361 points with a gap then Ian who completes those who have their 7 races, Katy and Matt stand on the threshold.
John registered his fourth Group 5/6 win. Owen beat Penny in a desperate sprint and Andy did the same to Rod, who, nevertheless, had his best run of the Series. Simon's work on 5ks paid dividends over the longer distance whilst Roy struggled and Chris was also below par. Sharon is always a force but seems to slow in the latter stages. Huma, who should be challenging at the top of Group 5, is paying the price for lack of training but Nina who has found her form and Gail has another PB. Elspeth, Helen and Carolyn are building towards their first T-shirt and mug. Stephen, who usually saves himself for Gawsworth, made a surprise early incursion and slips into the main table at 76th.
John has 4 wins from 4 races, Penny has won 3 times, Owen and Chris once each. Owen stays at the top of the table. Rod jumps into second place ahead of Roy, Monique moves up to 4th. followed by ex-leader, Julie, and Martin. One more race could see both Penny and Chris in the top 3.
It is part of the joy of the Summer Series that my best run to date brought no increase to my points total. An evening in the pub watching the football would have seen me exactly where I am in the tables and without, after having gained revenge for Hollins Green at Bowdon, another defeat to Janine. Still it was the first time I had beaten John for a long time and being ahead of Penny is always a pleasure. England's incompetence means that instead of Ghana yesterday evening followed by Uruguay they have contrived to get themselves in a quarter that involves Germany this afternoon and, in the unlikely event of shackling Ozil and company, Argentina. I had a good solution for today; Derek's first love is Scunthorpe United, he's now a Macclesfield Town season-ticket holder and lives in Langley – but he's not answering his phone.
Ian