Autumnal early on, but 19o for the start. Pleasant with a breeze when there was cloud cover, but a bit sweaty when the sun broke through. The numbers were averagish, we're still deep in holiday season although I did have 64 replies to the question on the BBQ but as Penny's wrote, This Is Not a Social Club. It's great that so many of you did respond on the BBQ, there's a lot of effort to make it work, I'll summarise the responses in the newsletter.
Rob Downs, who has been more notable for his absence than his victories this year, took the 60 points. Rob used to have a race selection formula which divided the running time in the race by the driving time to the venue. On this Birchwood is a goodish 1.5, but it scores less well on venue aesthetics; not a setting to get the blood coursing through the veins but a well-organised race. Rob's formula has to be applied with a degree of discretion or some of us will be off to 5ks at Lands End and the 100m at the Olympics will be a bit thin. On Lands End where were Jim and Graham?
Rob was 20th. ,Graham MacNeil 33rd., Graham Screawn 54th.,Barry 58th. and Mike 70th.
Mick Fairs picked-up his fourth League 3 60 points. He was followed-in by James Eyre, Paul Garnett, Steve Smith, Paul Norris, Matt and, an improved but still well below par, Gareth.
Patrick achieved his fourth victory in League 4. Christine was next then Steve Russell and Andy. The nicely browned, Sarah is on the way back but, as with Jamie, still below her best . Ian was followed by Kate and, in a reversal of Great Warford, Clare. Sue, started well but suffered a motivation drift in the second half.
Chris is powering to the League 5 title but he too could not quite maintain the pace he set in the first half of the race. Simon, who has been giving those above him a hard time in recent races, suffered a taste of his own medicine, being beaten by a superb Peter Watson run (although the chip time gave it to Simon). Sharon, even by her standards, ran the first third of the pace quickly. She did, to an extent, pay the penalty but overall not only a great time but also a PB. Soraya is making progress after serial holiday-making had seemingly taken the edge off her performance. Early days for Laura but I think she will soon be pushing the League 5 leaders. Carolyn set a standard in the early races which is going to make adding to her total difficult. Nina has to be in the right mindset, this was a positive. This was Janet's debut, welcome. Running's a struggle at present for Roy, he needs an injury free period. Perhaps more rest and less running is part of the cure but he, like Simon, has been brought up grinding-out the miles. Julie's better battling the countryside than speeding on tarmac. Gail's determiningly fighting back, it can't be long to the next PB, she trying to encourage us all to do the Conwy Half. Elspeth was on her second race back way back after a gap. Martin's edging towards the only shirt on which we'll all be able to read our names.
17 races and Gail, Carolyn and Chris still have 100% records, bit of a gap now until the Sutton 10k.
Sharon Jones and Clare Hawkes are the new names on the 2011 T-shirt and mug.
The top three positions in the main table are unchanged; Damian, Malcolm and Jim but Graham MacNeil moves above Trevor, Tom and Andrew. Patrick goes above Aron to 15th. Christine heads Janine. Ian moves above Owen, who loses a further place to Steve, who also goes above Chris and Angela. Soraya passes Huma, Carolyn and Alan. Simon goes ahead of Gail and Don. Peter overtakes Roy, Nina, Trevor, Julie, and Sarah. Clares comes in at 40th. Julie moves ahead of Trevor . Sharon comes in at 46th.
Friday, rather than Sunday, may have a greater impact on the Ladies' League. Current champion Louise, who has 60 points from all her five races this year, came over the top of her bike and broke her shoulder. At the time of the race she was in a lot of pain and the extent of the break had to be fully analysed, so thoughts as to how long she'll be out of running and how long before she'll be able to fully apply her energy and determination are premature, we can simply wish her well. Cruelly it gives a poignancy to the results by the other ladies. Christine got a third win which takes her level with Janine at the top of the table with Kate only two points behind. Sarah Waite was second here, she needs another race to qualify. She, like Nicky and Sally who have also done six races, will change the leader-board but not immediately threaten the podium. Kate was not really in racing mode but Clare completed her seven to go 5th. and Sharon's best result of the year takes her to 9th.
No change at the top of League 3; Tony, Paul, Andy. Paul Norris goes back above Aron for 4th. Mick on six races and James on five threaten Tony's leadership.
Geoff and Patrick retain their leading positions but Christine moves above Andy into third in League 4. Steve goes above Kate into 6th. Ian regains the ascendancy over Owen and Angela that he had won at Pie & Peas but they had taken back at Meerbrook. Clare comes in at 15th. Gavin, Nicky, Sally and Sarah, all needing one race to qualify, will change things but not, at least immediately, the top 3.
The top four in league 5 are unchanged; Chris, Alan, Soraya and Simon. Peter moves above Carolyn for 5th. and Sharon comes in at 7th.
Going to Pembrokeshire and haven't had time to check it since Don issued the updated tables, so apologies if even more errors than usual – please correct them in 'comments'.
Ian
I’ll be back to run Sutton, maybe in a sling – but that just adds to the fun does’t it