Radcliffe Terry Nortley 10-mile Trail Race
Summer Series Race 2
Sunday February 28th.
The wet winter floods had forced Radcliffe to redesign the course. Those who had done it in earlier years felt it was easier, faster might be a better description, ‘easy’ does not give the right feel. Although planned along a disused railway track, there were constant detours taking us up the embankment and onto the adjacent hills. None of these, individually, were over-demanding but their cumulative effect took its toll.
January and February had been cold but as the race started the cloud broke, the sun shone, a first hint of Spring. There was little breeze and a dry 6o made for good running conditions. The course was interesting, well organised and marshalled. There was a strong Wilmslow presence, particularly from Leagues 2, 3 and 4 and we took the majority of the age category prizes. The organisers, as others have been in the past, were a little disappointment that more of the Wilmslow winners did not stay for the presentation. Does winning bring with it a responsibility? Is there a danger that others might perceive us as a touch arrogant?
Jim came 12th. and was 1st.M>45, Tom was 13th. and 1st.M>60, Brian was one second behind, 14th., Allan was 24th. and Craig 97th.
Sharon was 21st. and 2nd. Lady. Wilmslow won the Ladies’ team prize; Sharon, Janine and Louisa (Nicky has a bottle of wine for each of you). Janine was 2nd.F>45.,Di 2nd.>F40, Sally was 1st.>F50, Nicky was 1st>F55 with Angela 2nd.
Matt ran well and took the 60 points in League 2. Paul took 59 points, Andy was 1st.M>65. Then came Jarrod, Janine, Christian, Di and Louisa.
Gareth won League 3 ahead of Tony and, newly promoted, Bernard. Next came Patrick, holding-off Nicky, then Amy, Jon and Geoff.
Alan caught Sally in the second half to take his second successive League 4 60-points. There is an irony here. Alan had an awful 2015 with injuries. To improve his fitness he has been joining Gail on her marathon training. Gail is injured and struggling, looking to defer her London place and instead concentrate on the Summer Series. Alan, meanwhile, is running superbly.
Third was Angela followed by Carolyn, whose marathon training is talking her to new heights. The U-turn at 6 miles gave you an opportunity to get a feel for who you might catch and who might catch you. I set my ambitions on all of the three in front of me; Colin, Clare and Sue but, whilst I was able to close the gap, all proved too good for me – an outcome which gave Sue great delight – she’s prone to fade in the latter stages but yesterday showed no signs of weakness. Finally, Simon who, given a debilitating week of food poisoning, did well to complete a race that some of us, in the circumstances, might have opted not to start.
Janet had another of her good days, can she find the consistency to win one of the League 5 promotion places? For Elspeth it was another step on the marathon treadmill and Trevor, although the final Wilmslow runner, enjoyed the course as much as anyone.
Ian