Happy Valley (Foodbank) 5k

Wednesday 7th September 2016

Chris

Full results at :  http://www.crazylegsevents.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Foodbank-5km-September-2016-Master.pdf

Great summer series choice tonight, Foodbank 5 & a bit k. Really varied terrain with tracks, fields, mud then a mile and a bit on the road followed by the splash down river crossing & an 800m soggy dash to the finish. Great night with warm late summer weather and a quickly dark finish. Managed a second lap with Damo before it went pitch. A testing triple after hatters 1/2 & Styal mill hills but a few die hard nutters managed it.

As for the race – fairly easy win for Damo, witty 4th, baz 5th. Sharon 2nd lady. Men’s team win. Vets prizes for me, Janine & Trevor F.  Not sure if Damos lack of a Wilmslow vest will be sanctioned but in his defence he was wearing his sponsors Run North West t shirt.

Andy W

A very warm and humid late summer – early autumn evening, only a short drive away in Bramhall. I was expecting League 3 to be out in numbers as it has been for most series races. I ran this race 4 years ago and couldn’t remember getting my feet wet at the river crossings but it appears the bridge we used then has since disappeared!

Damian was 1^st, in a time of 19.31. Followed in by Andy in 4^th and 1^st MV40, then Barry, 5^th, to claim the men’s team prize from Stockport! However, Damian will be penalised in the SS for not wearing a club vest!

Matt was first L2 runner home closely followed by Jarrod, both just ahead of Sharon who was 2^nd lady and 1st LV35. Then came Janine 4^th and 1^st LV45.

League 3 followed, almost to form, Gareth, Amy, Chris, John and Huma. Paul Norris, finished between Gareth and Amy. Mark from League X, next year L3, had a good run to finish ahead of Chris. Certainly, with Bernard, Nicky, Tony, Sally, Alan, Patrick and Geoff missing, it was a good evening for points, both group and main table.

Then came League 4, again almost to form, Sally, Gail, Angie (1^st LV55 – very pleased about that and so she should be), then Rachael. Andy W split the L4  runners with a warm down run after his epic endurance race last week.

Rob in League X (maybe, L4 next year?) is back to a bit of form and led in those from League 5 – Leanne, Julie, Don, Trevor, Belinda, and last but not least Nina, with her last run prior to her travels. Roy also ran well and enjoying the fact came in just ahead of Don.

The start of the race was narrow so quite congested. Those in League 3 could smell points and positioned themselves up at the front along with many others from the club. Gareth cruised away early on and I swapped places with John, Sally and Amy a few times. At the first river crossing it was either stepping stones or wading through – it didn’t look that deep and the stepping stones looked slippery so opted to wade. I jumped down the bank and was relieved to find it was only knee deep, good decision, and came out the other side ahead of Amy, Mark, John and Sally, but then immediately had to wait in line to get over the first stile.

The first half of the race was along the river, across fields and through a small copse, and was in places quite muddy, ending at another stile with a left turn onto the road. I was still close to Amy who at this point offered to do some child minding. A junior runner was a little faster than his Dad and Amy offered to chaperone him round. Fortunately, for Amy, the youngster was quite a bit faster than his Dad and they soon disappeared off into the distance.

With very squelchy feet I chased Mark all the way down the road, closed the gap slightly but when we turned into the woods the light was beginning to fade and due to the uneven steps I had to slow down and he got away, this time!

This was a tough little 5K and a bit race. Not so sure of the exact distance, and also not so sure whether it is classed as a road or off-road race? (‘off-road’ – Don)

Chris