Into its thirty-odd year. It’s been going since 1984 though the course has changed slightly this last few years and includes some paths as well as road. It was rainy on arrival. Tony predicted it would be fine and went off for his warm up. I walked around with a stiff back from 3 hours weeding on Friday and still felt the quad/flexor soreness I have had these last 2 weeks so I went back to the car to read whilst it rained. Still I had to get out with 15 minutes to go and do 2 laps of the car park and queue for the toilet in the rain before the start.
Simon’s report
I entered this race months ago so Andy O’Sullivan’s race was never on my agenda. Patrick was fitting it around his marathon training and good to see Tony coming in off the hills.
The conditions were perfect for running with the light drizzle stopping as we got away and the earlier breeze dropping. They say a poor workman blames his tools and the same applies to runners and excuses for a poor run, but here’s mine anyway. I had noted my lung clearing inhaler was showing empty, meant to pack the new one and forgot, so after a great first 100 metres I felt like a goldfish on the carpet. I caught a pacer at 4K who I vainly hoped would be the 50 minutes one to be swiftly crestfallen when he turned out to be the 55. I managed to get past him only to be immediately re-overtaken. At 6K Barry May from Northwich glided past to make that four races out of four he has overtaken me – this time he only got 2nd in the V75’s though. I did catch the 55 pacer back on the finishing straight when he waved his flock on and started showboating which only made matters worse when my assumption that it was so he could correct his pace to finish dead on 55 proved unfounded – it was even slower than that. And for a personal worse. At the other end of the scale, great runs by Tony ( 1st V70 by three minutes ) and Patrick ( 3rd V65).
1st 32.30 Felix McGrath Newcastle Staffs ACs
36th 37.26 Kelly Crickmore Stockport Harriers (also 1st LV40)
224th 46.24 Tony Hulme
261st 47.26 Patrick Grannan
549th 55.46 Simon Fenton
One minor consolation was that due to the re-scheduling of the Wilmslow Half I had missed the Hollins Green 5K and so I picked up the North Cheshire 5k Series V70 series winner’s prize (lowest aggregate time from four races) – along with the Birchwood 10K V75 wooden spoon.
Patrick’s report
I found the 45 minute pacer and was about 10 metres behind him in the packed start. Ahead I could see Tony and Simon very close to the pacer. My watch still had not found any satellites after I had set it to race 10k in 45 minutes and it was still whirring around when we suddenly started. The walk, stumble, trot at the start meant that when I got onto the road from the car park start I was already 70 metres behind the pacer. By the time the throng had thinned a little I was 100 metres behind and could see Tony just behind him. The watch started and we approached a loopback on the road allowing me to see Tony for the last time before the finish.
My watch told me I was leading after 1k! By 2k it told me I was second and at that point it was not going to be – with my achy back, legs and soreness. Still I joined a clump of runners and ran round for a while following a Warrington lady runner who thanked every marshal and encourage people who slowed down in front of her as she passed them. After 4k I pushed on ahead and decided I’d thank the marshals as something to do. Water at 5k was it’s usual choking experience with the plastic cup. But I managed to lob it into the bin at the collection point. By 6k I’d worked out from the kilometre signs that my watch had not started until about 390 metres after the start.
I had an interesting last 4k. I overtook a few younger runners and felt them up their pace and overtake me shortly afterwards. Must be an age thing! 🙂
I then overtook them on every downhill! For them to run me down on all the inclines. The good thing about Marathon training is that 10k is a short run for me at the moment. The bad news is that I don’t have any real pace! Still this game of winding them up made it interesting. I vaguely remembered the last 2k so I decided to up the pace and push past them again knowing I’d have one downhill left. I started overtaking people with the increased speed and thought everything was going really well until we turned the last corner. My memory of a 75-100m finish was wrong. More like 200m. I chased some older looking runner down and reduced the gap quite a bit. But with 40 metres to go the youngsters came sprinting past me in a desire to not get not beaten by me. It wasn’t worth it to try and kick and hold as I can’t afford to do any more damage to my legs. Still it’s a good feeling to finish strongly. My watch ironically said I’d done what I wanted 44:58!! So just 390 metres short of target! And it wasn’t raining!
I spotted Tony. He’d got in just over 46 minutes. We looked out for Simon and spotted him chasing and catching the 55 minute pacer.
Back to the car to get some money and into the shopping centre to Planet Café which does a mean bacon batch. It hung over the side of the plate and I needed a knife cut it into half, a more manageable portion, to hold and eat.
Prize giving was 10 minutes earlier than scheduled. Tony won his category easily. Simon was hampered by some faster runners in his category. And I was beaten by someone who must be on drugs. Stanley Owen of Salford Harriers whose time of 39:15 left me a little speechless and humble! A really nice race, only 25 minutes to get there. I’ll do it againnext year too. Pity they don’t do towels anymore! Results with Chip timings below.
| Pos | Name | Cat | Cat pos | Time |
| 1 | Felix McGrath (Newcastle Staffs) | Men & MS | 1 | 32:30 |
| 36 | Kelly Crickmore (Stockport) | Ladies & FV40 | 1 | 37:25 |
| 224 | Tony Hulme | MV70 | 1/12 | 46:16 |
| 261 | Patrick Grannan | MV65 | 3/16 | 47:13 |
| 549 | Simon Fenton | MV75 | 4/4 | 55:37 |
| (957) | Finishers |
Well done Patrick, sounds like a good race. Great report.