Pie & Peas – another helping

It rained again this year. Last time we froze queuing for the pie & peas, two benefits of experience; I was there before the queue formed and I opted for the beans. This year, the rain, at least during the race, was welcome on a sultry evening.

 

The prize-giving started with the ladies, for a variety of reasons we were below strength, it was dominated by Vale Royal who may have pushed us down to third in the Cheshire Grand Prix. The men were a different story. Malcolm was fourth overall, Jim, fifth, Rob first over-40, Malcolm first over-45, Tom first over-50 and Tony first over-60. Malcolm, Jim, Rob and Tom won the team prize and retention of the Grand Prix must be close to a mathematical certainty.

 

Whilst not taking any glory away from the Men, Rob mentioned Nick’s 3.5 pies and with Rod also absent we were well below par in the area where previously we had excelled.

 

Our numerical strength of the evening was further down the field. Sarah is continuing to struggle to judge pace but is confident Trevor will get her back on track when he returns. Nina, who has steadily improved, had a race when she just couldn’t get going and then twisted her ankle. Stephen has found his enthusiasm for racing but, on this occasion, not his club vest. Owen had his best run of the year at Alderley Edge but a twisted-knee pushed him to the other extreme. Roy is struggling and, despite his experience, seems unable to rein-in his natural speed in the early miles to find a pace he can sustain for the whole race.

 

Julie is continuing her steady climb through the 4/5 pecking-order. Angela has found both her motivation, she wants a t-shirt, and the ability to ignore the competition and run her own race. For Peter, his foot injury has limited him to one previous Summer Series run, as you get older the injuries take longer to heal and the path back is a slow one but he has done it all before. Amanda visibly improved week by week through the autumn and winter, every race seemingly bringing a new PB. Then, as happens, it mysteriously came to an end and stagnation turned into decline and she’s missed the last couple of races. Here her objective was simply to complete the race. Her race times over the last twelve months, with Sally out of action, rank her as the best Group 4 runner, she needs to re-find her rhythm but once she does, with quality mileage in her legs, a return to form should be relatively quick. Simon had a good Sale 10 and with this, his third race in a week, is throwing-off his ring rustiness and starting to do justice to his level of fitness.

 

In 2006 Anne beat Don and Kate in this race. Don and Kate are vastly improved runners and Anne has lost eighteen months running but her track record shows her potential to be back running with them again. Kate and Don made a smooth progression from Group 4 to Group 3, whereas Gareth, last year’s 4/5 champion, spent the early month’s of this Series in no-man’s land between the two groups. It is good to see him now finishing in the middle of  Group 3. Two years ago I’d interchanged positions on the river bank with Sean (has anyone seen Sean since London?) and Anne. This year she was playing ‘cat and mouse’ with Simon and Catriona. The Cat won to the extent that as they moved onto the road she started to reel-back Penny. Now one of the clubs friendships was put aside as she tracked her rival and no-one can live with Catriona in a sprint, although she was grey and barely able to walk from an asthma attack as she crossed the finishing line. Penny accepted the inevitable in good spirit – 10 miles on Sunday may be more to her liking.

 

 John clocked-up his critical seventh run of the Series, but the distance was too short for him to be challenging for another win, like Penny he may have a bigger role to play on Sunday. Sarah, since nearly taking the 50 points at the Gun Run, has been sunning herself in the South of France but her time here was equally creditable, the difference was better runs by Huma and Ian.

 

Huma was the star of the night, she has been running well after her lay-off, this was another step towards a group win. I felt, despite being ¾ minute slower than in 2006, that I had had my best race of the year. The stats said I was marginally better at Alsager in February – clearly 5 miles is my distance. Is 10 miles like two 5-miles?

 

I apologise to those whom I told there were no hills just a gentle climb up from the river. I’m not sure which is fading faster my legs or my memory but it didn’t feel gentle to me. There are a shortage of 5-mile races nowadays. I’m biased because so far I’ve run well here but I hope we can include it again next year. If it is a choice between Moulton and Chester then, if we judge by how people voted with their feet, we get more turning-out for Pie & Peas than the Spring 5.

 

Ian