Hello Green Army
Happy December. Christmas is fast approaching, drink lots, eat lot, but make sure you still run lots. A few notices from myself to start off this week, especially about the Borders league.
Borders league Sun 9th Dec
Looks like us men have a bit of a fight on our hands to stay in the top division in the Borders this season. It’s vital we get lots of us over to Anglesey on 9th Dec, as I think a lot of teams will be put off by the journey. Yes I know it’s quite far away, but I think this will be a great race and good experience of doing a race that’s a bit different as it’s around the Trac Mon race circuit. 11am start, post code LL63 5TF. There’s showers as well so bring the family and have a day out around Anglesey. 👍 Who’s in?
Oh and let’s not forget about the ladies who are flying high right now, a good turnout will help keep you pushing for the division 1 title.
To cut down on the amount of drivers heading over, i would suggest everyone meet at the club at 8.45am ish. There’s already a few who will be heading over together.
Friday Fun Club
After speaking to the FFC committee, we shall be taking FFC on tour next Friday 7th Dec, same day as the Christmas party. 6am from Netherton Arms Car Park, we will do doing a pub crawl.
We shall run down to the Cheshire cheese, go to the queens, bears paw, golden lion, kash, helter skelter, ring o bells, bulls head, bellmonte, and finally the Mersey view, then back down the hill again to Netherton arms, if time permits we shall do the route twice, I reckon it will be around 6 miles and two huge hills, so perfect training for the Xmas party later that day.
Anyone up for the 6am pub crawl?
Xmas Party
Xmas Party next Friday 7th Dec, meeting at Helter Skelter at 7.30pm, Christmas Jumpers compulsory
Thanks to Ed Halliwell for sending in the only race report of the week.
Little Stretton to Stiperstones Time Trial on Foot
Not the most snappily titled race ever, but one that certainly got me interested, as well as Rebecca/Mildredthehen. The concept is simple – get from Little Stretton to Stiperstones as quickly as you can. Any route is allowed along as it doesn’t cross private property (incl. farmers’ fields), and you set off at one-minute intervals. Distance was given as 9 to 10 miles depending on route. To me, it sounded like Orienteering, but without the troublesome problem of finding controls on the way, and you were allowed to fully plan your route beforehand – simple!
After a bit (OK, a lot) of looking at routes beforehand, two things were clear: going over Long Mynd was unavoidable; and a fair bit of running on road was likely to be involved. I decided to run in my road-to-trail shoes for speed/cushioning on the roads, but most people opted for fell shoes.
The run involved a fairly early start, as there is coach from finish to start, so you can park at the end. Rebecca and I left Kelsall around 7am, to get the coach at 8.30, which arrive at registration around 9.30, and following a fair bit of queuing for registration and (solitary) toilet, we had a start time slot of between 10.10 and 10.20, so over three hours after we left. This was a downside, but the upside was that a point-to-point run means you see more scenery than a circular one.
The run can be done as solos or pairs, and you are set off at 1-minute intervals. On the face of it, this sounds like you would be running alone, but actually there ends up being more passing, as you catch slower runners who start before you, and get caught by faster runners who started later (or who got lost!).
Navigation I think was fairly straightforward, as long as you kept attention to your map. The first section up the stream to Long Mynd was very scenic. I took a different route to the top than pretty much everyone else, which was partly driven by my footwear meaning I wanted to minimise the off path part, so went straight up an earlier hillside on a bearing. Pretty soon we were up into dense fog, which added to the navigation challenge, which I was happy with.
After the top of the Mynd, it was generally road, interrupted by a bit of bridleway, until we entered the Stiperstones Nature Reserve. The road section was surprisingly taxing, as it was a gentle uphill, but with tired legs if felt more. Was glad I was in the road-to-trail shoes at this point, and passed quite a few people. In the nature reserve it was back onto paths, with a bit more climbing before it was time to descend.
The initial part of the descent was quite technical, and I had to slow down in my footwear and was passed by 3 or 4 guys in lugged soles, but the second part of the descent round Green Hill was more runnable.
Finish was by a pub, thus clearly qualifying as a fell run, but was quite unusual in that the spread of starts obviously also meant a spread of finishes, so people would arrive over a 3-hourish window.
Overall, I really enjoyed it. The navigational element was right up my street, and it was interesting passing people who started before you, and vice-versa, plus the point-to-point nature was good and the countryside great. Downsides could be seen as the time involved to get to the start and the amount of road running in the middle, but that’s just part of the unique nature of the event. One of the highlights of the year for me.
Results (171 runners) – Edward, 1h 24m 25s, 39th – Rebecca, 1h 55m 03s, 115th
Edward Halliwell
No race reports from last weekends Cross Country at Sefton Park, but some results from the day below. Well done to all. Picture sent in from Jane Bishop
https://www.uka.org.uk/competitions/the-british-athletics-cross-challenge/
Consolidated Parkrun results
http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=1721
That’s it for this week, see you all next Friday morning, Friday night and Sunday morning
Happy Fitzmas