Hello Green Army
It’s warm out there at the minute, not ideal running weather unless you’re stood around at the side of a running track topping up your tan whilst coaching others eh Froddy!
Park Run – So I’ve only just started going to park run, and what a great event it is. I nearly sent in a report of my 4th place at Widnes this week, sure you all wanted to hear about that, but luckily for you lot there’s a few race reports come in so I will spare you all. Maybe another week. Don’t forget the more reports in this blog the better, please lets see some new races reports, they are great to read. Send them to helsby-race-reports@outlook.com
We had runners out in the Wire, Widnes, Chester, & Delamere.
List of consolidated results below
http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=1721
Laura BH sent in a report for another of our Fell Counters
7 Felsby travelled to the Lakes on Sunday for the next fell counter in the Helsby Fell series, the Kentmere horseshoe. This was my first classic lakes fell race and it didn’t disappoint. The weather was glorious as over 300 competitors set off up a steep track before heading onto the fells. The 12 miles took in 1000m of climb and the tops of Ill Bell, Highstreet and Kentmere pike, where my cheering squad popped up with cow bells and high fives. It was then downhill with a pretty hairy finish down what I can only describe as a river bed! Was a bit concerned before the race as it was my first time on a pretty much unmarked course but I needn’t have worried as the visibility was good and I had plenty of people to follow! A great day out and definitely worth the trip.
Results for Helsby
21st Jim O’Hara 01:46:10
74th Ben Fletcher 02:02:24
83rd Philip Roberts 02:04:07
143rd Laura B-Hughes 02:15:26 (19th Female)
147th Tim Palmer 02:16:15
162nd Steve Riley 02:2-:54
177th Jim Jones 02:22:49
267th Sue Buck 03:12:46 (64th Female)
https://helsbyrunningclub.wordpress.com/2016-road-and-fell-champs/
Over to Degs for another in depth race report he is now becoming famous for, must have taken a fair few hours to put this together, cheers Degs
A green army of 1 took on the Cheshire half marathon at Arley Hall. It’s was a decent event around the country lanes of northwich with stunning views of bushes either side of the road, although not all roads were closed so a few cars did pass but I didn’t see any probs. My race went in stages as follows
- Mile 1-5 felt like i was Mo Farah
- Miles 6-10 i felt like I was running in treacle
- Miles 10-13 felt like I was running up the down escalators.
All in all a good event but a bad race for me. Lesson learnt for me was you must get the long training runs in you can’t blag 13 miles.
Degsy
Jackie was up to her usual antics at the weekend doing another tough challenge, when you going to do a nice easy 5k?
Lyke Wake Walk Challenge
Saturday 9th July 5:40am Sheepwash Car Park was my start time for the 40 mile Lyke Wake Walk Challenge which covers the entire length of the North Yorkshire Moors, starting in Osmotherley and finishing 42 miles later on the north sea coast at Ravenscar. The start times from 5am were handicapped to try and get everyone finished by 5pm. This club organized race by the Quaker Running Club from Darlington is a gem with the most amazingly organized check points every half dozen miles or so along the route, each with very friendly support, deck chairs, and buffet food varying from rice pudding and peaches through to water melon and sausages, with tons of cake varieties all washed down with flat coke or tea! After the Saunders the other weekend, wet and fog bound July Saturdays are the norm and today was no exception with heavy rain forecast from 10 till mid afternoon – and the timing was spot on! This together with a lot of rain the previous month and in particular the previous week guaranteed a bog fest!. The previous Saturday the local mountain rescue team were called out to rescue someone stuck in a bog! When I recced the 2nd half a few weeks previous I sunk in up to my thighs but fortunately managed to extract myself! On refection I reckon a marathons worth of the total distance was bog or mud all in generous proportions!
Anyway it was an amazing day, in the quiet early morning shift I was lucky enough to pal up with a guy called Howard for the first half and we egged each other on sharing stories (he was recovering from a brain tumor op earlier this year and was determined to run to recover) and he also led a few variations which were slightly longer but less hilly & muddy & therefore faster! As the rain set in and the boggiest part of the course started I pulled ahead but didn’t feel too bad leaving him as by now the race was getting populated as the faster runners came though. It’s a real tonic to do a handicapped race and have company all the way through the race (normally as the going gets tough towards the end it gets very lonely out there at the back of the field!). Late afternoon the weather improved and the sea loomed in the distance which gave me the kick I needed to keep on running rather than walk. The last couple of miles I even managed to upt the pace when I realised sub 10 hours was possible, straight into finish in the grounds of the Raven Hotel which we had managed to book into for the night for a good wash & dinner proudly wearing my mum’s Lyke Wake Walk badge!.
For those Ultra runners out there I can recommend this one, just over £20 to enter and the best organized friendly club race there is … after the Sandstone Trail Challenge of course! Next year’s race in Saturday 8th July.
1st male Ben Hamilton 6:06
1st female Shelli Gordon 6:58
70th Jackie Keasley 9:52
Out of 111 with 5 dnf.
Dearnford Lake Relay
This event gets more and more popular each year and entries sold out before race day, meaning we could only put 4 teams into it this year, we will definitely book something earlier next year as it didn’t disappoint yet again. It’s a long way to run a leg of 2 miles in part of a 3 leg race. After a somewhat difficult journey getting to the venue after a bike accident on roads close by, we all managed to get there just on time for the start, which seen our team that finished 4th the last 2 years, to actually grab 3rd spot overall. Colin Thompson, Colin Bishop and myself where over the moon. The ladies upstaged us though grabbing 2nd place overall, stop being so good!! The 2nd mens team came 11th overall, and the mixed team 22nd. A great night was had by all, only problem was we didn’t stop for a burger and a pint, due to the crash making it a bit difficult to get home. There’s always next year.
Full results
http://www.whitchurchwhippets.co.uk/Relay.aspx
Dates for your diary
Not a lot going on this weekend, but a quick mention about Monday night training at Helsby High on the grass track. We had an excellent session just gone, we had the 5k time trial, thanks Helen, Joe & Mario’s normal track session, and Paul Frodsham speed session, which consisted of 16 x 400m sprints with 1 mins recovery, next week it will be 8 x 800m, come along and give them a go, all sessions cater for everyone, fast or slow ish.
We have provisional dates for the borders league races for next season, I will post them once they are all confirmed.
That’s all folks…Happy running green army!