Hi everyone, and welcome to the weekly round-up.
There have been some cracking reports sent in this week. It’s great to hear what Helsby RC members have been put to so please keep sending any contributions to helsby-race-reports@outlook.com
Before the racing news we have a quick reminder from Tim Palmer regarding the club calendar where you can get details of most local races that are coming up:
“Club calendar – there are links to two Google calendars for the club – please see: https://www.helsbyrunningclub.org.uk/race-diary/ for details.
The first gives details of club events including club counters towards the club championship. The second gives other local races that may be of interest to club members.
These replace the multiple calendars used in previous years. Most smartphone calendars can link into Google Calendars – the exact method depends on the app used.
Racing News
Anglesark Amble – Sat 8th Feb – LDWA running & walking event
The first report this week s actually from an event the previous week, sent in by Jackie with some great pictures from the Anglesark Amble – thanks Jackie:
The going was sunny and crisp with fresh winds and tons of mud on yesterday’s Anglesark Amble. Now in its 49th year, it starts and finishes in Rivington and does a huge loop of 40k with 1230m of climb taking in the notable tops high on the moors just North of Bolton; places all very familiar to me! So lucky it was held on Saturday and not on Ciara Storm Sunday. The hospitality for this LDWA run/walking event was as excellent as ever with an array of butties, cakes and lashings of tea at the 3 major checkpoints, plus a very traditional Lancashire potato ash with red cabbage at the end! A stomp down memory lane for me on a lovely if a little windy day! I’ll tell the rest of the story in pictures!
Rivington Terraced gardens of Lord Leverhulme
Rivington Pike at 9am
Looking across to the next checkpoint on Winter Hill
.. made it
… great downhill section towards Belmont, where my parents lived & brother too before he emigrated to Tenerife!
.. onwards to Turton Moor
.. & Entwistle Reservoirs
.. past our old stomping ground of the Strawbury Duck, famous for its rather strong Merrydown Cider
… & onto Darwen Tower, built like a rocket to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee & the victory of the local people for the right to access the moor. All in 1898, the Lancashire trespass pre- dated the Kinder one by 34 years!
… looking back to the Rocket from the last pull up Great Hill
… over 6 hours later, a final flatter return section alongside Anglesark Reservoirs
… post race recovery with Ben in Rivington village hall
10 minutes slower than 4 years ago.
I blame it on age, mud a cold!
Well done to Ben who came in 10 minutes faster.
Spot me?!?!
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Parbold Hill Race – Sunday 16th Feb
Next, we actually have two write-ups on the Parbold Hill Race sent in by Debbie Read and June Swift. Over to Debbie first:
Despite Storm Dennis and many other races being cancelled, Saturday saw 5 of The Green Army head up the M6 to run the Parbold Hill Race.
A challenging, hilly, multi terrain route – just under 7 miles long – it consists of approximately 2 miles of road, a mile of rooted, woodland trails, a section of rocky track and the remaining 3+ miles of fields (with some unavoidable stiles – the further back in the field you are the longer the queue) Oh, and the infamous Beeches Brooke hurdle.
Given the amount of recent rain, the ground this year was saturated and the course extremely muddy and with the predicted bad weather, it was never about getting pbs or breaking records, just to enjoy the route, the scenery and have fun which we all did in bucketloads.
June, being a road runner was well and truly out of her comfort zone and was going to run with John, while Sue, Nesta and I were going to run it together. In actual fact, June was the 1st Helsby vest home finishing 25 female out of 131, John was a minute behind her and the rest of us crossed the line holding hands.
A great race, well marshalled by enthusiastic, encouraging volunteers, starts and finishes next to a pub, Mars Bar, buff, free shoe wash, this race always sells out quickly and it’s easy to see why.
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And now over to June:
Here’s a little round up from Parbold on Sunday.
When my Husband said “it’s valentines weekend and we are child free” he got my attention! Spa weekend I thought?! Errrm, well kind of! 6 glorious mud filled miles around Parbold Hill was idea of a dirty weekend! What a brilliant race! The marshalls on the course were so friendly and really supportive!
Well done to Debbie, Sue and Nesta who ran the course together and pushing each other to the finish line
We will definitely be back next year!
Ps next year I will perfect my jump and not be shown up by my Hubby!
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Oulton Park 10k -Sunday 16th Feb
And next we have a report from Rebecca Tate on the OP Events Oulton Park 10k – Thanks Rebecca:
I’ve not run a 10k for 4 years, and as my marathon training schedule told me I should do one now, this seemed like a good opportunity to see whether I’ve improved pace recently. The overarching reason I wanted to go to Oulton Park in particular was because I’ve never set foot on the track, it’s always been on 2 wheels, and it would be awesome to run round the place I’ve loved riding for years and see the cambers and track surface at a less frantic pace than usual.
The day dawned cold, windy and rainy. Runners were shivering queuing up in the cold to get to registration, but it wasn’t as crowded as expected, given the Village Bakery Half had been cancelled, and OP were allowing entries on the day. Runners seemed of two types, those out for a fun time, and serious types wearing race vests (in that weather!) and that’s how it turned out as we set off, the faster group blasting off from the start and the rest of us trotting round at our own pace. As this was laps round a 2 mile-ish circuit, and there was also a half marathon and a time-based challenge, it was hard to know where you were compared to other 10k runners.
The track is obviously fast to a trail runner like me, but it was also undulating with 85m elevation, and despite being laps it wasn’t boring – even without the challenge of trying to get the lines right at speed through the corners! The organisation was slick: chip timing meant results were texted straight away after finishing, there were neatly organised little pots of sweets, drinks (not plastic-free yet), gels and jaffa cakes at the finish in one of the garages, and there was a drinks station on the course. It was down to the runners to count laps / keep track of distance and come in at the right time, but as an accountant with a Garmin I coped. Medals weren’t handed out at the finish because they’d been kept at the port – the storms caused a backlog and the authorities were prioritising food to be processed first, so it was not the organisers’ fault and they promise to post them after the event. Photos were available the day after and are free to download.
People didn’t hang around at the end, which felt a shame – probably the weather influenced this, but it didn’t really have much atmosphere – maybe I’m comparing it to the banter at sunny trackdays when we’re there all day and all the garages are packed with people and bikes. Hopefully the race grows in popularity, because it was one I’d definitely be happy to run again and I think deserved to have a better turnout though it wasn’t cheap, but how often do you get to run a racetrack? Oh, and I came in 5th lady (23rd overall out of 75 runners) with a few minutes taken off my PB!
Thanks
Rebecca
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Conway Fell Race – Saturday 15th Feb
The final brief write up this week is by myself. I found myself battling Storm Dennis on top of Conwy Mountain on Saturday. I actually appreciated the extra poundage I’ve put on recently. I managed to stay on my feet while some people around me were blown over or had to cling to the side of the mountain. I believe this is a fairly new race, perhaps in its 3rd year and it was the first time I had done it. It was the first counter in the North Wales series for the WFRA this year. It’s only about 5 miles but a proper rollercoaster of a race as you find yourself covering over 1500ft as the route takes you up and down a few times. It was a great race, well organised and great job done by the marshals who stood around in such horrendous conditions. Picture above is just before the final climb and is one of a few great pics taken by Steve Jeffery and his helpers.
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Thanks for all the great reports. Keep sending them in.
Cheers,
Jim