VII CROSS - Subida a la ’Fatima’ - 9200m(road) - 8th May 1993 - Pinoso, SPAIN.

The evening was hot for the Pinoso hill race on May 8th but the Spen warm weather training squad was out in force. Entered for the mighty Spen were Jeff Hornby, Paul Dobson, Richard Lee and myself, Myles Chandler. The gun went at 7.15 p.m. and Jeff soon placed himself in the leading pack on the opening road laps, before the two main laps which went up a hill and back down. To quote Jeff. “the start was not very fast”. Well it was fast enough for me and I soon realized that a prize was out of the question as I felt very sluggish.

At the top of the first climb the battle to be ’champion’ had become a two horse race, with local star Juan Sanchez providing a stiff challenge to Spen hero Jeff Hornby.
Paul Dobson was well placed in 5th which was good to say his decision to run was left until that afternoon. ’Prize hunting’ Richard Lee was in about 25th, but with juniors in front that final 15th place senior trophy was still within his grasp! I was out of the reckoning in about 30th place. Things stayed like that on the second lap and on the sprint in, Hornby was beaten by Sanchez and had to settle for the title of ‘sub-champion’ but his trophy took up half of his return luggage capacity - It’s that BIG - honest. In 4th was Paco, who is in John Rawlins’ training group and in 5th was Spen’s Paul Dobson, also gaining a massive prize. Just out of the prizes (16th senior and 19th overall) was Richard “I just missed out on a trophy by one b****** place” Lee and he was gutted / suicidal after the race. I came about 27th and was surprised to get a goody bag containing wine, water and salt!

At the end of the day fun was had by all and I must say that the Spanish know how to lay on an enjoyable road race. If it was like that here (free entry, big crowds, loads of prizes, smaller fields) I could even get to like ’mind numbing’ road racing. The holiday was better than expected and I think we all returned fitter and browner than when we went, except Gary who remained drip white despite constant sunbathing and contracted some kind of mild disease, ’feared leprosy’ to quote Richard!

View from….BENIDORM - Wine(beer), Women(not really) and Spen!

A large section of Spenborough’s star distance running squad got together to organise a two week training/drinking/sunbathing holiday in Spain. The self funded package holiday destination was still undecided as we walked into Lunn Poly, lead by Richard Lee who said “we want somewhere hot and cheap”. Where else but sunny Benidorm! Five of us went on a Thomson Square Deal, 2 week, self catering holiday at £165 each - cheap, even for May 1st to May 15th. Here is a profile of the famous five:-

Jeff Hornby - Age 31 - Single



Running achievements:- Yorkshire 10k Track Champion, England vests for cross country and fell.
A good laugh, gets serious about training and can be fussy about detail






Gary Damiani - Age 30 - Single



Running achievements:- 7th in Tour of Tameside, prolific fell racer.
‘The club nutter’ - often has a different perspective on life to everyone else, his approaches to women can often cause one to cringe with embarrassment.






Myles ‘Shafter’ Chandler - Age 22 - Single



Running achievements:- Yorkshire silver medal in junior steeplechase.
Likes to joke and mouth off, his acting around often descends into utter stupidity.







Paul ‘Dobber’ Dobson - Age 24 - Single








Running achievements:- Recently won Spencer’s Arms Dash, 109th in National cross country championships.
Good natured and easy going, often has to turn women away!








Richard Lee - Age 31 Single / divorced








Running achievements:- 1min 56sec for 800m as a 16 year old!
Charismatic beer monster, will have a good time anywhere where they serve BOOZE!
Always joking, likes one liners and innuendoes



On arrival in Benidorm we met some runners on our first outing into town. These were British people who lived in Benidorm, Mick and Vic, veteran runners capable of doing 1 hr 35 min for a half marathon. Mick owned a British bar, which could at best be described as tacky (the sort of place where ‘Aggado’ goes down well). Richard soon found the bar with the cheapest ale - 100pts (70p) per pint - but sadly this closed at 10 p.m., as it was mainly a food bar.

At the market Gary got the price of a leather watch strap down to 300pts from 500pts, then took 500pts change back from a 1000pts note without argument. Examples of Gary’s ‘uniqueness’ cropped up daily and included suggesting that we use a fishing line to retrieve Paul’s trunks after they went over the apartment balcony - we were 23 floors up! And coming home with 15 condoms after taking 12.

The nightlife was good and it did go on all night, we usually lasted ‘til about 3 a.m. (Richard 5 a.m.). This was late enough to take in a few of the weird and wonderful ‘shows’ which went on in the clubs, namely:- Sticky Vicky, Raunchy Barbara and Sexy Sapphire! - these are a must if you ever visit Benidorm.

On the second day we met some proper runners, including a fellow track star from the world famous Spenborough A.C. - Richard Sykes, formerly coached by international coaching guru Tim Hepworth, is living in Benidorm for a year. He trains with Johnny Rawlins, another British Citizen, capable of 14min for 5000m (he was better than Jeff anyway).Johnny’s dad was coach to these two and some locals, we also joined in for some very high quality sessions as well as running up to twice a day on other days. (Jeff turned into a training monster and Richard thought he may ruin the ’holiday’ - a clash of priorities there I think).

The running peak of the holiday was Spenborough’s participation in a local road race, proving that Spen A.C. is an international racing club, which gets fear and respect the world over! The race entry was free and the people were very friendly, prizes went down to 15th and the trophies were massive. The athletics scene in Spain is quite impressive. A race report follows:-