Calderdale Way Leg 4

Really pleased with the time that me and Jeff did. Was tough and Jeff murdered me on the last hill.
Bring on next year. Here are some photos I have found

Calderdale Way Relay - Leg 2

Same leg as last year for me, but this time partnered by Gerard Skippings, who was making his fell running debut. Gerard had been kicking by butt over the cross country and on the track for the past few weeks, but I had a feeling that I would be more than a match for him on the fells, so I was confident that it wasn't going to be me who was going to suffer the most (hehe).

Gerard was a bit nervous, which can often be the case when you try something new, and are not sure what you are up against, but he survived the experience in one piece (although he said he wanted to kill me, can you believe?), and I was really pleased with our time of 1:12:03, which was almost 2 minutes faster than Gareth and I had done in 2008.

Thoroughly enjoyed the day, and Gerard should be proud of himself for putting in such a good first performance.

Well done to everyone else who took part, and thanks to Captain Patchett for the organisational stuff.

Calderdale Way Relay 13 Dec 2009

Buying a pair of trail shoes and running up Beamsley Beacon during October half-term somehow made me think I could be a fell runner- how wrong I was!! Even 2 cross countries this winter didn't prepare me sufficiently for leg 3 of the relay. Asking for the shortest leg unfortunately also gave me me the steepest leg and I was left puffing away and walking quite a bit as I struggled to get up that damned mountain (officially a steep hill) from Todmorden. Poor Ryan Dransfield had to keep waiting for me and I couldn't stop saying sorry for slowing him down!! Anyway once we did make it to the top, the downhill section was great. Unfortunately there was more uphill to come and my 85kgs struggled to make it. Nevertheless I did get to the end in under 48 minutes, which was my target, and we didn't drop too many places, so pleased with the time. Thanks to Ryan for perservering with me and my whinging, and to Michael for the transportation and support at the end. I believe we came 51st overall which I think is very respectable, so well done to all and also to Gareth for co-ordinating it all. Hope you all have a good Christmas and all the best for the New Year: keep on running!! PS Kevin O: I think you and Ryan should do leg 3 next year, you'll be up that mountain in no time!!

The yorkshire vets monthly gp race 10.

This race for those who don't know is part of a series of races for the over 35 s, which there is some stiff competition amongst the competing clubs, this year was another good turn out with 174 runners one being a vet 80, not bad eh! I wonder if I will be still plodding at 80, I think not;
With the greenway closed Steve and I had to do a slight detour, I jogged round with Steve on Monday afternoon and it was very muddy then! but with all the rain over the last few days made it even muddier, at least we a dry day and a bit of sunshine,
The winner was James Kovacs from pudsey pacers in 32.09,the first lady was Aly Raw from Bingley in 37.00, Spenborough had 5 athletes competing first home Keith McGhie in a brilliant position of 13Th in 34.53 not the normal distance for Keith and he actually ran in spikes too, he was also first v50 back.
John Gallagher had a super run also not his usual distance or terrain but with leg 3 of the calderdale way getting close I cajoled him into it , he came 51st in 40.38.
First home for the lady's was Emma McGuire another one who doesn't like the mud!Emma was 97th in 45.09.
Hazel Pike was the only one who has done this last year , coming in 126th pos in 49.38.
Last home for Spen was get my but into gear for the London Marathon A manda Pearson in 160th place in 58.01.

Last of all I would like to thank all the help of the Marshall's ,the help with the food on the day! Henry for his help and having to get out of bed very early on a Sunday.
Also special thanks to Steve , Gareth,Ian,Frank,&Michael who marked out the course.
Hope I've not missed anyone out sorry in advance if I have. now its all over I can chill with glass of wine and a sigh of relief.

I forgot to mention Les who not only googled some maps for me he also went and helped mark out the course and marshall, thankyou.

The Cop Hill Fell Race

It has been a while since I've done a blog , but today I thought I would have a bash at the cop hill, my way of getting back into it not having run really since the Robin hood marathon ,
I set off at the back of the field and as we got going wondered why I was putting myself through it,the conditions were muddy and cold ,my legs felt like lead but I kept going although it felt slow , making my way down the cop I was slipping so held onto the tape, don't ask why! for some reason I thought the tape would somehow stop this , joking with the marshal who said it was my very own stair lift, I picked up the pace heading for the second lap with stopping to re tie my shoes and a couple of breathers I was thinking what a crap run I was having time wise ,I was surprised to find that I was actually nearly 3Min's faster , coming in in a time of 64.05.

Original Mountain Marathon 24th/25th October

At the fourth attempt Steve Moss and Frank Reddington finally completed an Original Mountain Marathon on the weekend of 24th/25th October.

The two day event was held in the Elan Valley, just north of Builth Wells in Wales. Steve and Frank completed the B Class finishing 134th of 201 finishing pairs with a further 27 pairs not finishing the course.

After last years infamous storm and world wide media coverage the event quickly filled up with those who are attracted by adventure and a wish to be 'unaccounted for'! Last year Steve and Frank completed the first day before the race was abandoned. The previous year Steve pulled out when he was hospitalised with an infection in his knee, although Frank did complete the score class with another partner. In our first attempt we punched above our weight entering the Elite Class and floundered in the rain, mist and heather of the Galloway Hills.

Wind and rain were forecast again this year and although it was windy throughout the weekend temperatures were mild and we never had any really long periods of rain. With only seven checkpoints to find on the first day our prospects looked good and we ran well to finish 116th. The overnight camp in a farm field was as comfortable as it can be when travelling ultra light. Reveille was at 6 am although people in the tents near us were woken at 5.30 with Steve's trumpet call! Twelve check points on the second day gave us some concern but it was a clear day and the first six were found OK. However we turned of our brains off at that point and went way off course looking for the seventh point, taking nearly 80 minutes where runners around us took 40mins to find the same mark. The sun came out at the end of the day and we successfully completed the rest of the course although some steep hills caused Frank to hobble down the final descent with Steve threatening to throw him in the beck if he let any more runners overtake him!

Steve and Frank were not the only Spen runners taking part. Ace navigator Steve Hemingway with a partner Mark Frain completed the medium score and finished 80th of 271 finishers. Steve and Mark were 59th after the first day but were 107th on the second day.

West Yorkshire League XC Halifax

The opening cross country of the season began with the West Yorkshire League at Roils Head, Halifax.

Previous events at this course had told us it wasn't a place to be in adverse weather conditions being situated on exposed moorland. Yet again we weren't to be disappointed with a very strong wind whipping across the course.

The Spen men were hopeful of finishing a team as a big effort had been made to get as many people as possible pre entered. Something which had not happened for the last few seasons.

On the day 7 runners turned up, so barring a disaster a team finish was going to happen.

The sun was shining as the race started. It was to be a 4 lapper, so as long as you could count there should have been no problems!!

On his first outing in a senior XC Ryan Dransfield got off to a quick start, time would tell if his stamina would hold out or not. He was followed not far behind by 'race machine' Kevin Ogden, still nursing a back injury and not on his favourite surface. The other team members - Chris Jones, Jeff Hornby, Edward Wilkinson, Gerard Skippings, Dean Pearce ( the last two also making their debut at XC ) all decided on a more conservative start.

As the race progressed Kevin slowly hauled in Ryan as his stamina began to fade. From his usual steady start Jeff made progress throughout the race. Chris Jones suffering from a knee injury was going to be in for a long hard afternoon as a shake of the head at the end of lap one clearly indicated he wasn't going to have one of his best races.

Gerard and Dean were running good solid races, backed up by Edward who was still recovering from a nasty chest cold.

There was drama at the end of the race when leading by a substancial margin, Andrew Pearson missed the turn into the finish and ended up doing five laps instead of four. Some how he has been awarded provisonal first place even though he never completed the correct course or passed through the finish - comments please.

Final Spen positions were :

Kevin Ogden 65th 35:00
Ryan Dransfield 73rd 35:36
Jeff Hornby 117th 37:35
Gerard Skippings 127th 38:21
Chris Jones 156th 40:09
Dean Pearce 161st 40:37
Edward Wilkinson 182nd 44:48

194 Finishers

Team Position 14th

Overall a promising start to the season with more runners being able to participate in the next race the future is begining to look a little more rosey. thanks to all who took part.

Helwith Bridge Duathlon

I'm clearly better at running than cycling

I was pursuaded to do this by some colleagues at work. 'Its only a low key event!' I was told. So when I turned up to be confronted by men and women in skinsuits and with carbon rims all over the place (and thats not counting the bike wheels) I knew it was more serious than I had expected.

The event is 4 miles run, 23 miles cycle and then another 4 miles run.

I started the run steadily knowing it was going to be a long grind and was pleasantly surprised when the miles seemed to pass quickly and was soon back the transition.

Heading out on the bike (modified cross/time trial creation)was feeling quite fast until the carbon rims started flying past. After 10 miles (of rolling hills) I began to tire and more passed me. Coming back to the transition though I was not feeling too bad.

Then you start to run and, as anyone who had done triathlon/duathlon will tell you this is when the trouble starts. My legs were like lead. The short undulating 4 miles became an endless roller coaster of mountainous climbs. Cramp started to threaten but as the first 2 miles went by I passed through the cramps and ran OK. Very tired and only passed one other runner.

Came 42nd overall (of 106 and some of those were teams) but with 25th and 22nd on the run and 52nd on the bike its easy to see where improvement is needed.

Good event though and recommended for those who want to change from the normal running events or someone with a deep profile carbon rim!

Whernside Fell Race

Postman called to day and left me one suspicious parcel in my mail box (could it be the medical kit ordered for my chickens some weeks ago or just another mail order package for Sandras expanding wardrobe), No it was a kind letter from the wernside fell race anouncing that although we didn't stay for the presentation i had won 3rd vets place and they had posted it forth -with.
This prom ted me to write a short account of this very well organized race, as chris as said this race starts with 5miles of uphill but the views are great.The first part once you get out of the field is road and reminded me of the start to the james herriot 1/2 marathon still took my time settling in to the climb to come which is part of the fellsman but in contrast to that the sun was shinning down on us as we entered the moors and the climb i started to feel confident of finishing in good form the ground around hear is very boggy but once you reach the approach to the peak it seems to get easy and it becomes easy to run up to the trig point, the down hill is great and you hit the road and on to the lane then its climbing all the way up to great coomb, from hear you have some great views of the dent valley. The next part is all down hill with the finish coming into view when you get past flinters gill, The last field ,and I could see Chris waiting for me and shouting encouraging remarks(well that's what I thought he was saying) age dose funny things to your hearing.

Netherthong 10K

I did this race back in 2004, about a year after I‘d started running. I’d previously done the Abbey Dash and Wakefield 10K, both fairly flat, and finished them in around 46 minutes. Netherthong however is quite a hilly course, and I ended up recording my Personal Worst of 52:53.

So I thought it was about time I gave it another shot. The only other Spen runner that I could see was Dan Stewart, who finished last years race in an impressive 4th place, although due to some injury concerns he was not expecting to improve on that this year. My main aim was to stay under 50 minutes but was hoping for around 47 or 48.

The race starts with a fairly steady climb. I went through the first mile in 8:11 which was a bit worrying as I knew the worst bit of this hill was still to come, however I was hopeful that if I could keep a decent pace on the downhills I could make it up.

My recollection of the course was that there was a long climb at the start, followed by a long down hill section, then a steep climb in the last mile to the finish. Unfortunately the middle section was a bit more ‘undulating’ than I’d remembered.

As we went through the 5 mile marker I could hear people finishing being announced over the tannoy. Then we started the final climb which became quite steep as we approached the village.

I finished around 48:25 by my watch which I was quite happy with, and Dan was equally pleased to finish unscathed about a minute down on last years time.

Overall I’d say this is good, well organized race in a really pleasant location. Well worth doing if you fancy a challenging run out, but not one for chasing a PB.

Whernside Fell Race

Whernside Fell Race BM, 12.1m/2972ft

My fell running guru and mentor Steve Moss convinced me at fairly short notice that this was a race not to be missed by enthusing about the great run-in to the finish area and all-round good course. Despite some misgivings that I was stepping up the distance a bit too quick, I decided to give a go.

The weather was glorious, no need for multiple layers, or long sleeves today! For £5 entry fee we received a full colour marked map of the route, and some excellent organisation and great marshalling. Most of the route itself was unmarked, but there was good visibility, and it was quite easy to follow.

The first half of the race was climbing, climbing and more climbing, finally reaching the summit of Whernside, where I looked at my watch and saw that it was just under the hour, That's a lot of uphill. I'd employed my tactic of walk 50 steps, run 50 steps and pretty much kept pace with those around me who were running it all. I wish I could run it all, but I can't and just have to do what works for me.

Approaching the Whernside summit from the North, the route then goes over a stile and drops down the west face for a fast and steep descent. Here I was able to gain back a good few places by using the well known "disengage brain" mode, and running like hell, but I slowed up on reaching the road, and was back into the run-walk again for the climb up Great Coum.

Once the summit of Great Coum had been reached, it was downhill almost the whole way to the finish, and Steve was dead right about the last mile or so, where the finish was constantly in sight, and the ground underfoot was good. Racing into the finish, I just managed to dip under two hours with a time of 1:59:03 (unofficial) and Steve came in a few minutes later, knees bleeding (deja vu) at around 2:12.

Great race, thoroughly recommended!

Jackie's Nottingham Marathon blog

Not being satisfied with just the one blog, Jackie creates an entirely new one for every race she enters, and has asked me to post a link to her dedicated Nottingham Marathon blog here, so here it is...

Jackie's Robin Hood Marathon Blog

4 peaks, but not a Viking in sight!

Viking Chase Fell Race BM, 8m/1500ft

Slowly I'm starting to get back into my running after the summer lay-off. Although still suffering from some lack of motivation, I'm gradually getting the better of it, and this week I returned to the fells following Matthew on the final round of the FRA Junior Championships.

This was my second outing at this race, as I also did it in 2008, when we had glorious sunshine, and this year we were lucky once more, and there was no question about stripping down to just the the vest (shorts also of course). I remember from last year, I was a bit unhappy with my run, as I'd faded badly at the end, but with my lack of training over the summer, my expectations of doing much better were realistic.

The race is run at Carlton Bank in North Yorkshire, and takes in 4 peaks on the Cleveland Way. The start is uphill, and follows a loop around and over the first peak before descending towards the HQ and finish area, then past the spectators, and more or less in a straight line over the next 3 peaks. It basically follows the Cleveland Way track on the way out, then a contour alongside the final 3 peaks through a forest on the return. The descents are tricky, those sort of "steps" cut into the stone, but hard to descend at speed, and the final 3 miles is very much a lot of short sharp up and downs which really break the rhythm.

Today was one of my good days descending-wise, and I was able to make up ground on all the descents, however, as expected, I faded badly towards the end, and lost a couple of places, and quite a bit of time. The distance was just a bit far for me at this point, and my legs felt battered at the end (a sign of some good descending usually). But overall I was pleased, because my time was approximately 2 minutes faster than the previous year at 1:15:12 (unofficially)

lake distric mountain trial

Hi everybody! For anyone thinking about starting to race mm, this is the one to start you off. This year the venue was Eskdale and the weather was wall to wall sunshine in a splendid lakeland setting, with mountains galore, lots of boggy ground, heather and bracken. I had an over-night stay at the very good youth hostel, with a good evening meal laid on. Out of the window on the lawn, was the starting gate for all catorgories. The mens 16 miler looked awsome, and the ladies course although only 2 miles longer than the short course (designed for us oldies) looked to be, on the map, more than 15 miles and several 100 ft more climbing. An 8:45 start and 1/2 mile run to get the map, and I was off first check point some 5 kilometres away, and one of those silly re-entrants. The first kilometre was just a boggy uphill to get you nice and wet, and warmed up to 19 degrees. Already going past Stoney Tarn as a first route check, then navigate over to High Scarfe Crags looking on the North East side for the re-entrant. Lucky for us it was manned, and easily found when you are in close. This took 1h 8mins. Second check was to be 2 kilometres away and involved some steep descent. A lot of climbing up to 550 ft to the summit third check took us over the steeple and Hard Knot to a tarn check point 3 time of 2h 10 mins in total. Check point 4 was 4kilometress away, taking us over Harter Fell and to Crook Crag to a knoll ch 4 in 1h. A good route choice helped me knock of 20 minutes on most other runners (must be getting good at this). To get to last checkpoint - 5, took me 34mins with a some good descending skills of sliding down on ones bum, the last run in was on track and lanes. Overall time 3h 55 mins, and possibly third vet over 60. This is a very well organised event with lots of help on offer if you should need it and a welcome meal at the finish. The sport indent timing gives you your result when you finish.

Yorkshire six stage road relay championship

For the first time in a few years the Spenborough men manage to turn out a team for the annual Don Valley event.

Looking at the entry list it was disappointing to see so few teams entered (18) and we knew it was going to be a long hard afternoon as only the top teams were there.

Dave Lane got us off to a decent start coming in at around 14th (23:54).

Ryan Dransfield followed on the second leg on his first outing for the senior team (24:11) only slipping a couple of place.

Next Dan Stewart a last minute repacement (thanks again Dan) ran an excellent leg on return from injury (24:01)

Chris Jones put in a strong performance running at a pace well above expected finishing in 26:12.
Unfortunately as the afternoon wore on we appeared to be slipping backwards as incomplete teams dropped out.

Gareth Patchett took up the challenge on the penultimate leg scything through the field (well passing one person!) and running a fantastic time of 24:55. Well beyond expectations, especially after a heavy night on the beer.

I finished off on the last leg with one of my worst recent performances - outside 28 min but managed to hold position so we finished one place from the back. Probably about 14th.

Overall a positive performance and nice to see Spen start turning teams out again. Especially as so many other races were on the same day.

Thanks also to Kevin Ogden for coming down and supporting after competing in the Spen 10k that morning.

Lakeland Trails - Derwentwater. 15k

A jolly good route

This June me and some of my colleagues did a walk for Wateraid. The plan was to do Blencathra via the famous Sharp Edge. Sadly the weather put paid to this so when we saw this trail race from Keswick it seemed a good opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.

The weather was only marginally better, but fortunately the wind wasn't quite as bad so Saturday saw me clinging to a mountain side.
















Sunday was the race and a grand affair these things are. One of a series of 4 and over 500 entries. A samba band lead the runners through town and then the race was started by the famous Kenny Stewart. Not a fell race but still a climb up a boggy hillside. Great fun, although my ultimate speed was hindered by the heavy legs caused by a day of walking on the Saturday

http://www.lakelandtrails.org/derwentwater/results.htm

Spen Road Records - Now Official!

Good news!

Last Friday I attended a club committee meeting and proposed that the road records we have been accumulating get accepted as the official club records. It was seconded by a couple of people and accepted by the committee.

So next step is that I clean up the document and send it for posting on the official web site. I will continue to update the document, and hope that we can improve it over time by verifying some of the results that have so far eluded us.

In the meantime, thanks are in order to all those who have contributed towards the verification and collection of records, especially Vic (who planted the idea in the first place) and John Henry (for scouring the Athletics Weekly archives), without whom....

And...John managed to find the results of the 1998 Abbey Dash, verifying Steve Moss's V50 time of 35:00 (not 35:01 as Steve's own record showed) so the next update will reflect this.

Spen Road Records - Draft #11

It's been a while since the last update, partly due to my procrastination, but also because I suspect we are getting somewhere nearer to having a fairly accurate set of records, and the input of new entries is drying up somewhat.

However, thanks to Vic, who discovered some new results on the Askern & District RC web site, we have new records in the V50 and V55 category for Keith Williams over 10K and 10 miles.

I've also received an incredible V50 10k time of 35:01, from Steve Moss at the 1998 Abbey Dash, which would beat Keith Williams' time, but so far I have been unable to ratify this time with any official results.

Does anyone have a copy of the 1998 Abbey Dash results? With luck, it will have a mention in Athletics Weekly, and John Henry might just have a copy .

I'd like to take the current results to the next committee meeting to try to get the "rubber stamp" and make them the official club records if possible.

Spen Road Records - Draft #11

The Reindeer Romp Relays

There was a massive turnout tonight, with 37 teams taking part , it was also a new course due to rd works , as always a fast start down the track then right on the road as the left turn past the farm house was closed ] i thought we were doing it in reverse but we did a left into a corn field which brought us out on the rutted path just before the wooded section up to this point i was running well [my little legs were going so fast they were in front of me] with the relay you miss the hill out taking a left round the edge of another corn field though its not as steep as normal its quite a pull my lungs were fit to burst I'm sure" my team was Oliver carter leg 1 14.42, new girl sue pimley just over 16 mins leg 2, with myself leg 3 15.12 mick Howard ran well in just over 14 mins , I prefer this new course its more runnable

Sedbergh Hills

Hi readers good to have a report for you, this race is very tough and the weather didn't help. With lashings of rain and wind, a race of 14 miles with 6000ft ascent and navigation. Sunday started with the wait for transport and having to endure Roberts driving with him unable to see further than his speedometer and he can talk for England, still a ride is a ride As we passed through Ingleton the rain started and the mist came in .This race is an English champs so there were plenty of runners hoping to do well. We (that is Steven Hemingway, Mark, Robert, Naz and myself) set off into the mist a short bit on the road and then up hill to Arant Haw at 600ft then left down to Chapel Beck at this point you climb up to Castle Knotts with a long contour round Brown Moor and Fellhead. By this stage I was completely done in and feasting on gels when Steve passed me going like a steam engine, still running when every body else was walking (I swear he is not human and mountain goat comes to mind) Past check point 3 you climb up to Docker Knot at 530ft then down to the river for a good soaking and up to Simon's seat at 585ft and 1/2 way. This was when I checked with my watch and realised that I was doing about 4 miles per hour, just above walking speed, and it was going to be a long day. The next hill was going to be a struggle as we had to get up the calf at 676 ft so I thought i would just enjoy it wet through and hungry. Once you get to Rig Top at 675 and Calder's at 674ft it could be said that it is all down hill from there. The descent from Winder is very steep and takes it out of your quads. The finish is always in sight as you drift down hill in a daze. The car park is like an oasis with drinks and a welcoming smile from Robert who got timed out at the first check point. Steven H finished 1st in three hours 15 myself in 3:45, and the winners time was 2h 20min. We had a long wait for Mark who took a wrong turn adding 20 min's to his time but Naz came in having completed the course in 5 hours plus.

Darwen Gala Fell Race - back in action!

Darwen Gala Fell Race AS, 3.7m/930ft

Like Steve Moss, I've been struggling with motivation for a couple of months. In my case, it's been mainly due to work-related issues, but the effect has been the same, I just haven't been running! I found that whenever I tried, I just didn't have the mental capacity to "override" when the training got tough, and without that, there's little point in bothering. However, I did get out on a training run earlier in the week whilst in Wales on holiday, and found myself enjoying it, for all the right reasons. So when Saturday came, and it was time to go to Darwen for round 5 of the English Junior Fell Championship series, I was a little less apprehensive about entering the senior race and beginning my latest "comeback"

After a week in Wales where the weather was windy and pretty gloomy most days, it was a pleasant surprise to be blessed with glorious sunshine. Although this was described as a category A fell race, in my book it could only be described as a trail race at best, all runnable. Not really my sort of course, as I prefer some tough terrain to slow down the faster runners and give me more opportunity to play on my strengths. But since I'd done almost zero training for the last 4 or 5 weeks, I didn't have any high expectations in any case.

A steady climb through the Bold Venture Park, took us up the summit at Darwen Tower, then dropping back down to loop around Darwen Moor, then climbing again before dropping back down through the park to the finish. A pretty uneventful race except for me tripping on the moor, and almost unbelivably falling face first into one of the very few muddy pools on the course (at least it was soft!). I was pleased to finish ahead of some of the runners who have been round and about me earlier in the season, although some were definitely closer to me than they would have been a few months back.

My time - unofficially 31:17, and I'm glad to be back!



Those are not black eyes, it's mud!

400m?

Well, i have accidentally discovered i may be a 400m runner!

Having competed in a sprint triathlon recently, i had no option but to run a 400! I came away with a time of 51.3. With no prior training for 400m, i am pretty sure that a decent time can be achieved.

I then raced in the last Northern league meeting at spenborough and achieved a time of 50.9 almost 3 seconds ahead of second place!

So, i now have a new target to aim for... below 50 seconds!

I have two opportunities to run this time. One at Gateshead (22nd august) in the Tartan games, and the other at the West Yorkshire League championships (6th september).

I will have to seriously reconsider my training for next season if i see myself as a 400m runner!

The saddleworth 6

After a phone call from James asking if I was doing the race(which I had forgotten about) and wondered if I should or should not, due to the fact I had done a track session of 5x1500 the previous night and the fact that I have an head injury. Well it was either a 10 mile run or a 6 mile race. So I found myself on the start line. This race is two laps with a hilly section between 1-2miles and 3-4 other than that it felt flat and fast. The conditions were warm and humid. I set off at a steady pace or so I thought but got off to the first mile in 7.10 minutes with my legs feeling like two led weights and wondering what I was doing struggling up the hill. Though its not what I call a proper, when it's just a pull really, I missed the second mile marker, got to mile 3 in 22.50 so I was quite pleased and now I was starting to feel better and I actually felt better on the hill the second lap and caught up and passed four runners that had passed me on the hill the first lap. Fourth mile is just around the bend at the top and that was 30.32 felling ok and encouraging Mel Sykes to stick with me and to work together to try and catch Geoff Taylor, although we had picked up the pace I was not impressed to see 38 and a half minuets on my watch at five mile, and then I realised that last years time 44.47 wasn't achievable. But with Geoff getting closer and Mel right behind me I kept trying, that last mile always seems a long one, didn't pass Geoff but finished right behind him in 45.58. On reflection, poor time. But half a stone heavier and a track session...I think I did well. After a couple of days rest I'll be ready for the 22 mile planned for Sunday. Jackie Carter P.S. Is the hard work paying off? I'm not sure yet but I will keep you updated on that after the marathon. The lucazade caffeine boost drink I took an hour before the race does work as I was still up at two am, and I felt I could have gone for a run then so maybe I should have drank it at lunchtime. P.P.S. Oh a nice surprise was that I've got 2nd v45 prize.

Hyde Park 5K #2 2009

After a bit of gentle persuasion from Tim (or it may have been me persuading Tim?), decided to have a go at the 2nd Hyde Park 5K. My training seemed to have stagnated a bit so I thought this might be a bit of a test to tell me how well my recovery was going. The weather was nigh on perfect - warm, humid and still. As I arrived I met up with the ex Spen stalwart Steve Carter and we warmed up together. He's recently had a minor operation and wasn't sure what sort of shape he was in but there were several of his new colleagues from Keighley & Craven running. They were using the race as a time trial for selections for the Yorkshire Vets relay in September so he was obviously hoping for the best.

The first 1K is mostly down hill and I got off to a good start clocking 3-33. Not sure if its just me but when I do this the cup always looks half full. Rather than think I might have gone off too quick I thought that I must be feeling good and on for a good time. I've run this race quite a few times and I always play this silly game with myself. Its a 3 lap course and I always tell myself its only 2. Don't ask me why, but I always do it. By the end of the second lap I was flagging but consistently running 4 minute Ks. The 3rd lap was a real struggle and I had to work really hard to keep going. It did cross my mind to walk for a bit which I know is ridiculous but these were the negative thoughts I was fighting. I persevered and eventually got onto the flat run in for the last few hundred yards to the finish. One of the marshalls then shouted "come on Spen, they are all catching you" but I had nothing left for the "sprint" finish. 5 yards from the line someone overtook me and I was bit dismayed to see it was Steve Carter. From all his time at Spen, one of the many virtues Steve may of had, you would not have put sprint finishing amongst them!

Well done Steve, must be all that altitude training at Keighley paying off.

I finished in 19-34 which is ~15 seconds slower than my best Esholt time this year. Everyone is quick to tell me how much harder the Hyde Parks are vs Esholt so I'm prepared to believe this and convince myself I'm making progress.


PS I can't fault the new sponsors of this race, its not every race you get a bottle of beer for finishing.

PPS I haven't seen the results yet but I don't think any juniors beat me.

Round Hill

Round Hill Fell Race CM, 9m/1100ft

Hi folks, seems along time since I did any blogging or running, but after the poor do at the LAMM I felt a little down (most people who know me might be a little surprised) But after a good Saunders, coming third vets team with a great partner, it was time to rethink why I actually did run. I came to the conclusion (that most of you know) that I am just a pot chaser and that is what motivates me. To run and not improve on the last outing can be quite demoralising, so with that in mind I set about retiring from this mad round- about. Just fancy not running round the streets half naked and getting wet through and cold and instead having time to read and laze about at tea time. What's that? It's the telephone! "Hi Paul - what can I do for you?" "We are doing the round hill on Sunday and we thought you might want to come along"

Well 8-45 and I was waiting to get going. Race start 11:00. 1/2 mile to start, good field of about 145-160 runners. This is one of those moorland runs of 9 miles 1200ft and quite runnable (so I was told at the start). Off we went with Naz in is best position of the day, at the front with the rest of us behind (Hemmingway, Paul Hoodless and Robert) The start is track for about the first 1 1/2 miles leading out to some of the boggiest grass and heather I have seen for a long time. Having passed Naz in the first 10 metres it was time to concentrate on running steady, as I had not trained for two weeks (and boy did I feel it later as we clambered up to the top of the hill) The downhill was great, I felt free and it reminded me of another reason for running! As the course wore on more & more reasons came to mind for doing this sport, so to all those out there who need some inspiration to run again I say "JUST GO DO IT"! My time was 1h 20 with Steven Hemingway next, then Paul both within 5 min of my time. Robert managed to pass Naz as well leaving him to bring up thr rear. sorry about some of the missing letters but my keyboard keeps obliterating them.

7th vets race and Reindeer Romp 3

Wednesday 29Th July 2009.
I trooped off to Knavesmire to do race7/10 of the Yorkshire vets monthly GP.
A half past seven start, the heavens opened, it was the most torrential down pour.
As this is an off road run from the race course, through fields, tracks and paths it was muddy to say the least.
Of course being around in York it is fairly flat. Even though the weather was horrid 186 runners turned up. The pressure was on..to gain points to take me further up the rankins. Weather it was up to the weather or to just having a good run I don't know!
But I just set of as fast as I could and just kept going. I finished 12Th lady over all in a time of 44:58. Which was faster than my previous time. I was the second vet over 45 which has brought me up to 4Th in the rankins.

Thursday 30th July 2009.
At least it wasn't raining.
Turned up for this race feeling tired, legs like led.
But the pressure was on yet again. Also, to make the pressure worse, my son Oliver was up for beating me after the Helen Windsor race. As Oliver has been training well I was in no doubt it was going to be tonight. The only advantage I had over him was knowing the course. But no good it brought me.
He passed me at the bottom of the hill, although I could still see him through the field my tired legs gave way and he gained around 40 seconds on the uphill back to the finish.
I'm pleased with my time concidering racing the previous day.Not happy with Oliver beating me, must try harder next time.

Jackie Carter

Pudsey 10k

Not one for a PB

After success at Ingleborough, my colleagues at work persuaded me to do this one. Never done it before so hey, why not?

I know the course well due to early years of horses, then MTB combined with training over this area with the great Jamie Warburton. Therefore I knew what to expect. I was surprised that I was the only spen runner at the start (where were the ever present race machines??).

Anyway I did OK with 43.53 which got me 41st out of 400 and only a minute or so behind Karen Pickles.

The results are here

http://www.ukresults.net/2009/pudsey10k.html


Oh and I got stung by a wasp in the face. My face is now numb down one half and apparently I can do a really good Geoff Boycott impression!

Ingleborough 2009

Then there were 4

After the magnificent Spen turnout in 2008 is was a surprise that there were only 4 out this year. I wasn't feeling very fit but it's become a yearly ritual now. Weather was ideal although I was mindful of the heavy rain that we had had.

I started steady and as usual tried to run as far as possible before breaking into the walk, I was amazed that I was still running at the 'Les's rivine'. At this point I was right with Frank and was careful not to pass him. As we reached the walking point (the first steep and Frank's tradition best bit) he started to pull away. I tried to keep a high cadence but Franks strength began to tell.

At the top though (which is always further away than you remember) Frank was only 45s ahead so I knew he was in my pocket! As the descent started it was at least as treacherous as usual. Wet and slippy at the top. I passed Frank as soon as we got onto the rocky track and had a fast run down. Finished in 1.03 which was pleasing. Frank was 2 mins back. Skip Donahue has finised a minute or so before me and Chris King came in with a PB of 1.10

http://www.fellrunner.org.uk/results/race09/09_ingleborough.html

Bring on 2010

A lesson in training stupidity from a master!

I'm a real advocate of training smart, and paying close attention to what my body is telling me. but sometimes I have a lapse, and do the exact opposite. Often this short period of reckless stupidity is in response to some guilt feeling brought upon by the fact that I've missed several training sessions, and this particular stretch of madness was just a case in point.

The background, was that due to one thing or another, my only running training during the last 3 weeks was a couple of sessions on the track. On top of that, I'd been shirking a bit on the bike training too. Basically, the problem is mental rather than physical, as my head has just not been in it. So at the end of last week, I decided it was time to put things straight (first mistake)

It started on Saturday afternoon when I put in a mammoth 60-miler on the turbo-trainer (anyone who thinks 60 mile on a turbo-trainer is not far needs to try it themselves).

Sunday morning, I decided to go out on the bike, and do an all-out 10-mile time-trial sandwiched between two steady 10 mile there & back rides. That left me pretty exhausted for the rest of the day.

Monday, I'd been invited on a club "social ride" with some of the cycling team. I should add at this point that although I ride for a team, I don't really know anyone else in it. But I turned out, and there was very little social about it, it seemed they were just testing me out to see if I could take the pace. or not! Well, I did manage to take the pace, but it was 40 miles at what could not be described as "leisurely" and following on from the weekends activities, it was a little bit on the frantic side.

Tuesday. I had to get out for a run, because I've been slacking so much, and added to which the Ingleborough fell race was looming at the weekend. I thought I'd do a hilly 10 miler that I'd not done for some years. Still feeling it in the legs from the previous nights cycling I set off at a steady trot. After 3 miles I was ready to quit, and the worst was yet to come, my lousy memory had forgotten that the 10-miler was actually a 12.5-miler. And as if the unintended distance was not enough to contend with, the lack of running meant my calves were as tight as drums. That night I was in so much pain with a nerve which I could feel all the way from my lower-back down my left leg and into my foot, that I hardly slept.

Wednesday, apart from some muscle aches, the pain had mostly gone away, but (sigh) I had tentatively pencilled in a cyclo-cross race at Elland. I tried to get out of it by asking Matthew which he'd prefer to do, the aforementioned cyclo-cross race, or a circuit race (no adults) at Wombwell, which would give me just the excuse I needed for a well-needed rest. Guess which he chose? yes - you guessed it - it was off to the cyclo-cross. OK, I could have just watched him I suppose, but (a) it helps to motivate him if I set an example, and (b) if I turn up to watch, I always wish I had a punt myself. If you are unfamiliar with cyclo-cross, it's 45 minutes of lung-busting torture. The only thing running-wise l can compare it to, is a hard cross country run in heavy conditions. Anyway I performed reasonably well considering, and got stronger as the race went on.

Thursday (here we are) today I can hardly walk! I think it's the run from Tuesday rather than the cycling, but the way it's looking I can't see me running round the track at the club tonight, and unless things improve greatly, then Ingleborough will probably fall by the wayside this year too.

I think there might be some lessons to be learned here!

Spen Road Records - Draft #10

Just a couple of updates, which are verifications of Graham Walsh's V50 10K and 10M records. This means if we can get verification of Graham's 20M records (which is somewhat embarrassingly the Spen 20) then apart from the 5K record which belongs to Steven Moss, Graham will have a clean sweep of the entire distances in the V50 category. So pound for pound (or year for year) it could be argued that he is our best ever road runner!

Spen Road Records Draft 10

The Trunce

With Ingleborough just days away I decided to start training. I thought a race would be a good way of getting in a good session and since my colleagues at work have been dying to have a go at beating me this seemed like a good adventure (its also on my way home). I consulted the Richard Lee book of "Races where you can be sure no one will know you" (note not the recently released "When will I realise no one cares!") and it was rated thus;

1) Distance away (2*) - only 40mins away. High risk of someone being there
2) Obscurity (2*) - some people have heard of it
3) Terrain (1*) - only one short section of road.

Oh well, decided to do it anyway. Its quite a tough 4 miles. Undulating and some narrow trails. 3 river crossings too. Quite please with my 30.50 time. Try for sub 30 next time. Bring on Ingleborough

http://undeadmonkey.org.uk/trunce/index.php

PS - Chris King did it too. Richard was right.

Reindeer romp 2

This race was actually on Thursday 25Th June and the weather was hot that week and i was in two minds weather or not to do it due to the fact i had raced Tuesday night at mean wood in the Yorkshire vets race and not sleeping too well due to the hot weather , as I'm sure was the same for everyone, i just felt so tired and running was the last thing i wanted to do , a bit of sunbathing was more like it but as i had cajoled a few more ladies into having a go i thought perhaps i should go and do the race, another dilemma was what footwear should i use (fell or road shoes) even though it had been dry it can still be muddy in the wooded section (it wasn't) but it was overgrown in the farmers field , as per usual i set off far too fast down the hill and as we got to the lane before the field i was knackered , i can normally keep up the momentum but not tonight as we got to the wooded section I'd had enough and walked a few yards until i realised who was just behind me , i managed to muster up some strength to run up on the bit of road section with a left turn onto the track up the steep hill we came down at the start i knew i had to try and keep going , but oh no i was getting slower and slower so i gave it up and walked yet again (not like me) as we neared the top a friend from long wood shouted in a nice way to get a move on and that i could catch the lady in front of me , i don't know where it came from but i did as i was told and charged in ahead of that lady, finishing in 24.45 38 seconds slower than the previous race , perhaps if I'd not stopped twice i could have been quicker than last time.

Saunders 2009 - Coniston

It's only a month since the LAMM and I'm racing again in the Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon - Kirkfell Class, this time with Anthony. I've competed in this SLMM class twice before with different partners and finished 16th in 2007 and 20th in 2008. Another good finish was a possibility particularly as Anthony is fairly fast, a good navigator and is also tall and can see over the top of bracken. (I am only 5'2" and can vanish for hours amongst the bloody stuff).

The start point on day one was on the track up to the Coniston Copper Mines. It was drizzling and the clag was down over the mountain tops which suits me as the race becomes a navigators rather than a runners event. Dibbed the dibber thing to start the clock, collected our check point list and then we set off at a run up the hill. Once we were round the first bend and out of site of the other competitors at the start, we stopped showing off and adopted a more sensible brisk walk up to Levers Water. The first check point near a ruin was an easy find.

The next check point was further north beyond Wetherlam but we were soon over the coll and descending towards it. This is where I fell in my first bog. Anthony (did I mention he was tall?) leaped over a wide stream, another competitor (just as tall) followed him and me (not so tall) in hot pursuit didn't quite make it to the following side and toppled backwards into the muddy bit. Wet pants this early in the race is unpleasant. Oh well, I had to carry on.

Check points 3, 4 and 5 were fairly close together but a little tricky to find in the undulating terrain north of Wrynose Pass. Good navigation got us safely through and then there was a very long leg back south to find check point 6 at Blind Tarn below Brown Pike. We chose to roughly follow the main ridge towards Dow Crag and a bit of local knowledge of side tracks meant that we wouldn't need to actually climb to the summit of each peak on the way. This proved to be an excellent route as quite a bit of it is runnable and we made rapid progress. The final few check points were easy to find and we were soon crossing the finish point at the mid camp.

The weather had improved during the day and now the sun was out so the mid camp was really quite pleasant and there was just enough breeze to keep the midges off. Got the tent up. Met Steve Moss who was having a paddle in the stream and had a chat. Scoffed my pot noodle. Had a snooze. Ate my cous-cous (Ainsley's Spice Sensation - a fine meal! Actually anything would be considered a fine meal after a pot noodle). Anthony and I were a bit surprised to find out that we were in 9th position after the first day. We assumed that some other fast teams must have struggled to find check points and lost time. After few cups of tea and more chatting, I finally went to bed.

Woke up at 5am to the sound of heavy rain on the tent. This made me want a wee so I eventually had to get up. At least the rain kept the midges off. As we had had such a good race the previous day, we were in the chasing start about 40 minutes behind the leaders. Again, the grotty weather would favour the better navigators so we thought we hade a chance to maintain our race position. Five minutes after setting off however, we were overtaken by the next team behind us but we couldn't let that put us off so we just kept going at our careful, steady pace. This strategy certainly paid off because over the next two hours, we caught up and overtook a few teams who had made a couple of duff route choices and lost time hunting for the check points.

The day two route took us north past Hardknott Pass to a check point at the base of Eskdale Needle and then across the valley to the slopes up to Little Stand. From this the most northerly point on the route, we headed back south on the long way back to the finish at Coniston. The weather improved and we could now see behind us the faster teams we had overtaken begin to catch up again. However we managed to keep up a good pace and some more crafty route choices got us up quickly to the col between Swirl How and Black Sails. From here there were only 3 more check points and it was all down hill except for a deceptive little knoll near the end which nearly finished me off. We hung on though and sprinted (sort of) the last bit down the road to cross the finish line.

There were no times posted yet for our class so we sat down with some food and a brew to watch the other teams finish. Anthony inspected his feet for blisters while I found tick embeded in my leg. What a fine way to spend a Sunday afternoon. The finishing times were eventually put up on the wall and we wandered over hoping that we had done well. YES!!! - we were still 9th! That's it. I've finally got a top 10 finish. I don't need to compete in another race ever again. Hang on though, I've already posted my entry fee off to do the OMM in October. Oh well, one more mountain marathon shouldn't kill me.

Northern T & F League Match 3

Yesterday, in glorious sunny conditions at Leeds Carnegie, Spen finished a respectable joint second in the penultimate league match of the year. There was some good performances from many of the athletes who appeared. Top scorers of the day were yet again our throwers with Richard Martin & Carly Beanland scoring a hat trick of 1st "A" string wins. Richard had competed in Bournemouth only the day before and had travelled up from his new base in Bedfordshire to compete, so many thanks to him. Our sprinters too scored valuable points: Chris Ward winning both "B" string sprints & Steve McNamara easily winning the 200m "A"- he would give Josh a good run for his money in the 200 now! Good to see my (occasional) training partners Tony Bradford running well and winning the "B" 5000m but eclipsed by Kevin "the race machine" Ogden who ran under 17 minutes (for the first time on the track in sweltering conditions). Amy Sharrad too ran well, winning the "A" 800m after belting through the first lap in sub 64 seconds. In fact looking through the results there were many fine performances: Becky, Sheila, Ryan's P.B., Carl, Dave in the steeplchase, Stef & Sarah in the javelin, Sarah in the middle distance events, and I wasn't too bad either for an old-timer but only if I could have got the damn baton to Chris within the marked lines for the relay!! Easily won by Spen (in a time which would have been an Icelandic womens national record!) only to be disqualified at the end.

However despite all this positivity, we are once again not fielding a full team. Analysing the results show that Rossendale-the eventual winners, fielded athletes in EVERY event bar the "B" string 3000m for woman. Yet Spen beat them 35 events to 32 and that is with even relay disqualification. For the final event at Cleckheaton (Sunday 2 August) we must have every race, jump and throw covered in order to win the match. Without that, all the good efforts by the above, fall by the wayside.

Running and weight loss

As an experiment today I weighed myself before and after I went for my long run. It was an 11 mile run and the temperature was probably in the low 20s. I lost 5 lbs and 10 ozs. My first thought was that this was all due to sweating in which case it equates to 4.5 pints of water if my maths is correct.

I then thought that this might be a too simplistic way to look at this. I seem to remember reading somewhere that, on average, about 100 calories are burnt for every mile covered so I should have burnt about 1100 calories. Presumably most of this was glycogen. How much does 1100 calories of glycogen weigh? I lost some salt as well but surely this will only have been a few grams? Anything else?

If I did lose something like 4.5 pints of water I then wondered what was the maximum amount of water that I could feasibly or safely lose? I remember when I ran the London Marathon in 1981 I tried taking water on early on and ended up spilling most of it so didn't bother after that (bottled water hadn't been invented then, it all came in cups). It was a hot day so I ran 26 miles without taking any water on. But I was much younger (and dafter) in those days. I also wondered how much others lose. For example how much did Federer lose this afternoon (but he did continually drink between points)? What about Chris on his monster bike ride last week?

Its funny how advice on water intake changes over time. In 1981 I don't remember ever hearing about water even being mentioned. About 10 years ago the vogue seemed to be that you need to drink as much water as possible. A few years ago I think there was some tragedy at the Great North run that may have been caused by taking too much water on and now the advice seems to be not to drink too much?

Where have all the bloggers gone?

Has everyone stopped running for the summer or what?

The last few posts have all been about the club records I've been trying to collate, surely some of you have been doing some running? What about the Reindeer Romp #2? Let's hear about it!

There were at least 3 Spen members in action on 2 wheels at the weekend, tackling the various course options of the White Rose Challenge. I know some of you have done this before (Frank, Steve) and I've put a short(ish) entry about it on my blog if anyone is interested.

http://gonecycling.blogspot.com/2009/06/white-rose-challenge.html

Spen Road Records - Draft #9

Thanks once more go to John Henry for poring over the Athletics Weekly archives and both verifying and uncovering more top performances from Spen athletes past and present.

Spen road records - draft 9

We still need more records to be verified, so come on folks, we know you've got old news clippings, athletics weekly mags in your closets. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone! You can even send them to me anonymously if you like.

Anyone from other clubs who happen to be reading, and can verify some of these we'd be appreciative too.

Spen Road Records - Draft #8

Yet another update, and I'm starting to fade a bit! But here's the latest:-

• I've put in actual race dates, not just the year, where it's been possible. This is so we can resolve any age category disputes later
• I've also added the source of where the time was verified, or in the case of the "pending" records, who supplied the information
  
• Chris Drake has provided me with results from his archive, some of which I've been able to verify, and some not. I'm hoping we can verify more of them. If we can, then Kath will make a clean sweep of the Ladies open records.
• I've added a page for the Ladies records Pending Verification

I really need some help with both the mens and ladies results which are pending verification, so anyone with old copies of athletics weekly hidden under the stairs, it's time to dig them out.

Spen Road Records Draft 8

Spen Road Records - Draft #7

Hot on the heels of draft #6, we have the next instalment.

1997 Nottingham Marathon results courtesy of John Henry and Athletics Weekly means we have new mens marathon records for the Open and M40 categories, those now going to Darren Hanson and Dennis Hoey.

John has quite an archive of Athletics Weekly's so we might be able to verify some more results!

John - can you take a look at the last page and see if there is anything on there that you can confirm?

Draft #7 Results Here

Speed and Age

Whilst randomly searching the net for anything and everything, i came upon this article which might be of interest to some of you;

http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/speed-age.html

Some worthy quotes...

'Weight training is crucial for mature sprinters determined to hang on to as much zip as possible, particularly after 50 when muscle mass begins to decline more steeply. Training with weights set around 75% of one rep maximum will offset fast- twitch fibre shrinkage quite significantly'

'stride length declines significantly with age, and plyometrics, like hill training, offers another significant training option for offsetting this decline. Bounding and hopping are two very effective exercises for enhancing stride length'

'Intense speed and power training can also combat the normal age-related decline in creatine phosphate. Research has shown that anaerobic (and aerobic) training increases the production of creatine phosphate. Research by Moller and co-workers showed that six weeks of cycle ergometer training increased the creatine phosphate levels of 61-80 year olds to levels similar to those of younger adults'

Also of interest is some of the masters 100m records...

specifically this one.. V50- 10.95s

Looks like i've got until i'm 50 to go below 11 seconds!

Joe Percy 10k

Monday nights race was the Joe Percy 10k.

A team of 10 Spen runners braved warm but damp conditions to do this hilly 10k. The race was run from a small cricket club in the village of Farnley Tyas. We only just managed to get the 10 runners needed to qualify for a team. At £3.00 entry fee one cannot grumble in these 'credit crunch times'

I really enjoyed the run as the last few weeks have been pretty laid back training wise. Even some top runners turned up on the night -namely Andrew Pearson(Longwood) and Matthew Pierson(Holmfirth). It was another case of man versus machine(kevin), and I lost out to the 'machine' once again. I did feel the strength returning and I was closing the gap on the second lap

I didn't stay to find out the results, but will probably find out in due course. My time was 36-06.

Thanks to those that helped - Jackie and others.

Spen Road Records - Draft #6

A few changes since last time, and a status update.

• Chris Drake is still looking into Kath's times
• Frank has a copy of draft #5 which he will analyse and compare to any results he has on record
• Graham Walsh takes the M50 records by storm

This begs a question...

At the moment we have a number of records which are "pending verification". What I mean by that is that, I have not been able to find an on-line result, or seen a paper copy of the official results. Graham's records are a case in point, as most of them are from his personal archive. However, I have no reason to doubt that they are correct. How should we handle these? Do we just accept them (some are a bit more vague than Graham's)? Or do we require hard-evidence? Perhaps we can accept them if they are "seconded" by another Spen athlete/official?

Thoughts everyone?

Road Records Draft #6

The Joe Percy 10k

The last time I ran this race was 2006 and my time was 51.25, this is a closed race which means clubs are invited to enter a team, this being a local race for us I felt we should support it and you know what I'm like (spen vests out in force) ,

I actually managed to get a team of ten together of which I'm chuffed about driving across we had some torrential rain and we were all thinking what on earth are we doing but fortunately it stopped before we set off and stayed dry for us.
You not only have competition from the other athletes, also there is competition from your other team mates even at my level its quite fierce.

Being team manager, it was my responsibility to enter everyone in duplicate (which somewhat stressed me out). Come the start of the race, I was wound up like a coiled spring. Edward, Karl, Emma and myself set off together. For the first 3k we managed to stay together.Edward and Emma started to pull away from us i got to the 5k mark in just outside 24mins at this point i saw James (my son) with words of encouragement and jogging along side me part way on the second lap i managed to gain a few places and leave Karl (i did encourage him to stay with me) playing cat and mouse with Geoff T(Meltham) and Geoff D(Penistone) i was determined they would not catch me as we got up the last climb Geoff D was not far behind me which made me dig deep and at this point i was on a roll i ran that fast down towards the finish i thought that i was going to fall over myself my time was a respectable 48.16 nearly 3minutes quicker , overall a good even paced run and the team finished 9Th place out of 14 thanks to to the team all had a good run maybe next year we will have two teams.

2009 Kintail - Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon

After last year's Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon, I vowed never to do the 'B' category ever again. We were last out of the teams who actually managed to complete the course and I was suffering from heat exhaustion. However, I found myself yet again driving up to Scotland to put myself through 45km of pain and midges and the forecast was not good with wintry showers and strong winds predicted. It was either that or more DIY at home so no contest really. The heavy showers soon cleared though on the Friday night and the wind kept the midges at bay so things were improving already.

The event this year was being held around the Kintail mountains on the Skye Road. Saturday morning was slightly overcast but OK. I was racing with my usual LAMM partner, Kev and we had late 9.30am start. I met Steve Moss at the event centre who was also running the 'B' course with Alan Greenwood.

At the appointed time, we collected our maps and then found that we would be taken by coach about 15km away to a start at Cluanie Inn. The first checkpoint was close but the next was some distance away with a Munro mountain in the way. Ascending the mountain, I noticed that there was a second Munro on the same ridge. This would mean that there would be a track along the ridge although nothing was shown on the map. Most teams were dropping straight down into the valley and contouring around the hill but we decided to use the track on the ridge and we made good time. There was however a bit of winter snow still left which made the traverse a bit chilly. We found the second checkpoint easily by descending onto it rather than contouring round to it.

Between the second and third checkpoints, we caught up with Steve and Alan and stayed with them for a few km before losing them when we decided to take a different route down to check point number four. Checkpoint 4 to 5 was a long way but easy to navigate and then there was only a few km left to the finish. Kev by this point had really started to struggle because of a knee injury from last year. We managed to keep a reasonable pace tho’ and finished Day 1 in 7 hrs 22 min. More importantly, the breeze was still keeping the midges away so the mid-camp was much better than expected.

Some quarrying was required to excavate boulders to create a flatish area to pitch the tent. A pot noodle then coos-cous then custard and cake with several brews along the way sorted the food issue. I was too tired to do much else so got into my sleeping bag about 9pm and slept right through until the traditional bagpiper alarm at 5.15 am. This is a truly horrible way to wake up. If he had come much closer to our tent I'd have done some mischief to his bagpipe with a tent peg.

Day 2 dawned bright with only a few clouds, ideal for running over the hills. The finish at the event centre was south of the mid-camp so the organisers sent us north to the first checkpoint. No chance of an easy day then. We found checkpoint 1 without difficulty and then a short climb took us up onto a ridge and on to checkpoint 2. Checkpoint 2 was located on a knoll at the base of a cliff which meant that we would have to scramble down the cliff, dip the dibber thing and then climb back up again before heading onward to checkpoint 3. On the way we found a load of rucksacks strewn all over the moor where competitors had abandoned their packs to head down the cliff and the back up again. I found running with my pack off for a while was as good as a rest.

Checkpoint 3 was a long way off but mainly downhill so not too tiring. I found a deer antler on the way and strapped it to my pack as a souvenir. The spikes sticking out behind me made it a bit dangerous for anyone to come too close but I now had an emergence brake if I slipped downhill on my back.

There was now only one long climb up to Checkpoint 4 and then another 5km back to the finish. Kev’s knee was now giving him serious gyp so the going was steady but a bit slow. The sun was also now beating down and a quick paddle in the odd stream to cool off tired feet was bliss. The finish line was a welcome sight and we were pleased to finish in a total time of 14 hrs 22 min in 65th place out of 113 teams. That’s our best placed finish on the ‘B’ course to date.

I really enjoyed this year’s LAMM and reckon that a top-half finish is feasible next year. Hang on, this is the first time I’ve finished one event and can’t wait until next one! It would seem I’ve finally lost my marbles.

Chris King

What do Linford Christie and Jackie Carter have in common?

Answer: me

Or at least it's easy to mistake one of us top athletes for another.

During the registration process on the UK Athletics Power of 10 web site, I entered my details as requested, and it came back with:-

"based on the details you have provided we think you might be one of those below."

This was followed by a list of 11 athletes including Jackie, Linford and myself. What more can I say?

Greenway 10k 2009

I thought about calling this blog "chasing the elusive sub-40 10k" but I think someone has copyrighted that one!

After doing the 3 Esholt 5ks I decided to have another go at the Greenway 10k. I ran 19-30 in the last Esholt and had a further couple of weeks of good training so wondered if I could break 40 mins. A bit of a tall order but you've got to have a goal.

Heavy rain was forecast but it was reasonably fine. Chris Drake gave the pre-race talk and 2 points stick in my mind:
1) Its downhill all the way back so you should manage the 2nd half a minute faster than the 1st.
2) A heavy downpour is forecast for 8-00 hrs so if you want to stay dry you need to run 30 mins.

The whistle went for the start (have start guns been banned?) and I managed the first k in 3-52 and was still on target at 2k. I try not to spend too much time looking at my watch but at halfway I was 20 seconds down at 20-20. Chris's words were ringing in my ears - I was on target for 39-40! There was a lady runner from Stainlands 10 yards in front. Took me 1.5k to catch her. The next target was an old guy who looked like he was in my age category - 30 yards in front. Could I catch him? At the bridge over the motorway I didn't seem to be making much progress but he kept looking nervously over his shoulder - surely a good sign he was struggling?

The problem was my splits so far were consistently about 4 mins. I still worked hard and at 9k was 10 yards off him but I had to run 3-40 to go under 40 mins. I caught him with 300 m to go and pushed on with some else breathing down my neck. I finished in 40-10.

So I only managed the second half 30 seconds quicker than the first. I overtook 2 runners on the second half so feel I paced it OK. The heavy rain didn't start until 8-15 hrs so Chris got that wrong as well!

All in all a race. I worked hard, thought I ran to my potential, met a few old mates from Spen and didn't get too wet.

Just another point, I was allocated race number 1 by Chris. Is it a bit sad but this made me feel a bit special? It brought a smile and an extra cheer from some of the younger spectators which gave me a bit of a lift. Thanks Chris.

West Yorkshire Track and Field League #4 - Wakefield

A very wet, miserable evening greeted us at Wakefield for the WYTFL meeting number 2.

This is essentially a league for the young athletes, and the turnout from Spen this year has been poor. This is a real pity, that so many of our young athletes seem to have abandoned the very league that gave them their first taste of track competition, I'm not sure of the motives for this, it's certainly shouldn't be lack of competition, because it's seems to be well supported by athletes from some of the other local clubs, and some of them are running good times. It would be a real shame if this league suffered because of lack of support, because it gives a unique opportunity for those starting in competition. So if any of the parents of the athletes who have been avoiding it this year are reading this, I'd ask you to have re-think.

Anyway, rant over. There were some good performances on the night, I didn't watch every race, but saw Steve McNamara comfortably win the 200m, Matthew Jones ran another PB in the U15 boys 800m and Sarah Peacock ran in a very impressive win in the Senior Ladies 800m.

Sheila and Amanda were as usual having a go at every possible event, and you can only applaud their enthusiasm and commitment for that. Well done ladies!

In the senior mens 800m, our combined age (John, Keith and me) of somewhere close to 140 meant that we were certainly giving a few years away to the rest of the field, but Keith and John aquitted themselves well with Keith just getting the better of John, and a sub-2:10 time to boot. I was left trailing in their wake, but happy that I achieved my goal for the evening which was to go under 2:25, which I managed with a couple of seconds to spare.

Halifax 5K & Fun Run Photos

Photos by (c) 2009 - Dave Woodhead
Click the photos for a bigger picture

Why can't I run faster?

Last night at the track, 4 of us did 8 x 300m reps, and I was at the back on each one. I wouldn't care about that if it wasn't for the fact that I was running pretty much flat out, and that made me question why I can't generate the same amount of speed (or even close) as some others.

I don't believe it's strength or fitness, but rather I'm convinced there is something inherently inefficient with my running technique. I've suspected this for ages, and when I first joined the club I did ask about running technique, but no-one seemed to have given it much thought, they just did what came naturally. I suppose that's all well-and-good when "what comes naturally" is a pretty good technique, but in my own case it seems I'm not that lucky.

Here are some of the things I suspect that I do wrong (speed-wise)

1. planting my foot too far in front of my body, and thereby causing a "braking" effect rather than forward propulsion
2. too long a stride length
   
3. too low cadence
4. "swinging" my leg forward in a kind of neutral manner rather than powering forward to create forward motion.

The first 3 are all directly related to each other.

The question is, whether it's possible for an old dog to learn new tricks, or whether I'm doomed to life in the slow-lane. I'd be interested to hear the thoughts of others on this subject.

Northern League Match 2, 7 June 2009

Sunday saw Skyrac host the second Northen League match on a cold and extremely windy day at Leeds Carnegie, Headingly. Despite fielding more athletes than the 1st match, Spen could not produce the same kind of results and ended up in 4th place (now 3rd overall). There were some good winners from Nick Crimmen, Richard Martin, Lewis Hamilton & Emma Rawnsley as well as good performances and therefore valuable points scored by Kevin Ogden, Steve MacNamara, Amy Sharrad & Jenny Walsh who put in a gutsy performance on her senior debut. Once again though that old chestnut of not filling enough races, throws and jumps was the deciding factor in the overall team performance. As athletes, we need to encourage as many people as possible to turn out, put on a vest and win the points. In some races, other teams too failed to produce athletes which would mean a 5th or even guaranteed 4th A string points in the bag. Nevertheless, well done to those who did turn up and compete and let's ensure that a full team sheet is completed for the next match in a months time.

Northern League Match 2, 7 June 2009 (Photos)

The full bronte 5mile road race

This race also incorporates the Yorkshire vet's 5mile champs. It is a two lap, undulating course around Penistone hill country park at Haworth. It is a race I like to do but hate it, if that makes any sense. The last twice I've been 2nd vet back in my age group for Yorkshire, but after seeing the list of pre-entries I was not hopeful of even being in the first four, or beating last years time of 37: 36.

The first mile is fairly flat and slightly up hill, and having set off too fast I was in oxygen debt already. The first mile marker was further on the road than last year, it was on the hilly road up to the car park , 8:12 I thought no way! I'd done a faster mile time. It was nice to see Steve Carter marshaling there giving encouragement. I knew Hazel was not far behind me (I could see her) and thought she was looking pretty good. The second mile is just as bad, up and down, 16:50 at mile two, and at this point I realised a 38min was out of the question unless I pulled my finger out. With a nice bit of down hill between two and three I picked up pace (or so I thought) 23:56 at mile three. As I turned the corner again feeling knackered I asked Steve if he could see Hazel, and he said no she wasn't in sight so what did I do? - stop and walk! until I heard him cheering her on that is. Mile four I clocked 33:02 and decided to leg it and set my sights on the Keighley & Craven lady just about 100mtrs ahead of me. I nearly had her too! I finished in 39:51. I was pleased with the run as the weather was cold and windy.

Halifax Town Centre 5K

Before the race we agreed that Matthew would do the write up for this one as it was his first proper road race. However, it's fallen to me as will become clear towards the end.

Having spent the last few days ill since going down with some virus on Wednesday night, I was not all sure about running this one, but there were a few things that twisted my arm

1. I'd already paid (hey, I'm a Yorkshire man!)
   
2. I had to take Matthew in any case
   
3. It would be my first ever 5k race
   

Actually, running when you are still sick is just plain stupid really! I don't advise it.

It was a glorious day, and there was a good Spen turnout, with runners in the 1k fun run and the main race. The race started on commercial street, heading out to the bus depot, before turning left down the hill towards the railway station, then back up Horton Street, to repeat part of the same loop, then on the 2nd loop, continuing on past the station before heading back up towards the town centre, and taking a left to come into the side gate of the Piece Hall. A nice route, with plenty of undulations.

The section towards the bus depot is pan flat, so the start was pretty quick. I managed to keep Keith somewhere in sight for about 2km before I lost him (or he lost me) entirely. The last 2km was when the 3 days of sickenss took it's toll for me and I faded badly. Although finished with 20:07 by my watch, which was ok under the circumstances.

At the finish, I was somewhat surprised to see Matthew already there, since I past him in the first km and didn't remember him coming back past me. He hadn't passed me, he'd dropped out complaining of stomach pain.

Keith was first Spen runner home, followed by me, Tim, Jackie and Amanda.

This is definitely a race I'd do again (hopefully when fit though). Good organisation, good route, and a great finish area in the Piece Hall. The weather this year obviously helped, as it was blazing sunshine, but I'd recommend the race to anyone. It's not a PB course, too much up and down for that, just a cracking race.

Spen Results
9   Keith McGhie   M45 17:50
35  Chris Jones    M45 20:07
59  Tim Wragg      M40 21:18
93  Jackie Carter  F45 23:25
172 Amanda Pearson F40 30:29

234 finishers

Keith and Jackie each won their age categories!
Full Results Here

The reindeer romp, race one.

What a good night it turned out to be for Spenborough. A superb run from Keven aka race machine Ogden(who won the race). Which I think was his fist time running this race( correct me if I'm wrong). Next in was a sprightly Steve Moss, winning the vet 60 category. A good run also from Mick Howard, who was closely followed in by Edward Wilkinson. Both Mick and Edward are new recruits for the reindeer. Me, being the only Spen female winning the first vet 45 category.

Last but not least,Karl, who came in shortly behind. I have being doing this race for quite a few years now. And I have seen some horrible conditions. But tonight was warm and dry under foot. However, sometimes it can be quite badly rutted. But tonight it was pretty good underfoot. A good turn out for Spen and a PB for me. My first race as a 47 year old. Chip butties always go down well afterwards. The bottle of wine I won will too.

Spen Results
1  KEVIN OGDEN      17:21 M
30 STEVEN MOSS      21:41 M60
38 MICK HOWARD      21:59 M45
42 EDWARD WILKINSON 22:30 M45
55 JACKIE CARTER    24:09 F45
64 KARL SPEIGHT     24:59 M

90 Finishers

Full Results Here