wrc

A message from France

To everyone at the club a very happy, healthy and successful 2008. Hope to be there for the Wilmslow Half

Our best wishes

Peter and Sue Nelson.

Cheshire XC Championships Saturday 5th January : Warrington

A quick reminder that the Cheshire XC Championships take place this Saturday in Warrington.

Ladies go @ 1.15 and men @ 2.00.

Full details , course map and directions can be found at http://www.cheshireaa.com/ and scroll down to Cheshire XC Championships.

Wilmslow entries are not yet showing on the list of entries but I have had email confirmation of receipt .

Spectators are very welcome .

All the best for 2008.

Nick.

Richmond Park TT

29 Dec 2007

We were in London for the weekend and I took the chance to experience one of these popular free 5ks that are now run every Saturday at 9am in several London parks (http://www.parkrun.com/).  Richmond Park was beautiful in the winter sunshine and surprisingly wild and undulating.  The race route followed mainly good gravel paths and finished close to the coffee shop.  There was a lead bike to save me getting lost and the whole thing was very well organised.  It was a really friendly event and a great way to start the weekend.

The overnight rain had left some large puddles but being more acclimatised to mud I was able to stride through and record a rare victory.

1 Rob Downs 17:29

Wilmslow "ex pat" returns to scoop V60 title

A sprinkling of Wilmslow runners ran the "festive five" at Sale .

Results can be found at http://www.race-results.co.uk/results/2007/festive.htm

Stuart  Parrot was first home but "our man in Provence" aka Monsieur George scooped the prestigious V60 title which also included household name Simon Fenton , an athlete who is currently part way through a harsh training cycle that would make grown men weep.

Have a great New Year.

Reuters News Agency.    

Christmas Handicap

Forthcoming XC events

Christmas is nearly on us ( certainly Christmas day ) and thoughts drift to the fantastic opportunities that we have in the New Year .

In addition to the known road races , below is a reminder of important remaining XC dates .

Saturday 5th January : Cheshire XC championships at Warrington . A chance for individual honours and team prizes.

Sunday 13th January : MCR XC Round four at Woodbank Pk.

Saturday 26th January : Northern XC championships at Leeds .

Saturday 9th February : MCR XC Final round at Wythenshawe Pk.

Saturday 23rd February : National XC championships at Alton Towers.

Whilst we have teams entered for the Northerns and Nationals , the highlighted three races are significant . We want to compete well in the Cheshires and bring that shield to Wilmslow .

We are having another great season in the MCR League and lie second . With two races remaining we have a real opportunity to improve further on our third place achieved last year .

Each and every runner makes a massive difference . Races are won and lost by single points margins ; Our ability to turn out strong teams in numbers means that even those not in the six Wilmslow counters are often pushing back the fifth and sixth counters for our rivals . We are a complete team , we are more than just six.

Have a fantastic Christmas and enjoy your festive training : Tony may be emailing out about a training session in lieu of 25th/1st dates .

Nick.

Club Handicap

Thursday Dec. 27th., 10am, Rugby Club Usual course – Club, Twinnies Bridge, top path to Mill car-park, Norcliffe Chapel, Altrincham Road to runway,
path beside runway towards hotel known as Valley Lodge but now Holiday Inn. Left along footpath, through Styal Woods,
over steps, along river, up hill where we sometime do summer reps, right to road, down hill passing Mill.
Follow Bollin to Twinnies Bridge and club.
	finish	start			finish	start			finish	start
Ron Reed		00:00		Gareth  Trimble		12:03		Ian Smallwood		19:07
Ken Smart		00:00		Sally Price		12:24		Jeffrey Capper		19:34
Robert Dunkley		00:00		Don Bullough		13:59		Rob Johnston		19:37
Trevor Faulkner		05:16		Steve Russell		14:03		Ray Noble		20:18
Angela Maziere		06:02		Lance Taylor		14:09		Tony Hulme		20:18
Roy Pownall		06:02		Paul Ayres		14:09		Graham Taylor		22:17
Clare Rafferty		07:40		George Livesey		14:38		Trevor Morris		22:17
Simon Fenton		08:05		Gareth Edwards		14:38		Jim Pendrill		22:40
Louisa Gilbert		08:05		Sue Hool		15:14		Andrew Penney		23:15
Amanda Bradbury		08:27		Sally Gilliver		15:14		Tom McGaff		23:15
Catriona Marshall		08:27		Kim Simpson		15:14		Rob Downs		24:13
David Wheable		09:42		Sally Maddock		15:14		Damian Nichols		25:29
Rod Coombs		09:43		Geoff Gilbert		15:26		Mike Halman		25:39
Joanne Aves		10:41		Paul Nichols		16:32
John Porteous		10:55		Gavin Mendham		16:45
Peter Watson		11:07		Nick Bishop		16:45
Peter Bream		11:25		Mike Cooper		16:49
Ian Ashcroft		11:25		Andy Watts		16:55
Bill Staniard		12:03		Mark Bale		19:03
non-runners  (to iantrefin@btinternet.com, please):-
Owen Ashcroft	Ray Eagle		Richard Parris		Stuart Parrott		Sean Barry		Steve Dempsey
Clare Stevinson	Dave Quinn		Nicky Mowat		Julie Lucas		Mick Fairs		Kate Sutton
Jane Clarke	Peter Carne		Ned Spencer		Bill Heaton		Malcolm Fowler		Penny Hinke
							Steve Smith		Stephen Feber

New Year : New Goals

We tend to treat New Year as a time to make resolutions or set goals for ourselves .

With the success that we are experiencing within the club in a variety of competitions and also at all levels by individual : PB or race position ( open age and/or vets categories), now is the time to look forward and revisit what we each want to achieve .

Runners are competitive by nature and the individual improvements experienced ignite our personal drivers to improve further. Its no different with our team success.

"Its the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen"

Muhammad Ali

Who knows what we can achieve individually and collectively if we create some powerful and exciting goals for ourselves .

Have a great 2008 running year .

Nick.

Cheshire XC Champs Saturday 5th January @ Birchwood

Myself , Kate and Paul Sanders are completing the above tonight ; It would help if you could please forward your DOB to speed the process tonight given that not all runners may be down.

Only send if running the race !

Nick.

info@completeperformance.co.uk

Christmas Cracker

A "cool" event, expecially for those in fancy dress. Malcolm, sporting a Santa hat, managed a sprint in the final furlong to claim 2nd place overall and 1st Vet. The ladies, Kate, Amanda and Catriona, dressed as a leopard, santa and wonder woman, won the ladies team prize with ease. The Wilmslow men were seen sporting antlers, santa hats and other christmas attire in this really good fun event. You may recognise the photo on the link:

http://www.mickhall-photos.com/

Results published 22 Dec:

Position	Name	Time
2	Malcolm Fowler	51.18
28	Ian Smallwood	61.32
64	Andy Watts	68.04
67	Kate Sutton	68.41
87	George Livesey	71.01
110	Amanda Bradbury	74.11
131	Catriona Marshall	77.31
140	Trevor Faulkner	78.24
322	Participants

Ian S

Bedford Half Marathon

While you were all busy at the Stockport 10 I was taking part in the Bedford Half Marathon. Overall a very enjoyable race being mainly uphill from the 3rd to 9th miles but downhill to the finish. I was also happy to get a PB with an official time of 1:36:38.

David Wheable

Stockport 10

Sunday December 9th.  Results with some corrections as far as I know them.  Post a comment if you spot any more errors/omissions!

18	Jim Pendrill		Wilmslow Running Club	1:00:32
38	Ray Noble		Wilmslow Running Club	1:04:11
58	Mick Fairs	V55   2	Wilmslow Running Club	1:05:38
83	Mark Bale		Wilmslow Running Club	1:07:50
85	Peter Carne	V45   8	Wilmslow Running Club	1:07:51
96	Andy Watts	V55   3	Wilmslow Running Club	1:08:44
108	Tony Hulme	V60   1	Wilmslow Running Club	1:09:17
115	Kate Sutton	L45   2	Wilmslow Running Club	1:09:35
119	Steve Smith	V55   4	Wilmslow Running Club	1:09:43
131	Geoff Gilbert	V55   5	Wilmslow Running Club	1:10:25
145	Lance Taylor	V45  20	Wilmslow Running Club	1:11:17
150	Mike Cooper	V40  31	Wilmslow Running Club	1:11:37
161	Sally Maddock	L    13	Wilmslow Running Club	1:12:00
172	Paul Nichols		Wilmslow Running Club	1:12:41
183	Sally Price	L    18	Wilmslow Running Club	1:13:44
272	John Porteous	V50  26	Wilmslow Running Club	1:18:04
290	A Bradbury	L    35	Wilmslow Running Club	1:19:04
312	Penny Hinke	L45   7	Wilmslow Running Club	1:20:04
332	Ian Ashcroft	V60   9	Wilmslow Running Club	1:20:58
334	Peter Watson	V65   2	Wilmslow Running Club	1:21:01
376	C Marshall	L40  13	Wilmslow Running Club	1:23:11
399	T Faulkner	V65   4	Wilmslow Running Club	1:23:58
418	Louisa Gilbert	L    67	Wilmslow Running Club	1:25:01
419	Julie Lucas	L40  17	Wilmslow Running Club	1:25:03

Hercules Wimbledon inter-club X-Country

Hercules Wimbledon inter-club 5.5 mile (about 5.8 for me) cross country. Wimbledon common was the location for the latest magical mystery tour of a cross country. A small scale xc involving about six south London clubs on a wet and windy three lap course. A cagey start led to four of us setting the pace, we were told to follow the tape, flags or marshals which seemed fairly straight forward. As usual this wasn't as easy as it seemed. No one seemed to be aware of another xc on the common whose flags were also on our course, added to the fact that a marshal didn't bother to get to his position until the last lap, led to an interesting first lap. I was pushing the pace with an Egyptian nemesis when an arrow pointed between two paths, of course one path was unmarked and the other had flags. (Clearly you would follow the flags).  In this case it was the unmarked path we had to follow, but luckily the path linked into the original xc route so fortunately I appeared back into 6th place. I managed to gain the lead mid way on the second lap and continued to push the pace with the Egyptian and dropped him on the long hill to end the lap. The last lap was a simpler affair with a clear understanding of the route and a 30 second lead so finished as comfortable as possible on a xc. Wine and a medallion was my reward and a fond memory of what mud is, knowing that was the difference between myself and the Egyptian whose xc races are in hot dry conditions and he doesn't like the cold and the wet. Of course I played upon the fact that compared to 'up north' this is dry and it would have been under ice on a day like today and we would have been treated for frost bite or exposure. I'm trying to keep the Northern myth alive and kicking!

1st Mike Halman 32.40 About 50 runners

Mcr Xc League results after round three ( Sherdley Pk)

Results are now up on www.bbresults.com

What it means cumulative is that the men are now second overall and leading vets while the ever improving ladies are third in both categories .

Claire Stevenson is fourth lady overall and based on the last two races has a super individual opportunity with two races left.

Captain Kate leads the way in the V45 category.

In the men , Big Malc is leading V40 with Rob third and Stuart 4th, Tom is leading V50 and Gavin is second V55 .

I am sure we have some fine individual rankings but the PDF is skewed on the results , I could not find a rotate button ( it is a PDF ) and now have a sore neck from reading the results thus far at an angle and holding my lap top at 180'.

Next race is Woodbank Pk : Sunday 13th January : Runners and supporters are all most welcome .....your club needs you !!

Nick.

St Helen's part 2 Kate Sutton

Always seem to post this  after Nick who really says it all so well.

The torrential rain before the ladies race turned a soggy Sherdley Park into a quagmire. However the sun came out as we emerged from the welcome shelter provided by the YM. 

Clare disappeared after the start and ran strongly with Nicky and I chasing. Nicky had won the Santa dash in Warrington organised by her husband that morning so after the first undulation I was able to pull away. Trevor did a fine job of telling us our placings on the way round - tho' I didn't like the comment that Nicky was closing... The men were scattered around the course and the support was appreciated.

Huma ran strongly and I'm sure has improved on her placing at BHC. Sally P had roped in her husband at short notice for his navigation skills to the venue - he wisely went off for brunch during the rain. Penny had a traumatic morning - 3 flat tyres of which she will no doubt tell you more herself. Chairman Roy rescued her - it's always fun (!) getting the ladies teams out... Oh and Amanda was let down by "infallible" satnav.

So we had a seniors and a vets team - the placings are awaited with interest. Sally P ,Clare and I were able to see the men's race at several points as the course snakes round the park. Running between the loops to keep warm and get some life back into frozen feet.The highlights were Malcolm's storming run. the mud splattered runners - particularly Jim with what looked war paint splattered from brow to cheek... Watching Tom bravely limp round the last lap,Trevor's battle at the finish...

So those who weren't there - you missed and epic. Those wanting to run in the Cheshire's on Saturday 5/1/08 - please let Nick and I know. Entries need to be in by the end of December.

Trevor races under the hour

There may have been wind & rain down in London, but up North we have real weather.

A visit to the in-laws in Preston allowed me to escape for the Guys 10 (mile)- heavy rain on the way up and it continued all day.  Well organised flat course through country lanes. I'm sure it would be nice in summer, but we just got wind, rain and a few swimming pool sections you just had to wade through.
Large block of lancashire cheese for all finishers and I was happy to get under the hour for the first time.

1  Peter Medupe     52:43

11 Trevor Morris    58:00

279 finishers

Rain , hail , wind and mud galore fail to halt "Team Wilmslow"

Heavy overnight rain appeared to be easing as the 21 Wilmslow runners headed for St Helens , for round three of the Mcr XC League .

Hitting the M62 was a different world : lashing rain and heavy wind culminating in hail at the race .

We were indebted to Manchester YMCA who allowed us into the shelter of their tent !

The course was good : two laps for the ladies and three for the men : undulating loops around wooded parkland : Barely a dry line to take as the endeavours of the earlier runners had left a trail of heaped mud everywhere : the only areas clear of mud were pools of water. This was real cross country .   

Congratulations to everyone that ran : the fantastic performances by all on days like this really make a difference when the trophies are handed out .

Sadly Amanda was lost and missed the race despite "sat nav" !

The ladies numbers looked low until minutes before the race when everyone appeared from their respective shelters : cars , tents , trees or anywhere that provided a degree of protection from the elements .

November runner of the month Claire made further in roads to finish a fabulous 6th place :  Captain Kate will supply more precise detail of the ladies but from memory , Kate came in 20th and was then followed by Nicki , Huma , Sally P and Penny who was recovering from the trauma of three punctured tyres in the morning . Macclesfield looked very strong but we eagerly await the ladies results of the rapidly improving squad : Well done to you all.

For the first time the men were at full strength : great to see Damian out despite having raced a hilly 10k the day before .

Malcolm really turned the clock back with an excellent third place , finishing ahead of Damian with a strong run for 6th place . Full results are awaited but from memory Rob , Stuart , Tom (despite a niggling injury ) and Jim completed the team . Good to see Rob Elstone out again and a superb run from Ian Smallwood  clearly revelling in the conditions. A close run affair saw Nick edge out Bill for the next place , with Mark Bale not far behind and Gavin in pursuit .

Trevor completed the Wilmslow squad and clearly another who excelled in the conditions despite losing out in a sprint finish which started in a lake some twenty yards long !

Sadly Roy had to withdraw part way through the race with a troublesome strain .

Some prior research by Captain Kate took us to a local pub and a fine choice it was . Six runners and Toby ( aka Hugh Grant) or Sally's husband enjoyed a pleasant hour in the warmth and comfort of a fine hostelry.

On a day when it would have been easy to stay at home , we saw 21 race , all have fine runs , and then enjoy great company in the pub .

We await the results eagerly as the XC season gathers further momentum.

Next race : Sunday 13th January @ Woodbank Park : All most welcome , runners and supporters .

Nick.

 

Mike and Sally : Tales from down south

Another saturday, another cross country at Richmond park. This time, Sally was competing for the Dysart trophy, while Mike and the men's team were after the Shearer trophy, in this inter-club race. It was warmer than last weekend, but much windier, with most of the 4.5 ladys miles and 5.5 mens miles being on exposed gravel tracks. There was one mashall, and only sawdust spots to mark out the course, and so on such a windy day it didn't take long for the route to become blurred, and for the leading men to take a whole 1000m detor! My race (Sally) was okay. I was in the top twenty of about 75-80 runners and fourth counter for HW. Both my nemesis' overtook me on the second lap, but I was mentally falling apart up the hill at the time, and had nothing to kick with. I was also slightly queezy from a college pub incident the night before, and had still been throwing up an hour before the start. All things considered, it was a fairly good day out, and the fresh air did wonders for my hangover, meaning that I was able to enjoy watching the mens race. Mike and two Egyptian teammates took a strong lead from the start, but then those of us spectating new nothing else for about 20 minutes until they finished the first of two laps. An Egyptian still led, but Mike was no where near the front, and as runners flew by I was becoming filled with dread as to what had gone wrong, and what mood I was going to have to spend the rest of the day with. He finally came into view in about 15th place, looking distressed, and trying to signal something to us. All was revealed when the second Egyptian came round again and pulled out of the race, only to yell abuse at the race organisers who were responsible for their taking a wrong turn. Twenty minutes later the winners came into view, and with some superhuman effort Mike had managed to claw his way back to 2nd place, despite the additional kilometer. It was a fantastic display of effort, and I was really pleased for him. I was less pleased when I was still hanging around almost an hour later, in the dark, waiting for him to finish his warm down so we could begin the 45 minute cycle ride home. Oh, and it began to lash down! Mike may be able to add a thing or two, so I'll let him take over from here...........
MIKE: I've got nothing to add, except that the first lap took 17 minutes and the second lap took 14! And the overall result? Neither team won the cups!