wrc

You Might Not Want To Read This

On Sunday we enjoyed perfect running weather but statistics can be cruel and if we take out the ‘good weather effect’ your performance may not look so rosy - my best half marathon time for two years becomes my worst performance in any of the 41 races analysed over a similar period.

 

Those who did put in genuine above par performances were; Angela Maziere, Geoff Gilbert, Mark Bale, Nina Birch, Owen Ashcroft, Rob Downs, Sarah Waite and Stuart Parrott.

 

Those who ran on par with their current form; Catriona Marshall, Charlotte Godfrey, Don Bullough, Gareth Trimble, Kate Sutton, Mick Fairs, Nicky Mowat, Rob Gilbert and Trevor Morris.

 

I do not have enough recent race data on Bill Staniard, Christine Geraghty, Clare Hawkes, Emma Hartley, George Livesey, Huma Rahman, James Eyre, James Wheeler, Jamie Smith, Ken Smart, Martin Wheeldon, Martyn Symes, Mike Sullivan, Pete Stock, Phil Smith, Richard Huron, Sally Gilliver, Sean Barry, Simon Chappell, Soraya Mason, Stephen Feber or Steve Russell.

 

Out of kindness, I will not name names in my group.

 

Ian

 

Knutsford Times Online report

The MEN carries coverage of the half on page three tonight .

Press releases have gone to the Wilmslow Express / Adveriser and the Knutsford Guardian.

Attached is the coverage provided by the Knutsford Times Online who were very keen to get first coverage .

http://www.knutsfordtimes.com/knutsford-sport/3124-wilmslow_half_marathon.html

They will also be embedding a short video as soon as it is embedded.

 

They also took about 200 pictures which will  be online and linked this evening. They have added some images to the small gallery at the top right of the article. Let me have any feedback if you have it and if you need me to link to anything else let me know.

 

Nick.

Photos Of the Wilmslow Half

I took some photos today, look across to the albums on the left and select the one called Wilmslow Half 09 rod. It was great to see everyone's commitment today. Well done to all the runners, the marshalls and the organisers. A great event and a credit to everyone taking part.

Rod Coombs

Neil AcAleece also took some photos at 100m before the finish, which are on his Flickr site.

Asics Wilmslow Half Marathon

Thanks to Ian for the first cut of results : As he points out , we will correct etc in the fullness of time.

Photos now becoming available via Mick Hall Photos. www.mickhall-photos.com and www.tony-usher.co.uk

Results via . www.tdl.ltd.uk

Amidst all of the crowds its hard to pass comment on the race personally , but I am sure we will have plenty of personal stories and memories : please subnit these to Charlotte Godfrey ASAP , for the newsletter going out this week.charlottegodfrey1@hotmail.com

Conditions were perfect and we were blessed with great weather .Lots of PB'S .

Big congratulations to Wilmslow Ladies.....3rd Team in the English Half M Championships : Great running ladies .

Congratulations all involved on the day..

Nick. 

Wilmslow Half

37		Rob Downs	1:11:26	1	M45
57		Jim Pendrill	1:15:24		M45
64		Tom McGaff	1:16:19	1	M50
65		Stuart Parrott	1:16:20	4	M45
67		Trevor Morris	1:16:35	5	M45
100		Phil Smith	1:19:31		M
153		Mark Bale	1:22:43		M
166		Mick Fairs	1:23:45	3	M60
194		Rob Gilbert	1:25:19
229		Vicky McKinnon	1:26:45	11	F
342		Sally Gilliver	1:30:06	4	F45
351		Steve Russell	1:30:20		M50
354		Geoff Gilbert	1:30:29	4	M55
402		Don Bullough	1:31:52	21	M50
405		Gareth  Trimble	1:32:00		M
437		Kate Sutton	1:32:47	6	F45
450		Gavin Mendham	1:33:19	6	M55
473		Sarah Waite	1:33:36	25	F
477		Nicky Mowat	1:33:40	2	F50
600		George Livesey	1:36:03	6	M60
620		Jamie Smith	1:36:22	7	M60
643		Claire Hawkes	1:36:44	10	F45
826		Sean Barry	1:40:00		M40
898		Owen Ashcroft	1:40:09
1000		Huma Rahman	1:41:37	19	F40
1057		Angela Maziere	1:42:18	17	F45
1105		Ian Ashcroft	1:42:55	13	M60
1122		Catriona Marshall	1:43:09	22	F40
1246		Soraya Mason	1:44:47	25	F40
1344		Simon Fenton	1:45:42	5	M65
1377		Penny Hinke	1:46:09	9	F50
1776		Mike Sullivan	1:11:26	27	M60
1835		Amanda  Bradbury	1:51:29	134	F
1855		Emma Hartley	1:51:43	123	F
1868		Christine Geraghty	1:51:55	32	F45
2055		Bill Staniard	1:53:54	221	M45
2079		Charlotte Godfrey	1:54:14	21	F50
2269		Stephen Feber	1:56:19	61	M55
2318		Nina Birch	1:56:52	189	F
2469		Trevor Faulkner	1:58:28	9	M65
2615		Martyn Symes	2:03:02
2762		Sarah Miles	2:01:51	240	F
2964		Eric Teasdale	2:05:29		M60
2996		Simon Chappell	2:08:51	438	M40
3133		Ken Smart	2:08:27	4	M70
3828		Martin Wheeldon	2:40:38	100	M55

The TDL website does not allow search by clud, so please let me know, ian@ianashcroft.com, if I have missed anyone. I've also had to extract manually so let me know any tuping errors. There are also some names I don't recognise. Charlotte's putting-out the newsletter at the end of the week, we'll get them right and include gun times. 

Bramhall parkrun: Event 48

21st March 2009

It was a crazy day in the park.  Great weather combined with a badly kept secret that we were being filmed for TV and the result was close to 300 people trying to run the race and even a few drunken spectators - impressive at 9am.  The dry spell made for perfect running conditions, much faster underfoot on the woodland paths than of late so there were many fast times despite the crowds and the problem of hurdling lapped runners.

I had another close battle with Liam Thompson who finally got me in the finish straight but not before he had pushed me to 5k PB and I think the club V45 record.  Stuart has been toying with the idea of going sub 17 on this tricky course and managed it today by some margin.  For a while we've been saying that former course record holder Bill Heaton could be pushed out of the all time top 50 by the anniversary.  But today Bill restaked his claim with a 7s improvement to take him out of the "drop zone".

Ian and Cat also ran course PBs with Cat finishing 3rd lady.  Peter Bream chose an interesting day to make his Bramhall debut and found himself directing crowds at the finish.

1 Liam Thompson (Warrington AC) 16:11 (79.92%)
2 Rob Downs 16:11 (87.64%)
4 Stuart Parrott 16:48 (84.42%)
6 Bill Heaton 17:44 (79.32%)
18 Ian Smallwood 19:22 (73.75%)
61 Catriona Marshall 21:51 (71.17%)
81 Peter Bream 22:41 (61.06%)

265 finished 5k

Full results, report, photos at www.bramhall.parkrun.com

   

Rob

Training Tuesday 31st March and new club kit

Please note that we are training at Shuttingsloe Tuesady 31st March . Meeting at Macc Forest visitor centre. 

Besides an excellent training venue , we are back to the start of light nights : it also means that our new summer series is just around the corner . So in case you are wondering about last years trophies , you better get down to Shuttingsloe .

Tony has also designed some new training tops in club colours with a fleece effect : Numbers limited to 32 in the first batch so order fast . Style guru Vicky McKinnon has helped to mastermind this . Thanks Vicky : Had not forgotten your comments at Wythenshawe !

Nick.

Trimpell 20 miles

Sunday 15th March was a busy day for the club, with the St Anne's 10 mile, Trafford 10k, and (for the up and coming marathoners) the Trimpell 20 mile event, held in Morecombe.

Vicky, Sue, Gareth, Soraya and Kasey all took part and the results (from the UK Results web-site) look excellent.  For information to our long-distance colleagues, I've also calculated the equivalent marathon time assuming that they keep going at the same pace.  Another 6.2 miles shouldn't be too hard if you've already done 20?  Vicky and Sue are close to the magic 3 hours, Gareth is within minutes of the London 'good for age' time, and Soraya and Kasey are within reach of 3:45.  No pressure!

Vicky's comments on the race:- "A really good flat course, with lovely views including some upside down trees.  A great training run for London (and Paris).  Fantastic marshal support and would recomment this race.  Except for the £20 entry fee – entries picked up on the day (and they ran out of pins) only 3 toilets, a poor t shirt and mars bar at the end with a cup of water.  Not good value for money – but a great race. Pleased with the result."

Pos						Cat		Time		Marathon
										at this pace
1		Michael		Aspinall		M		01:50:01		02:24:07
76		Vicky		McKinnon		F		02:16:43		02:59:06
116		Sue		Hoole		F		02:22:36		03:06:48
170		Gareth		Trimble		M		02:30:39		03:17:21
337		Soraya		Mason		FV40		02:54:18		03:48:20
349		Kasey		Lynch		F		02:55:44		03:50:13

Andy

Trafford 10k

15th March 2009

A very strong field made the most of the flat course and almost perfect conditions. 

 

Won in 29 minutes; the first 30 running under 32 minutes - it sounds like one of Ray Eagle’s races from the glory days.  One of these 30 was Damian who pushed his PB down to 31:56.  Rob ran 33:19 to rewrite the V40 club record set by Tony almost 20 years ago.  Mike Halman was taking it easy with a back injury.

 

1 Mark Miles (Belgrave Harriers)  29:25
27 Damian Nicholl  31:56
50 Rob Downs 1V45  33:19
59 Mike Halman  33:55

65 Stuart Parrott 3V45  34:27
74 Trevor Morris 5V45  35:24

138 Tony Hulme  3V60  39:02

275 Catriona Marshall 6L40  47:04

466 finishers

 

Full results at http://www.race-results.co.uk/results/2009/trafford309.htm

6^th Men’s Team.  Pity there was no V45 team ;¬).

 

Video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKJ_TMThioc

 

Rob

St Anne's 10 mile

A fast out and back course. Reached the 5 mile mark in 34:20 so sub 70 looked possible - for the first time since 2007!

Rounding the windmill a stiff sea breeze suddenly changed the conditions. Well organised race with free pie and peas back at the fire station + extensive prize list.

Good to see Bill Staniard back racing too.

Kate Sutton 1:11:23  10th female

Bill Staniard 1:25:16

337  runners.

Kate Sutton

Bramhall parkrun: Event 47

14th March 2009

With Stuart and the rest of the parkrun elite resting for Trafford top 10 places were up for grabs.  Ian grabbed 8th.

John put in another good run and looks on course to overhaul Roy's PB.

1 Kristan McKenna 17:59 (72.10%)
8 Ian Smallwood 20:05 (71.12%)
47 John Porteous 23:27 (65.53%)

156 finished 5k

Full results, photos etc. at www.bramhall.parkrun.com

Rob

Stafford 20

The Stafford 20 seemed a good tester for London - an established race, well organised, a challenging distance, and about the right timing with 7 weeks still to hone the performance before the marathon proper.  All this turned out to be true, but the race had a few other features which made it memorable but not too enjoyable.  The race started out of Stafford University, up the main road hill leading to the Staffordshire show-ground, which was solid with traffic waiting to turn left across the route of the race.  And did I mention, it was up hill!  The weather started off as sunny and cold, but the wind got up, rain started, and progressed to horizontal hail, with a particularly heavy squall just as the race turned a corner on the 3-lap course taking us directly into a head-wind.  The Watts philosophy of over-dressing paid off handsomely - I would not have wanted to be clad in only shorts and singlet in those conditions.  Plus three laps in very uninspiring surroundings became a little repetitive.  On the bright side the goody bag was excellent, and we'd practically warmed after the drive back to Wilmslow with the heater full on.  Next year maybe I'll go back to Grindleford!

 

Pictures courtesey of Bryan Dale's excellent site.  The three of us did reasonable times despite the weather:-

1st individual runner (there were also relay teams) was David Stevens in 1:54:59
68     Mark Bale    2:19:52
103    Andy Watts    2:27:19
131    Steve Russell    2:31:23
368 finishers

Inter Counties Cross Country Championships, Nottingham, March 7

Malcolm, Sue and I made the hallowed trip to Nottingham's Wollaton Park to mix it with the country's best at the Inter Counties. To those who don't know, the event involves each county in the UK sending 9 of their best athletes, so just to get picked is a real honour.

The atmosphere at the event was fantastic and when you were warming up in your pen you were certainly made to feel - albeit briefly - an elite athlete! 

Malcolm and I have had some very close battles over the country this season (with him always winning)but on this occasion the dry, fast course really suited me and after taking him on the 2nd lap out of four I was able to hang on for a 15 second victory. I was 6th Cheshire counter and Cheshire came a very creditable 14th.

We only saw Sue (who was running for Cumbria)briefly as her race was much earlier than ours, but her words were along the lines of 'that was xxx tough'!

By the way the event was on Sky Sports and you do see Malc and I coming in at the end - long after the winners! I'll do a more in-depth report on the day for the newsletter, but here are the results...

Men:

1: Andy Vernon, Hampshire 37.23

212: Jim Pendrill 44.04

222: Malcolm Fowler 44.19

Women:

1: Steph Twell, Hampshire 28.15

239: Sue Hoole, Cumbria 36.30

Full results at:

http://www.athleticsdata.com/resultsfiles/2009/18579_ICResults.xls

Jim

Bramhall parkrun: Event 46

7th March 2009

Stuart continued his surge in form with a great win and a new course PB.  He is inching towards the sub-17 club but like a russian pole vaulter he is making the most of every increment.  The whole Parrott family ran and 3 out of 4 PB'd.  Ray was closest to Stuart on the age graded results finishing a fine 5th overall.

1 Stuart Parrott 17:04 (83.11%)
4 James Wheeler 18:10
5 Ray Eagle 18:35 (81.97%)
7 Rob Gilbert 18:49

189 finishers

Full results and photos at www.bramhall.parkrun.com

(Unfortunately both James and Rob are wrong/missing in the results - I'll correct soon.)

   

Stuart takes the lead on the hill.

More photos from the Nationals

A further batch of photos have been uploaded to the file for 2009 Nationals under the photos section.

Thanks to Trevor for these .

Nick

Inter Counties XC Championships Nottigham Saturday 7th March

One of the major honours in any athletes career , is to represent the county .

Congratulations to Malcolm ( for the umpteenth time ) and Jim Pendrill who makes his debut .

Commiserations to Vicky who has had to withdraw with illlness.

The event is live on SKY tommorrow .

Good luck from all at the club.

Sue Hoole ran for Cumbria last year . Not sure about this year : Sue if you are running good luck also.

Nick.

PS , I made reference to the Northern Road Relays in a recent email : The Northerns serve as a qualifier for the Nationals , another high profile race . The first 25 clubs are selected to race the Nationals .Its all a great barometer for our progress .

Nick. 

Rob Downs Award

Our modest parkrun founder , Rob Downs has been awarded an award for creating the "Best Sockport Community Event" . He receives his award on Tuesday night thus wont be around to show us a clean pair of heels .

Rob is thoroughly deserving of this recognition . 

John Porteous is the latest WRC runner to race parkrun.

The race caters for all standards and abilities , regularly graced by internationals at the front end ( thats not you Rob ) while smiles infiltrtate everywhere .

Damian is even threatening to appear !

Read Robs latest report and link in the report below.

Nick.

Bramhall parkrun: Event 45

28th February 2009

 

It was a surprisingly muddy Bramhall this week but that didn’t stop 180 of us running 2 laps of the park.  Quite a few good times were posted and everyone went home with satisfyingly mud splattered kit.

This week it was the turn of the ladies to put in some fast times as former course record holder Louisa Wood (Warrington AC) and newbie Jill Parker (Tri London) both finished under 18 minutes to justify their 2^nd and 3^rd rankings in the all time league.  In an exciting finish Louisa edged out Jill by 2 seconds.  Sue Hool finished 3^rd in a 20:10, a time that would have won many other weeks.  The amazing Mollie Williams was not far behind as first JW14 in a new course PB of 20:22, just 4s away from the JW14 record. 

 

I managed to sneak a win in my last race as a V40 although I was pursued the whole 5k by a slightly below par Liam Thompson who pushed me to a time that I really didn't think was possible for me on this course - in fact it equalled my 5k PB set at Bowden last year.

 

Stuart ran in for his fourth 3rd place in his last five visits.  But he is getting faster almost every time - another course best today. 

 

It was good to see former course record holder Bill Heaton back in the park.  For the record only three athletes have topped the table: Mike Halman, Steve Vernon and Bill.

 

1 Rob Downs 16:28 (85.43%)
3 Stuart Parrott 17:08 (82.78%)
5 Louisa Wood 17:57 (82.45%)
8 Bill Heaton 18:21 (76.66%)
20 Sue Hool 20:10 (73.88%)
71 John Porteous 23:23

 

180 finished 5k

 

Full results, loads of photos etc. at www.bramhall.parkrun.com

 

 

 

You had to be there - but at this point we're waiting to start and Nick is giving us yesterday's weather forecast for Milton Keynes.

 

 

 

 

Martin: "You're last mate - do you want the token or what?"