Race Reports, October 2007

Original Mountain Marathon, Lowther Hills, 28th October

Results

A Class

Pos Name Cat Day 1 Day 2 Total
1 Konrad Rawlik & Steven Fortune M 6:15:18 5:40:17 11:55:35
24 Paul Hainsworth & Geoff Davis MV 7:55:23 6:36:31 14:31:54

44 finishers.

Medium Score

Pos Name Cat Day 1 Day 2 Total
1 Darren Parker & Chris Pearson M 379 319 698
217 Liz Green & Helen Rutter FV 163 105 268

258 finishers.

Sherman Cup & Davison Shield, Sunderland, 27th October

Dave Robson

This event is a good warm up for the Harrier League and one of the Harrier League events is held at this location - Temple Park, South Shields. The course was three laps for the men and two for the women and each lap contained about four small climbs. A mild day with a little bit of wind, but that didn't slow us down very much. The gound was hard with no mud at all and this may have contributed to Conrad and Karen having to pull out of their races. Fiona finished 9th women and Will finished 28th man. The other Striders there were Shaun, Jan and me.

Results

Davison Shield

Pos Name Club Cat Pos Time
1 SIMPSON, Kim Gateshead Harriers 23:25
9 SHENTON, Fiona M 25:30
35 YOUNG, Jan 32:02

41 finishers.

Sherman Cup

Pos Name Club Cat Pos Time
1 LAMB, Chris Chester-le-Street 29:54
28 HORSLEY, Will 33:31
105 ROBERTS, Shaun 39:27
140 ROBSON, Dave 44:32

150 finishers.
Team 17th out of 19 full teams.

Hellhole Multi-Terrain 10K, 21st October

Shaun Roberts

A cool crisp autumnal morning for this one, which replaced Derwentside's popular 10-miler - and a nice course it turned out to be. Starting on Tanfield School's playing field the course took you on a scenic route along the C2C cycle track to Beamish then wound its way through the Hellhole wood and back onto the cycle track with nice views across the Causey Valley. They threw in a few hills once we were in the woods, but they weren't too bad - it reminded me a bit of Gibside amongst the trees.

A few of us were suffering a bit from Saturday night's rugby, but I had quite a good run, as did Conrad, who seems to be getting back into his stride. Dave S reckons he was well in front of Dave R when he had to take a close interest in one of the trees. We all enjoyed this one, I think, though the times looked suspiciously fast for a hilly 10K - explained when Dave told us the course was only 9.59K.

Surpise moment of the morning: Jane, Danelle and Jan walked off with the women's team prize! They were completely gobsmacked - the looks on their faces were well worth hanging around at the end for.

Results

Pos Name Club Cat Pos Time
1 Stewy Bell Chester-le-Street AC M 32:59
17 Jessica Trowbridge Ashford AC F 37:35
44 Shaun Roberts M50 43:09
45 Conrad White M50 43:40
107 Dave Robson M55 48:58
118 David Shipman M50 50:20
119 Danelle DuPlessis F 50:28
123 Jane Nathan F35 50:50
134 Jan Young F45 51:56
137 Phil Owen M40 52:24
163 Alan Purvis M60 57:11
178 Mike Hall M60 1:04:12

181 finishers

Richmond Castle 10K, 14th October

Shaun Roberts

A good number of Striders turned out for this one - hardly surprising with a Beer Festival and a pub lunch thrown in. Nice sunny morning with hardly a breeze - quite warm by the end, in fact - really didn't feel like the middle of October.

Will (18th) and Fiona (3rd lady, and first 45+ gadgie) had great runs at the sharp end. Lots of good runs lower down the field, especially from those who'd had perhaps drunk a couple more than usual the night before a race celebrating England's epic victory in Paris. Debs' backside didn't prove too big an obstacle, Jan and Amanda were neck and neck on the line, and Mike Elliott had a great sprint finish, overtaking at least five on the grass. Mike Hall finished strongly up the hill, though he was typically modest about it afterwards ...

Honourable mentions to Fiona's Bob (51:01), and to Debs' Dad Eric (52:22) who took away an MV65 prize. Commiserations to Mandy, who had to drop out after 3K as the smell of the pies from the Holly Hill Inn was just too much.

Special thanks to the great turnout of supporters around the course - loads of people cheering us on - brilliant! Also to Andy for organising the coach and to Pam for organising the pub lunch.

Results

Pos Name Club Cat Pos Time
1 Paul Lowe North York Moors M 34:23
9 Sarah Tunstall Kendal AC F 37:59
18 Will Horsley M 39:19
41 Fiona Shenton FV45 41:17
110 Shaun Roberts MV50 46:01
124 Nigel Heppell MV50 46:48
204 Danelle DuPlessis F 50:47
216 Debra Goddard FV35 51:22
235 Jane Nathan FV40 52:16
259 Jean Bradley FV50 53:18
261 Wendy Rowell FV55 53:34
289 Louise Billcliffe FV40 55:02
294 David Shipman MV50 55:25
310 Andy James MV60 57:01
326 Amanda Hunter FV40 58:16
327 Jan Young FV55 58:16
376 Mike Elliott MV60 1:02:12
378 Margaret Thompson FV55 1:02:15
413 Mike Hall MV70 1:07:19

429 finishers

Great Cumbrian Run, 14th October

Results

Pos Name Club Cat Pos Time
1 PETER RILEY UNATT M 1 1:08:59
34 RACHEL CROWE LYTHAM ROAD RUNNERS F 1 1:23:50
835 CHRISTINE A FARNSWORTH F55 4 2:00:30
845 BARRIE J EVANS M60 15 2:00:49

1535 finishers.
The times in the table are gun times, used to rank finishers, Chris and Barrie's chip times were 1:55:58 and 1:56:17 respectively.

Aberystwyth Twin Peaks, 14th October

Dave Robson

Aberystwyth is an attractive town on the coast and about a five hour drive from Durham. My son lives there and he was going to do ths race with me, but twisted his ankle playing football so it was just me. A grey day with light drizzle falling at the start, we started on the promenade and ran by the sea for a while before turning into the harbour and the boat park and then started to climb the first hill, Pin Dinas. It was steep and long and I walked quite a bit of it. I was not looking forward to the descent as there were areas which were quite rocky which were covered by leaves, but I got through it without any problem. Then back to the harbour and promenade, past the start, then a shorter but even steeper climb up the second hill, Constituition Hill, followed by a long descent back to the promenade. Good fun and I recommend it anyone who happens to be in Aberystwyth on the right day ! Mars bar, cake, orange, banana, cereal bar, water bottle and isotonic drink to all finishers.

Results

Pos Name Club Cat Pos Time
1 Carwyn Thomas Sarn Helen M 46:13
55 Dave Robson Vet O/50 66:13
75 Tom Evans Bro Dysynni Vet O/80 133:04

75 finishers

Coniston Trail Race & Challenge, 6th October

Dave Robson

15K (approx) 1625' of ascent

An excellent race with beautiful weather, sunny with no wind, fantastic scenery, great atmosphere. I was a bit concerned my calf might be sore so I transferred to the Challenge (which set off an hour earlier than the main race) thinking I might walk a lot of the route. I started very slow and we went into Conistion and then started to head towards the Coppermines and the climb started - I was soon walking. When I finally got to the top, I had to take it slow for a while as the path was very rocky and rough. However, once it got better, my calf felt fine so I was soon up to normal speed. Finishing early meant I could see all the faster runners come in. Usual tee shirt at the end. I wasn't sure about these Lakeland Trail races when I started at Hawkshead, Garburn was even harder, but I found it more enjoyable. Derwentwater was fantastic and this one was just as great. I am looking forward to the bonus one at Ullswater (full) and next year's series, which is now open for entry.

Nice sunny morning with hardly a breeze - quite warm by the end, in fact - really didn't feel like the middle of October.

Results

Pos Name Club Cat Pos Time
1 WALSH, James Leeds City M 52:56
12 WALWYN, Olivia Altrincham & District AC F 1:01:47
* Dave Robson M 1:29:42

* challenge time