Elvet Striders — Race Reports Archive

Snake Lane 10, 24th February

Barry Evans

On a dry, mild but blustery morning four Striders journeyed down to Pocklington, east of York, to join a fully-subscribed entry list intent on taking on the 'Snake Lane 10'.

650 runners were at the start which got under way at 11am cheered on by a large band of supporters. My customary cautious start from the back left me to catch the keen fast starters over the early and middle miles as the route, which is primarily rural, with no real hills, passes through the village of Bishop Wilton, continuing on a winding and twisting country lane (which obviously reflects and gives rise to the race title) before heading back to the finish in Pocklington town centre. I caught Alan Smith before halfway and we ran together for a few miles before I was able to pull ahead - a rare event!! The race was well-organised and at the event headquarters (the local rubgy club) shower facilities were available, together with food and hot drinks. The bar was also open and taken advantage of. Results were very quickly available to complete a very successful, popular and eagerly looked-forward-to fixture for which entry is highly sought after.

640 finishers.

Keswick Buttermere Round, 34K, 17th February

Dave Robson

It was a sunny, cold day with no wind, so excellent conditions for this low key road race, which attracted a record number of runners this year - 92. The run down the west side of Derwentwater was undulating but after Seatoller we were hit by the 25% climb up to Honister. I walked most of this. Then a steep descent (25% again) down to Buttermere. It was great running by the lake in the sunshine, but we then turned and started the climb up to Newlands Pass (20% climb). At the top there was a 20% decline into the Newlands Valley and apart from a couple of small climbs, it was all downhill to Fitz Park in Keswick. Phil did very well in his longest distance ever. Well organised, enjoyable but tough!

92 finishers.

Wrekenton XC, Harrier League, Wrekenton, 16th February

Tom Reeves

Saturday 16th February saw the 5th Cross country of the season take place at Wrekenton. It was a beautiful sunny day and due to the hard frost and lack of rain the course was firm and dry. To make it even more pleasant there was hardly a breath of wind so this meant for perfect conditions (unless you like the mud, the wind and the rain). It was great to see the men rally round and get a team out given some of our regulars had decided to tootle off to Scotland, New Zealand and the likes. The women had a full team out and although I havn't seen the results I know Donna came 4th and I'm pretty sure our next two counters Fiona and Roz were not far behind. As usual the after race eats were top notch (just ask Matthew and Rhys). So it's one more race to go Prudhoe. Hopefully we'll have two full strength teams out to finish the Harrier League of with a sea of purple."

Men

270 finishers.

Women

62 finishers.

Carnethy '5' Hill Race, 16th February

Shaun Roberts

Nice crisp sunny day, a good drive up, and the bright prospect of five hills to climb before a 'School Dinner'. Coaches were laid on to take us to the start area, and at two o'clock we legged it to a scrum to get over a gate before arriving at the base of the first enormous hill. I was warned (thanks, Louise) that a fair amount of uphill walking would be needed, and so it turned out - two of the hills were close to a thousand feet of climb each, and they involved long bent-over, hands-on-knees fast-walking. The other three weren't nearly as long, but were nearly as steep - doh! As for the descents - well, if you haven't done this one, their delights are probably best saved until you do. Suffice it to say that what goes up must come down, and in the case of Carnethy, quite steeply.

Geoff had a good strong run, doing a similar time to last year, and Susan had a great run in what I think was her 16th running of this one. I overtook her early on, but she stormed past me up the last hill to finish in a good time. Mandy finished strongly not far behind me, and in typical sprint-finish mode Louise brought up the Striders' rear - though there were plenty of runners coming down off Carnethy Hill long after she finished. Hot showers afterward and quite a good chicken pie dinner. Interesting to put faces to some familiar fell-running names at the presentation afterwards, too: Rob Jebb for example, and a certain Angela Mudge!

So, in summary: 5 hills, 6 miles, 2,500 feet of ascent, ditto of descent, one fine school dinner and an unforgettable experience! Take a look at the NFR report (link below) for some great photos.

461 finishers.