Newsletter April 2010
This is the first Newsletter since the tragic death of Sue Hoole, who as we all know died of pneumonia just before Christmas. Although Sue had left the club and had moved to the Stockport area to work, she was still a regular visitor to the club during School holidays and would often run with the girls when home. Sue’s Mother and Father asked if a representative from the club could say a few words about Sue at the Funeral. Sue was a friend to many but was quite close to a few of us so just prior to the funeral a few of us got together to try and put some words together that would do justice to her as a person and her achievements. Jayne and Ken offered to read out our thoughts and tributes and both did exceptionally well in the circumstances. The Evening Mail still carries tributes to Sue, and other running Clubs all had tribute email postings on their websites, which just shows the high regard we all had for her. Since then the club had a fund raising evening organised by Sharon around the pubs in Ulverston and mainly due to the hard work of the girls, Sharon, Jayne, Carol, and Steph, the sum of £500 was raised for the Coniston Mountain Rescue in memory of Sue. On May 8th this year the Wilmslow running club that Sue ran for have invited Hoad Hill harriers to a handicap race and are offering their hospitality for the day. Details will follow and it should be a great day for all those who are able to attend. See the notice board for final details and to place your name on the list.
Thanks to Penny Moreton for keeping track of the recent races and writing the next report.
Records tumble at the races.
Many people think that only elite athletes find those limits of body, mind and spirit and then decide to take risks. That’s wrong. Everyone of us who takes on the challenge of going further or faster is taking the same risk.
We must all find that defining edge between doing just enough to accomplish goals and doing just a little too much that smashes all dreams – well, despite all the incredible inclement cold freezing weather the racing calendar beckoned to entice our members out of the warmth of our houses to test ourselves whilst preparing for the ultimate goal of spring marathons.
First, there was the Trimpell 20 miler, a pancake flat personal best enticing course – and it didn’t frighten four of our intrepid crew who were fine tuning their endurance. Chris Howie was the first to lower his previous best time, clocking 2.01.57 to finish in the top 20. Team mate Harry Stainton ran strongly despite slowing over the closing miles to record 31st place in 2.06.32.
However, Gary Dover, now fully recovered from a bad hip injury showed how returning back to running at a steady rate can pay dividends – he stormed to a personal best of 2.13.34; knocking a full 13 minutes off a previous time. Erik Hampton had set off like a bullet and paid for his over enthusiasm but still recorded an excellent 2.26.53.
If 20 miles was a trip too far, the next day at Dent, the notoriously hilly course did not thwart the plucky entrants. Sharon Dixon was fifth woman and third vet 35 to cross in 1.43.49. Team mates Mike Cull and Nigel Storey finished in 1.46.21 and 1.47.47 respectively; Nigel had a couple of weeks earlier ran a blistering 1.34 at the Haweswater Half Marathon at Mardale Head. Other finishers were Julie Hunter 2.03.23, Carol Whittle 2.06.10, Jeremy Clarke 2.07.36, Rob Cameron 2.16.59, Andrew Wilson 2.19.41, Mike Fawcett 2.20.00 and club captain Abbie Young in 2.24.05.
Two weeks later saw the old time club favourite Coniston 14 – however this year with a sting in it’s tail as due to winter flood damage the course had been extended at Water Yeat to 16.7 miles. Did this deter the club entrants – no way!
If anything it was like a magnet pulling them to the finish line. Despite the original race attracting over 1800 runners, the field started with 1300, amidst them the Cystic Fibrosis team of Chris Howie, Gary Dover, Erik Hampton and Ken Lamb with Jeff Chadwick and Richard Watson. Chris led the Hoad team to glory by storming to the finish and his best ever finishing position in 1.41.24 , coming 5th overall and first vet 40. Richard Watson came in 6th 1.42.49, Jeff Chadwick was 8th in 1.44.40 and Gary Dover dipped inside the top 50 with 1.53.45.
Erik Hampton was 95th 1.58.51 and Sharon Dixon just outside the top 100 in 1.59.27 but 7th woman overall to finish. Others who took part and finished well were Mick Cull 131st 2.01.46, Nigel Storey 177th 2.05.28, Steve Harrison 230th 2.09.12, Mac Knowles 338th 2.14.12, Tom Southward 370th 2.15.41, 534th Alyson Knowles 2.23.19, Stevie Barron 557th 2.24.06, Julie Hunter 558th 2.24.06, Ken Lamb 587th 2.25.25, 692nd Carol Whittle 2.30.33, 986th Mike Fawcett 2.46.31, and Abbie Young 1077th 2.54.18
So the spring marathons of London, Edinburgh and Windermere are certainly going to have some speedy Hoadies pushing for the honours – good luck to Chris Howie, Erik Hampton, Gary Dover, Ken Lamb, Sharon Dixon, Steve Harrison and Alyson Knowles in London, Nigel Storey in Edinburgh and to Carol Whittle at Windermere.
Penny Moreton
The Cartmel Trail Race
Well I knew eventually the time would come when running took a back seat to work commitments and that is what has happened since November or perhaps even earlier than that. The result has been a lack of motivation, inconsistent training and just arriving home too late to do anything, or just being in a place where I was unable to run. Usually I don’t pre enter races as I am unsure that I will be available, and like everyone else I don’t like throwing money away. However I looked at my work program and dusted off the crystal ball and pre entered the Cartmel Ultimate Trail race. I then managed to come down the club for a Monday night run and got caught up in the banter regarding the Coniston 14 being nearly full and also being a bit longer. The result in a fit of exuberance I entered it. Bear in mind that I always got cramp on the last two miles of the old Coniston 14, I must have been really inspired on that club night to attempt 16 and a bit miles, which is probably no problem for the marathon training club members but is a tad far for me.
As usual things didn’t pan out as expected and the best laid plans all go to pot so I found myself destined to be away on trials over the period of both races, Bah! that meant at least £40 wasted. But as if by magic we had a problem on trials and I found I could get home for the Saturday of the Cartmel trail race. The next problem was how to balance home life with the need to run as I had not been home for 15 days; luckily I have an understanding wife. I will say no more other than I was allowed to compete, so here is my account of the day.
Chucking it down and cold, that was the greeting on waking up that morning, but here we go I don’t need a map to get to Cartmel so no need to look on the trail website for details. So I set off only to find the local routes were not the preferred route to Cartmel for the trail race, so I ended up late and dumping my car on the nice grass of the entrance to the privileged few Jockey Club car park. Anyway the access to the field where all other cars were parked looked decidedly slippy and muddy, too late I’m in and parked up.
I signed in and got changed then met up with Tom Southward and Ren and Steve Brennan as they were warming up. Anyway we all got to the line and luckily it had stopped raining, I could remember parts of this trail from a race here a long time ago, but only vaguely so some parts were familiar. However this time it was muddy going and hard work, I should also mention I had actually forgotten the race distance, talk about ill prepared. The start was on the race course for about 400m then out onto part of the Cumbrian way, We had been running / slogging for about 30 mins and I was in a group of runners that I knew by now were destined to be around each other for ages, by this time Steve Brennan was in the distance with the leaders, and I was stuck with this group. I cannot usually talk when competing but at this point it was only the legs that were not working so the odd word uttered through the gasping went along these lines. Me “alright mate I’m knackered”, fellow competitor, “so am I”, Me, “How far is it to the end”, Competitor, “another 7 miles”, Me “S - -t”. So Houston we have a problem, I was hanging on at 4 miles with 7 miles to go and a lot of mud, better grin and bear it. So that is what I did, even the unexpected tarmac sections were run with dead legs, but strangely no one came past. I could hear footfalls but we all stayed in our positions. Then with 2 miles to go the first lady, Helen Woodley from Ulverston came past me and I could do nothing about it, other than try and keep her in catching distance. I hung on but got cramp at a water crossing then I suddenly had a recollection of the last part of the course which was the sting in the tail, a drag of a climb through the woods before the finish. At this point I was really hanging on and was overtaken by another competitor. This is how it stayed to the finish, I should have kept the other runner at bay, slight disappointment their, but overall I probably ran like I did when I first started running, i.e., underestimated the distance, set off too fast, Hung on for at least half the distance, and ran beyond my current fitness. The Result was an out of body experience for the rest of the day. Do you learn as you get older, I think not? It also cost another £40 for a nice evening meal out with my wife.
The final results were. Steve Brennan 8th place and 1st Vet 40 1Hr 18m 25s, Graham Pinder 44 th, 1Hr 32m 40s, Renell Brennan 79th 1Hr 39m 8s Tom Southward 107th 1Hr 46m 40s, There were 177 finishers.
Graham Pinder
Final note
Tickets are on sale for the summer social event on 26 June, price £20 including music and food. Full details on the notice board.