3rd Quarter 2009
Almost the end of summer again, as a club we have held our summer 10K and the Charter 5K. We had excellent turnouts for both events and Hoad hill Harriers had enough marshals to allow a good turnout in the 10K. First home for Hoad and in 5th place was Dave Fulford in 34:14. Dave is currently training for the Fleetwood half marathon and is breaking PB’s at all distances along the way. Jeff Chadwick was 16th and 2nd Hoad finisher in 36:56, with Steve Young 3rd finisher in 21st place in a time of 37:35. Chris Howie was 4th home in 38:07 and would probably have run better had he not run to work on the morning of the 10K a distance of around 7 miles.
Charter 5K
This year the charter 5K clashed with the Derwentwater trail race which meant I wouldn’t be there and also Penny Moreton, one of our Race organisers would be missing. Having looked at the results it would seem to have been well supported by Barrow in Furness striders there were 10 in the top 15 places, with Peter Huck in first place in a time of 14:52.
Hoad hill positions were Jeff Chadwick 8th 16:34, Chris Howie 10th 16:39 and Gary Dover 17th 18:04. Hoad Hill’s only female competitor was Julie Newnham, who I think was running her first race and took the FV 45 prize.
The surprise of the day was the return of the silver fox, Denis Metcalfe who has not run due to injury for a long time. Denis was 23rd in a time of 18:53 which was good enough to claim the MV 60 prize, well done Denis hope you eventually return to the Club.
Derwentwater Trail Race
This event was cancelled last year due to torrential rain and the run up to it this year didn’t look much better. It had rained most of the week so conditions were always going to be soft to say the least. The weather as it turned out was overcast with rain forecast for later, luckily it didn’t rain before I got back to the finish.
As normal, all competitors were lined up behind the noise of a street type band and led to the start. This year chip timing was used for the first time in a trail race and I hope we use it in future events as it does give you an accurate time from start to finish. The start is by the side of Fitz Park and the road was closed to accommodate everyone, from there it follows the old railway line towards Threlkeld and turns onto the Fells at Glenderaterra Beck between Lonscale Fell and Blease Fell. This first part is a gentle rise for about 3k and then a steeper climb for what seems ages towards Skidaw house. Just below Skidaw house the course joins the Cumbria way for a long descent back to Keswick. You are in fact running downhill in varying degrees of steepness for about 20 -25 minutes. Needless to say your legs don’t work when you eventually get to the bottom, but you still have just over half a mile to go. My race plan was to pace myself to the turn at the top and not worry too much about who came past me on the way up as my reckless streak would help me on the way down. The track after the turn is a single rocky path with a steep drop off to one side, so overtaking is risky. To be fast down here you need to be confident with the grip of your shoes and still have plenty of life left in you. I had both, so I bombed it and had a great run down, passing a lot of other competitors. Eventually I caught a group of 3 ladies battling it out, the back one was Helen Woodley from Ulverston and as I passed her I encouraged her to hang on to me and we would reel the other ladies in. I caught and passed the next lady but was unaware where Helen Woodley was until the bottom of the hill. That was when my legs refused to work on the flat, her legs didn’t work either, but they were moving better than mine and she passed me. That’s how it stayed until the end, half a mile of willing the non downhill muscles in my legs back to work, but they wouldn’t budge. I ended 1 sec behind her in 60th place, in a time of 1:09:46 which I was very happy with, all things considered.
Penny Moreton was also running in the Trail race and I managed to see her prior to the race. Also Nicola Park was running in the Challenge race, Penny finished in a time of 1:47:17 and Nicola in 1:43:47.
Graham Pinder
I did say Dave Fulford was training for Fleetwood Half and as it turns out he won it, absolutely brilliant. Dave has sent me his report on the race and a bit of an insight on what it is like to lead a race, for those of us mere mortals.
Fleetwood Half Marathon
Conditions were picture perfect, not too warm (to start with) and not a breath of wind, a flat course offering the potential for fast times. The race was one where both the half marathon and the marathon started at the same time (distinguished by colour of race number), so an eye had to be kept on which of the competitors where competing over the same distance as me!
As for the race itself there was the normal stampede at the start of the race, after 400 yards I was in 3rd/ 4th but I could see that the front two were beginning to slow. It was only after passing them shortly after that I realised that they were doing the full marathon, yet they obviously thought it a good idea to see how fast they could sprint the first 200 yards! I ended up running the first 4 miles or so with a guy who was running the marathon, therefore offering the best of both worlds - able to have someone to chat to for a bit, (he was a fell runner from Clayton le Moors who was doing his first marathon for many years, who was just as surprised as me to be out at the head of the field) and also knowing that we weren't actually racing each other as both of us were doing 'different races'. Maybe less chat early on could have shaved off a few seconds...?!
Generally after that I enjoyed being out in front with good support from spectators, strange in some ways that I just had the lead car to chase and actually felt like I wasn't in a race as such, more of a time trial. Also taking some of the marshals and those at water stops by surprise was a novelty, thankfully no wrong turns but a lack of cups at the first water stop prevented any water being taken on (I wasn't intending to luckily).
As for the mental and physical side of the run the first few miles seemed comfortable, helped by the euphoria of being out in front and the freshness in my legs. I decided to push on from 4 miles to keep on track for a sub 1hr 15 time, clocking 57 minutes dead for 10miles. But as each mile went by discomfort slowly changed to pain and at 10 miles it finally took its toll and I just had to hang on from there on in till the finish.
Crossing the line, despite there being only a handful people around, will certainly be memorable. I clocked a new personal best time (by over 7.5 minutes!) of 1hr 15.22 so had to be delighted with that. More pleasing however was that I claimed my first ever race win (results on John Schofield website), excluding fun runs that is, so couldn't have asked for more (a life long ambition I guess).
Looking back into the dim and distant past, my first race I finished outside the top 1000 (1005 in the 1997 Great South Run) and my first half marathon in 1998 was over 22 minutes slower than yesterdays run, but shows that with a bit of training and dedication we can all attain our goals, whatever they may be.
The presentation itself was as interesting as the run, Marine Hall was the location which is a fairly large venue and could have seated a few hundred and many more standing. The mayor and mayoress were handing out the prizes onstage so has the potential to be grand event. Due to the mayor being a bit late and therefore most folk going home there were about 30-40 people to watch the presentation but was worth the wait after all was said and done, the grandeur of the hall and the presence of the mayor not quite matching the event but the thought was there.
Dave Fulford
A view from the race director's chair...
Film director's have canvas chairs and mega phones to get their productions up and running and they always seem to harassed - well, I have a chair and no megaphone, but I can say that although I had a few sleepless nights before the Flan/10k and Charter, all went pretty much to plan.
We as a club always pull together when putting events together and this year has been no different as I have been putting my size 8 feet into Damian's shoes. I wish to thank all the people behind the scenes who have helped to get my initial steps on the right road.
Hot weather in July saw a slightly better than average number of entrants and some sizzling times. In August our typical summer weather saw us all wilting through humidity rather than bright beams of sunshine as a record field of 233 runners set off on the 10k and a good number on the fun run. The Charter's weather was no better but again entry numbers were not dampened and the fun run was again well attended.
So thank you all, registration team, course builders, drinks providers, marshals, car parkers, refreshment providers, and deputiser when I was away for the day. The races would not be so successful without you.
We have one more to cover this year - our annual Xmas pudding 10k and this year we are to be scrutinised by the UK Athletics Governing body - are it appears they come out to see good practise - it will be a case of let's repeat the summer only better - so we can get our 'kite mark' . I'm afraid I may need more of you to be available - so please consider carefully if you want to race - that you can provide a willing soul to take your place as a marshal.
The date is Sunday 6th December - I look forward seeing you there - let's show UKA that we are more than worthy of being an event of good practice.
Penny Moreton