Striders Vets win promotion to Division 1

Transcription

1 Volume 3 Issue 10 Newsletter for Desford Striders October 2002 Leicestershire Road Running League. Striders Vets win promotion to Division 1 ollowing the Championship success of the men s senior team, our veterans made 2002 a double winning year, by achieving promotion back to Division 1 at the first attempt. Despite only having six men run in the final league race of the season, (possibly something to do with Julie Messenger s excellent birthday bash the night before), we had a full team of four veterans take part in the Owls 10M, run from Countesthorpe College. John Cooper was the first of them to finish the undulating 10 miles, followed by Andy Holmes, Nigel Trotman and Steve Hibben. Together they claimed 5th place and with it 13 points, to create a gap between them and 3rd placed West End, of 11 points in the final league table. Our two seniors running were Andy Ball and Dave McCartney and even though we were a couple short, the team was able to do enough to pick up 15 points for third place on the day, and finished a walloping 22 points ahead of Sth. Derbys. Their cause was helped by the fact that Striders weren t the only club unable to field a full side at Countesthorpe. As it turned out Sth. Derbys. were the only ones to turn out a full compliment of runners in our senior division. Three of our ladies made the trip over to Countesthorpe to represent the club and they were brought home by Sue Cox, making her first league appearance since the Hinckley half marathon. Jill Sharpe was a couple of minutes behind her, who was in turn followed in by Gwyneth Reed. As a team they finished ninth overall, leaving them 9 th in the table, an improvement on last year by one place. All told we had a total of 35 members run in one or more of the LRRL races throughout the season and the club would like to thank them all for their efforts, and to those of you who helped or turned out to support the club on race days. Thank you. Men Owls 10 Time LRRL Pos Andy Ball John Cooper Dave McCartney Andy Holmes Nigel Trotman Steve Hibben Ladies Sue Cox Jill Sharpe Gwyneth Reed TURN TO PAGE 2 FOR DAVE MCCARTNEY S THOUGHTS ON THE OWLS 10M RACE. LRRL Presentation Evening As the men s teams have gained promotion there should hopefully a trophy and medals to pick up. Should you be interested in going to the LRRL Presentation Evening please let Richard McBean ( ) or Graham Hobbs ( ) know as soon as possible. Unfortunately the date is a little uncertain at the moment, as far as we are aware it will be either 1 st, 8 th or 15 th November, and will be at the Leicester Rowing Club. Please let us know you are interested and we will confirm the details when we get them. LRRL 2002 Men Vets Div. 2 Sth. Derbys. 195 Striders 173 West End 162 Barrow 157 Shepshed 150 Whetstone Harriers 137 Charnwood 131 Harborough 107 Rutland 9 LRRL 200 Men Div. 2 Striders 196 Sth. Derbys. 174 Shepshed 170 West End 161 Whetstone Harriers 151 Charnwood 138 Leics. Coritanians 119 Harborough 103 Rutland 9 LRRL 2002 Ladies Div. Owls 177 Huncote 176 Birstall 172 Wreake 145 Barrow 135 Charnwood 122 Beaumont Leys 107 Nuneaton 106 Striders 105 Stilton 95 Hinckley 87 West End 78 Roadhoggs 49 Shepshed 40 Sth. Derbys. 38 Harborough 19 Whetstone Harriers 11 Rutland 6 Leics. Coritanians 4 These tables are the final ones from the LRRL.

2 Page 2 THE NEWSTRIDER That morning after feeling and hills just don t mix It s a long time since we heard form Dave McCartney, but he has finally broken his silence and submitted this piece about the Owls 10. Thanks Dave. Sunday morning soon came around, (the morning after the night before, Julie's party!). It was a warm sunny day, which got warmer as the minutes passed. As the Striders arrived (or didn t as the case may be) it became apparent that the previous nights indulgence in fine food and wine (more like fantastic food and as much wine/beer as you could drink) would take it s toll. From a list of 15 Striders to tackle the undulating 10 mile course, alcoholic dehydration causing mild swelling of the brain tissue leading to acute headache, in some cases mild nausea, reduced the Striders to 9 participants (which I suppose wasn t bad considering), I could hear the ooh never again from Countesthorpe!! Ted Toft had his usual trouble of clearing the main road with his megaphone, eventually he did, and a cycling attired Phil Lord came to the start area to see us all off. The race was pretty uneventful really, a very scenic rural course which went uphill, then downhill, uphill then downhill all the way round. Andy Ball did his usual disappearing trick from the start with leading bunch. After the 9 th mile had passed, I knew that I had only one hill left to run, so after I had ascended that, I opened the throttle to take a couple of scalps, just before tuning into the field where the finish line was situated. As I turned in I saw a Mr. Phil Lord (whom I might remind you is no stranger to controversy in this club, remember Messengergate!! at our cross-country last year) guiding runners to the finish line for the OWLS!!!! Does this man have no shame!! As I went through he said keep it going, follow the tape right to the end. Well, that was it, I had to find out what was going on so, I ran as hard as I could to the line to collect my goodies. (yes Mr. Morton, there was a t -shirt!!) After I had recovered, I saw Phil who said that the runners were going the wrong way around the tape because they couldn t see the Owl s marshal s arms pointing the way, as she had dark sleeves on, and our Mr. Lord had dayglo yellow sleeves. So I leave it for you to decide, is Mr. Lord guilty or not guilty of aiding and abetting a rival club? Or was he an ambassador for the Striders showing them how it s done? Thank-you to everyone that came along to cheer us on, and Francis who made a gallant effort to make the race, but was late for the start. Unlucky. The Leicester Marathon an appeal We have received an open letter from Mick Newton of Birstall RC, regarding the Leicester Marathon taking place on 24 th November and which I have reproduced below. Organising the Leicester Marathon is a huge task and my part in it is to organise the marshalling. I have people in place to organise small sections of the race, but we need volunteers to give a few hours on the day, to actually marshal the course, staff water stations etc. Last year s response was good, 2 clubs getting over 10 members each, but this year we expect larger numbers and need more help. As you know the proceeds go to Children in Need, so it is a very worthwhile cause. I would appreciate a reliable member of your club to ask around and try to get dependable volunteers. If they could then pass their names and contact details to me, I will in tun allocate them to a section and pass on their details to the section leader. Nearer the time each leader will contact the volunteers and discuss their involvement. Please contact me, even if it s to say sorry, we re all running in it. Thanks in anticipation, Mick Newton. Birstall RC. If you are able to assist Mick, can you let Richard McBean ( ) or Graham Hobbs ( ) know as soon as possible please, so Birstall can make the necessary arrangements.

3 THE NEWSTRIDER Page 3 R.A.C.E.S. Challenge Handicap Trophy Cooper takes the lead with just three races to go The Handicap Table has a new leader following the latest two races in the Trophy series. John Cooper, who picked up 44 points in both the club race on 29 th August and the Owls 10, holds a 12 pts lead over June Morris, who elected to sit out the run at Countesthorpe. In terms of members taking part, the two races were complete opposites. Twenty -two members ran in the club race, the largest of the Trophy races so far, whereas the Owls 10 had the smallest, just 9. Although this may be down to the fact that the race was the morning after Julie Messenger s 40 th birthday party and there may have been one or two sore heads around! Nick and Jo Palmer (a couple of the JM Birthday Bash casualties and therefore absent at Countesthorpe), repeated their success of Huncote, by finishing first and second at the club race, with Nick once again picking up maximum points. June Morris continued her fine form, finishing third and Phil Lord kept up the pressure on the top three with a four place finish. Five Striders made their first appearance in a Trophy race this season at the club run, they were Valda Holmes, Pat Marlowe, Steffan Wittering, John Greenlees and Henry Long. Owls 10 Handicap Points Andy Ball 50 Dave McCartney 49 Sue Cox 48 Andy Holmes 47 Nigel Trotman 46 Gwyneth Reed 45 John Cooper 44 Jill Sharpe 43 Steve Hibben 42 As I mentioned we had nine people run in the most recent Trophy race at Countesthorpe, which was won by Andy Ball, who finished with a combined time of just 20 seconds quicker than Dave McCartney. Sue Cox made her first Trophy appearance and picked up 48 pts by finishing in an excellent third place. Steve Hibben, who is one of only two people to have run in all the Trophy races (the other being John Cooper), picked up 42 pts, which moved him into third place in the table. So with just three races to go, the last two being as yet unannounced cross-country races, things are starting to bubble along nicely, with a number of people being in with a chance of the title. Club Race Aug 29th Time Handicap Points Men Nick Palmer Jo Palmer June Morris Phil Lord Andy Holmes Dave McCartney John Cooper Valda Homes Andy Ball Gwyneth Reed Pat Marlowe Mike Percy Steffan Wittering Francis Breen Julie Messenger Nigel Trotman Steve Hibben Nick Morton Richard McBean Sue Kirton John Greenlees So with only three races to go, the last two being as yet unannounced cross-country races, the race for the title is bubbling along nicely, with a number of people being in with a chance of finishing on top. The next race in the Handicap Trophy was due to be held on 24 th No- vember. However the 2 nd Leicester marathon is being staged on the same day. So, it has been decided to bring the race forward to Sunday 13 th October at a.m., with the route following the club s ¼ marathon race route, but in reverse. Meet up at SiD for Following the run there will be a small spread, and if you were there last year and can remember Julie s Steak and Ale pie, you ll know it s well worth coming along. Even if you re not running! Please let Julie know on if you will want anything to eat. Desford Striders R.A.C.E.S. Challenge Handicap Trophy After 6 rounds. John Cooper 255 June Morris 243 Steve Hibben 232 Phil Lord 226 Andy Ball 219 Andy Holmes 219 Dave McCartney 213 Jo Palmer 193 Nick Palmer 192 Steve Poole 179 Nigel Trotman 170 Jill Sharpe 157 Francis Breen 144 Gwyneth Reed 132 Andrew Cole 125 Nick Morton 118 Julie Messenger 106 Sue Kirton 103 Steve Morris 89 Marie Playford 84 Mike Percy 83 Richard McBean 76 Graham Hobbs 74 Sterrin Muldoon 67 Sue Cox 48 Derek Cox 47 Gwyn Morgan 47 Valda Holmes 43 Pat Marlowe 40 Steffan Wittering 38 Nigel Stirk 36 Matt Taylor 35 John Greenlees 30 Henry Long 29

4 Page 4 R.A.C.ES. Challenge Handicap Trophy Correction To The Huncote Trophy Results Now for the bad news.the LRRL results publicised in the NewStrider are taken from the OWLS web site (owlsac.org.uk) and it has been pointed out to me, (and this has been confirmed by the official results from Huncote Harriers), that all the Strider s times were unfortunately wrong, except for those of Nigel Stirk and Andy Ball. Somewhere during the process of loading the results onto the web site, the majority of the times have been, basically, messed up. Giving many of the runners, the time of the person four places behind them. Ordinarily this wouldn t have mattered too much, but as you know, Huncote was a Handicap Trophy race and as you will see from the recalculated results and amended table, it has made quite a difference to one or two people. I m sorry about the mess-up and particularly if you have lost out as a result of the changes, but I m afraid it was rather beyond our control. Please send any items to go in the Newsletter to: Graham Hobbs, at 146 Kirkby Road, Barwell LE9 8FS or Tel or graham.hobbs1@ntlworld.com Deadline for November s issue is 27th October 2002 Men THE NEWSTRIDER Huncote 5 Time LRRL Handicap Pos Points Nigel Stirk Andy Ball * Steve Poole John Cooper Dave McCartney Matt Taylor Phil Lord Andy Holmes Nigel Trotman * Nick Palmer Steve Hibben Steve Morris Ladies Jill Sharpe Sterrin Muldoon Jo Palmer Sue Kirton June Morris * Andy and Nigel had the same combined times. Some contact numbers Club Secretary: Valda Holmes Social Secretary: Julie Messenger Treasurer: Richard McBean Events Diary...let us know if you do them! Goose air 10K - 6 Oct - Kenilworth 1/2-6 Oct Daventry Doc 6-13 Oct - Merril & Shelton Striders 10K - 13 Oct Birmingham University 5K - 20 Oct Ratcliffe 1/2-20 Oct Worksop 1/2-27 Oct Birmingham Reebok XC 10K (men) & 6K (women) - 2 Nov Shepshed 7-3 Nov Dovedale Dash - 3 Nov -

5 THE NEWSTRIDER Page 5 LRRL - Individual Club Standings Final race sees Jill win the title ill Sharpe, the only lady to run in all six of the summer league races, has won the veterans title in her first full season with the club. She achieved the feat when she finished second behind Sue Cox at the Owls 10M, which gave her enough points to overhaul Julie Messenger at the top of the table. With three races to go, Jill was trailing Julie by 15 points, but with two wins and a second place she managed accumulated the required points to gain her first title. Ahead of her on the day was Sue Cox, running in her sixth race of the season, and who eventually finished in third place overall. In the senior category Dave McCartney took advantage of Nick Palmer s absence to finish with 4 points and move into third place in the table, just one point ahead of Nick. Meanwhile Andy Holmes confirmed his excellent third place in the veterans category, by finishing second behind John Cooper at Countesthorpe. Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to everybody who ran in the LRRL races and represented the club so well. Male Seniors Andy Ball 50 Andrew Cole 32 Nick Palmer 20 Dave McCartney 21 Matt Taylor 5 Nigel Stirk 5 Congratulations to Andy Ball the only Strider to achieve a 100% record in the LRRL this season Female Vets Jill Sharpe 44 Julie Messenger 42 Sue Cox 29 Sue Kirton 18 Gwyneth Reed 10 June Morris 9 Marie Playford 9 Valda Holmes 3 Male Vets John Cooper 108 Gwyn Morgan 84 Andy Holmes 70 Duncan Percy 55 Nigel Trotman 52 Graham Hobbs 50 Francis Breen 49 Phil Lord 48 Steve Hibben 44 Derek Cox 32 Richard McBean 28 Nick Morton 28 Malc Hill 23 Paul Kirton 12 Steve Morris 12 Kevin Johnson 11 Steff Wittering 11 Mike Percy 11 Female seniors Jo Palmer 11 Sterrin Muldoon 6 Steph Warner 4 Just a short reminder that this year s Strider s Christmas Meal will be taking place on Saturday 21 st December, at SiD. The cost per head is hoped to be around the 15 mark, although as arrangements are still being carried out, this is not yet definite. Hopefully more details will in next month s NewStrider. On 18th October we will be holding a skittles evening at The Old Swan Inn at Newbold Verdon. Tickets are 6.25 each, which includes the games, food and one or two small prizes, which will be up for grabs. What a bargain! But you ve got to be quick, as Julie would like the money by no later than 10th October please. Festivities to start at 7.45 p.m., so please arrive 15 minutes earlier. As you may be aware the speed training introduced by the club a few months ago, has for one reason or another, unfortunately fallen by the way side. Well the good news is that it is on it s back. On Tuesday evenings you can now help improve your running by popping down to Sid and training with your fellow Striders. The sessions will start at 7.00 p.m., so meet up at 6.45 p.m. Once we have got the sessions established, we intend to alternate them between SiD and a running track, most likely at Nuneaton, although this will be confirmed later on. See you down there! Distribution of The Newsletter It s now six months since the club s membership fees were due in and unfortunately we still have some Striders who have not paid. Therefore the Committee feels that until such a time that the money is forthcoming, the distribution of the NewStrider should be suspended to these people If you have views, comments, concerns about this. Please do let us know.

6 Page 6 THE NEWSTRIDER Last month saw an increase in the Strider s on Tour department. Here are the details of those I ve heard about, including a 5M race I did myself in Coventry and my thanks go to Valda Holmes who sent me an article about her run at the Crossdale 10K Godiva Harriers Autumnal 5M Nottingham Marathon and half We had a number of members take part in Nottingham s full and half marathons on 15 th September. Andy Holmes was the Strider to finish the half marathon in a very good time of , whilst Sterrin Muldoon beat her previous time for the race by about 10 minutes, when she finished in Poor Nick Palmer suffered a bit of a back injury before running the race, but nothing compared to the ear-bashing he got, for completing the course in , nearly six minutes behind his wife Jo, who crossed the line in Paddy Crowe continued his training for his 60 th birthday bash at the Dublin Marathon, by running Nottingham in Our other runner over the 13.1 miles was Gwyneth Reed who clocked a time of Meanwhile in the marathon, we had just the one representative, Andy Ball, who once again turned up just for a gentle run and ended up with another P.B. This time he completed the race in a remarkable (a la David Coleman), , finishing in 17th place. And that was after picking up a blister at about 15 miles. I m not aware of any other Striders running, but if there were, please let me know. Hanover International Airport 10 We had one member take to the Continent during September and that was our very own Chairman, Francis Breen. He d bee invited by his company to take part in the Hanover International Airport 10M road race. It was simply a case though of popping onto a plane, having a leisurely rest and then running. Not for Francis. No, he had been sent out to Singapore on business, picked up a nasty dose of the trots, flew back, practically stepped off one plane onto the another and flew out to Germany. Still suffering a little (more like a lot) he completed the course and got his tee shirt, of which he is justifiably proud. On the penultimate day of August, I made my way to The War Memorial Park in Coventry, to take part in the Godiva Harriers Autumnal 5 mile race. The course was pretty flat, with only one very mild incline, (although if like me you set off too fast, it seems a lot steeper!) and comprises of two large laps and one small one, mainly around the traffic free footpaths of the park. Being part of the Warwickshire Road Running League, it attracted a sizeable field of 253 runners and was won in a time of My run went pretty well and I managed to keep the leaders in my sights for some time. (As I said it was flat and you could actually see for quite a long way ahead and across the park!). I eventually managed to finish in in 114 th place, which was pleasing, as my main aim was to try and stay under 35 minutes. Crossdale 10K While a number of club runners were taking the easy option and running the John Fraser 10 I decided to go on tour to the neighbouring county of Nottinghamshire to do a trail race. I crossed the border to strut my off road stuff, at the Crossdale 10K which started at the village of Keyworth, a few miles south of Nottingham. It was a fantastic morning for running, the sun was shining and the temperature seemed perfect, (and how many of those do you get on race day?). The course was described by the organiser over the tannoy as a bit claggy to start with but after that it was perfect running conditions wow, I thought this sounds good, makes a pleasant change from some of the challenging winter X country league races. The start of the race was unusual because you ran down hill over a ploughed field hurtling down at break neck speed with loads of runners around could have been scary, but the atmosphere was good and it got the race off to a fine muddy start. After jumping in a few large puddles to get rid of the excessive amount of mud on my shoes which previously had been finding its way on to other runners, I proceeded to enjoy running round the almost traffic free course taking in the scenery and knocking off the kilometres which were marked on the course. When you reached the hilly section after 7K, there were even amusing signs on the course to help get you through it. I finished feeling tired but really pleased with my run. The event was extremely well organised and marshalled. The course was good and it was a pleasure to take part.

7 THE NEWSTRIDER Page 7 I had hoped after last month s mammoth edition, that October s would have been a little thinner. But there is just so much going on within the club for you to know about. The last one on this month s list is pretty important. It s that time of year when we need to consider who should be presented with the....award. This year the Committee would like you, the members, to choose who it should be. What we are looking for are nominations from yourselves, of who you think has done that little bit more for the club during For example, it may be somebody who offers great support, has represented the club in one capacity or another, helped promote and improve the club in anyway. It could be any of these reasons (not necessarily all of them!) or something completely different. Basically anybody who you think has put that little bit extra effort into helping the club. If you have somebody in mind, fill in the Nomination Slip below, detailing who and why. Once we have the nomination in they will be listed in November s edition of the NewStrider, along with a voting slip and you will be able to decide the eventual recipient of the award. For clarity and ease, nominations will only be accepted on the Nomination slip and need to be in by 24 th October at the latest. Strider of The Year Nomination Slip The person I nominate for the award of Strider of The Year 2002 is Name My reason for nominating this person is _ Proposed by (if you want to stay anonymous, please feel free to leave this bit out) Please return this slip to Graham Hobbs, 146 Kirkby Road, Barwell, Leicestershire, LE9 8FS, no later than 24th October. Thank you.