Paul scores wins two and three!

Transcription

1 Volume 12 Issue 10 Newsletter for Desford Striders Running Club October 2011 R.A.C.E.S. Challenge Handicap Trophy Paul Carnegie comes home at the John Fraser 10 and win number 3. Huncote 5 Handicap Results Combined Time. Carnegie, Paul 53:21 50 Grimsley, Gary 55:05 49 Tebbutt, Sean 55:20 48 Marfleet, Karen 55:51 47 Crowe, Emily 55:57 46 Foley, Tabitha 56:40 45 Gill, Lesley 56:40 45 Lord, Pam 56:50 43 Bradshaw, Paul 56:58 42 Shade, John 57:03 41 Playford, Marie 57:06 40 Playford, David 57:09 39 Speed, Gavin 57:25 38 Barber, Lee 57:27 37 Glover, Nicola 57:40 36 Billington, Richard 57:41 35 Hobbs, Graham 57:45 34 Bailey, Steven 57:46 33 Goddard, Paul 57:58 32 Foley, Mark 58:01 31 Green, Joanne 58:28 30 Billington, Mhairi 59:27 29 Lea, David 59:31 28 Long, Henry 59:58 27 Trotman, Nigel 1:01:06 26 Morris, June 1:01:58 25 Morris, Steve 1:02:22 24 Hibben, Steve 1:08:31 23 Paul scores wins two and three! T his year s competition is starting to hot up and is looking like it could be a very close affair, as we currently have Gary Grimsley and Sean Tebbutt sitting joint top of the table on 228 points. Sean scored a third place at both the Huncote 5 and John Fraser 10, whilst Gary was second at Huncote, but faltered a little at the Countesthorpe event, scoring just 38 points. This was probably down the extra training he did by running to the race with Dave Playford! Not too far behind is Graham Hobbs, who recovered a little in the fifth race after a poor result at the Huncote 5. However, the dark horse to watch and possibly worth a flutter at the bookies, is Paul Carnegie. He has missed one just one race so far and scored three wins from four. His latest triumphs were at the last two LRRL races and whilst he is currently lying fifth in the table, the final scores will have each runners three worst results removed. So, with 5 events to go he is in with a good chance. At the time of writing the club run took place on the 8th Sept., but I m awaiting confirmation of the result. By the way many thanks to Paddy Crowe for acting as time keeper at the club run. The results and latest table are here for you and thanks to Chris Minto for calculating these figures. The dates for the remaining fixtures have now been set and they are listed here, stick em in your diary so you don t forget! Countesthorpe 10 Handicap Results Combined Time. Carnegie, Paul 1:51:34 50 Barber, Lee 1:54:04 49 Tebbutt, Sean 1:54:30 48 Evans, Ruth 1:55:19 47 Smith, Sarah 1:56:02 46 Hobbs, Graham 1:56:07 45 Bradshaw, Paul 1:56:19 44 Marfleet, Karen 1:57:20 43 Speed, Gavin 1:58:36 42 Billington, Mhairi 1:59:36 41 Long, Henry 1:59:44 40 Grimsley, Gary 2:01:11 39 Trotman, Nigel 2:03:29 38 Playford, David 2:04:56 37 To have a time recorded at the Parkruns, you need to register yourself. It s very straight forward and easy to do. Just go on to their website, register, print off your barcode and bring that along to the run. You only have to register the once, but don t forget the barcode! No barcode, no time! Also they are free, so you won t need any cash. Just enter Braunstone Parkrun in Google and you ll find the site. Don t Forget Handicap Table After 5 races Remaining H/cap races.. Grimsley, Gary 228 Tebbutt, Sean 228 Hobbs, Graham 219 Barber, Lee 205 Carnegie, Paul 193 Playford, David 182 Crowe, Emily 164 Glover, Nicola 164 Long, Henry 145 Goddard, Paul 141 Billington, Mhairi 139 Bradshaw, Paul 129 Hurd, Andrew 126 Speed, Gavin 118 Billington, Richard 116 Marfleet, Karen 113 Dixon, Lisa 110 Bailey, Steven 108 Playford, Marie 107 Richards, Amanda 94 Trotman, Nigel 90 Evans, Ruth 89 Lord, Pam 89 Smith, Sarah 85 Hibben, Steve 84 Dixon, Mark 67 Green, Joanne 66 Goodrich, Mark 63 Birch, Gary 58 Grewcock, David 50 Cave, Liz 48 Houghton, Jim 47 Vernon, L 46 Foley, Mark 45 Shade, John 41 Ackland, Neil 37 Breen, Francis 35 Marvin, Peter 29 Lea, David 28 Hobbs, Marie 25 Morris, June 25 Holmes, Valda 24 Morris, Steve 24 Braunstone Parkrun - October 15 Desford xc - 23rd October Merrylees Sun Club Run - October 30 Conkers Parkrun - November 12

2 Page 2 Derby Runner Cross-country League W hat an incredibly strange start to the 2011/12 Cross-country Season! Not only was the ground as dry as a bone, the weather was hotter than anything the vast majority of us have ever experienced in a Winter cross-country race. Reaching the high 20s, the hot sun beat down on us, creating very unexpected conditions. It was a complete contrast to last year s opening race, which was the same venue of Sth. Charnwood High School, which was run in torrential rain. I ve no doubt that this year s conditions suited the spectators more than the runners! Anyway, a disappointingly small, but nevertheless enthusiastic, band of 16 Striders made the short trip to Thornton for this opening run and included at least three first timers to the cross-country league. They were Mark Foley, Anne Robertson and, new member, Ali Ide. They all had good runs and whilst I don t want to diminish Mark s efforts, special congratulations to Anne and Ali as they were both a little nervous beforehand (an understatement in Anne s case!), but as they both, hopefully realised, it s not about whether o not you win the race, it s about turning up and taking part..and enjoying it!!! Ali Ide sits on the shoulder of a Wreake lady, ready to pounce! The course was 5 1/4 miles in length and consisted of some quite testing inclines. But not as testing as the field of bullocks we had to go through.twice! Most of the them just stared at us impassively, but 4 or 5 decided they didn t want to be with their mates on the right. No the wanted to join their friends on the left! So they trotted toward the long line of runners and thankfully waited for a gap and charged across. Certainly helps your speed when they are behind you! Once we passed our four legged friends we headed off into the countryside and were taken on an undulating route which also took us down to the edge of Foremark Reservoir, before heading back and up a leg aching long incline, before twisting and turning back onto the school playing fields. Richard Billington was back in his expected place as first Strider home in 36:29 and finishing 40th. Graham Hobbs was next in and was pleased with his 66th placing. He in turn was followed by Gavin Speed in 42:37. It was also very warming to see Duncan Percy getting back to racing, as it was to see Brian Moran running. In respect of the ladies, we unfortunately had just three turn out, two of whom I ve already mentioned, Anne and Ali finished 58th and 92nd respectively. They were led home by Mhairi Billington, who continues to make good progress on her return from injury and finished the course in 47:45, in 34th place. Brian Moran heads for the final turn before the finish at the first XC race. Sth. Charnwood Results Men Pos Time R. Billington 40 36:29 G. Hobbs 66 38:42 G. Speed :37 D. Percy :29 B. Moran :22 G. Grimsley :58 G. Birch :49 N. Trotman :58 M. Foley :16 H. Long :51 J. Shade :53 M. Hill :41 F. Breen :22 Our sincere thanks to Paddy Crowe for taking the money and compiling the A. Ide Striders results. Also to Marie Hobs for the photographs, a few of which are 92 57:56 here for you, the rest having been posted on the club s photo site and the excellent cakes, most of which disappeared very quickly after the run.. The results are also here should you be interested. Also, very happy to see young Francis Breen out and running after his recent turn up at SiD. It takes more than a short stint in A&E to keep him down! Ladies M. Billington 34 47:45 A. Robertson 58 50:56

3 Page 3 T he good news about the teams is that the ladies managed to hold on to their Division 1 status as only one team got relegated. Unfortunately the mixed team was not so lucky and will now compete in Division two. The men, who finished middle of the table last season, remain in Division one. In respect of the Charnwood event the three teams unfortunately struggled to score any high points. As it turned out we were we lowest scoring team in each division. The good news for the men was that Derby Tri were unable to get a scoring team out, so scored nothing. The tables are here for you to have a look at, hopefully we ll get more runners out at the remaining races. I must say I wasn t too sure if we would have any Junior Striders run this year, so imagine my delight when I saw 6 young men, all with Striders vest on, take part in the first event at Sth. Charnwood High School. I ve unfortunately not had any results as yet, as they normally take a little while to come through. Suffice to say well done and thanks to them all. Below: Matthew Ratnett and Ed Percy wait for the start of the Year 1 and 6 race. Derby Runner Cross-country League 2011/12 Fixtures 23 Oct - Bagworth Heath 20 Nov - Foremark Reservoir 4 Dec - TBA 11 Jan - Grace Dieu 1 in Feb - Bosworth Country Park All races start at a.m., the junior races at The senior races this year are now 3, but the juniors remain at 1. Derby Runner League Tables Men - Div 1 Ladies - Div 1 Hinckley 10 Shepshed 9 Barrow 8 Wreake 7 Hermitage 6 Hatton 5 Westend 4 S. Derbyshire 3 Desford 2 Derby Tri 0 Birstall 10 Wreake 9 Shepshed 8 Hatton 7 Barrow 6 Ivanhoe 5 Westend 4 Hinckley 3 Huncote 2 Desford 1 Team - Div 2 Leicester Tri 15 Hermitage 14 Derwent 13 Huncote 12 Wigston 11 Birstall 10 Desford 9 Beaumont 0 Charnwood Tri 0 Fleckney 0 Harborough 0 Owls 0 R. Royce 0 S. Derbyshire 0 Stilton 0 They re off: Kieran Billington, Matt Billington, Dan Ratnett and Alex Percy set off in the Year 7-12 race. Thursday Summer Club Running Many thanks to Desford Striders very own Route Meister, Francis Breen, for once again preparing the Summer run schedule. All distances are approximate and could be out Date Name Dist Name Dist Kirkby Mallory + Track 7.5 Kirby Mallory Round Desford 5/7 Round Desford 5 Back to winter running More photos on the club s website! Got anything for the newsletter? Articles, photos, etc?? Please forward to: Graham Hobbs dsrc.inform@gmail.com or 146 Kirkby Road, Barwell, LE9 8FS

4 Page 4 Bagworth Heath Date: 23rd October 2011 Venue: Bagworth Heath Time: Jnr race hrs Snr race hrs Dist: 5-5.5M Cost: 3.00 Parking: Please car share. Space is very limited, it will help enormously. Post race: Sport in Desford Cross-country Individual Club Standings A s previously advertised the second cross-country league race is our own event at Bagworth Heath, so, and you know what s coming, we need your help. Not only do we want and need as many people running, we need people to assist on the day. However we ideally need to know before the day if you ll be there. Saves the overall organiser having to run around like a headless chicken giving out jobs. So, if you re not going to run and with just 16 running the first race, that leaves around 75 people who theoretically could help out. Particularly if you ve never assisted in the past, how about it? Please let a committee member know or dsrc.inform@gmail.com fter just the one race it s obviously very early in the Individual Cross Country Club A Standings. However here may be somebody out there who s interested. We had just two senior runners, one male and one female, so it won t take much effort to realise that Gavin Speed and Ali Ide head their respective tables. There is a little more to the veteran s tables, although at the moment not a lot with the ladies, as just two ran. Mhairi Billington and Anne Robertson currently holding the top two places. Richard Billington took maximum points in the first race and tops a table with 11 other participants. The tables are here for you to mull over. How does it all work? Male Seniors G. Speed 1 Female Snrs A. Ide 1 Female Vets. M. Billington 2 A. Robertson 1 Male Vets. R. Billington 12 G. Hobbs 11 D. Percy 10 B. Moran 9 G. Grimsley 8 G. Birch 7 N. Trotman 6 M. Foley 5 H. Long 4 J. Shade 3 M. Hill 2 F. Breen 1 or anybody new to the club, or has forgotten how the Individual Standings work, here s a brief explanation. F Every time you run a race, you are awarded points. The number of points you will get depends on how many Striders run in each particular category and how many finish ahead of you. As you will see from the tables we had 12 in the male vets. So Richard got 12 points, Graham 11 etc. etc. If in the next race we have 10 vets, the first one home will get 12, then 11 etc. etc. However, if (as I hope they will) the number increase, say to 15. Then the winner gets 15, next 14 etc. etc. The results from the previous runs will be adjusted to reflect the new maximum score. Hopefully this explains it, it s difficult to put in writing without going on more than I have done already. I f you need or would like any more clarification, then please ask. I have put a proposal forward to the committee that the three cross-country championships are also included in these standings. The original idea of the awarding of points was to reward members who ran the races. In which case I believe that representing the club in those races definitely deserves some recognition. At the time of writing I am waiting to hear their decision. Cross-country Championships Not heard about these yet, so I ve done a little digging and as far as I can tell the dates below are correct. Despite being titled Championships they are not for the elite runners, but open to us all. And they really are a good day out. So why not give it a go? As usual there are a couple of rules, which I shall remind you of now. 1. Subject to funds, the club will pay for your entry fee for each race you enter. However if you put your name down and don t run, then you will have to pay the fee back to the club. 2. To run in the National you have to at least enter either the County or the Midlands. Not run, just enter. County Sat. 07/01/12 - venue to be confirmed Midlands Sat. 28/01/12 - Nottingham Nationals Sat. 25/02/12 - Parliament Hill Fields, London If you want to take part, PLEASE let us know as soon as possible, dsrc.inform@googl .com

5 Page 5 M y latest off road multi-terrain race was on Sunday 25/9, the Crossdale Trail 10K, a race I have done once before back in Sept and reported on in the November 2007 newsletter. This is the race that escaped the foot and mouth restrictions around locally at that time. I wanted to find out how many runners and clubs I had raced against in This is my findings. I ran 3 Derby Runner xc races (although I am only counting 1 for the number of clubs exercise as it s the same clubs taking part in each race). 1 Winter league, 1 open race (Joy Cann 5) and 8 multi-terrain races (4 in Notts, 2 in Warks, 1 in Derbys, 1 in West Mids) - that totals 13-2=11. Just an aside. I found it strange that in the open Joy Cann race there were only 4 clubs from outside the area (there were 519 finishers). With the combined total of 29 clubs running in the Derby Runner/LRRL Witer League, add to that 108 from the other 10 races makes a total of 137.The largest/smallest number of runners in those races were 524/85. To conclude, my Striders vest has competed against 136 other clubs in just 11 races. The total number of runners that have crossed the finish line in those (*) is 4,096. *I also did a m/t race in Northants with 318 finishers but the full results didn t include club names. I thought better of listing those 137 club names, it may have driven our newsletter editor insane or worse, made him do 51 races in his 51st year. (Not a problem John, I would have used my editing powers and not included them) Geeks-corner, during this period I have not run against any club beginning with the letters J, V, X, Y and Z. the most common club letter is S (4), one more than W. The 4 other clubs in the Jpy Cann race were - Canix, running 4 Women, Bermuda and Rugby. My favourite names of those 136 clubs are - Woodthorpe Huffers + Puffers, desperate Measures, Quakers RC, Toonie Express, Bournville (mmmm chocolate), Sons of Wotan (this sounds like something the old comedian Les Dawson has dreamt up, but is in fact a social network for Pagans.) The Crossdale 10K was raced in good weather including dry overhead and underfoot. The whole event is so well organised that for example the results are printed and on display minutes after each runner has crossed the finish line. It feels that the only thing they don t do is run the race for you. There were 10 members of GB Canoeing Team taking part, 3 finished in the top 25, the highest position of 4th. Striders go East for the Mablethorpe Half Marathon My thanks to Sean Tebbutt and Karen Marfleet for the following report and Ruth Carnegie for the photograph. 2 nd October saw the Mablethorpe marathon and half start on what seemed to be one of the hottest Sunday s in October ever. Karen Marfleet (receiving complements on her club kit with the red skirt yet again!!), Sean Tebbutt and Paul Carnegie lined up for the 9:30 start of the half marathon which for some unknown reason was delayed by 10 minutes. Once the race got underway it quickly started to feel very hot within the first couple of miles as the route twisted and turned through the streets of Mablethorpe and then headed out into a more rural setting, in fact in the middle of nowhere it seemed. Results: 1st male Stuart King - Mansfield Harriers in 34:23 1st female Emma Gould - Serpentine RC (33rd o/all) in 43:39. My position was 150/256/214 in 53:47. The course was flat and just right for anyone looking for a PB (if the weather wasn t too hot) and the route itself was good but a two lapper if you were to do the marathon, the only incline was at Sutton on Sea in the final couple of miles getting upon to the sea front, this is where we found a couple of people who had collapsed due to dehydration which is not surprising as temperatures got up to around 27. In all it was a great event and despite the heat would definitely do this one again and a great goodie bag which included a Tech T-Shirt and medal. Date for the 2012 race is 7 th October Sean, Karen and Paul pose for the camera after successfully completing a very hot half-marathon. Paul Carnegie 2:10:45 Karen Marfleet 2:14:17 Sean Tebbutt 2:14:17

6 Page 6 20th Anniversary Do Last month the club held it s 20th Anniversary evening up at SiD and we had around 25 or so Striders and ex-striders come along for an enjoyable evening of chitter-chatter, reminiscing, drinking and eating. A very fine buffet was supplied and those present had their fill and with more to spare. A wall and table of pictures from recent and ancient events and featuring the Striders, had been created and this proved a real talking point. I understand this was down to some hard work by Pam Lord, and she deserves our congratulations and thanks for the work she put in. Also to Sam Morris for the background music, he did try and get a bit of a dance going, but there was a little reluctance on behalf of those present to break away from their chatting. Our thanks to him though for his efforts. More photographs are available on the club s photo site, accessed through the club s website. And can I say that I d love to receive old pictures for the site, Nigel Trotman recently sent me one from the Desford Quarter Marathi in 1995 and I ve loaded this onto the site. It s a group photo and there are a number of faces I don t recognise, but quite a few I do...all be it a tad more youthful than today! So please get those pics in, if you can t scan them on yourself, I can sort that for you and return the original to you unharmed or damaged. S aturday 10th September was a rather momentous day in the Crowe family, for our illustrious Chairman, Paddy, escorted his daughter Emily down the aisle to be wed to her fiancé Chris. And, after being vetted by Emily, Paddy, the proud father of the bride has sent these pictures to share with you. Many congratulations to Chris and Emily from all your friends at Striders.

7 Page 7 Junior Striders Four Juniors - Alex, Dan, Ed and Matthew have joined in with the Wreake junior training program on Saturday mornings and Wednesday evenings. They have enjoyed a range of short and long runs, relays and stretching exercises which will hopefully improve their times for the upcoming cross country. Alex Percy sporting his Wreake Runners shirt (don t worry he has a Striders one too!) Now I m always asking for contributions from our members for this newsletter an as you will know we have our regulars and some occasionals. Well I can t tell you how pleased I was to receive this one from Ed Percy, one of our Junior Striders, hopefully he ll become our regular Junior Reporter(?) Thanks Ed. Alex has already run a couple of 5k races at Hinckley and Belvoir Castle finishing 8 th. Unfortunately his shoe laces came undone at Hinckley ( giving the ladies a chance to get ahead ) and he nearly did not make Belvoir after an incident with the car engine falling out!!! (Ask Duncan) Perhaps third time lucky... Congratulations also to Matthew Billington who was the fastest in the u15 category in his second Braunstone 5k park run with a time of 23:39 - a personal best. So move over some of you senior men and vets...the youngsters are just behind you!!! Christmas Meal his year s Desford Striders Christmas Meal and Presentation will be T on Friday 9th December. As with last year it will beheld at The Royal Oak, Kirkby Muxloe, meeting at 7.30 p.m. to sit down for the meal at 8.00 p.m. The cost per head is 25 as with last year, however The Royal Oak has changed the menu slightly. This year there is just a main course and pudding. The main course consists of three meats, roast beef, turkey and??????? which comes with a variety of vegetables. This year the pub has only given one vegetarian choice, which is spinach & feta cheese pie. There will also be a selection of puddings available of the night along with coffee and mints. Marie Hobbs will be collating names and taking the money which is needed, in full, by no later than 25th November, in order to give time for a cheque to made out by the club. Please make cheques payable to Desford Striders Please send to 146 Kirkby Road, Barwell, Leicestershire, LE9 8FS Any queries: or dsrc.inform@googl .com If you require a vegetarian meal please let Marie know when paying Ta. Above: Ed Percy and below Matthew Ratnett after what looks like a muddy session! Tuesday Night Running Can t make the Thursday Night club run? Well how about Tuesday evening? The club can offer two sessions on this night. Quality Session: which goes from SiD at around 6.45 p.m. Depending on the schedule this can be hill sessions or interval work. Runners go at the pace they want to and there s no question of pushing anybody too hard. You work as hard as you like and if you put a little effort in, you ll reap the benefits in the future. The Co-op Run: Unless nybody can correct me, I believe two groups are run from the Co-op in Desford at 6.30 p.m. One is of a slow/steady pace, with the other being slightly quicker. Sean Tebbutt is the man to speak to for further details.

8 Page 8 I found this event some months ago and had been looking forward to it ever since sending off an extremely reasonable 9 entry fee. Organised by the Long Distance Walking Association, the Canter consists of two distances, 18 miles and 26.8, which had to be negotiated by the participants by following a typed set of instructions. These would theoretically lead them from one checkpoint to another (more about these in a moment as they were the real attraction!) Setting the pace from the back, a few last minute alterations meant a nice steady start. The route wound it s way South, through parks and wooded area, generally following footpaths and some minor roads. The first checkpoint was an unmanned one, where we had to clip our own tallies at The Drawbridge pub. We were then led onto the first canal which led us to the South of the city, but heading West. The route eventually took us through the city centre up to the Winson Green area, before coming back on itself, back to the centre and then North to a checkpoint under Spaghetti Junction. We were then returned back in the direction of the start and a very welcome finishing line. To increase the range of events I was doing within the 50 in 50, I plumped for 26.8 mile event, making it by far the longest run within my challenge. The event was open to both walkers and runners and started from an adventure centre called The Arc, on the A45 and to the South-East of Birmingham. There were a number of start times, depending on which event you did and whether or not you were running. My start time was 9.30 a.m. and I must say, not having run anything more than about 20 miles for around 18 months, I was feeling tense. I knew I d finish, but just didn t know what state I would be in and how it would leave me for the remaining four races. Overall there were around 200 participants in all events, with just over 60 running the longer distance. Initially it was straight forward, everybody ran together and the instructions were straight forward. However a group of us found ourselves suddenly in some confusion. The instructions said cross the minor road, close to the ford. What confronted us was a fast move A road and no sign of water! Anyway I eventually struck out in what I thought was the right direction, until around a mile later, I couldn t fathom were I was at all. Thankfully with the help of a local dog walker and my road map, (brought in anticipation of getting lost!) I discovered I was about a mile too far West and ended up adding around a mile and a half to the total distance as I got back on track. As previously mentioned the first checkpoint was self-service, whereas the second one (actually named checkpoint 1, was in The Horseshoe Pub on the Alcester Road, where toast, sandwiches, hot and cold drinks were served. Back on to the canal and I started passing many of the walkers who had started an hour earlier than us. Even though the remainder of the race was on the canals, I found that when we moved from one canal network to another, I managed to get a tad disorientated and kept thinking I was going wrong most of the time. This was particularly evident at the next checkpoint. I had convinced myself that I had missed the second stop. This would mean that I wouldn t complete the event correctly! Should I go back or not? I looked at my map, no chance, too far. So I plodded on and approached checkpoint 3 saying make my day and tell me you re Checkpoint 2. We are a sympathetic voice said! Splendid! I was confused, but happily accepted the truth. Again more food, sandwiches, cakes and drinks. By now my stomach started feeling a little full! I thanked the wonderful people of Checkpoint 2 and plodded on for a good few miles before reaching the zenith of checkpoints. Number 3! And what a stop! Biscuits, fairy cakes, carrot cake, chocolate cakes, coffee cake, juice, hot drinks..and much, much Welcome encouragement from the better half outside the Sea Life Centre. Emily s behind the lens.

9 Page 9 more. In fact more than I could comfortably eat. Yum! I resisted the temptation to fill my vest with slice of delicious cakes and continued on my way, still filling my head with doubt as to whether I was on course. This wasn t helped by the fact that the runners had got strung out by quite a distance and it could be many minutes before I saw anybody else. But everything was o.k, I remained on track. The biggest boost I got was running through the centre of Birmingham, rounding the Sea Life Centre to see Marie and Emily cheering me on. They had worked their way into the City Centre for a little therapeutic shopping and hung around to shout me on. After a quick chat I carried on and eventually completed 28.4 miles in 4:50:34, finishing 20th out of 61 finishers. After a soothing, hot shower we were treated to a baked potato with a selection of fillings and apple pie and custard. This was a very enjoyable event and I would look to take part again, mainly to try and negotiate the course correctly! How to Conkers a Problem! he path along T this route of my 50 in 50 challenge Where? A familiar pose, checking those instructions...yet again! has been pretty smooth, I ve had virtually no spanners thrown into the works. However it did always concern me that something could happen close to the end and leave me with little time to re-arrange events. And it happened, but with the event I never expected to have a problem with. With just four races to go and a coupe of days to go to my 47th run, the club had to pull out of the Round Leicester Relay. I couldn t believe it! And still can t, but I didn t have time to dwell on the issues surrounding the pulling of the team. I had to go back to my list of races and then the penny dropped. Thank heaven for Parkrun!! Although I couldn t use the Brausntone event, having already taken part, there was the run at Conkers, out towards Measham. That was it! Without that I would have been facing a trip to Nottingham or Northants. Myself and Marie arrived at the run location, found the start etc and even better news, Marie felt o.k. to run! The first one for months and made up for the previous disappointment. The route is an out and back course, shaped rather like a speech bubble. The long section out to the loop is pretty much all down hill, with a sharp incline on the loop and then a long, steady climb pack to the finish. Although it wasn t as bad as I d imagined it would be as I was running down it. The route goes through some extremely attractive woodland and also takes in a very small section of the Ashby Canal and is well worth a visit as an alternative to the Braunstone run. I managed to finish 7th in a time of 19:56, whilst Marie completed the 5K in 32:25, crossing the line in 47th place. What I like about these runs are that they are open to anybody, including children and amongst the 54 finishersr there were a number of very young people. Great to see! On to my 48th race and surprisingly the first visit to Nottinghamshire. The event was the Crossdale 10K, an event I d heard of when other Striders did it a few years ago and which I had wanted to have a go at, but never got around to. This years challenge gave me the incentive. And what a fine event it was! Run from a local primary school in Keyworth, it s very well organised, extremely well marshalled and to cap it all, practically all off road, being run across local farm land. The only points which aren t is an early road crossing and around 1/2 a mile of tarmac along a farm road. With the dry weather we ve had recently the ground underfoot (where else would it be?) was very hard and trail shoes sufficed. The start was to the back of the school, through a gate leading into a field and at the top of a sharp descent, which led to a pretty quick start. After this start the rest of the course was surprisingly flat. There were a couple of exceptions, in particularly the return up the very same hill used at the start. It seemed to have grown in steepness whilst we had been on the main body of the course! It now became an energy sapping, lactate producing run to the finish. After the recent efforts and another visit of the race fatigue bug, I had decided I didn t have the energy or wherewithal to give it everything I had, so elected to have a bit of a tempo training style run, and enjoyed it very much. Occasionally I got a tad over enthusiastic, but managed to rein myself in. All in all though an excellent event, well worth a bash and I was rather pleased with my time of 42:13 and finishing 19th out of 256 runners.

10 Page 10 My thanks once again to my lovely Marie for her support and taking a couple of piccies, and nice to bump into John Shade once again. I won t relate anything about himself as he has kindly added another contributions to the newsletter. A little blurred, but this shot shows the energy sapping last hill. A good shot of the post though! Nearly there! Gavin points out race number 49 at Sth. Charnwood. Sth. Charnwood Cross Country The penultimate race! I can t believe it s nearly all over! Anyway, this was the first cross-country race of the season at Sth. Charnwood school. I ve already written about it so won t add anymore here, suffice to say it was hot, but enjoyable to run with me Striding mates, who s encouragement and interest have certainly helped. This edition of the newsletter will be going out before my last event and if I survive it I ll tell you all about it next month. It s rather a crazy one to do, but I won t go into too much, but the name of it should give you a rough idea. REJECTED! You have to: y now you should know if you have been accepted or rejected in the ballot B for next year s London Marathon. If like our household you (AGAIN!) had to wade through the rejection magazines, then you may be wanting to enter the draw for the club places, which is due to take place at the Christmas Meal on Friday 9th December. This I must point out is subject to the club receiving them from the marathon organises.they have been requested. There a few qualifying points to allow you to enter the draw and they are repeated below, just in case you don t recall them from last year. 1. Be a fully paid up member of Desford Striders 2. Have entered the official London Marathon ballot and been rejected. 3. Hand your rejection note to the draw organiser before the day of the draw (9th Dec). 4. Have taken part in at least 10 of the 22 following events between Jan and December 2011 as a Desford Strider * Derby Runner League races (6 races) * LRRL races (11 races) * Livingstone and Round Leicester Relays * Cross Country Championships (3 races) Some of you may recall that last year it was only 7 races. It should have been 10, but as the qualifying rules weren t put out until late in the year, then for one year only the number of races was reduced to 7. We revert back to 10 this year, less than half of the qualifying races. I am willing to collate the names and check if you qualify. So if you think you fit the criteria, let me know as soon as possible please. To be fair to everyone I will then check the records and confirm eligibility. So far we have: Graham & Marie Hobbs dsrc.inform@googl .com

11 Page 11 Round Leicester Relay What no team? Why not? Now before you read any further, please don t take this is a criticism of individuals, it s more of a personal desire to try understand what our club members want, because for the first time in twelve years, the Striders didn t field a team in the LRRL s Round Leicester Relay. After fielding an excellent three teams last year, we weren t able to scrape together 13 runners out of a membership of 99 people! We apparently had 16 people put they re names forward to take part, but with less than three days to go, we were so short we had to pull out.. I don t know how Andy and Nicola are feeling after spending weeks trying to sort out teams, but I know I personally feel miffed. I m perplexed that a running club with nearly 100 members can t get just thirteen to take part in an event such as this. Yes, we have injuries, people who can t make it due to work (myself often included in that in the past), visiting families, going away for the weekend, a whole host of reasons. And quite right, members don t have to take part in events, it s not compulsory. But after all we are a running club and as such I thought we d be wanting to take part in running events. I know my thoughts will possibly ruffle a few feathers, but I m hoping to gain a little more understanding as to what it is that our membership wants from the club. With this in mind I ve done a lot of sole searching recently about the newsletter itself. I ve been doing it now for 11 years and overall I enjoy doing it. However, the reasons for doing it were to get information out there and try and give our members enthusiasm about being a Strider and want to take part in events with their fellow Striders. Well with dwindling numbers taking part in league races and now with no team competing in the RLR, the newsletter clearly isn t successful in that role. Even Thursday club nights are seeing a decline in numbers, both running and socialising. Last night s food night had just 6 of us sad old blokes staring into our pints. So I have seriously considered knocking it on the head...however I know that there are a number of people that do enjoy reading it, but I did question what the point of it is, and was teetering on the edge. But a conversation with two Junior Striders, Alex and Ed Percy encouraged me to keep going. They were very enthusiastic about the newsletter and Ed has even written a piece for you (see page 7), so I ll keep going. However, there is something I really do need feedback on. As I said numbers at league races are falling, so it seems there is little interest in these within the clubs membership. This newsletter (up to the point I m typing this out has taken me over 14 hours. A considerable time is spent on sorting the league race results, tables and individual results into a presentable format for the newsletter. Now if folks aren t that interested in how the club is faring in the leagues, then I ll not spend the time on it. Now these are my own personal thoughts and don t represent that of the committee in any way that I m aware of, but I would like your thoughts, good, bad or indifferent please. Hopefully the committee won t mind you sending them to the club s address. If you ve got this far without busting a blood vessel, thanks for reading. Now where s granddad s old tin hat? On a happier note I ve been told that around 640 was raised for the Prostate Cancer Charity at the Run For Your Man Just as I was finishing the newsletter off I received the results for the Junior races at Sth. Charnwood. I can t squeeze them in so have had to put them ion the last page, hope that s o.k. Year 1-6 race (33 finishers) Mathew Ratnett 7:01 in 8th place Ed Percy 7:25 in 13th place Year 7-12 (14 finishers) Kieran Billington was 3rd and Alex Percy 8th. Unfortunately we haven t any times for this race. News Flash!