The “Easter Bunny goes forth!” (except in Portland) Weekend report.

This Easter weekend had a few things going on in it. A few of us went on a massive Easter egg hunt in Wales, and didn’t find many eggs, a few races were run, I got told off by Emma Peters for running too far last week, and Mark realised that running on the flat isn’t all its cracked up to be. (though Chris might say that running on the ups and downs isn’t all that, either).

Rivington Pike

Neil Shuttleworth had the distinction of being the first Glossopdaler home at Rivington Pike this weekend. I believe it is a short race, that goes up and down Rivington Pike. Fish are not generally involved. He came in 317th of 374 in 33:48. Ah yes, my sources tell me that it is 3.2miles long. Though as you can imagine, that probably doesn’t really do justice to the amount of up and down thrown into the mix. It really is a classic – and at £2 a head, you really can’t get much better value for a race.

Salford 10k

Ah – the roads beckoned some of the GDH forces this weekend. The delights of Salford Quays and the gorgeous sights of the inner city proved to be a draw for David “I’m going to race every weekend I possibly can” Chrystie-Lowe, Mary “wine is the perfect preparation” Jeal and Shaun “race head on” Boatwright. Shaun nailed the whole thing in 36:36, coming in 82nd overall, averaging sub 6 min miles for the entirety of the race. David trotted around in a rather decent 42:10, coming in 200th. Mary, who has evidently perfected her pre-race Rioja loading schedule nabbed herself a PB of 44:41 and is now leading workshops on correct wine choice and application tactics ahead of a race.

Hollingworth Lakes 5k

I still don’t know where Hollingworth Lake is, but it seems that a number of people definitely do. The 5k was run again this year, with a newly measured and fully up to date and totally accounted for 5000m course. The Blue and Orange flood was out in full force, and was led home by the ever speedy Kirsty Johnson in 20:30. The shy and retiring David Chrystie-Lowe (he just never seems to race, does he?) was second home, a mere 13 seconds behind Kirsty, I can imagine a good final sprint from David probably wasn’t on the cards, he nabbed himself 2nd V55 anyway. Rosa Chrystie-Lowe was next in line, at 21:57, narrowly outsprinting serial roadie Tony Hillier in 22:03 and 1st V65. Esme Brack was 1st U18 home (and 3rd GDH lady, rounding out the team prize), and also, incidentally, soundly trouncing her mum by about 40 seconds. Emma Chrystie-Lowe brought the family tally to 3, and John Stephenson nobly brought up the rear, tailrunning in for the team.

37 Kirsty Johnson 20:30
43 David Chrystie-Lowe 20:43
63 Rosa Chrystie-Lowe 21:57
66 Tony Hillier 22:03
77 Ezme Brack 22:37
83 Jo Brack 23:15
102 Emma Chrystie-Lowe 24:15
116 John Stephenson 24:56 (all chip times, I think)

Liverpool to Manchester 50miler

Dan Stinton was knocking out the flat miles this week with the Liverpool to Manchester 50 miler. We are unsure of the exact timings, but he excelled on the non-hilly stuff despite apparently sustaining mental injuries due to mind-crushing boredom. It was apparently about 8:43, but most importantly he managed to come in about 42nd, well within the top 50 and snagged himself a Gold medal finish. Well done Dan – excellent effort.

Paddy Buckley

Chris Webb took the opportunity of this Easter Weekend to run around Snowdonia. The Paddy Buckley – some 100km with 47 summits (some of them quite arbitrary in nature) is a bit of a tough cookie. A fair few of us supported him on his adventure, which was run on a 23 hour schedule (or thereabouts) through thick and thin, night, day, rain, wind, sun and general welsh weather. He finally got back to Llanberis after this mammoth eating marathon in 23:19. A superb time and no mistake. Excellent effort Chris, and well done to all those who supported a great day out in the mountains.

Parkrun corner

Glossop Parkrun – I need to be quick as my laptop is about to run out of battery – PB’s for Bartek, Andy Burnett, Liam Amos and Laurie Barlow (again?!) Consolidated report is here.

Don’t forget – Herod Farm this week – if you haven’t volunteered, run it!

(and if you don’t get the Portland reference, it has nothing to do with Glossop, but has to do with bunnies. Google it).