“It’s a 2 cups of tea report” report.

It’s blimmin windy out at the moment, isn’t it? Still, there seems to be an inordinate amount of running going on, not just in races, but around and about the hills as well. A glance at the Strava club page turns into a bit of a scroll-fest as I look for what people have been doing. Great to see everyone out and about enjoying the “summer” weather. Remember guys, this is pretty much exactly the same as winter, so when it gets to November, just think back to how bad the weather is now, and realise that you ran through this…. the great thing about the mono-season is that there is no weather based excuse not to get out for a run!

Burbage Skyline

Cheryl Stitt was one of the number of double dippers this week, choosing to race the day before Cracken Edge, rather than the slightly more popular days after. Despite being held up on the opening couple of Km on the mostly un-overtakeable single track, she cracked out the pace and gave it some welly along the valley of doom burbage, and basically sprinted the entire way back to come in 151st overall in 1:07:23. Just about warmed up for Cracken Edge the next day.

Cracken Edge – Champs race

Quite a turn out to this lovely local canter – with the steep start, the steep downhill road section and the “hill that never ends”. It is great to see so many Harriers chomping at the bit for points, and generally just to get their trainers muddy. From what I understand it was a bit of a breezy evening out, with some good cut and thrust duelling throughout the field, with the delightful sting in the tail that is the slurry pit of lost shoes. The results have been fed into the spreadsheets by our cats, and are up on the champs pages (Overall…. Fell). If there are any mistakes, please feel free to report it to them, because Hobbes really doesn’t give a monkeys.

17th Alasdair “the power” Cowell 00:51:18
22nd Paul “Gotta beat Crossman” Skuse 00:52:47
32nd Steve “I can still run offroads you know” Crossman 00:54:29
35th Julien “I dont race” Minshull 00:54:41
37th Jamie “Roads are my friend” Helmer 00:54:59
57th Richard “I like my numbers to match” Martin 00:58:58
64th Will “sub-hour. Sub-hour…” Mather 00:59:44
76th Matt “oooh sweet – a sprint finish with Guy” Crompton 01:01:40
78th Guy “ah dammit – a sprint finish with Matt” Riddell 01:01:43
83rd Zoe “Gimme that bottle of wine” Barton 01:02:03
90th Paul “still got it!” Stitt 01:03:28
108th Nick “only 4 races this week” Ham 01:06:02
121 Mary “sneaking toward the top” Jeal 01:07:57
129 Cheryl “should I have really run Burbage yesterday?” Stitt 01:09:15
131st Pete “I’m on TV!” Walroth 01:09:28
136th Heather “life IS better when friday nights consist of running” Jansevska 01:10:23
143rd John “If Molly were here I’d be faster/slower” Stephenson 01:11:16
147th Rachel “thirsty for more points” Walton 01:12:27
155th Andy “the Moush” Wilkins 01:14:37
174th Beccy “speeding up” Ashworth 01:19:38
175th Alison “Rod had better be doing the Gardening” Holt 01:20:05
179th Jayne “Go faster stripes” Moreton 01:22:15
187th Marie “marathon monster” Williamson 01:27:26

York Half marathon

Liam Amos, fresh from his first foray onto the fells last week headed off to York for a bit of speed training on the roads. He flew around the 10k course, testament to the fact that a bit of fell racing lends you wings on the road. His gun time was 52:22, and had a chiptime (the equivalent of mojito time) of 48:00.

Chorlton and Sale Water Parks half marathon

I have no idea what goes on here… running around a water park? does that consist of having to queue up to go on rides? Do you splash across the ponds? Do you do it in swimwear? Is there a bog snorkelling section? And if so, does that get included in the mileage, or is it seperate? For answers to all these questions and more, ask the Harrier in the know – Emma Rettig who ran/swam/bog snorkelled/ sashayed around the course in 1:54(ish) – though that is strava time, so it might be a total lie… I’m looking out for the Alton Towers dash as a competitive event as well.

Salt Cellar

I saw on Facebook that a load of Glossopdalers were double dipping from Cracken Edge and onto Salt Cellar on Thursday…. Well, I saw that lifts were being arranged, but the only person that I can find who ran it was Guy Riddell, who powered his way through puddles and bog, (despite saying that he’s only really good for races over 20 hours long) and came in 83rd of about 200 in 1:14:20. I think he needs to start rethinking his length/speed ratio and start slowing down a bit more. …. AHA! I have found Guy’s report on Facebook, and it would appear that weekly racer Lawrence Fennelly was also running over that way as well. He finished in 80:58 and 124th.

Sale Sizzler

I’m a little bit fuzzy on the nature of the Sale Sizzler Series, however, as it has been brought to my attention that Nick Ham and Tony Hillier were there, I should probably mention it. So the basic premise appears to be that the runners set off on a 5k course and are given a 3 minute headstart on a Grizzly Bear that is trained to run the course. The Bear is armed with Kebab sticks and any runner that it manages to spear on its way around the course is then barbecued for the delectation and delight of said animals family. Far from being harmful to animals, the Grizzlys queue up to be chosen for this event, with a number of them even rescinding their American passports in order to benefit from this rather generous feeding frenzy. Honestly, these animals coming over here, eating our runners… etc. etc. So neither Tony nor Nick got kebabed this week, Tony saying that he sprinted to the line for a AGE PB 21:51 chip (Daiquiri) time, and a 21:58 gun time, and Nick getting an undisclosed time, but still faster than the Bear.

Borrowdale

I thought there were more people doing Borrowdale (Kasia?), but without results, the only thing I have to go on is Strava, and the only person so far to have uploaded their run is Jamie Helmer. Evidently keeping his powder dry on Wednesday, by just cruising around Cracken Edge, he got his distance legs on for this beast of a race up in the Lakes. (I was originally planning to do it, but figured that trying to run it AND get back for an afternoon Wedding reception might be pushing it a bit…) Still, Jamie got out of his comfort zone and got around the not insignificant amount of course (28km and 2000m of ascent) in 4:30. Nice work!

Teggs Nose Fellrace

Our Centre of the City elite running cohort, consisting of Tim Culshaw and Rich White (ably supported by Devon and Sarah) were across at Teggs nose on Saturday. Tim, arguably still somewhat injured took the intelligent decision to run as fast as he possibly could along the flat sections and then amble his way on the downs, banking on the fact that he would gain enough time on Rich to just about beat him at the end. This lovely little race is basically 3 and a bit miles long (ish) and has 1.5 miles of flat road at the beginning and end. (I may be exaggerating). Essentially, it came down to the wire, with Tim leading by a long long way at the beginning, with Rich slowly eating into the lead as the race went on. Not so much hare and tortoise as Woodlouse and Earwig. In the end, Tim held onto the lead by the slimmest of margins and came in a heroic 30th place, with Rich gasping in his wake in 32nd. (some positions reported here may or may not be correct).

Peak Skyline

Nick Ham, the quadruple dipper of the week (if you count parkrun), decided to save his easiest race til last, and headed off to do the Peak Skyline today. A trifling 30 miles and nigh on 6000ft of climbing, I see from the results page that he has recently finished in 51st place in 6:51:03. Good running Nick – looking forward to seeing the photos.

Parkrun corner

Well, well, well. Here is a turn up for the books. Ex-GDH Capitano extraordinaire Matt Kieras only went and got a PB at Glossop Parkrun this weekend. A 19:34 sees him edge ever closer to that magical 70% age grading. Buggy assisted? I have no idea. Consolidated parkrun stats are here

Other Stuff

I believe that Paul Skuses Navigational Challenge (Part deux) is still out on the hill for your delectation and delight. If you don’t know anything about it get in touch with him o facebook. He’ll get back to you almost immediately as he has nothing better to do.

Keep the 19th August free as John Hewitt is planning a bit of a party for his 55th. If all goes to plan it will be a remarkable event. (I don’t know WHERE he’ll be getting the preforming sealions from, but he has insisted…).

Oh – and if you want a laugh, ask Matt Huxford about his plans for doing the GR20 in Corsica. Well. Plan is maybe overstating it a little… I look forward to the report/write up.

This report is only possible because facebook and strava make it easy for me to stalk people. If you don’t appear on my timelines on either of those, I’m kind of reliant on people telling me things. Thanks to Tim C for telling me about Teggs nose – I’d never have known about that. At least I have a grain of truth on which to add embellishments.