Rain dance – weekend report

Ah, so the rain has finally come back, if only for a few days. There have been a fair few people out and about doing bits and pieces, thanks muchly to Paul Skuse and Dan Stinton for their contributions.

Stoney Middleton

From our weekly Skuse-like correspondent…. (Im worried about whats going to happen to him when the midweek racing dries up… wandering around mumbling about “the good old days of the summer”… who knows?).

Another hot one. A really hot one. Sweaty before we started hot. And humid. Hot and humid. You get the idea. Matt Crompton, a seasoned veteran of the Stoney Middleton race gave us a quick overview of the route but it went over my head. I was a little surprised at the size of the field, 213 runners. Not bad for a thursday night. With only the vaguest idea of the route we were off. Pete Wallroth set off like his shoes were on fire. He got mixed up in the lead pack on a single track and couldn’t get out the way so had to maintain pace till the path widened out. I like to think of him screaming “Heeelp Meee!” as he was caught up in the stampede. The lead runners set off at a mental pace (trying to get away from Pete perhaps ) but then everything settled once on the steep prolonged climb out of the village. This is a climbers race, nothing technical just how hard can you keep on pace. A very brief but welcome shower cooled things down for maybe a minute but then it was back in the heat and finish the climb. You just had to keep the foot on the gas and try to stop anyone getting past on the descent. My legs were spent after Millbrook so I’m happy(ish) to get 7th but feel there’s a lot more to be done here. Matt Crompton came in 53rd looking lobster red but took a massive 1 min 40 off his time. Kudos. Heather Jansevska came in 66th. Pete took 111th having found a more sensible pace than his opening dash (I’ve to check that out on Strava. Seriously, he started like a 100m sprinter!) John Stephenson and Rebecca Smoth took 114 and 115 respectively. John came in sweat free and looking far too fresh for my taste. Nev rocked up at 184th with a suitably hard earned sweaty brow. I don’t think this race is for everyone but if you like hilly trails and roads (Buxworth 5 style), get this one marked down for next year.

Millbrook Monster

Although Paul very kindly offered to send me in a report for this one I didn;t take him up on it – mainly because I didn’t read his message until just now, and it would have been a little cruel to try and get him to turn (an honest) report around in about 10 mins. From the results it seems like the 10k slightly favoured those happier on rougher terrain, but then again, I might be talking nonsense.

5 39:58 Ben “legs of steel” Tetler
7 40:17 Paul “legs to steal” Peters
9 41:09 Stevie “you stay back skuse” Knowles 1st v45
10 41:39 Paul “no-one told me racing was this much fun” Skuse
30 47:32 Steve “easy rider” Page
49 50:14 Joe “speedy” Travis
52 50:24 Ian “got away from the kids” Crutchley
68 51:43 Frank “the statesman” Fielding 1st v65
73 52:03 Dez “why can’t I wear hi-vis” Mitchell
83 53:16 Clive “castleton to” Hope
99 56:03 Nick “ultra” Ham
103 56:39 Emma “the power” Rettig
119 58:21 Emma “neck and neck” Peters
120 58:21 Jo Neck and neck”  Brack
147 1:02:10 Charmayne “aint no swimming in this one” Brierley

Lakeland 50

A quick report from me on the Lakeland 50 this weekend. Dan Stinton was up escaping from fatherhood duties – he must have got some Brownie points somewhere along the way…?

Heading up to Coniston on a rather glorious and warm Friday, all the chatter around the campsite was how to deal with the heat. Oh, how we needn’t have worried!  A day of typical English weather – from glimmers of hope (sunshine) to drizzle, sideways rain and a solitary thunderclap followed by “inside the hood” hail. It was a fantastic trek from Dalemain in the North down to Coniston, with all your typical rugged lake District terrain and some very steep climbs. I crossed the line in 11:12 as both first and last GDH (I think??)

Tour des Fiz

Now this is a bit of an epic by anyones standards, even if it is on your doorstep for 2 days a week. (by that I mean that Jenny goes back to Cham, not that the Fiz moves around the place like some multi-dimensional book shop). Jenny Ross was back in the driving seat for this monster of a race – the distance, I suppose isn’t all that scary – 62km, but it is the 4700m of ascent and descent over that distance that is the eyecatching bit of the race. I don’t really know how she did because a) her watch ran out of battery and b) the website appears to only be in French and I can’t find the results. According to strava, the first 40k were lovely, but it turned into a bit of a train wreck after that. (oh, and this is all assuming that she did the 8 chalet version, not the 5- but I’m sure I’ll be corrected in due course)

Parkrun

New PBs for Paul Peters and Rich Martin this weekend at Glossop – nice work guys. consolidated results are here….