the “How many races can you clash in one week?” report

Right – there was a ridiculous amount of stuff happening this weekend, thankfully I got a lot of help from various quarters with the info and write ups, particular shout outs must go to Paul “word count” Skuse, Els “need a distraction from phil” Swan, Jeroen “tarmac correspondent” Peters, Lynne “collation queen” Taylor and everyone who provided photos. (I’ve edited a fair amount of the stuff that came in, simply because otherwise you’d all be reading a small novel… so any mistakes in 1st/3rd person and continuity errors are simply because I’ve read it too many times and have developed a blind spot) I’m sorry if anyone slipped through the net this week, but wow, a lot was going on. Sit back, pour yourself a BIG cuppa tea, grab at least 3 biscuits and have a read.

Stride through the woods

Report sent in by Semaphore from Paul Skuse.…

Another great turn out from GDH. On the start line there was the usual banter and photos. We also had a diligent parent/supporter (Elanor Swan) and a malingerer (Matt “Sniffles” Crompton) Where does John Stephenson go at photo time? He’s like the Scarlet Pimpernel. He was there, we all saw him, just no photographic proof. Pre-race there were plenty of people trying out the Altra shoes brought along by the guys at Run North West. David C-L rocked up at the 11th hour with a number and no pins so we had to look after him:) Nick Ham was back to his effervescent self, though water bottle free for a change (very unusual) but thankfully with trusty camera at the ready. Crossman was trying to get in my head (and had been since the car park. Some people have no class). Ben Tetler’s beard looked it’s typical resplendent self, a true wonder of the natural world. Positively biblical. There was the usual rabble of Luke Holme, Ian Crutchley, Will Mather and Pete Wallroth. They lower the tone but make up the numbers:) It was good to see Pete “the Elf” Nicholson having a short blast with us, a change to his recent distance running adventures. Joe Gavin was there but I don’t think I said hello so if you’re reading this “Hello Joe!” Don’t be shy, come and have a chat next time. Simon Toole was looking mean and keen. Jonathan Haggart and Malc seemed to sneak in at the start (or were busy talking to other people which is possible) and of course Tony Hillier was holding court with the crowds -is there anyone he doesn’t know? We had a good few of our indomitable ladies there at the start. Jo Brack, Charmayne Brierley, Rachel Walton, Lynne Taylor and Alabama – who we finally have a photo of showing a steely grimace rather than the expected smile. As we all took our places I noticed Stephen Page as well.

It seems that Ben Tetler is running so well and was up at the front making huge gains on the rest of us. Skuse‘s world consisted of Crossman and Page just running him ragged for the duration. The marshals were well placed and all hazards clearly marked. The final climb to the finish line was tough but a great finish to this this cracker of a race. Unless, that is, you happen to be Will Mather and have a collision and slide across the rocks and gravel over the finish line. Ben “force of nature” Tetler was first GDH and 3rd overall. Steve “the un-aging” Crossman took v50, David C-L took v60 and Tony Hiller v65 and Jo Brack took ladies v50. And trust me, there were some some pretty big club contingents so we did pretty damn well.

STTW Paduan write up

We had three youngsters representing GDH at STTW. Caitlin Swan, Adam Crompton and Benjamin Crutchley. The route for the junior race was the same as the adults but one lap ( Im prepared to be corrected on this). Not sure why they only had to do one, they’re younger and fitter than us. I thought the race organisers did a brilliant job with the pre race instructions/directions. All 3 of our junior runners blasted off the start line and were soon out of view. And then, very quickly, far quicker than I was expecting, they came back into view. Caitlin was driving hard all the way in but couldnt quite catch the lead runner. Benjamin maintained a good solid pace but was, in my opinion, slowed down by wearing a heavy tee shirt. Listen to your old man, vests are the way to go. He hasn’t taken his off since joining the club! Adam came in as the final part of our speedy trio giving it full beans across the finish line. Well done all of you.

Shining Tor

Jubilee Road 5 mile race

The Hathersage Hurtle

Kigali Peace half marathon

Our (at the moment) Rwandan based runner Alice Willson reporting on her half

marathon “Well that was hard. Kigali Peace (half) marathon. Very hot, hilly, and no blooming signage so everyone took different routes!!” It seems that the Des school of race signage might have expanded to other countries and continents as well…. Tim Culshaw also ran, but after about 17k decided that blurred vision, slow running and general unwellness in 28degrees probably wasn’t such a good idea…. Still, he seems to appreciate the delightfully sweaty hug from Alice at the end….

3 Days in May

May Queen

Although there was a plethora of stuff on the other 2 days in May, there was little enough told of May Queen. The Friday night tester is a cracking little race, but you have to go like stink at the beginning in order not to get blocked in on the single track up towards the fields to the top of Lantern Pike. All I know is that Immy gave Skusey a run for his money- even though he was wearing his “ultra” socks, and it was Josie Swan’s first foray into evening racing- a pretty successful one by all accounts – and written up below. Heather came in a very well deserved 3rd lady overall, while Jude was 1st V45. It’s also fantastic to see some of our further flung runners coming up to take part in the series – furthest travelled this time was almost certainly Claire Campbell, up from the Isle of Wight, I’m sure everyone made her feel welcome for the first few days of her holiday up this end of the country

Results looked like this…

2 Ben Tetler  0:21:12
12 Paul Skuse 0:24:00
27 Phil Swan 0:26:37
31 Ian Crutchley 0:27:15
36 Matt Crompton 0:27:47
51 Heather Jansevska 0:29:01
55 Nick Ham 0:29:22
57 Josephine Swan 0:29:42
64 Jude Stansfield 0:30:25
67 Dez Mitchell 0:31:08
68 Andy Wilkins 0:31:45
71 John Stephenson 0:32:29
76 Claire Campbell 0:33:18
78 Rebecca Ashworth 0:33:36
81 Alison Holt 0:34:23
89 Sian Griffiths 0:46:12

Mount Famine

Roving reporter Paul Skuse sent this in via Enigma machine… Having never raced it before, all I knew of the Mount Famine race was that it has a mental start reminiscent of that scene in Gladiator with the barbarians surging through the woods. AND and that you went up Mount Famine-no one told me that last bit, I figured it out myself. Several car loads of harriers rocked up in Hayfield ready for day 2 or the 3 days in May. Once signed in, we nodded to friends, discussed the route and decided which shoes would be best, the usual pre race routine. Oh, and it was hot. Really hot. (it was so hot that Paul actually ONLY wore a vest)…  If you haven’t done Mount Famine yet, it’s a bit of a must. No other race starts like this. In the shade of the trees the temperature was lovely and we are so lucky to live in this beautiful place – even if we do spend half of the time so knackered from running up the hills we can barely see anything… Famine is one of those races where you have to go eyeballs out all the way –  at paces that feel like you’re red lining all the way… descents to be taken full beans with crazy legs and windmilling arms is really the only option. t was just a merciless race. But what a route.

No photos for Mount Famine. No-one ever takes photos… you have to be there…..

And the results:

21st Paul Skuse 57:30
22nd Craig Leith 57:36
48th Phil Swan  1:05:35.
64th Matt Crompton 1:09:05
68th Mark Harrison  1:10:36,
69th Daz Clarke with 1:10:38.
72nd Nick Ham 1:11:11
73rd Mary Jeal 1:11:17
78th Jude Stansfield 1:11:56.
86th John Stephenson 1:15:51
95th Rebecca Ashworth 1:20:29
97th Claire Campbell 1:22:36
98th Alison Holt 1:23:48

Lantern Pike Dash

Man…. that Skusey has had a weekend of racing AND sending me stuff! Here we go again…. I guess a few of us started this one feeling less than 100% with the various weekends endeavours having taken their toll. The seniors were off first and what a start. There was some very impressive hurdling from Mark Davenport and John Stephenson. I opted for the more British queuing at the stile approach. Nothing if not cautious. Up the climb Phil Swan was looking pretty comfortable despite his flying start. Take a look at the photos; he was ahead of Mark Burton! Dan Stinton was up ahead in rather dazzling red shorts. This bothered me cos he’s just become a dad and he ought to be completely knackered like the rest of us were when we started families. The paced slowed a little at the start of the big climb. The favoured option was a mix of hands on knees, jogging anything remotely joggable and when all else failed a kind of monkey crawl.

It’s always great to hear the shouts of encouragement unless it’s “Come on Immy!” I just couldn’t get any distance from her. And so it continued all the way up. And all the down. Then she passed me. There was a time when youngsters respected their elders. So now I was the one chasing and did so in a rather mincing fashion (Chris Jackson’s words). I just can’t descend on the rough stuff! It was full beans all the way down to the stream. With only the two fields left to climb back up, I was able to pick up the pace and just get back in front but there was nothing in it, just a case of hanging on till reaching the finishing line. Immy came in a very well deserved first lady, Dan Stinton was in soon after with Mark Davenport only just behind. Phil Swan is getting his running mojo back despite not racing for ages and then deciding that 3 days of back to back racing would be a good way to get back into things…. Then it was Zoe who got a prize for 2nd female. Ian Crutchley followed soon after, with Matt Crompton and Daz C storming up from behind, but not having quite enough in the tank to get in front of Matt.  Jude came in 1st FV45 looking strong, followed closely by Jo Brack. Charmayne and Rachel Walton had a very close finish with Rachel just getting in ahead and taking the v40 prize. The next bunch was having a great tussle. Andy Wilkins and Alison Holt fought hard to take lead of the back but Simon Toole came up from a fair way behind to get ahead of Claire Campbell and John Stephenson. Great bit of running Si. Beccy Ashworth was next in. Malc Brown came in swearing off flat miles from now on, only hill training for him apparently… and Lynne Taylor came in to complete the GDH line-up as Mandy B had to withdraw due to hurty things.

the results looked a bit like this….

13 Paul Skuse  0:14:20
15 Imogen Trinder 0:14:30 (1st Lady)
18 Dan Stinton  0:15:14
20 Mark Davenport 0:15:26
23 Phil Swan 0:15:51
35 Zoe Barton 0:16:59 (2nd Lady)
36 Ian Crutchley 0:17:03
42 Matt Crompton  0:17:43
44 Darren Clarke  0:17:49
49 Jude Stansfield  0:18:15 (1st LV45)
58 Joanne Brack 0:19:25
62 Rachel Walton  0:20:07 (1st LV40)
63 Charmayne Brierley  0:20:09
64 Andy Wilkins  0:20:42
65 Alison Holt  0:20:45
66 Simon Toole  0:20:45
67 Claire Campbell  0:20:47
68 John Stephenson 0:21:10
70 Rebecca Ashworth  0:21:29
73 Malcolm Brown  0:22:49
79 Lynne Taylor  0:25:35

Full Junior Report

Thanks to Els Swan for this compilation which arrived by trebuchet mail… This week saw the start of the Junior Club Champs and Team GDH Jnr definitely rose to the challenge with a brilliant week of racing. On Wednesday, Caitlin Swan, Ben Crutchley. and Adam Crompton. strode awesomely through the woods coming in 2nd, 6th and 12th respectively. Two days later, Josie Swan completed her first ‘grown up’ fell race joining Team GDH at Friday’s Hayfield May Queen. Josie finished 1st in her category (JFU15) and was also 4th lady.

Then, in a great finish to the week, a record breaking (I think) 5 GDH juniors dashed up and down the first bit of Lantern Pike. The final results have yet to be published however the performances went something like:

Caitlin Swan – 2nd girl & 1st JF U12, 3rd overall
Josie Swan – 4th girl & 2nd JF U14, 5th overall
Ben Crutchley –  2nd boy & 2nd JM U12, 6th overall
Adam Crompton – 9th boy & 5th JM U12, 16th overall
Melissa Crutchley – 8th girl & 1st JF U10 & 19th overall

Elsewhere, Team Barlow put in a storming performance at Glossop parkrun with Naomi and Wyatt each taking over a minute off their PBs. Big congratulations to all of our juniors this week – it is great to see you flying around in blue and orange and we look forward to seeing you all out racing again soon!

Manchester 10km, Half and full marathon

Jonathan Haggart reports…. “I’ve ticked a half marathon off my list of ambitions. It didn’t quite go to plan and I had to walk most of the last 3k because I was worried about my heart rate, but I crossed that line. Very proud and grateful for those who helped put me in this position, with a special mention Richard and Rhoda, whose banner had me chuckling for a good few km. I was elated for a few minutes post-run, but…. unfortunately, I fainted again, shortly after crossing the line. Here Liz, Richard & Rhoda had to give some unexpected support! Thank you! The medics were ace, and I reckon I’m probs retired from anything over 14k. I am still in A&E at MRI, sadly. Vasovagal, they think.

Liverpool Rock n’Roll – mail drop from Jeroen

A little write up about today’s marathon

Beautiful day in Liverpool and great for a marathon…. at the start. But with the sun beaming down all day it turned into a great day for spectating a marathon and maybe a little less so for the runners.

Still, we were served a heroic race for the points in the GDH championship between Stephen Page, Joe Travis and Richard Martin. Stephen set off at a blistering pace. At the 9-mile water station he was predicted a 3.05 finish. Joe, in his first ever marathon, coming through quite a few minutes behind but on target, was looking at just under 3.20 with Richard – “I’m starving”- Martin looking comfortable hitting his sub-3.30 target.
As the race went on, Stephen started to suffer badly with Joe closing in fast and overtaking him. Richard was not far behind. But Steve did find his fighting spirit (and energy) and fought this way past Joe again and they finished in that order, Stephen, Joe and Richard on his heels.
In the mean time the female duo of Marie and Jayne flew the Orange and Blue flag with pride. Going round in a much quicker time than we have seen from both of them for quite some time. Suffering in the heat put paid to an even faster time.
Behind them another duo, Mel and Guy. Did not see them at the finish but full of beans and high-5s earlier on. Mel with a beaming smile and Guy with a grimace….

Times:
Stephen Page 3:32.47
Joe Travis 3:38.38
Richard Martin 3:39.39
Marie Williamson and Jayne Moreton both on 4:39.02
Guy-“pipping his wife to the post”-Riddell in 5:34.02
Mel-“excellent marathon debut”- 5:34.03

Target Sprint

Yes- Andy Burnett headed off to the East Cheshire Harriers Running Track for a go at Target Sprint – for those that don’d know what that is… short and sharp, 400m, 5 Targets to hit with 15 pellets, repeat and finish with a third and final 400m sprint. It looks like ECH might be sorting out a training venue for you budding biathletes… Apparently it was great fun, really hard on the second time round shooting straight… however, Mr Burnett has his place secured in National Finals in October, so plenty of time to get better…..!

Parkrun

It seems that with all the racing this week that a couple of the main “3 days in May” protagonists are faster when they race hard every day… Ian Crutchley and Simon Toole both PB’s at Glossop this week, which is fairly impressive considering the rest of what they’ve been up to – and as mentioned above, both Wyatt AND Naomi Barlow thrashed their way to PB’s at Glossop as well… moving on up! Consolidated report here

Other stuff

Kasia was off doing the Welsh 3000’s, taking advantage of the fine weather, and the unfortunate fact that her Old County Tops partner was unable to race away this weekend. Wendy Trelease decided that it would be a splendid time to head to the Tissington trail – and was absolutely right, though it might have been a little warm out there. Meanwhile Chris Webb somehow convinced me that it was a good idea to bin off the OCT and go to scotland for a swing at Ramsay’s Round. We did it, though it was a bit of an epic – got round the 100k and 8800m (ish) of ascent in 23 hours and 21 mins.