5 Milers, Borders League & Let’s Throw A Marathon In For Good Luck!

The 5th April seen four Ellesmere Port Runners heading down the road to the popular Chester Spring 5 mile road race. Peter Riley of Leigh Harriers was first man home in a superb and new course record of 23:23 finishing nearly 3 minutes ahead of the 2nd placed man. First home for the ladies was Jenny Clague of Liverpool Harriers in 28:08.

First man home for Ellesmere Port Running Club was the ever improving Steve Crowe forcing himself into a fabulous 5th position in a time of 27:06 knocking over a minute off his previous PB set at Sefton Park last year.

Next EPRC runner home was Alison Hughes knocking a massive two and a half minutes off her previous PB coming home in 34:20 for 7th senior lady and 125th position overall. This is the first time Alison has averaged less than 7 minute miling in an officially measured course averaging 06:52 per mile.

Closely following Alison was John Jennings in 132nd place in a time of 34:41.

Les Fleetwood was the final EPRC runner in a time of 37:06 and 175th position.

April 9th saw the penultimate round of this season’s Border League series, hosted by Wirral A.C, The 6 mile course was run in  perfect and bright breezy conditions along Meols Promenade.

Once again taking the number one spot was Buckley’s Clive West in a time of 31:37. First lady home was Marilyn Kitching of Tattenhall Runners in 37:08.

For EPRC’s men’s team, once again, Steve Crowe made it first home, coming in 6th position in 32:22. Steve is now becoming a household name in Ellesmere Port and is now figuring consistently in the top 10 in local races.

Nearly 2 minutes behind Steve was Ian Cooper running his 2nd Borders race of the season finishing in 34:13 for an excellent 17th position.

3rd EPRC runner home and into 50th position was Paul Robertson posting a time of 37:03.

Chris Marshall continued his return to the race stage resulting in his highest Borders finish for EPRC of 4th in a time of 38:55 and 85th position overall.

Jon Hawker also worked his way into his highest Borders League position and 5th club counter just missing the 40 minute barrier in 40:07 and 105th place.

6th placed EPRC man was Brian Griffiths in 39:56 and 99th position. Brian also finished in a superb 10th overall V50.

Next man home for the club was 7th placed Mike Burns in 40:30 and 115th place.

John Jennings was next EPRC man home in 41:20 and 118th position.

Within a minute of John was Dave Nalder claiming 9th counter for the club in a time of 42:16 and 127th place and a commendable 12th place in the V50 category.

Les Fleetwood ran well to take 10th EPRC counter in a time of 43:36 and 145th position overall.

Nigel Crierie battled his way around the 6 mile course in a time of 49:48, 208th place and 11th place for the club.

Once again the ladies ran exceptionally well and are well placed for promotion this season with a demonstration in team work. The ladies team had a full selection of running talent on display with their best showing for quite some time.

First home for the club was our number one female runner, Nicky Bird in 38:29 for 4th lady and 81st place overall. Nicky will be disappointed with her 4th place as she’s used to dominating the Borders league races but she’ll come out guns blazing for the final race next month.

2nd EPRC lady home was the superb Alison Hughes who has Nicky firmly fixed in her sights with a time of 40:46, 9th lady home for 113th overall position.

Alison McDonald was the 3rd EPRC lady home in a respectable 44:41.

Running a strong race and EPRC 5th lady was Amanda Penfold posting 49:45 for 207th position.

Just outside 50 minutes was Madeline Bird dispensing with the 6 mile in a time of 50:40 for 7th V50 lady and 212th place.

Last EPRC runner home was Tracy Ellis producing a good display to complete the course in 58:30 for 230th position.

Whilst EPRC male runners were fighting for Division 1 status in the Borders League, two of their runners decided to take the easy option and run the Paris Marathon. With over 30,000 runners running the course and the eventual winner Gashaw Melese producing 02:08:00, Denis Duret and Mark Dodd had to produce something pretty stunning.

Denis Duret, after completing the hard marathon training that’s required to run sub 03:00 hours did it running an exceptional 02:57:41 for 1268th position which makes him in the top 4% on the day. This has shattered his previous PB by nearly 17 minutes in the Paris 2000 Marathon and is now in the all time top 5 Ellesmere Port Marathon Runners.

Mark Dodd however once again ran a disappointing race by his own standards. Hoping to run around 3:15.  Mark was starting to feel the first signs of fatigue at the 9 mile point and by 16 mile was ready to pull out. Determination, some water and a handful of sugar cubes pushed Mark to the 20 mile marker, 12 minutes slower than he did 4 weeks earlier in the tougher Stafford 20 mile race. However, that was the end and his body walked and crawled its way through the final 6.22 mile collapsing over the finishing line in a time of 03:32:59 and 8259th position.