Forget the training… It’s out and out race time!

The 12th of May saw nine Ellesmere Port Runners travel the short distance to Christleton for Tattenhall Running Club’s popular and fast 5k road race.  Steve Crowe once again led the EPRC. Steve put in a superb performance, even though he was still suffering the affects of  a week of illness, he finished 9th in a new personal best of 15:54 knocking over 45 seconds off his previous best achieved at last years event.

Following Steve home was Ian Cooper in 29th position and a fine time of 16:38.

Third EPCR home was Simon Jeffs. Unsure of his current fitness, Simon ran a great race to come home in 17:13 and 42nd position overall.

Next home for the club was Nicola Bird. Nicky, not feeling at her best on the night, still worked hard to take 4th senior lady and produced a solid 17:36 for 58th overall position.

Not far behind Nicola was Chris Marshall. Chris who’s been showing superb form in the last three weeks once again produced a textbook display of controlled running finishing in a new PB of 17:58 and 74th position.

Making a rare outing for Ellesmere Port was next man home, John Fiddler. John finished first in the V55 male category in a great time of 18:09 and 82nd place.

Still with the London Marathon in his legs, a weary Matt Whitfield battled his way around the 3.1 mile course in a solid 19:04 for 120th place. Matt will be hoping he can induce some freshness into his legs before this week’s Chester Half Marathon.

Les Fleetwood ran well to secure 188th place in a time of 21:17 and will be working on the training ground to get back under 20 minutes in the near future.

Last EPCR home was Karen Hyland in a good time of 29:45 for 292nd position.

Two days later, five EPRC runners joined a carnival atmosphere in the Market Drayton 10k.  Perfect conditions and a relatively flat course produced some great times and three PB’s.

Leading the charge was Nicola Bird.  After a disappointing performance in the Trafford 10k earlier this year, Nicky ran with determination and certitude to post a superb new personal best time of  36:31 for 1st lady home and 23rd position overall.

First man home and obliterating his second PB in 3 days was Chris Marshall. Going out strong from the gun Chris pushed on to a superb 37:21. Like Nicola, this has knocked over 1 minute of his previous 10k PB and was good enough to secure 36th place.

Showing signs of returning to the form he was in at the end of last year, Mark Dodd was next home.  He was shadowing Chris early on but at 3 miles he could not respond to a surge from Chris and an unbridgeable gap was opened.  Undaunted he battled on to finish in 53rd place with a new personal best of 38:39. He is now hopeful for a good performance at the Chester Half Marathon this Sunday.

Closing in on the ailing Mark was Matt Whitfield. The old pace master had run a steady first half and had caught sight of Mark at 4 miles and dug in deep but had too much ground to make up. Matt crossed the finish line in 39:27 and 62nd position.

Final EPRC home was Dave Nalder still coming back from injury. Dave ran well for 124th place in a time of 42.31.