It’s Cold & Icy Out There

On a cold and icy Sunday morning (5th March) four Ellesmere Port Runners headed off to Manchester for The Alexandra Park 5k and the ever popular Trafford 10k.

Mark Dodd was Ellesmere Port’s sole representative in the Alexandra Park 5k.  Running strongly, he produced his highest ever placing, finishing 9th overall in a field of 116 runners, his time of 17:38 would have been a massive personal best but unfortunately for Mark the course had been shortened slightly to avoid hazardous ice on the route. Winning the three lap race was Ciaran Fitzpatrick of Manchester Harriers in 15:28. First Lady home was Lorraine Lucas in 20:22 for 31st overall position.

8 miles away in Partington, the Trafford 10k got under way with 308 men and women braving the cold conditions.  EPRC’s Steve Crowe ran the race of his career.  On the same course, where in September ’05  he set his current 10k best, he stormed to a new personal best by nearly a minute producing a outstanding time of 33:31 for 11th position.   In a rare race outing, Simon Jeffs ran a strong race finishing 48th in 36:40. To highlight the quality of the race, Ian Hudspith of Morpeth Harriers broke the magical 30 minute barrier, to win in a time of 29:49.

The  1st Lady home was Bev Jenkins of Salford Harriers in 35:19.  Ellesmere Port’s Nicola Bird, competing in her first 10k of the year finished 58th overall and 7th Lady in 37:53.

The 12th March brought blizzard conditions to the North West, so three Ellesmere Port Runners thought they’d try their hands 60 miles away in the tough Stafford 20 mile road race.

The race which takes place over an undulating 3 lap course produced one of the best finishes seen in this event. After 2 miles, a group of three men broke away from the rest of the field and had the top 3 positions to themselves. Andy Norman, Dave Norman and Ray Plant battled it out over the last 100 yards with Andy taking victory in a swift 01:52:12. Clocking the same time and taking 2nd position was Dave Norman with Ray Plant having to settle for 3rd position in 01:52:15.

EPRC’s Steve Crowe, in his first ever race outing at 20 mile finished 8th out of 302 runners in a blistering 02:05:23.  Steve was ultimately disappointed with his run as he was aiming for sub 02:00 hours, but the conditions and tough course took their toll on EPRC’s leading man.

Mark Dodd, also running his first 20 mile race and still recovering from his punishing marathon training schedule ran a strong first 10 mile (01:09:50).  Matt Whitfield using his years of running experience paced himself slightly better and at the 16 mile mark caught and passed Mark and went onto finish in 02:23:33 and claim 73rd position and 2nd for Ellesmere Port.  Mark still posted a very positive 02:24:49 for 80th place and now has 4 weeks to recover before the Paris marathon.