The monthly running of the 3 mile Wirral Seaside Run seen it's second staging of the year with four of Ellesmere Ports premiere runners taking part. Simon Jeffs, Graham Earlam, Nicky Bird and Mark Dodd made the 20 minute journey to the sea front, not quite prepared for the extremely windy conditions of the race. The sun was out, a large field assembled, and hopes were high for some scorching times.
After an extremely fast opening 1/2 mile, the usual suspects worked their merry way through the field emerging after 1 mile, Mark in 3rd place and Simon in 7th with Nicky also up at the business end having her own battle with Graham Earlam. The leading men were well gone, so Mark was left to fend for himself consolidating 3rd position with no shelter from other runners. Simon was working just as hard and had tagged onto old running buddy Andy Starky from West Cheshire.
At 1.3 mile a turn was made by all that left them gasping for air and a full on head wind that never let up for the remainder of the race. From then on in, it was an incredible battle against the elements. Winning the race in 17:02 was Paul Wathan from Eyri Harriers, closely followed by Wirral AC's Chris Cooper in 17:04 with Mark Dodd hauling himself through the finish for 3rd place in 17:44. Closing in on Mark very quickly was Simon Jeffs showing a superb return to form with great strength in the latter stages of the race coming joint 4th with Andy Starky in 18:05. Nicola Bird was first lady home in 18:39 just holding off Graham Earlham (time unconfirmed).
Whitley 10k Road Race 19th April
In gorgeous spring conditions with a gentle breeze, Mark Dodd continued his 2 races per week schedule to compete in the Whitley 10k near Warrington. A simple 1 lap undulating course was the order of the day with Ellesmere Ports reputation solely on his broad shoulders.
Having not run this course before, it was into the unknown and quite a shock as it was m ore undulating than expected, however after going off hard and fast the hills took their toll, however Mark pushed on to a more than satisfactory 36:09 (5:49 m/m).
The winner was multi time winner Daniel Cliffe of Warrington AC in 31:43 (5:06 m/m), dominating the race from the off and was out of sight by 2 miles. The ladies event was won in style by Liz Whitfield from Spectrum Striders in 39:25 (6:19 m/m)
