Mark's Column - 21/06/09

The Druid 5 Mile 17th June

For the fifth year running Ian Houston from Wrexham Tri Running Club, having completed the gruelling Bala Triathlon at the weekend, won the annual midsummer race up Foel Fenlli - but it was a close shave with Eryri's Tim Higginbottom two seconds behind. Times were a little faster this year due to footpath resurfacing and the wooden steps up the North face of Fenlli are being rebuilt.

However, only one Ellesmere Port Runner braved this tough race. 5 miles, with over 1200ft of ascent isn't for everyone, but Jon Cole proved what a quality and multi terrain runner he's now turning into. Whether it's road or trail racing, Jon's up to the job. Coming 41st in 42:01 for one of the toughest 5 milers around is superb running.

Warrington 10k 18th June

Doing the club proud over in Warrington, were Dave Nalder and Nicky Bird in the popular Warrington 10k race. In very windy conditions with thunder in the air, Nicky and Dave did well pushing on to finish as quickly as possible before the rain started.

Now starting to benefit from some serious track work, Nicky is firing on all cylinders coming home first for the club in 38:22 (6:10 m/m) to claim 15th overall and first lady  in a field of 200 runners with Dave some 3 minutes behind still recovering from his Edinburgh Marathon experience in 41:21 (6:39 m/m) for 31st position.

The overall winner was J Scott Buccleuch from Stockport Harriers in a slow winning time of 35:33 (5:43 m/m).

Tough Team Challenge 19th June

The annual running of the exceptionally popular Tough Team Challenge was on a warm and breezy Friday night last week. A grueling 9 miles with a mixture of road and trail including the infamous railway. The overall winners is the team time based on time of last member to finish. i.e. it doesn't matter if the first two team members win, the winning time is based on their 3rd member to finish, so team camaraderie is uppermost.

Ellesmere Port sent 4 runners, each running superbly well on one of the toughest courses around. Roy Traynor, John Cole and John Jennings made up their team, with Denis Duret also running but for a team called "Last Inn Runners". EPRC's team managed a respectable 21st out of 76 teams in 74:44 for the last runner, with Denis's new found friends, coming in a close 74th in 76:09.

The winning team was predictably "Two Plus One" who consisted of Mike Robbins, Darren Rowlands and Tom Annable who are all quality runners in their own rights in 56 minutes and 23 seconds.

Lymm 5k 20th June

The 8th running of the tough and hilly Lymm 5k, part of the Cheshire Road Race Series was run in pleasant breezy conditions over in Warrington. Mark Dodd and Nicky Bird, both in top form at the present time were both competing with Nicky having the added bonus of being placed No1 in the series if she could consolidate with a win.  

The Cheshire Road Race Series, is 8 races over the season varying from 5k to half marathons with the your best 5 positions counting overall.

The 1st kilometre of Lymm, is a notoriously fast start mostly down hill and inclined, but from 1.2k, the work begins with the first killer hill. From 2k onwards until 2.8k, it's pretty much flat then once again, the hills start continuing all the way to the finish.

First home for the club trying to hold onto rivals for the Cheshire series was Mark Dodd in 17:22 (5:35 m/m) coming 14th out of the 265 competitors. Judging by his opponents for this race series, this will now promote Mark to 4th from 14th in the current rankings with only 3 races left in the series.

Next home for the club was Nicky Bird, racing a wonderful race cumulating in an intense sprint finish for first lady home. Nicky finished won the battle though just 2 seconds ahead of the 2nd placed Lady in 18:17 (5:53 m/m).

The overall winner was Damian Nicholls from Wilmslow in 15:35 (5:00 m/m). The next race in the series is the off roader, The Pie & Peas 5 Miler on 5th August.