Port give their all at North West Relays Birchwood Business Park was the destination last Sunday as the annual North West road relays were staged. Each team consisted of 4 runners whose task was to run a leg each of the 5600 metre course around the complex. 2 men’s teams and an incomplete ladies team represented Ellesmere Port RC.

First race to get under way was the senior woman’s race and our only participant was Nicky Bird who ran the first leg in the knowledge there was no other EPRC ladies to complete the remaining legs but still managed to put Ellesmere Port running club in the spotlight at a large sporting event by finishing first runner home on the opening leg and run the second faster leg of the day finishing in an excellent 19.56

On the first of the men’s team Ian Cooper gave EPRC a flying start and opened up a 50 second lead on local rivals West Cheshire completing the first leg in 19.05, as Ian crossed the finish line Denis Duret set of on the second leg and had a solid run in 19.45 but couldn’t quite hold off the fast approaching Graham McNeil of West Cheshire. Tony Hyland took control of the third leg and completed the 2 lap course in 20.25 leaving Steve Crowe start the final leg in 21st position, however with targets to chase Steve overtook, Rossendale H&AC, Rochdale Harriers and Manchester H&AC to give EPRC an overall finishing position of 18th out of 44 teams and 5th Cheshire team just 27 seconds behind Wirral ‘B’ and 55 seconds behind West Cheshire.

The second EPRC team saw Simon Jeffs give a strong performance completing the first leg in 20.21 coming home just in front of St Helens Sutton AC. Chris Marshall performed well on the 2nd leg in 21.58 to set up Ian Robinson for the 3rd leg, Ian, running his first relay for the club had a gutsy run in 23.16 leaving Danny Legg in 34th position on the final leg but a good run from Danny who isn’t 100% fit at present saw him over take S.Myerscough ofWesham Road Runners to give Ellesmere Port’s second team a finishing position of 33rd overall and 11th Cheshire team.

The hugely popular Lake Vyrnwy Half Marathon also took place on Sunday and saw 4 EPRC runners head off to Wales to take part in the race.

First runner home for the club was Matt Whitfield who continued his good form to finish in 1.25.32 only a minute outside Matt’s PB and giving him 8th position in the V45 Category. Next runner home was Dave Nalder who completed the 13.11 mile course in 1.29.12 giving Dave 14th position in the V50 Category. Dave was followed by Steve Blaylock who has shown a sudden return to form knocking 4 minutes of his PB for the course to finish in 1.29.51. Finally Alan Durston came home in a time of 1.36.21 giving Alan 23rd position in the V50 category.

Last Tuesday saw the second in the Wirral multi terrain races take place in some very windy weather along the beach’s and sand dunes near Harrison Drive, Wallasey.
Ian Cooper was first man back for the club after coming through the field at the turn around point to finish in 6th position overall and 3rd in the O40 Category in a time of 25.48. Next runner home for the club was Matt Whitfield who found the windy conditions suited his race and gave Matt a finishing time of 28.46 for 36th position. Tony Hyland was next runner home for the club crossing the line in exactly the same time as Matt for 37th position. Next runner home for the club was Danny Legg who completed the course in 29.17 for 40th position. Danny was followed by Roy Traynor 30.31 (58th), Les Fleetwood 31.12 (71st) and finally Paul Welsh who completed the race in 32.18 for 83rd position.

On the ladies team Nicky Bird eased to victory in a time of 28.48 over a minute ahead of her nearest rival Ruth Isaacs of Pensby Runners. Finally Alison Macdonald gave a good performance to finish 8th overall and 2nd in the U40 Category in a time of 32.18.