Elite start sees Nicky on tele for Great North Run A busy weekend of races for Ellesmere Port runners started on BBC1 as organises of the Great North Run handed EPRC runner Nicky Bird an Elite number for the Women’s race.

Nicky lined up alongside 40 top female athletes including Ireland’s Sonia O’Sullivan, Australia’s Benita Johnson, Ethiopia’s Derartu Tulu and Kenya’s Susan Chepkemei. As the gun was fired to start the race Nicky’s opening paces were clearly caught by the cameras thanks to the bright orange coloured vest of EPRC and with a 25 minute head start over the rest of the 49,000 or so runners Nicky had great support around the 13.11 mile course from Newcastle to South Shields and rapped a great day off by smashing her personal best by over 2 minutes to finish in 1 hour 21 minutes and 18 seconds for 23rd position overall and 11th British runner home.

Simon Jeffs, competing in his first Great North run did exceptionally well to register a time of 1.23.56 for a new personal best considering Simon didn’t have the luxury of starting at the front and had to weave in and out of a few thousand runners.

The Next race of the Weekend saw EPRC duo Ian Cooper and Steve Crowe battle it out once again to be first runner home for the club this time at the penultimate Wirral Seaside 5K run. The race saw a quick start by Steve move up into 3rd position but not to be out done this time Ian caught up before the half way point and created a small gap which he held until the finish to give Ian third spot in 16.21 with Steve seconds behind in 4th position finishing in a time of 16.28.

Sunday also saw the staging of West Cheshire’s annual 10K road race the Sutton 6. First runner home for the club was Paul Robertson who on the back of very little training due to work commitments somehow still keeps fit and showed this at the race by finishing in 38.59 for 25th position. Next runner home for the Port was Alan Durston who negotiated the course in a satisfactory time of 43.22 (70th), finally Kevin Curtis produced a time of 47.08 to take 128th position overall.

Alison Macdonald flew the flag for the ladies and didn’t disappoint finishing in 44.13 and this was good enough to give Alison first position in the over 35’s category.

Chris Marshall took a trip to the Peak District for the "Stanage Struggle" fell race, over a tougher than anticipated 6.75 mile course with 950 feet of climbing, he finished in 51.40 and placed 76th over all.

The final race of the Weekend involving an Ellesmere Port runner takes us to Germany for the Berlin Marathon. Inspired by Paul Tergat’s world record of 2.04.55 on the course last year John Jennings fancied his chances of a quick time and hopefully under 3 hours 15 minutes to secure John a place at London next year. The race started well for John and he accomplished the first half of the race on target in 1.36.16, however as the weather conditions worsened so did John’s fatigue and in the latter stages John hit the wall, not any remainders of the Berlin wall but the feeling a marathon runner gets when his body runs out of carbohydrate fuel and starts burning fat for energy instead. With the second 13 miles taking John 2.00.09 he finally crossed the finish line in a brave 3 hours, 36 minutes and 25 seconds.

Last Tuesday night saw the penultimate Wirral multi terrain race held at Eastham Woods and organised by West Cheshire. The race, thanks to its close location and good woodland course always attracts a good turn out from Ellesmere Port runners and Tuesday was no exception with 15 runners present.

First runner back for the club and having one of his finest runs to date was Steve Crowe who had to pick himself up after falling in the woods during the race but did so with great determination to come back through the field and finish in 4th position overall in a time of 24.54. Next runner home for the club was Ian Cooper who negotiated the course in a time of 25.10 for 8th position. Simon Jeffs was next back finishing strongly in 27.00 for 22nd position. Tony Hyland was next home in 27.26 (27th) followed seconds later by the inform Matt Whitfield having another good run to finish in 27.29 for 30th position.

Chris Marshall was the next runner home for the club with a finishing time of 28.36 for 40th position followed by Gary Richards 29.21 (57th), Roy Traynor 29.34 (58th) and Les Fleetwood 30.53 (76th). Another faller on the night was Steve Blaylock who went down awkwardly on his ankle and limped home in 31.37 for 79th position. Finally, Paul Welsh tackled the course in 35.02 for 103rd position.

In the men’s team events the above positions meant an excellent result for Ellesmere Port ‘A’ finishing second only to Wirral ‘A’.

On the ladies team it was great to see a strong turn out with Alison Macdonald first home for the club finishing 8th in 31.53 followed by the hard working Tracey Ellis who finished 26th in 37.19. Mandy Penfold was next lady home for the club finishing in 39.32 for 32nd position and finally Karen Craig making her debut for Ellesmere Port finished in the same time as Mandy for 33rd position. This gave EPRC Ladies ‘A’ a satisfactory 7th in the team event.