Mark's Column - 28/09/08

And So, Performances Get Even Better!!! Awards Galore!!!

Wirral Multi Terrain Race Four - Arrowe Park

Arrowe Park in Birkenhead was the setting for the final race in the annual multi terrain series. Consisting of 2 laps off road measuring 4.5 miles with both wet fields/gravel and pathway, the scene was set, and could Ellesmere Ports team take any team or individual prizes? Sending a large squad once again, both male and female team members did our town proud as they have done for the previous 3 weeks.

Having a superb battle up at the business end of the race, Ian Cooper and Mark Dodd battled it out to the finish with Ian out sprinting Mark over the final 300 meters to finish 7th overall in 25:58 closely followed by Mark in 8th and 26:02. Denis Duret wasn't far behind for the 3rd EPRC runner home, coming in 17th in 26:44. Once again as with previous races, then the competitors came thick and fast; Chris Marshall 31st (27:27), John McAndrew 34th (27:40, John Cole 59th (29:39), Mike Burns 61st (29:51) and Nigel Crierie 130th (39:44).

Nicola Bird who is now approaching her best form over the shorter distances, ran strong on a surface that she doesn't favour to win the ladies race in 27:34. Alison Hughes in 12th (31:18) ran a storming race with Alison MacDonald consolidating the ladies team with 13th in 31:43.

Overall team results for the series seen both teams just missing out on podium finishes. Ellesmere Ports men's "A" team came 6th overall and the "B" team came 17th out of 49 teams in the results. The ladies did even better, coming 5th overall which is a fantastic result as the ladies team hasn't got the depth that the mens team possess.

Overall, Ellesmere Port came away with 5 individual trophies;

2nd Place Overall U40 Men's Category - Mark Dodd

3rd Place Overall U30 Ladies Category - Nicola Bird

2nd Place Overall U40 Ladies Category - Alison Hughes (missing out on 1st place because she got beat by the joint winner in the last race)

2nd Place Overall V50 Men's Category - Graham Earlham

Royal Manchester Children's Swinton Half Marathon

Three tough grizzled runners made the early start trip for the swinton Half Marathon. Starting at 8:30am on Sunday morning, conditions were perfect with zero wind, with the course ran 100% through undulating towns/villages around the Salford area... Mark Dodd, Chris Marshall and Jason Bennett ran way above themselves with three fantastic performances.

First home for the club was a head cold filled Mark. After setting off with Chris at a suicidal pace, Mark decided to keep going expecting to die a death at 10 mile. It didn't happen and actually ran stronger the longer the race went to come home in 17th position in 1:19:56 and marks a superb return to form.

Running his 2nd Half Marathon in 7 days and his 3rd race, was Chris. Suffering slightly on the hills, but putting in a superb personal best performance, Chris managed to finish 21st in a stunning 1:22:00 knocking over another 2 minutes of his previous PB from last week's half. We will be expecting fireworks in this weekends famouse Sand Stone Trail run.

Running his first Half Marathon since joining the club was Jason Bennett. Taking the sensible approach and ignoring all advice from Mark and Chris, Jason ran a superbly paced race breaking his target of 1:30 by 16 seconds posting 1:29:44 for 50th position overall. Bear in mind, the size of the task in hand, and Jason demolished his old PB by more than 10 minutes. 265 runners took part, with the race being won by Ben Fish in a fabulous elite time of 1:07:51. The ladies race was won by Bev Jenkins from Salford Harriers in 1:25:01.

Macclesfield half Marathon

Opting for the tougher Half Marathon ran in Manchester on Sunday was Jon Hawker, preferring to run in Macclesfield. Notorious for hills and slow runs, this course is a challenge to anyone, however Jon ran brilliantly to post a time of 1:41:13 for 211th position overall.

Salford's Andi Jones won the men's race at a canter in 1:07:51 with the ladies race won by Olivia Walwyn in 1:19:24.