Chester 5 and other recent races

[STEVE LOMAS]

Last Wednesday’s Chester Spring 5 was not far off the Alsager 5 in terms of the quality of the runners’ taking part. It is a very much a Club runners’ race, over an attractive and fast course which should have appeal to all Harriers’ Club members.

It was the third Club Championship race of the year over the 5 mile distance (at Alsager and Cheadle previously) and on all three of those days in which they occurred, snow has fallen in the wider Macclesfield area at some stage of the days’. The weather condition at Chester for this latest race was quite windy as well as quite cold. 376 runners completed the course.

This was a very poor turnout as far as the Harriers’ go. Wilmslow had 44 runners’ who completed the race and South Cheshire Harriers had 33 – the Harriers’ had 6. It was a Cheshire Grand Prix race, something that the men’s team is very capable of winning this year even against the formidable competition that Wilmslow, South Cheshire and other clubs’ provide.

Mark Walker again scored another massive gain to one of his personal bests’, this time at this 5 mile distance, taking nearly a minute off his previous best mark to finish in 27:18. He was 9th in this high standard race.

Andy McEvoy also took nearly a minute off his 5 mile best to record a time of 31:10. Mark Wheelton had another consistent finish in 35:00, finishing amongst the top ten M50 runners’ despite running at Mowcop three days earlier. Barbara Murray was the only Harriers’ lady at the race, recording 38:05 and being in the top ten L50’s in the race. Dave Hancock ran his fastest 5 mile race of the year in 40:14 and was high up in the M60 field.

Wednesday’s venue was not good in terms of the time of the race and getting there from work, it’s marathon season and it’s reasonable to allow all members to aspire to their personal and individual goals’ at the ultimate road distance and to plan their races and training accordingly, nearer to the big day. The cost of fuel to Chester may also have been a factor and there are the usual accounts of injuries, job issues, family issues etc that we all suffer from time to time.

Additionally, the race came only 3 days after one of the Club Fell Champ races at Mowcop where there was, in fact, quite a reasonable turnout of Harriers with some good results produced.

However, we had plenty of runners out at the recent Wilmslow Half Marathon. There were a number of members there who only seem to run at this one event, or one or two other marathons/half marathons throughout the year.

I think those runners’ would have to question whether they’re being fair to the Club that they’re a member of but also to ask whether they’re cheating or kidding themselves, that they’re not making the most of their ability by racing and training regularly in order to do themselves justice when they do compete at Wilmslow or wherever.

It just seems a day out for them, playing at it, they’re having a picnic but forgetting the bread and butter of regular race competition and being properly prepared and involved in the sport.

The next Cheshire Grand Prix road race is the Whitley 10K on 15th April. It is one of the best road race courses’ in Cheshire and entries can be made on the day.

Details of the race is here
http://www.ukresults.net/12apl.html#whitley

We will be short of some of the regular runners’ because of the big race in London the following week.

Please can all others, if possible, consider taking part – THIS INCLUDES ANY FELL RUNNERS WHO MAY WISH TO HELP OUT PLEASE IF AT ALL POSSIBLE (not sure what’s on next week for fell races/Bob Graham reccying etc). The men’s team can win the Cheshire Grand Prix this year but we need every one of you, of every ability, to help and then share in any success we do achieve.

It would be a great achievement for the Club to win the series!

The full results at Chester are here;
http://www.westcheshireac.co.uk/roadracing/spring5

The Harriers’ results at Chester were as follows;
Mark Walker 27:19 (9th place and new pb)
Andrew McEvoy 31:10 (70th place and new pb)
Mark Wheelton 35:00
Barbara Murray 38:05
Steve Lomas 39:18
Dave Hancock 40:14

Here are some other recent road and trail races that Harriers’ took part in;
Stafford Half Marathon, road race (Sunday, 25th March)

Zöe Howard 1:47:04 (31st lady out of 217 ladies)

The full results can be found here
http://www.staffordbc.gov.uk/halfmarathon

Bent & Bongs 10K Trail Race, Manchester (Sunday, 1st April)
Neil Murphy 47:08 (61st place)

Full results here
http://www.ukresults.net/2012/bentbong.html

Salford 10K road race (Friday, 6th April)
Gary Willcock 37:03 (103rd place in high standard race, in good form for the forthcoming Manchester Marathon with a new pb)

Full results here
http://www.ukresults.net/2012/salf10k.html

Finally, the Air Products 10K road race (Crewe) took place on Easter Sunday and a number of Harriers excelled on this fast two-lap course;

Martin Platt 38:37 (46th place and 1st M55, fine tuning his form for the London Marathon)
Barry Blyth 39:19 (55th place and 1st M60 as well as 1st M65, NEW CLUB RECORD AT BOTH M60 and M65, beating Colin Ardron’s M65 record by nearly 7
minutes and Dave Tucker’s M60 record. It was also the third fastest time this year at 10K by a British athlete at M65 level).
Tim Stock 40:24 (65th place and 5th M50)
Andrea Frost 42:09 (14th lady and 2nd F45)
Dave Tucker 43:59 (2nd M60 and on schedule for a good time at London)
Alan Webster 44:41 (11th M50)

The full results are here;
http://www.thepowerof10.info/results/re ... ngid=60572

Please also note that Tim Pattison’s time (1:09:36) at the recent Wilmslow Half Marathon was the third fastest half marathon time by a British athlete at
U-23 level this year.

Many thanks,
Steve