Ladies FRA Bronze!!

Monday, 19 October 2009

I just wanted to say a huge well done and thank you to the Keswick Ladies Team at the FRA..... Pippa, Suzy, Sheila, Cat and Jo you were all fab. But I wanted to thank Cat most of all, my team partner for leg 3, the nav...... she was truly amazing at navigating us both, dragging me round the route blindly stumbling having absolutely no idea where we were or where we were going! My map was firmly scrunched in my left hand for the whole 1.31mins of running, the right grasping the dibber! The route took us into the sheepfolds, through marsh and bogs, over crags, then up over Gavel, through horrendous heather tussocks which nearly broke both ankles,to a fence post, round Blake Fell, all the time I was trying desperately to keep up with Cat in near zero visisbilty, the yellow vest a beacon ahead!!! Then up onto Sharp Knott, before decending to the forest and the track to the finish..... we were overtaken by the pursuing ladies (think Calder Valley here.... sorry my ankles only just managed the descent and kept giving way on the fast track route in. So Cat you were the star on leg 3..... and helped the team win 3rd place!!! Thanks for putting up with me, and I will be trying even harder over the winter months to get faster, fitter to keep up with you next year!!! Maybe??!!!

Hope this gets onto the blog.... have had a few technical hitches!

Dublin Marathon 26th October

Conditions were perfect for the Dublin Marathon with warm, dry, still weather and a huge turnout of enthusiastic Dubliners along the route. They call it The Friendly Marathon and it is easy to see why.

After a twisty start from Merrion Square the route winds through the centre of the city, over the Liffey and out into Phoenix Park before a long sweep round the suburbs to the West and back in to the start/finish area.

A total of 10,413 runners from around the world completed the course and amongst them were;

Andrew Slattery MV40 3:02:44 345th
Rachel Slattery FV40 3:57:39 3740th

Great Cumbrian Run Half-Marathon -Sunday 25th October

22 Keswick AC club members took part in the 27th Great Cumbrian Run Half-Marathon today in rather gusty but mostly dry conditions. Well done to all -it was nice to see a few of you enjoying your running.

The race followed the new route that was first run in 2008 -starting from the Castle, competitors run past the cathedral and through the City Centre before heading out on a scenic and undulating course through the picturesque villages of Cumwhinton, Wetheral and Scotby, with the course then returning to the city to pass behind Carlisle United's Brunton Park football ground, through Rickerby Park, into Bitts Park and the finish at the Sheepmount Athletics Stadium.

Race winner was David Kirkland of Alnwick Harriers in 1.12.16. First female was Gill Laithwaite in a time of 1.25.24.

STEVE HEBBLETHWAITE -01:16:59 7th
MARTIN SCOTT -01:30:23 5th M50
JOHN WAITE -01:32:28 75th
MIKE BEECHEY -01:39:22 67th M40
JOHN DAWSON -01:38:05 69th M40
NIGEL PRITCHARD -01:40:28 135th
GARY HADWIN -01:41:34 83rd M40
JOHN STEVENSON -01:45:39 123rd M40
DAVID HARRISON -01:45:24 40th M50
DERYCK HUTCHINSON -01:51:55 59th M50
R BURCHETT -01:52:22 1st M70
PATRIC GILCHRIST -01:53:33 21st M60
ALLAN BUCKLEY -01:59:36 24th M60
JAMES JOHNSTONE -01:59:29 73rd M50
IAN MILNE -02:17:36 289th M40

DIANE SHAW -01:48:59 11th F40
NICOLA DAVISON -01:52:40 73rd Female
LINDSAY MILNE -01:58:19 106th Female
KATHLEEN FRAMPTON -01:59:29 12th F50
ALISON CUTTS -02:00:12 45th F40
MARY ELLIOTT -02:06:53 158th Female
HELEN SMITH -02:11:40 188th Female

Full results HERE.

ITV Border News item HERE.

The Screes Race - 24th October 2009

This race was being run in memory of Danny Hughes who sadly passed away this year. Danny was pivotal in the development of fell-running, a keen member of Cumberland Fell Runners and well known on the Mountain Running scene. There is a lovely article in the latest Fellrunner about Danny.

The race starts in Nether Wasdale and takes in the lower of The Screes fells, Whin Rigg. Yesterday saw mixed conditions with a warm air temperature but a cool breeze and some cold showers. 48 runners lined up outside the pub at the start and it was Joss Naylor who got us underway accompanied by a starters horn.

Three Keswick runners were out for the race. Toby Cushion, showing no signs of weariness after a quick mile time-trial at Club training (5:10), set a fierce pace up the fell. He was well up the field at the summit but took a couple of tumbles on the boggy and rocky descent and I managed to sneak in ahead of him. I finished 6th and Toby 8th. Colin Valentine was also out adding another race to his impressive number this year and finished 11th.

A cracking little race that would have seen us first team except you needed four runners to count - d'oh. Nick Fish of Borrowdale was overall winner in 43:28 and, keeping it in the family, Julie Fish was first female finisher.

Ian Davies - 6th (48:17)

Toby Cushion - 8th (48:37)

Colin Valentine - 11th (50:54)

2010 Championship fixtures

The races for both the 2010 British Championship, and English Championship have been announced.

British Championship 2010:

10th April Slieve Binnian (Medium)
19th June Sedbergh 3 Peaks (Short)
31st July Dollar (Medium)
25th September Black Mountains (Long).

English Championship 2010:

27th Feb Noonstone (Medium)
1st May Coniston (Medium)
12th June Ennerdale (Long)
26th June Sedbergh Three Peaks (Short)
18th July Holme Moss (Long)
5th September Shelf Moor (Short)

The format for the British in 2010 remains the same as for this years championship with 3 races (one at each distance) to count from the 4 races above. For those that wonder how they may be able to fit in 3 races, as well as the English and Club-championship, spare a thought for runners up until 1985 where the British Championship had been made up of 15 'A' category races from which competitors could count 10 scores from the 3 different race distances.

A few Keswick AC runners will be making a weekend of the opening 2010 British Championship race, Slieve Binnian in the Mourne Mountains of Northern Ireland -get in touch if you want to come along. Likewise, there's usually a seat in a car to the other championship races, and we need 5 to count for a mens team and 3 for the ladies, so get the dates in your diaries and we'll put in some good teams at a few of the races next year.

The British Championship was first recognised in 1972. Former British Championship winners from Keswick AC have included Alan McGee, Billy Bland, Kenny Stuart, Dave Spedding (in V40, V50 and V60 categories), and Dunc Overton the V50 Championship. A number of Keswick AC ladies have had success at the British too, including Pauline Haworth, Angela Brand-Barker, Louise Roberts, Pippa Jackson and Lyn Thompson in the V50 Championship.

The first English Championship was held in 1986 and previous winners from the club have included Angela Brand-Barker, Louise Roberts, Pippa Jackson, Lyn Thompson in the V50 Championship, Dave Spedding the V50, V55 and V60 Championships, Dunc Overton the V50 Championship and Billy Bland as a V40 in 1988.

Borrowdale Fell Race -'Youtube' video

See the following link for a good video of the leaders in this years Borrowdale Fell Race, and the runners who followed, on the descent form Scafell Pike to the Corridor Route.

See 5:35 in the video for "a fine example of how not to take the optimim line". Sorry Mark -some things must be broadcast if only to discourage their reccurence, ever again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OsL6brYV-I

Cumbria Cross Country League –Race 2, Penrith, Saturday 17th October

Well done to the following for some good runs at race #2 in the Cumbria League, at Frenchfields on Saturday. Particular mention to junior, Mark Donovan on a great run and win in the Under 11 race -well done Mark.

Juniors
Under 11
Mark Donovan 8:06 (1st)

Senior women
Hayley Hodgson 34:54 (3rd)
Kim Clark 35:50 (4th)

Senior Men
Ian Davies 27:33 (9th)
John Beetham 28:21 (11th)
John Waite 28:46 (14th)
John Niccoll 28:56 (16th)
Quentin Merritt 29:33 (22nd)
Gary Hadwin 34:32 (28th)
Chris Clark 35:30 (32nd)

Full results here.