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Race Reports 2010

Come on you Wootton Road Runners. Submit your race reports to nicki.harris01@btinternet.com.

MILTON KEYNES 10K - Wootton Ladies Scoop Two Titles (by Richard Fowler)

In the final race of the East Midlands Grand Prix series at the Milton Keynes 10K on a warm and humid evening, Wootton turned out a massive contingent of over 40 runners with the ladies once again stealing the show by winning both the senior and veterans categories on the night and firmly the cementing the both the overall series titles.

The impressive trio of Kirsty Gallagher who was 2nd lady overall (38.18), the Julie Dixon (43.02) and Barbara Willison (43.59), who again set another PB led the ladies home in both categories.

In the series standings Kirsty took 1st place in Vet 35 category and Julie and Barbara, both in their first year with the club, finished 3rd & 4th respectively in the Vet 40 category. The ever-improving Morag Larsen also finished 4th overall senior lady.

A strong men’s team could only finish 2nd in the seniors with Mike Aldridge (33.49), taking 4th place, Craig Mattocks (35.34) 12th place, in his last race for the club before moving to Scotland, Iain Hazell (35.52) 15th and the consistent vet Richard Lack (36.42) scoring the points. In the vet category Wootton were closely beaten into 3rd place with Richard Lack being accompanied by a lacklustre Richard Fowler (38.40), in a race that doesn’t suit him and Steve Heighway (40.22) scoring the points.

In the overall series standings the men took 2nd place in both the senior and veterans categories with Matt Fowler and Lee Berrill finishing in the top ten seniors with 8th and 10th place respectively and Richard Lack finished 6th vet 40 overall.

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HARBOROUGH 5M - Wootton Ladies Strike Again -(Written by Richard Fowler)

In race 7 of the East Midlands Grand Prix over a new course at Foxton Locks outside Market Harborough, Wootton Road Runners ladies again convincingly won both the senior and veteran team prizes in the Harborough 5.

Once again the ladies were led home in dominant fashion by Kirsty Gallagher who was second lady overall in a time of 30.12. She was followed by the consistent Julie Dixon (32.38) and Nicki Harris, setting a personal best of 33.51.

The scorers for the veteran team were again Kirsty Gallagher and Julie Dixon and the ever improving Barbara Willison who set another PB of 34.14.

The men claimed 3rd place in the senior team race and 2nd place in the veterans. Richard Lack ran another superb race to lead the men home in a time of 28.33 and he was very closely followed by Matt Fowler (28.35), Chris Gallagher (29.42) and Richard Fowler (29.49). The veteran scorers were again the duo of Richard Lack and Richard Fowler along with diehard club man Graham Hollowell (31.49).

Over undulating country roads, not considered to be a fast course, many Wootton runners set PBs. Stephen Young ran 35.23 only two days after finishing his sixteenth marathon of the year (South Downs 4hrs 10). Mike Carrea set a PB in a time of 32.08 and ladies Antoinette Kiely (41.25) and Maxine Hill (41.29) also set PB’s.

With an increased number of runners out there were good runs from Steve Heighway (33.21), Terry Peters (35.00), Phil Brittain (36.38), Ian Rogers ((36.45) and newcomer Brent Perkins (37.21). Mike Dowdy ran his fastest 5 miles in over two years to record 38.04 and vet 55 Micky Wood ran 40.16 and David Craigie 44.43 in the vet 60 category.

The ladies who are now on the verge of claiming both series team titles at Milton Keynes on 29th June were well supported by some old and new faces in Diane Rogers (39.38), Sarah Warden (43.08), Helen Ryan (44.21), Kelly Jurdison (50.49) and Helen Johannsen (50.59).

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BANBURY 5M (Written by Richard Fowler)

Wootton ladies sweep the board

In round 6 of the East Midlands Grand Prix at the Banbury 5, Wootton Road Runners ladies dominated both the senior and veteran team events. First lady home was Kirsty Gallagher who out performed many of her individual competitors with a gutsy run to finish 2nd overall in a course best of 29.25. Julie Dixon ran a solid race to record 32.45 and Morag Larsen ran a PB of 33.13 to beat her previous best by over one minute. In the ladies vets both Kirsty and Julie were also the scorers along with Barbara Willison who also set a fine PB of 34.47, again beating her previous best by more than one and half minutes.

In the men’s event Mike Aldridge, in his first race for two months after injury, ran a course best of 26.34 to claim 3rd place overall. He was supported by the consistent vet Richard Lack in 28.25, Chris Gallagher in 29.43 and vet Richard Fowler in 29.46. These performances gave the senior men 3rd place overall. The veterans took 5th place with the “two Richards” being supported by Steve Heighway in 32.49.

With many personal bests, the most impressive run of the night was from Suresh Dulal clocking 29.47 in his first ever 5 mile race. John White also set a PB in a time of 31.46 and Mike Carrera ran 33.20. Stephen Young showed great commitment in clocking 36.33 just two days after running the Northants Ultra and just days before tackling the South Downs Marathon. Running regulars Mike Dowdy ran 38.10 in the vet 45 category and Micky Wood 40.21 in the vet 55. Diane Rogers recorded a sub 40 minute time with Jessica Tait, Emma Baross, Sarah Warden and Helen Ryan all making a big supporting contribution to the ladies victory.

Round 7 takes Wootton Road Runners to Market Harborough on Tuesday 15th June.

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Weedon 10K (Written by Chris Gallagher)

Team Wootton came agonisingly close to a clean sweep at Tuesday’s Weedon 10K. The Senior Ladies and Vet Ladies were in dominant form in comfortably winning their categories, whilst the Vet Men tied for first place with Harborough AC and the Senior Men finished second to our dear friends at R&N. In excellent running conditions on the infamously tough Weedon course there were any number of stand out performances with Kirsty Gallagher leading home the ladies contingent for 3rd placed lady overall and Richard Lack, in his 28th consecutive Grand Prix Race (easily eclipsing Roger Federer’s run of 24 Grand Slam semi-final appearances) leading the men home in 15th place overall.

The winning ladies teams’ consisted of Kirsty (38.05), Julie Dixon in an excellent 42.05; with magnificent support from Morag Larsen and Barbara Willison. There were also strong performances from Zoe Bell, Diane Rogers, Emma Baross and Maxine Hill. A great overall team performance given such a small representation of lady runners.

In the Vet Men’s race Richard Lack (36.33) was well supported by Jeff Mason (37.46), making a welcome 2010 Grand Prix debut, and the ever green Richard Fowler (smarting from losing his “consecutive appearance” lead from Richard L – but still turning out in his 30th race out of the last 31) in 38.14. Other stand out Vet men were club stalwarts Graham Hollowell, Kev Jeary, Steve Borondy, Bob Ward and Mike Dowdy. It was also great to see Steve and Bob’s competitive streak come to the fore as they managed to secure the best cakes on offer in the club house a full hour before the race started.

The Senior Men were led home in superb fashion by Chris Lazenby in 37.09, showing a fantastic burst of speed to outstrip Lee Berrill and Matt Fowler by a few seconds. It’s worth noting that Lee recorded his fifth PB in a row over 4 different distances, and he must be a contender for most improved runner this year. The “Other Fowler” was close behind recording a tremendous PB of 37.47, well done Mark. The remaining senior men’s contingent was made up of John White, Matthew Gee, Mike Carrea and the Marathon Man Stephen Young – all running great races.

Next race is the Banbury 5 Mile on Tuesday 8th June, 7.45pm start. It would be great to see some more Woottonites run. If you haven’t raced Banbury before it’s a definite PB opportunity; a nice fast course through some lovely countryside and a real chance to put your speed work to the test.
Paris Marathon (Written by Sam Jess)
Just thought I would let you know about my experience in the Paris Marathon at the weekend....it was definitely a different race.  My first issue was the queue for the portaloo at the start line.  As 85% of the participants were male, it seems that the organisers thought that they would only need 3 x toilets between the 40,000 runners so a trip back to the hotel was in order.
 
Anyway, the race began and off we all started along the Champs Elysee with everyone in good spirits.  I had noted that the drinks stations were quite sparse around the course so had arranged for my family to be at various points with refreshments and it was definitely a good idea because the stations were a complete mess with most runners stopping to have water and banana's (when I managed to work my way through the mess of runners, bottles and banana's, I had to check my legs because I seemed to be wearing the banana skins!!).
 
Despite the drink station palaver, my run was going to plan until I reached mile 20 where I got stuck behind a group of 10 people taking a disabled person around in a specially adapted wheelchair which had one wheel and needed 4 people to push it and the other six ran at the side....by this time the streets were really narrow and there was no chance of getting past until the road got a bit wider so I just had to run at their pace.  10 minutes later, I was still stuck behind the team and then to make matters worse, an ambulance needed to get past, so everyone had no choice but to stop.  I then took the opportunity and got ahead of the wheelchair group only to get stuck behind another team at mile 22!!
 
The other four miles of the race went without any hiccups and I could have even stopped at mile 23 for a glass of red wine but I didn't fancy it!! (you may laugh but the French participated and there was quite a crowd of runners at the side of the road!!).
 
Taking into consideration the drink stations, banana skins, wheelchair groups and ambulance, I was quite pleased to finish and although I could see the time ticking away (with no chance of a PB), I had a brilliant time and can't believe its all over.....I'm not sure where in the world my next marathon will take me but I'm sure it won't be as eventful as Paris!!

Bath Half Marathon (Written by Chris Hopes)
It was great to see a Woottonite on the Bath Half.  Graham Hollowell steamed past me at 8 miles on his way to a  very impressive 1.28.  Just managed to say 'Hi Graham' and other gasped pleasantries ( they were gasped by me at least).  As luck would have it, we caught up with each other again at Bath train station.  Unfortunately he was East bound while I was on the Westbound platform.  A shouted conversation across the tracks ensued....... but we shouted a lot at Wootton I seemed to remember, tee hee.

Life with Southville Running Club progresses  here in  Bristol.  What was a  cosy group of 30 people in about 3 groups in January 09 is now a club with upwards of a 100 souls  in 6 packs turning out on a Tuesday night, not bad for a club founded 3 years ago.    I lead out the fast group - yea gods they must be slow! you cry - fortunately I only seem to have  20 or less ( famous last words as it's growing and I'll soon have to split it as I can't keep up with the fast ones)  in my group.  They were slower but they aren't now.  People who started out trailing me around at races last year, now troll off in to the distance leaving me in their wake.  Pb's galore for the club on the Bath Half.  Last year I almost became a bore about what fun racing was, these last few months they all come up to me saying they've done this or that race at the weekend...I didn't even know it was on. 

All of what little I know about  running I  picked up at Wootton, I now pass it on here in Bristol, so thank you all.   Particular thanks  to Mark Exley whose training plans I flagrantly borrow every Tuesday night, not forgetting  all the group leaders I trundled around with too.
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Wootton Ladies Regain County Title (Written by Mark Exley)

Wootton Road Runners were celebrating success on saturday as their ladies stormed to success in the Northants County Cross Country Championship to regain the title they won in 2008. Despite the harsh winter weather the event took place at Wickstead Park, with a bitter siberian wind, snow flurries and rock solid ground conditions.
In the Ladies race with a field of 36 runners, veteran Kirsty Gallagher took a superb 3rd place, a mere 15 seconds behind Kettering's International star Sian Edwards and Winchester based youngster Nicole Roberts. Kirsty was well supported by Nicki Harris in 8th place and veteran's Fran Malin and Sam Bell filling the next 2 places. Kirsty, Nicki and Fran comfortably took the Team Title from hosts Kettering Town Harriers and our good friends Rugby & Northampton. The club also took 5th place in the team competition with Sam joined by Morag Larsen, 12th and Annette Burgess 21st to add further gloss to an excellent showing for the club. It was a particularly resilient run from our lady chairperson who looked to be thoroughly enjoying herself throughout the 6.6k race, waving to the Wootton supporters around the course as she revelled in the cold conditions. 

The team performance was particularly rewarding as there was no category for under 20 females this year, with those athletes counting for the senior teams, giving an advantage to the traditional athletics clubs with their well developed junior structures.

A combination of Injury, Illness and clashing committments meant Wootton were unable to enter a Male team. However, Phil Melling ran his usual gutsy race to finish 6th in a very strong field, with Lee Berrill a creditable 28th.