16/09/2009 by Ivan.

Report compiled from the bulletin board, mainly by Vanessa

A car load with Matthew, Dick, Colin and Andy Blackmore drove up on Sunday, and the Ashtons also went up to Church Stretton for the Stretton Skyline fell race. 19 miles and 4,450ft of ascent up and down the Long Mynd area. It’s organised by Telford AC.

The results from Telford AC website:
Matthew 9th 2.58.55
Gerry 48th 3.37.40
Andy 53rd 3.40.00
Colin 80th 4.10.20
Dick 81st 4.10.20

93 starters and 85 finishers.

Matthew won the vet 40 prize
Gerry also did a PB by 24 mins.
Colin managed a PB by 39 minutes.
Matthew assures me that everyone enjoyed it! (Well, he did, anyway)

 ”A good, but tough race which has one of the best descents of any race I have ever done (from the Long Mynd into Little Stretton), the only drawback being that you still have four hills and about 15 miles of running to do at that point.”  Matthew

Gerry’s report can be found on his blog:

http://gerrya.wordpress.com/2009/09/13/stretton-skyline-fell-race/

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16/09/2009 by Dick.

Cake, kit and raffle night at the Leisure Centre bar – Tues 22 September After training, come and socialise with your running friends, and support the Leisure Centre bar.  There will be club kit for sale, a raffle where the first prize is a night out with the social chairlady, 2^nd prize is 2 nights out with the social chairlady – joking obviously.  The raffle prize will be your choice of an item of club kit.  There will also be free cake.  Beer (and other, less interesting beverages) of course will also be available at the bar.  You don’t even have to talk about running. 

Curry night at the Bellhanger – Thursday 08 October The ever popular and amazingly cheap night out – less than £6 for curry and a beer, and fabulous company of your fellow Harriers – and if you’re a lycra-clad lovely, you might even get a ride home in Rob Brown’s awesome set of wheels. 

Curry night at the Bellhanger – Thursday 12 November 

Family Quiz Night at Leisure Centre - Friday 20 November Steve Harris is Quizmaster for this family-friendly quiz game.  The theme is ‘Are you Smarter than a 10 year old on Sky?’   Come and rest your legs and exercise your brain.  If you’re no great shakes at running, but you’ve got a couple of brain cells to rub together, this could be your night to win a prize.  The price will be around £2 which includes a tasty buffet. 

Christmas Curry Night at Mughal Spice - Thursday 17 December A repeat of the popular Mughal Spice curry night.  £15 for a top quality, all you can eat buffet (a night to forget about your increasing Body Mass Index). 

Lou Year’s Eve - Thursday 31 December Nos Galan Club Champs is on 31 Dec at 7 pm.  Lou has extremely kindly offered to invite Harriers back to her gaff for a rave (sorry quiet evening of convivial chat and lemonade) afterwards.  The format will be that everyone who plans to attend should take a dish and whatever they would like to drink.  More details in due course. 

Annual Awards/Dinner Dance – 6 February 2010 The definitive Chepstow Harriers social event of the year.  If you’ve achieved a lot in running this year, it could be your chance to pick up a gong and have your Oscar moment.  If not, a chance to applaud your mates through gritted teeth and try harder next year.  Also, a chance to glam up, realise your running mates aren’t quite as unattractive as you’d thought, dance really badly to cheesy 80s music, and try not to throw up on the coach on the way home.  More (sensible) details to follow. 

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15/09/2009 by Dick.

Set your watch, dear reader, to 2 minutes and 1 minute intervals in preparation for Tuesday’s session on the Link Road & Severn Bridge. We’ll be doing 12 sets of 2 mins steady/1 min fast. We’ll form into groups based around those with watches.

We’re off to Beachley and back Thursday - about 8 miles in total. Add the Sedbury Loop to make it a good long run.

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13/09/2009 by Dick.

Only four weeks to go! The XC season starts on Sunday 11 October with the first Gwent League fixture at Bridgend. This event will also be the next Club Championship race…And will also be the East Wales Championship…And the chance to gain selection to the East Wales team for the Welsh Intercounties at Builth Wells on 13 Dec. So four good reasons for doing this one.

For those new to our XC programme, we are a member of two leagues: the Gwent League (GL) and the Leisure Centre League(LCL).

The simplest way to explain them is that the LCL is a small league of 7 teams all based in the county. You may have taken part in one of the LCL road races this Summer. All races start at 11am on a Sunday, and men & women run together tho’ the women run less laps (about 4 miles) than the men (about 6 miles).

The GL (despite its name!) is a bigger league of clubs from all over South Wales and South West England. This winter we will be running at venues as far apart as Bridgend and Taunton. Men and women run separately and there are also races for junior age groups. Events can be on Saturdays or Sundays. and start times can vary from late morning to 3pm.

The Club pays all fees, and all you have to do is turn up in Club kit in time for Team Captains to register you. We always meet at the Leisure Ctre to share cars, but the website will also provide a map for those making their own way.

The dates and venues for both leagues will appear on the Club Events page on our website and in the monthly Wots On. For your diary, here are the dates:

Sun 11 Oct – GL Bridgend

Sun 1 Nov – LCL Cwmbran (Oasis Club)

Sun 8 Nov – GL Bath Uni

Sun 29 Nov – LCL Fairwater, Cwmbran

Sun 6 Dec – GL Taunton

Sun 10 Jan – LCL Bryn Bach, Tredegar

Sat 13 Feb – GL Brecon

Sun 21 Feb –LCL Chepstow

Sat 6 Mar – GL Blaise, Bristol

Sun 14 Mar – LCL Rogerstone, Newport

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10/09/2009 by Ivan.

Approx 8mile Multi-Terrain race by Presteigne Pacers.  11am Start.

Extra information on entry fom here :   2riversknillnashdashform2009.pdf

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09/09/2009 by Dick.

Sorry - forgot to mention in the Week Ahead that this Thurs 10 Sept is of course the 2nd Thurs in the month and therefore our monthly Curry Night.

So get yourself down to the Bellhanger in St Mary Street after your run. There should be Harriers there from about 9. Curry and a drink for £5.59!

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07/09/2009 by Dick.

So popular was Ivan’s ground-breaking Windmill Hill session a few weeks ago that Coach of the Month Jane has hastened to repeat it this Tuesday. Those runners who find that they tend to arrive at distant training venues far behind the Club greyhounds are invited to leave the Leis Ctre for sunny Tutshill at 6.55 under the care of a Coach.

This hill session is time-based and asks you to run uphill for one minute, turn round, and run back down to the start line also in one minute (the mathematicians among you will have calculated that you will be running both ways at the same pace BUT not the same effort. The younger members will also recall that when you are only halfway up you are neither up nor down). This continues for four ups & downs. A two minute recovery period follows each set of four. Before starting you will be asked to decide whether you’ll do three or four sets. Members who fail to complete their stated number of sets will have to do 100 press-ups or buy the Head Coach a drink.

Sadly, Thursday sees our last off-road excursion of the year, the (n)ever popular Three Woods/Rogerstone Grange. After falling over more than once in the gathering gloom you are allowed to find a road on which to return to the Leis Ctre’s welcoming lights. Next week it’s back to the roads, and gravel rash instead of nettle stings. And all for £25 pa, which those Club mathematicians still awake will have worked out is 25p (2 shillings and five pence three farthings pre-decimal) per run - astounding value for money you will agree.

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07/09/2009 by Lou.

The race and it’s selector lived up to expectations for some yesterday.

Of those of us who spent Saturday night in Swanage Niki had remained reasonably sober and  cooked us a fantastic meal to be rightly  rewarded with another fabulous performance yesterday.  Ian and I were a bit lost and bleary but that’s no excuse and now Ian has a better one.

At the race start with plenty of time  to chat of jogging round and enjoying it (yeah right -  like drinking too much we roll our eyes after  but do it again and again ).

Neil Grant and Gerry (sadly no Sue ) arrived with a car each before Vanessa’s little car pulled up packed with Harriers with excuses – only ex ex didn’t have one!  (Well strictly Dick didn’t give an excuse either).  James has been injured longer than he’s been born and Ivan is coming back after a sensible recovery period ( surely a spook?).  So Steve was backed as the winner.

So a que

for the porta loo (

 I preffer the hedge) then to the start line

where Rob Brown just made it on time.

 The sun was shining in a sky blue sky, the smell of salt and excitement in the air as we set off from Corfe Castle for a 13 mile run around the Dorset coast.

AC must have been proud as at the first bridge crossing an uninterrupted stream of Chepstow vests chose to get their feet wet.All was going well I could see quite a few Harriers and all looked happy and focused. 

Then six minutes in Ian put his foot in a rabbit hole, tore his calf and ran no more.  Commiserations Ian you were going well.

From this point Vanessa was flying, she was ahead of Dick and Niki, then Niki moved ahead and I didn’t see her again.  I heard that Steve and James were battling for first place in this first half while Ivan jogged around chatting to Niki.

– Mysteriously in that elite time zone where floating takes the place of effort so chatting is entirely possible –

ahead  of where the likes of AC, me, Dick, Gerry, Vanessa Neil and Rob Brown were stoically toiling in the sun.

Had a friendly word with Dick as I passed then Vanessa and I played a game of I’ll go ahead on the downs and you can go ahead on the ups for a few miles until nausea kicked in for her and I was forced to press on to play it with the brown, gleaming torso of AC.  I managed to slip by.

It was a great race (apart from the styles)  the scenery was beautiful and you were right in it.  It was wonderful when we reached the coast and after the second gruelling stairway to heaven it was mostly downhill with one soft sweeping grassy slope to fly down. 

It was a long way to go but well ‘worth it’ – a good choice Andy.  And seriously I did think it was unjust that you were DQ – it was hot and you did have your nuumber on.  But you can take it and you’re in the results so you get your points.

Well done everyone and thanks for letting me beat you this time Dick

Steve Harris 1:35

James Blore 1:42

Ivan Teed  1:48

Niki Morgan     1:51

Lou Summers  1:54

Dick Finch        1:54

Gerry Ashton  1:57

Andy Creber    2:00

Neil Grant        2:04

Vanessa Lawson   2:13

Rob Brown             2:31

Posted in Championship, Races | 1 Comment »

03/09/2009 by Ivan.

Machen Mania - by Niki

 “And you go over the top here.” bellowed the Army commander to his squaddies, pointing with a long stick at a cairn on the blown up map at the Army Headquarters, sorry Machen Cricket Club. I tried to peer through the bored looking squaddies at the map, and caught a worrying glimpse of lots of brown lines either side of the cairn. I guess because the race had 10k in its title, I assumed it wouldn’t be tough – ignoring the word Mountain. I didn’t really need to look at the map, as Gill, Dick and Lou – all veterans of the Machen Mountain 10k, just pointed at a gargantuan lump behind me.

“So talk me through the course” I demanded trying to psyche myself into race mode – having spent the preceding part of the bank holiday wafting around, with a heavily negative output to input ratio – i.e. getting heavily acquainted with the sofa and the contents of the fridge. I was feeling as fired up as a nonagenarian on beta blockers.

“You run round this field, then through the town, up a steep hill on the road, then up more of a hill off-road, then through some styles, then contour through the forest for a bit, then up a bit more, then steeply up, before tackling the hill that leads you up a steep incline to the top. Then you run downhill a lot.”

Me: “So, it’s like, up and down then”

Gill: “Yeah”

Me: “So, a fell race then basically”

Gill: “No, well yes, but no, but yes, but”

Random runner from another club: “How does it compare with your Tintern Trot”

Gill: “Oh, about the same”

Me, after random runs off looking relieved: “But, Gill, the Tintern Trot doesn’t have 1000 ft of ascent does it?”

Gill: “Detail, detail…”

Dick, James, Lou, Gill, Andy Stott, Rob Brown, Ian and Becca all arrived about 3 hours early in order to ensure getting a place as they were all too disorganised to enter in advance. The disconcerting aspect of arriving that early to a race is the need to visit the toilet once every 5 minutes until the start – just in case one should be carrying half an ounce more than necessary round the course. This is fine unless the one functioning Ladies toilet happens to lock you in every time you visit and you need to be rescued each time. Andy’s Godmother was fortunate enough to be discovered trapped in this less than salubrious environment by Gill and was freed before the start. I believe she is currently doing well in therapy.

And so to the start. Ian’s American girlfriend Becca, just over for the weekend and the Machen Mountain 10k, was taking no chances with the British weather and wore a warm pair of gloves the whole way round. As it was I believe the first race she had entered in Britain, Ian kindly ran round with her all the way – men take note on Ian’s lessons in gallant behaviour. Very impressive and will win you lots of favours – but you need to put away your pride and any notions of a PB. Becca reported enjoying it enormously. This is laudable – however, Ian after she’s done a couple more races, you do need to explain to her that enjoyment is absolutely not the point. Anyway, she did very well, and good effort coming all that way for a 10k.

Lou went off like a rocket and I tried to keep up with her for about the first 30 seconds before I realised I would be revisiting my bank holiday excess quite rapidly if I tried to stay with her. The race was very much as described by Gill. After a mile or two, we came across a style and two very officious looking marshalls told us not to race the styles – but to form an orderly queue. Lou, a student of AC’s off-road courses was having none of this queuing nonsense, and nonchalantly trotted past about 5 blokes to volt over the gate adjacent to the style. I admired her attitude, but felt far too British to follow suit, so I stayed mute, and took my place behind about 10 runners all being infuriatingly slow and ponderous. Approximately 15 minutes later, I crossed the style, and by this time, felt so pumped up with aggression and rage that I managed to actually run up most of the rest of the hill to the cairn.

On crossing another style close to the top, a woman was just ahead of me. We did the British thing of “no, you go first”, “no, you, please” “no, no really, you first”. I subsequently found out she was the first Female Vet 40 who won a trophy and a tenner and beat me by 38 seconds. If I’d have known that at the time, I would have rugby-tackled her to the ground, found a couple of burly Army marshals, made them sit on her for 39 seconds, and run like hell to the finish.

The downhill was great – fast, and with lots of interest – down a steep hillside, followed by down through the forest, followed by fast, downhill on the road. You get the picture – a lot of down. The horrid bit for me was the last lap of the field at the end – by then, mentally you felt like it should be all over – and it just felt like an unpleasant slog when your legs were completely trashed by the descent. Still, I was elated to finish, and (almost retrospectively) really enjoyed the whole event. It’s a really fantastic little race – it’s local, low-key, inexpensive, we all received a lovely t-shirt, and the course and scenery were inspiring.

Gill won first Female Vet 50 prize, and Dick won first Male Vet 60 prize. Well done them!!! Also, I won’t hold it against Sharon Woods for being first FV40 – but next time, I’m not waiting at no style!

Harriers Results were as follows:
47.30 Mark Harvey
51.55 Andy Stott
53.17 James Blore
53.20 Matt Creed
56.27 Niki
59.05 Dick
59.33 Gill
59.54 Lou
68.05 Rob Brown
71.26 Ian and Becca
The End.

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01/09/2009 by Ivan.

Marianne and I travelled to deepest, darkest Somerset on Sunday to run the Battle of Sedgemoor 10k. This was one of the only races which both of us have run recently, and household bragging rights were up for grabs.

The basically flat course attracted runners from all over the South West and Wales, and a cool day with only a slight breeze led to some quick times. The high quality field was led home in 31 mins 15, with the leading lady finishing in an excellent 36:50.

I had a good run: the course had one or two slight rises in the first mile which after I’d negotiated I pushed on in the flatter second half to come home just behind the leading lady and nipped under 37 mins. Marianne ran an excellently judged race to achieve her aim of getting under 40 mins for the first time.

And the best bit: the race memento of matching his and hers purple towels now stocked in our airing cupboard.

So for anyone looking for something to do next August bank holiday, a well organised and supported race with plenty of potential for PB’s.

Full results can be found here http://www.langportrunners.co.uk/html/battle_of_sedgemoor.html 

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