Race Report & Club Photo Reminder (this Tuesday – bring vests!)

Tough Race at Teversal

A journey into the next county on a Tuesday night with unreliable weather on a tough course is not something to get too excited about but thirty-eight Harriers made the start line at Teversal and produced some outstanding individual performances. The rain held off, the sun came out and conditions were excellent for an evening race.

Unfortunately space does not permit me to publish all of the many performances that merit publication but a number still have to be mentioned. Our first finisher was Tim Hollings who produced an excellent run to finish fifth. Tim has improved rapidly since he joined the Harriers, producing his highest place finish to date. Yet again we had runners making their debut for the club, Alan McKay and Myles Mourby. Myles who is only fifteen, along with our two other junior men, Sam Horton and Jack Dakin had tremendous runs and they all should be well pleased with their performances. The standard in these races has improved immensely, making the competition a lot more competitive although the number of runners overall was down to 270 compared to the 300 who ran at the Rugby Club. On the evening the men finished in sixth position, the ladies in sixth and overall the team was sixth and after two races the club is standing at fifth in the men’s, seventh in the ladies and sixth in the overall team effort [see post further below for results].

There are still three more races in the road race series, so if we keep turning up and giving it our best effort I am sure we will move up the team positions.

Well done to all who ran and let’s go for another great turnout at Shipley Park Visitors Centre on Tuesday June 12th at 7.30pm. See you on the start line.

Recent Local Races

There has been a number of Harriers who have been in action in local races over the past few weeks. Chris Jackson had a good run in the Derwent Dambusters 10 mile race around the Derwent and Howden reservoirs. Over a mixture of tracks and tarmac, Chris recorded a time of 1hr 22mins. The evening following the first BDL race Jack Dakin went out and ran the Derby Midweek 5k race, producing a personal best of 18mins 36secs.

A new local race took place organised by Lea Primary School over a 10k course. It was all road but with very little traffic and some outstanding views. Craig Allen and Malcolm Weir both had a run out in this event which hopefully next year will see more runners including some more from the Harriers. Not quite so local was the Kendall 10k where Shaun Bott put in an excellent performance, to finish sixth, in a time of 37mins 29secs finishing just 80 seconds behind the winner.

Club Photograph

Next Tuesday evening before training we will be taking a club photograph. It would be great to have as many members on it as possible, so even if you have not been down recently or are injured come and join the club picture. Remember to bring and wear the club vest.

Thanks Malc

BDL Race 2 – Teversal – Results

Good turnout last night, 38 runners, – no rain, too many hills! Write-up to follow.

Results here -> BDL 15052012

Ashover Special / BDL Teversal / Club Photo

First Class Special
The second Special of the summer was held at Ashover organised by Simon Edwards and Phil Bradley. There was a tremendous turnout of runners, in the region of forty and they were not disappointed with the run. Over two routes of approximately seven and five and a half miles, we encountered plenty of mud, steep hills and wonderful views of the surrounding area on a pleasant spring evening.
To finish the evening, most of the runners made their way to the Poets where a variety of real ales and some good pub grub were available to the hungry and thirsty runners.
Thanks to Simon and Phil for arranging the Special with the next one taking place on Tuesday 3rd June. The finer details for this will be available at a later date.

2nd BDL Race
Next Tuesday May 15th sees the second race in the summer race series at Teversal Grange, Sutton in Ashfield. After the magnificent number who ran in the first race, producing some excellent performances, lets see if we can do like wise at Teversal. If you have never ran in one of these races, or have not done so recently, come and have a run in the race. The course is all off-road and all the club members are capable of running the five mile distance. I will bring a supply of vests for anyone who has not got one.
We will be operating the car-sharing again from Belper Leisure Centre car park, bay one, leaving at 6.30 pm.

The post code for Teversal Grange is NG17 3HJ.  See the attached doc for further directions. -> BDL Directions to Teversal

Club Photograph
The following Tuesday May 22nd at 7.30pm we will be taking the official photograph for the website before the start of training. Please wear club vests for the photograph.
Thanks Malc

Booths Decorators League, Darley Park, Report & Results

A fantastic turnout of 37 club members took to the starting line in the first race of the summer season in the Booth Decorators League, held at Derby Rugby Club. The strong field, in not the most pleasant conditions of 304 runners saw the club finish fifth in the team event, fifth in the men’s and sixth in the ladies.

Our first finisher was Gordon Irvine in 5th place followed by the fast improving Tim Hollings in ninth place. There were many other excellent performances while eight members, Shaun Bott, Simon Swanborough, Tim Boursnell, James Roden, Andy Nash, Helen Soiris, Anna Waite and Emily Hall all made their first appearances for the club. It was also good to see a couple of our runners back after layoffs through injury and that hopefully there were no ill-effects after the race.

Unfortunately there was a downside to the evening when some of the runners took a route off the course, making their run a bit longer. This was down to a lack of a marshal at a point where the runners had a change in direction. These mistakes must be taken on board for future races to make sure the course is absolutely fool-proof for the runners.

A really big thank you must go out to our marshals and supporters particularly a couple of our marshals who had a difficult evening with the volume of traffic at the Abbey pub and around the river bridge.

The next race is at Teversal Grange Sutton-in-Ashfield on Tuesday 15th May at 7.30pm and let’s makes it another big turnout for Belper Harriers. These races are an excellent guide to a runner’s progress and they do produce a certain amount of camaraderie within our own club and also with the other clubs. So if you have never ran one of these races, or have not done so recently, come and have a go at the next race.

As the next race will be a bit further we will organise car-sharing from the Leisure Centre. There will be the usual presentations for the cross-country league after the race but unfortunately this year there will be no refreshments although liquid refreshments will be available.

On a final note, good luck to Steph Ilsley, Mark Riches, Ben O’Connell, Rob Pearce and Phil Shaw who will be running the London Marathon on Sunday. It was good to see them all down on Tuesday evening, either running or being on marshal duty.

See attached file for full results -> BDL_17042012_Darley

Malcolm Weir

BDL Cross Country League Final Standings

Well, Results below folks and well done to Theresa – how many years in a row now ?!? Congratulations to all who conitrbuted to our performance as a team. If you don’t turn up, you can’t be part of the team.
We were down on overall results as a club so lets keep our fingers crossed for the Summer league !

Final BDL Cross-Country

The last Booth Decorators League Cross-country of the season took place last Sunday at Holmebrook Park Chesterfield. On a tough course of 4.5 miles over two laps, the Harriers team of sixteen runners gave a good account of themselves. The course passed fit the previous day was what one would describe, as a good old fashioned cross-country course.
As a spectator I was able to see the hard work, energy and determination put in, not just by our runners but all of the 122 runners in the race.

Leading the Harriers team in was Tim Hollings in 18th place, having had a great first season in the cross-country league. Our next finisher was Jack Dakin in 31st place, his best position so far and first junior male to finish. A bit of good running saw Rob Norman, Karl Atton and Andy Rose finish in 37th, 38th and 39th positions. Just a few places further down was Mark Riches in 44th place while Phil Butt once again put in a consistent run to finish in 53rd place. Andy Dakin was our next runner in 64th place followed by Steve Meath who was 73rd. Geoff Stone was our next finisher, having a really strong run to finish 79th, followed by Rob Pearce in 88th spot and Paul Bradley making his debut for the club finishing in 92nd place.
For the ladies Steph Ilsley had a fast second lap to finish 57th while Theresa Hempsall was just three places behind in 60th position. Jo Southcott and Georgina Bestwick made the ladies team up finishing in 108th and 114th positions.

On the day the men finished fifth, the ladies fourth and the combined team came home in fifth place.

Over the five race series the men came fifth, the ladies fourth and the combined team was fourth.

This year we have not been able to make a podium position for any of the teams due to a variety of reasons but we hope to rectify this for the coming summer league races.
Well done to those runners who have represented the club in the winter league and in many cases have produced consistent performances over the series.

A special mention must go to Theresa Hempsall, Andy Dakin and Phil Butt who ran in all five cross-countries.

-Malc

Full Results to follow shortly

Malcs XC Race Reports

Rose in Bloom at Wollaton and Shipley!

It was a good weekend for Andy Rose, running in the North Midlands League Cross-Country at Wollaton Park on the Saturday and the following day in the Booth Decorators League at Shipley Park. On the Saturday in cold, frosty but with a bit of sunshine, the last North Midlands race of the winter took place on the picturesque Wollaton Park.  In the ladies race of 6.5k, Steph Ilsley had another fine run to finish 29th and claim first position in her age category.  Steph ran in three of the four races to take her title. The men’s race attracting 205 runners of varying degrees of abilities, some extremely good runners at the front end of the field saw four Harriers on the start line.  The course of 10k, three long laps of the park saw Andy finish in 111th place, in an excellent time of 44mins 2secs while Rob Norman also could be well pleased with his run finishing two minutes further back in 46mins 1sec.  Amer Armoush and Malcolm Weir were the other club runners finishing in 47mins 33secs and 48mins 43sec respectively.   All five of our runners could be pleased with their efforts over a pretty tough course.

The following day on Shipley Park, Heanor Running Club were staging the fourth race of the Booth Decorators cross-country series.  It was good to see Gordon Irvine up with the leaders finishing 5th while Tim Hollings running really well finished 8th. Our next finisher was Andy Rose having another excellent run, to add to his previous days performance, finishing 38th while Jack Dakin had his best race yet for the club finishing 39th.  Dave Horton, Ian Hays, Mark Riches and Craig Allen all ran a consistent race while Phil Butt, Roger Morgan and Geoff Stone all long-standing members of the club could be happy with their performances.  The ever reliable Andy Dakin and Steve Meath completed the team for the men. The ladies were led in by Teresa Hempsall in 78th position and followed by Gemma Irvine and Rosemary Arris.  On the day the club finished fourth in the men’s, ladies and the team category and overall after four races we are sitting fifth in all three groups.

The final race will be at Holmebrook Park Chesterfield on February 12th, a new venue for this competition and for a change the race will not clash with the North Midlands League.  Well done to all twenty-one runners who competed for the club over the weekend.

BDL 4 Results – Shipley Park

Here you go folks – good results. Men and Ladies both 4th Overall. Latest results file going in next…

Full Results -> BDL 15012012

 

BDL XC Results fm Long Eaton

Belper Results only (pdf)

BDL XC 04122011.xlsx (latest excel file)

Access to this Sundays XC Race

All,
Message fm organiser … “Could you inform your members, If they’re thinking of doing the cross country this Sunday, of the message below from Long Eaton :- the rail crossing near the Tappers Harker is closed on Sunday til 2PM can you send an email out to all clubs racing on Sunday to use Station Road, New Tythe Street and then Straight on over Mini Roundabout to get to Trent Meadows.”