(TLDR. Tuesday gives us intervals at 6pm and 7pm on Springfield Avenue, and on Thursday we have a 7pm club run round Mallison. The PECOs start on Sunday, and there’s information below about the London Marathon ballot, the awards night, and the ladies Christmas run…).
Hi folks.
As I write this, I’m looking at the first blue sky I have seen since last weekend so I should probably go out and enjoy it rather than sit at the laptop writing this codswallop, but there we are. Actually, I will. Off to meet a friend for a walk and a cup of tea. Back later.
…Right, the rain and hail have started once again, so I’m back at the keyboard. The weather has been grim this week, it really is enough to get you down. Fair play to those of you who have made it out to run with us. So come on, if you can, get up off the sofa and get those running shoes on. Come for a run with us. It doesn’t matter how fast or slow you are, a run is a run and you’ll feel better for it. I promise.
And on that wet and drizzly note, let’s have a look at the week ahead.
The Week Ahead
You might well have detected a theme by now: yes, if it is a Tuesday then it’s intervals. This week, we’ll be doing the third in the set of hills with a trip to do the double hill loop on Springfield Avenue and Coppice Drive. Your coaches for the 6pm session are Sarah C and Martin L., whereas if you turn up for the 7pm session you will be greeted by Emma K and Nick S. Spoilt for choice, then. As always, you can meet at the club at 6pm or 7pm and jog down to the start, or meet us there. If you meet us there, then the point to rendezvous is at the junction between Springfield Avenue and Kings Road, behind the Crown Plaza hotel.
We’ve got another club run on Thursday, and this week we are running the little-known Mallison route. As ever, be at the Hockey Club and good to go for 7pm, and we’ll head out round the Stray to Stray Rein and Tewitt Well Road to Leeds Road M&S. Continue down Leeds Road, turning right onto Firs Road, making your way back along Mallison Way to Leadhall Lane. Turn left, and then head up Rossett Drive and past Rossett Acre Primary SChool. Turn right and head along Pannal Ash Road to Otley Road, and then return to base along the Stray or through town. As ever, feel free to amend and adapt as the mood takes you.
We’ll be heading for a pint in the Hockey Club bar afterwards and, all being well, they’ll have the heating fixed and there won’t be a repeat of last week where we shivered and did fine impressions of brass monkeys looking for welders.
On Sunday, the curtain rises on the 2022-23 cross country championships with the opener of the PECO series. The first will be in Middleton Park. A season ticket costs you £15 and will get you into all the PECO races. These races are really inclusive and everyone is encouraged to have a go and, as you get to go charging down a muddy hill with several hundred other people all shouting, you can pretend that you’re a viking going into battle. Make sure you have the grippiest shoes you own, and prepare to get muddy. Oh so very muddy. The Middleton Park race starts at 11am, but we’ll have the Gazebo (also known as Dave’s big erection, but that is a story that is both long and for another day) up as our meeting point, so come and find us there. Entry details are here: https://tinyurl.com/538wpj2v.
Apology of the Week
Well, it looks like there are apologies, rather than an apology, of the week. Can’t do right for doing wrong round this place, I tell you. Anyway, the first grovelling plea for redemption is addressed to Roger Duckworth who took part in the Goathland 10k last week while Phil and Bri were doing the half marathon. Dismayed at the lack of a mention last week, our Roger was beginning to think he had imagined taking part. Well, Roger was most definitely there and completed the off-road course in 1:32.37.
The second apology goes to Martin Lofthouse. Martin was actually first Nidder home at the Litton Birks Loop Fell Race last weekend, and not third as initially stated. I’ll just pop out and flagellate myself for that unnecessary and careless oversight, and then I’ll be right back with the results from the past week.
Results
At the York 5k series on Friday night, Billy Fox, adopting his Sunday name of William Fox (sounds like the head of some biscuit-making Quaker family or something like that), led the troops home in a sterling time of 18.04, with Kevins Clark (18.22) and Dalton (19.02) also sneaking in under 20 minutes. Nigel Scaife (20.46), Andy Iddon (21.00), Laura Francis (21.36) and Katharine Morton (22.57) all gave us much to celebrate, while Nick Crebbin (22.58), John Mallet (24.37), Katie Coppack (25.42) and Debbie Burrett (27.55) all gave performances worthy of the mighty black and gold.
I hope that Fiona Robinson won’t object to me making a bit of a fuss of her. In addition to her time of 39.39, Fiona also bagged the trophy for the third female finisher in the series. Fiona is the first to tell you that she power walks most of the races, and will downplay her achievement by telling you that she only won it because not enough women took part in the whole series. Well, I for one couldn’t care less. A win is a win, and it just goes to show that you don’t always need to be the fastest dog out of the traps, and that the consistency of turning up and putting in the miles pays dividends. Well done, Mrs R. Though I can’t help but wonder, who does the hubby FRP feel about trophies for road running being in the house?
#WINNER
Good old Captain Dazzler (1:01.55) was the first of many Nidds to cross the finish line at the Tad 10 this morning, managing to keep Andy Todd (1:02.43) nearly a minute behind him. Steve Newbould (1:02.55) was menacingly close behind Andy, himself under persistent threat from Kevin Clark (1:03.27) and Kevin Dalton (1:05.32). Martin Lofthouse (1:07.13) was just ahead of the first Niddette, Laura Francis (1:07.15), as she led Richard Evans (1:19.18), Martin Luxton (1:23.15) and Christine Holleran (1:23.20) to the finish. We’ll sing the praises of Jane Evans (1:24.02), Rachel Mills (1:25.52) and John Mallet (1:26.12) as they made their way round the flat course, with Katharine Dolman (1:30.05), Dave Seaman (1:30.09), Victoria Thomas (1:30.56), and Chis Nelson (1:31.28) also clocking brilliant times. It looks like Fingers Harris (1:32.53) has injured himself again – are you okay, Andy? Get well soon, mate – and we celebrate a trio of fantastic finishes provided to us by Chatty McChatface (1:33.10), the remarkable Yvonne Skelton (1:40.30) and the unstoppable Kirsty O’Donnell (1:44.17). Well done to you all.
It looks like Craig and Karen Mill have been down on the south coast, as they’ve popped up in the results for the Brighton 10k. Karen clocked a remarkable time of 51.43, while Craig sped ahead to finish in a brilliant 36.28. Well done to you both.
Oh we do love to be beside the seaside…
If you’ve had a glance at Facebook, you’ll have seen that we had a few Nidds up to compete in the 23 mile Wensleydale Wedge held, as the name unsurprisingly suggests, in Wensleydale. I can’t find any results online yet, and these things can take a few weeks to emerge through the ether. So for now you’ll have to settle for as yet untimed congratulations to Graham Hyde, Chris Orr, Jonathan Easton, Phil Ventress and his beloved Bri.
And so to Bingley, where four intrepid Nidds took part in the Harriers vs. Cyclists Fell Race yesterday afternoon. This is a five mile-ish jaunt up onto the moors where fell runners take on off-road cyclists in a competition of fitness, skill and daftness. I did it last year and someone actually snapped their bike in two. Anyway, there are no breakages to report this year, it’s just a huge well done to Emma Kicks (1:04.19), Jane Evans (1:05.27), Dave Prince (1:12.13) and Sarah Chalmers (1:22.20).
Less fell race, more police ID parade…
Looking at parkrun, we had FRP and FRF at Ancholme Valley, Adam Kirk at Wetherby, Karen Mills at Preston Park in Brighton, the Dilassers up at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, the Mallets at Roundhay, Alan Ward at York, Iain Scott at Woodhouse Moor, and Martin Lofthouse in Liverpool. As ever, we also had all the usual suspects in all the usual haunts of Conyngham Hall, Harrogate and Fountains Abbey. You can read all about it here: https://tinyurl.com/2p86cfh8.
So forget all your duties, oh yeah / fat bottomed girls, they’ll be riding today / so look out for those beauties, oh yeah:: samfugill@gmail.com.
Further Ahead & Booking Now Open
On Sat 03 Dec 2022, the mud continues with more cross-country misery at the York Yuletide Five Mile Trail Run. Entry is £20, which seems a bit steep, but you get a medal and a goody bag and they promise a range of festive treats for all finishers, so it doesn’t seem all that bad. If you are of the inclination to dress fancily, then fancy dress is encouraged but by no means compulsory. Read all about it: https://tinyurl.com/yf38fren.
I don’t know who thought it would be a good idea to put a championship race in the calendar on Boxing Day. Get me Captains Dazzler and Sarah on the phone immediately. Still, we are where we are so we had better just try to make the best of it. The Chevin Chase is a seven mile tour of Otley Chevin, and always sells out fast. Therefore if you want to be a guinea pig in the experiment of how fast you can run up a hill having eaten your own body weight in roast potatoes and having had just that one too many glasses of wine, then this is where you need to be: https://tinyurl.com/dzcdd6pe.
Club Championships
If you haven’t yet submitted a marathon time for consideration for the 2022 road championships but would like to do so, you can do so by emailing Captain Dazzler at darren.townend32@gmail.com.
Ladies Secret Santa Run: 17 Dec 2022
Sarah Chalmers is, once again, getting her festive shizzle together and organising the Ladies Secret Santa Run. Now, if like me, you have testicles, then you don’t need to read any further as you aren’t invited. I know, well harsh. The event normally involves a steady off-road run somewhere, followed by food and present sharing somewhere. The rest of the festive detail is a feminine mystique, and will be shared by Sarah in due course. We boys will just have to go to the pub and talk about football and cars and manly things like that. #manlyAF
Awards Night: 28 Jan 2023
Tickets for the Awards Night are selling fast, and at £32.50 they are something of a bargain. You can register for your place here: https://forms.gle/KaebNUcZhoLymBya8, and then spend the next couple of months planning what you’re going to wear so you luck lovely in photos and wondering whether you too are going to be the lucky recipient of a trophy. And talking of trophies and photos…
…Trophies
If you have a trophy from the 2021 race season, we need them back to be engraved for the winners of this latest season. Jane Evans is collecting them up and, if you’ve got one that you’ve not yet returned, please let Jane know. You can find her here: janee_evans@icloud.com.
…Photos
For the Awards Night, we’ll be compiling photos from the past year at the club. If you have a photo you’d like to share – especially if a slightly embarrassing caption competition-worthy photo of someone – then Chairman Mike would simply love to hear from you: mike.benson81@yahoo.co.uk.
London Marathon
Well, I got a fair amount of stick for the draw for the Brass Monkey places and accusations of favouritism (yeah, I’m talking to you James Knapp). Honestly, all names went into the hat and were pulled out at random. Anyway, to avoid further anxiety, the draw for the London Marathon will be made in public and not by me, and we’ll do it as soon as we have confirmation of the number of places we have from the race organisers. We’ve got 23 people in the ballot already, and if you want in on the action and
- Have entered and failed to gain a place in the 2023 London Marathon, and
- Have never had one of the Nidd Valley club places previously.
Then send me an email with your rejection slip to samfugill@gmail.com and we’ll get you in the draw for a club place.
Word to the Wise
Here is a snippet of a conversation between Jane and Dave today, reflecting on the quick drink we’d “enjoyed” in the slightly cold-than-normal (ie. f*ing freezing) post-run drink we had in the unheated bar on Thursday night.
Dave: “On Thursday, Sam was a miserable sod and you can tell him I said that”
Jane: “Okay, I will. He won’t be offended.”
Dave: “I know…”
And from the centrally heated depths of Nidd Valley House, it’s a goodbye from Chairman Mike and from everyone else here. Have a great week.
Sam x