Coming Events:
December, January and February
Attendance Scheme
– Final details:
Isle of Man
Marathon and Half 2004.
Blackpool
Marathon/Half: Idle AC Club race 2004
Marathon and Half
marathon training
West Yorkshire
Winter League – 2nd Race Sun 7th December at Idle.
2nd
Annual Sewage Works Surprise Club Handicap Race: Sunday 21st
December at 10am.
Review of a year
at Idle AC – 2003.
Events in bold indicate a ‘club’ event which members are encouraged to run.
|
Date |
Event |
|
Sun 7th Dec 03 |
2nd WYWL. Cross Country hosted by Idle AC, 11am. All
club needed to run. Marshals/helpers also needed. |
|
Sun 21st Dec 03 |
2nd annual Sewage Works Surprise club 4 mile Handicap
race, 10am, Apperley Bridge. Festive
event. 2pm presentation lunch at
Symposium- £4/£2. |
|
Sun 21st Dec 03 |
The Stoop Fell Race, BS, 11.30am. 5miles/800’, Haworth. Free chocs
for all finishers!! |
|
Fri 26th Dec 03 |
Chevin Chase 7 mile off road race, 11am, highly recommended event.
|
|
Sun 28th Dec 03 |
Jolly Holly Jog 10k, 11am, Ripon. Scenic, multi terrain race
through Studley Park. Highly recommended. |
|
Sun 28th Dec 03 |
Hot Toddy 5.8 mile road race, 11am, Todmorden. Hilly, ‘town &
country’ course. Free ‘hot toddy’ for all finishers. |
|
Wed 31st Dec 03 |
Auld Lang Syne Fell Race, Haworth. 11.30a, 6 miles/900’. Free
bottle of beer to all finishers. A great way to end the year! |
|
Sat 3rd Jan |
Yorkshire Cross Country Championships, Nunroyd, Guiseley. Women 6k
1.30 pm. (Team at least 3) Men 11k 2.10pm. (Team at least 6). Idle to submit
and men’s and women’s team. See Chris for details. |
|
Sun 11th Jan 04 |
3rd WYWL Cross country from Esholt hosted by St.Bede’s,
11am. |
|
Sun 18th Jan 04 |
Woodkirk 10k, Leeds. |
|
Sat 24th Jan 04 |
North of England Cross Country Championships. (St. Helens) Idle to
submit and men’s and women’s team. See Chris for details. |
|
Sun 25th Jan 04 |
Brass Monkey Half marathon, York. Club attendance points race for
2004. Entries closed. |
|
Sun 1st Feb 04 |
Dewsbury 10k, 9.30am. C/D 17th Jan, no entries on day. Roundhay Romp 5k 10am/10k 11am. |
|
Sun 1st Feb 04 |
Roundhay Romp 10k and 5k , 11am. Traffic free. |
|
Sun 8th Feb 04 |
4th WYWL Cross country hosted by Pudsey Pacers, 11am. |
|
Sun 15th Feb 04 |
Liversedge Half marathon, 12 noon. |
|
Sat 21st Feb 04 |
National Cross Country Championships (Leeds). Idle to submit and
men’s and women’s team. See Chris for details. |
|
Sun 22nd Feb 04 |
Final WYWL Cross Country hosted by Skipton AC, 11am. |
Top Fifteen Club Races for 2003: Handicap/ Attendance Scheme -6 out of 15 possible races to count. Please don’t forget to sign in the book each time you attend a club session (but only pay once per week) as each attendance at a club training session is worth 1 point and to be eligible for a trophy members must accumulate at least 30 attendance points during the year. Each attendance at a “Club” designated race earns you 5 points (see below). 50% of the required points must be achieved by attendance at training sessions.
The Club races for 2003, where points can be earned, were as follows:
|
Date |
Race Details |
Comments. |
|
February - Sun 16th |
Liversedge Half Marathon, 12.00 noon. |
8 members ran. 3 club records broken: Male, Female
& M40. 5 pb’s. |
|
March - Sat 22nd |
Coniston 14, 11am. |
Sue Elliott flew the Idle AC flag. |
|
April - Sun 6th |
Wakefield 10k, 10am. |
Chris Smith, Martin and Jo Belcher ran. Jo set a new
pb in a time of 46.01. |
|
April* - Sun 6th |
Baildon Boundary Way Half, 10.30am. |
6 runners at the Baildon BW: Joe Marjoram 1.41, Dave
Lewis 1.42, Adrian 1.43, Donna 1.45, Edward 1.46 and Simon 1.50. |
|
April* - Sat 12th |
Meanwood Valley Trail 8, 10.30am. |
Two club records were set at this 8 mile race: Simon
set an M40 record in a time of 60.38 and Richard set a Male record in 61.03. |
|
April* - Sun 20th |
Guiseley Gallop 10k, 10.30am. |
6 runners in this local event: Richard 46.25, Dave
Lewis 46.30, Donna 48.03, Tony 48.46, Edward 49.17 and Pete Helliwell 51.00. |
|
April- Tues 1st |
Bunny Run1, 3mile ‘Fell’ race, 7.00 pm. |
9 runners at the first Bunny run: Kay, Jo, Amnuay,
Chris, Tony, Donna, John, Richard & Simon. |
|
May - Sun 11 |
Leeds Half or Full Marathon, 10am. |
6 runners in the Half, many of whom obtained pb
times, including Pete V who took 8 minutes off his previous best. |
|
May - Wed 14th |
John Carr 5k, Esholt, first race. |
16 runners at this first of the John Carr 5k series
with Dave Lewis, Donna Edmondson & Kay Gambles all breaking club records. |
|
June - Sun 22nd |
Blackpool Half or Full Marathon, 9am. |
16 runners at this race and despite the hot weather
pb’s were broken and Kay Gambles set a new F45 club record. |
|
Aug -Sat 9th |
Arncliffe Gala 4 mile Road and/or Fell race. |
8 Idle AC members in the road race and three in the
Fell race, including Jo Belcher was 2nd female. |
|
Aug - Sat 23rd |
Burnsall Classic 10 mile road race. |
3 runners in the 10 mile race: Chris Stubbs 1.05 (23rd),
Chris Smith 1.12 (43rd) and Dave Lewis 1.13, (47th).
Ian Fisher running for Otley won the race (54.11). Idle AC were 6th
team. Tony Blythe ran in the fell race. |
|
Oct – Sun 5th. |
Horsforth 10k, 10am. |
A record club turn out of 24 runners (26 if you count
the twins!) Doug, Amnuay, Trevor, Katy, Elaine and Heather all ran pb’s. Idle
AC were the largest team. |
|
Nov- Sun 2nd |
Guy Fawkes 10mile, 10.30am. |
We had 10 runners at this event. |
|
Nov- Sun 30th. |
Abbey Dash 10k, 9.30am. |
We had 20 runners at this event. See results page. |
Details of the attendance winner will be announced in the January edition of the Gossip.
Congratulations
to Martin Burnside and Matthew Coles who get the club’s two guaranteed entries
and to Simon Bellwood and Pete Helliwell who also have entries via the lottery.
There
has been a lot of interest in these races, which are run in Mid August 2004
following Peter Vickers’ success there last year. Pete is therefore recommending these races
for a possible weekend away for club members.
If there is enough interest we might be able to organise a weekend trip.
Please let Pete know if anyone is interested in this idea so that initial
details can be obtained.
Abbey
Dash 10k race 30th November 03:
We had a 20 strong team out for the Abbey Dash which included good runs from Doug and Joe who were battling it out to the finish line in a hope of breaking Chris Stubbs’ club record (they were close). There were also fine performances from Elaine who broke the 1 hour mark and from Heather who ran her second 10k. Alison and Davina were pleased with their race times, both having recently given birth. The official times were as follows:
175 Doug Briggs 38.25 pb
188 Joe Marjoram 38.37 pb
278 Chris Smith 40.25
296 Pete Vickers 40.46 pb
322 Richard Raistrick 41.06
347 Steve Little 41.20
446 Dave Lewis 42.42
578 Adrian Trevelyan 44.14
698 Simon Bellwood 45.34
765 Jo Belcher 46.09 pb
1000 Pete Helliwell 48.22
1049 Amnuay Scott 48.53
1572 Vicki Hawker 53.49
1597 Davina Smith 54.15
1689 Alison Garlick 55.22
2017 Elaine Trevelyan 59.20 pb
2102 Heather Johnson 1.0049
2292 Janet Burnside 1.05.29
2293 Martin Burnside 1.05.30
2345 Chris Marshall 1.07.25
There
were 2475 runners.
Note: A
list of local fell races for 2004 will be available at the club or on the
website shortly. Chris has a copy of
the new FRA calendar.
This
month we welcome 2 new members: Our 60th
member is Lisa Flesher. Lisa is keen to be involved in club events and has
already placed 21st in the Idle cross country race. Number 61 is
Eric Midgley, who has joined us as a second claim member (first claim being
Queens Park Harriers in Wembley, where he is an active member). Eric welcomes
the opportunity to train/compete for Idle when visiting family in the area.
This
year the club had 15 named club races, which earned members attendance points.
We are now looking at a list of races for 2004 and members are invited to put
forward their nominations as to which these should be. To date (Jan to mid
November we have had runners at over 70 races and therefore its been suggested
that we nominate more club races in 2004.
The
2003 club races were as follows:
Liversedge Half Marathon, Coniston 14, Wakefield 10k, Baildon Boundary Way Half, Meanwood Valley Trail 8, Guiseley Gallop 10k, Bunny Run1, 3mile ‘Fell’ race, Leeds Half or Full Marathon, John Carr 5k, Blackpool Half or Full Marathon, Arncliffe Gala 4 mile Road and/or Fell race, Burnsall Classic 10 mile, Horsforth 10k, Guy Fawkes 10mile, Abbey Dash 10k.
Do members think that we should stick to this list with more races added or are there other races that should be done instead of the above??. Please have a think about it and let us know so that we can print a final list of 15-20 races to be included in January 2004’s Gossip. The only definite races to be included are:
The
Brass Monkey Half marathon on Sunday 25th Jan 04, and the Blackpool
Full/Half marathon on 20th June 2004.
We hope to go mob handed to the Blackpool marathon and
half marathon on Sunday 20th June 2004 following the success of last
year. Whilst it may seem a long way off, it would be good to know that we all
had entries. This is as flat a course as you can get and is generally a well
organised and supported race. As with last year we hope that many members will
make a weekend of it - we have details
of camping/ caravan sites and B & B accommodation (in Lytham/St Anne’s).
The organiser of this event was so impressed with the support of Idle AC last
year that we have been given £2 reduction on entries. Entry forms are available
at the club, therefore please complete and give to Chris/Davina for us to enter
as a block.
Whether members are planning to run London or Blackpool the emphases within the Club over Winter will be clear, since so many intend to run longer distances in 2004. This will be reflected in the Club’s training, and as individuals we should begin to consider Spring/Summer now, rather than later.
The goals of a marathon runner can seem selfish ones, but
the club member can integrate personal goals and the goals of the Club. Whilst one may think for instance that the cross country
races will interfere with marathon running, this is not so. They are ideal
marathon training - as part of schedule they provide vital strength and speed,
and there are usually at least one or two members who run home after running in
the cross country events in order to get the mileage in! The effective marathon runner, regardless of
pace, is one who has varied training methods, not just relying on the ‘Long
Sunday Plod.’ Indeed that very variety can help you through the long months. To
allow for races, consider the ‘Hard Week/Easy Week’ training method. It speaks
for itself. In mileage terms it could be 60 miles one week followed by a 40
mile week with a rest on Saturday and a race on Sunday. With this model you
even get recovery and rest. So too the long run doesn’t have to be 20 - 25
miles every Sunday. It could be 17 miles on a Wednesday evening in the week
before a cross country race. Arguably a very long run every single week will
just wear you down. Try every 2 weeks
during winter, or even every 3. The important thing is though to build up to a
good total weekly mileage (not increasing by more than 5% total mileage a
week.) comprising of shorter runs.
Once you are into a marathon schedule, it may seem that coming to the Club can seem incompatible, yet we are in a unique position to provide the varied training discussed above.
As the weeks pass both steady runs and speedwork should
be gradually increased. Where two weeks
contain consecutive races the easy week should simply be repeated. Both rest
days and shorter races are vital components of an effective training schedule,
as is the element of
gradual progression. For those members training for London then weekly mileage
should increase to a peak in January and February, with an attempt at a quick
half time and the Spen 20 Miler in March. In the meantime do contact me if I
can offer any assistance – after over fifty marathons I’ve done most things
wrong at least once! I wish you all a successful winter’s training – Chris.
The first event at Stainland saw a good turnout of 23
runners, and some fine individual efforts, contributing to strong team
scores. However the 2nd race,
which we hosted, proved to be an even greater success with a record 30 members
turning out on that bright December Sunday morning. . The two lap course of approx 4.5 miles was
a fairly testing course and included ‘the hill of death’ twice!
Ian
Fisher won his second race, with 30-year-old teacher Douglas Briggs improving
well to take 16th place.
However
it was the women’s team who really shone, with Donna Edmondson charging to
second place, behind Baildon’s second claim fell runner Helen
Glover. Donna was well supported by
Amnuay Scott (5th), and Jo Belcher (8th). Idle now lie in second place, twenty points
behind a resurgent Baildon team.
Newcomers
to the club showed great promise too, with 35-year-old mum of three Lisa
Flesher, who has responded positively to guidance from Club Coach Chris Smith,
holding off many experienced runners to take 21st place, and Katy
Ostick shrugging off injury to place 27th in her first cross country
race.
The results are as follows:
|
Team Results after
Second Event at Idle 07.12.2003 |
||||
|
Men |
|
|
Vets |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pudsey |
2611 |
|
Baildon |
952 |
|
LBT |
2524 |
|
Pudsey |
912 |
|
Stainland |
2383 |
|
St.Bede's |
894 |
|
Idle A C |
2357 |
|
Stainland |
879 |
|
St.Bede's |
2243 |
|
Dewsbury |
823 |
|
Baildon |
2147 |
|
Skipton |
799 |
|
Skipton |
2084 |
|
Idle A C |
766 |
|
Dewsbury |
1755 |
|
LBT |
758 |
|
Women |
|
|
Overall |
|
|
Baildon |
579 |
|
Pudsey |
3160 |
|
Idle A C |
559 |
|
Stainland |
2927 |
|
Dewsbury |
555 |
|
Idle AC |
2916 |
|
Pudsey |
549 |
|
Baildon |
2726 |
|
Stainland |
544 |
|
LBT |
2599 |
|
St.Bede's |
238 |
|
St.Bede's |
2481 |
|
Skipton |
157 |
|
Dewsbury |
2310 |
|
LBT |
75 |
|
Skipton |
2231 |
Many thanks to all who helped to make this a huge success and especially to Hepworth & Idle Cricket Club who supported us by putting on the food and manning the bar.
The final three fixtures
are as follows:
3 11th
Jan 03 hosted by St.Bede’s, 11 am.
4
8th Feb 03
hosted by Pudsey Pacers, 11am.
5
22nd Feb 03
hosted by Skipton AC, 11am.
December 02 saw the start
of a yearly tradition for Idle AC – the annual Sewage Works Surprise 4 mile
club handicap race. This year we had 21 members
taking part in the 3.6 mile course from the Stansfield Arms Pub at Apperley Bridge. The results were
as follows:
|
Idle AC - Sewage Works Surprise
Christmas Handicap 21.12.03. |
|
||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Name |
10k average |
|
0.95 |
Mile |
3.6 Mile |
|
|
Start Time |
|
Finish Time |
Actual |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Michael Masleczko |
49.20 |
|
46.74 |
7.53 |
27.10 |
|
3.19 |
3.12 |
|
29.03 |
25.51 |
|
Steve Little |
41.25 |
|
39.19 |
6.31 |
22.72 |
|
7.57 |
7.34 |
|
30.45 |
23.11 |
|
Peter Helliwell |
48.50 |
|
46.08 |
7.42 |
26.71 |
|
3.58 |
3.35 |
|
30.51 |
27.16 |
|
Douglas Briggs |
38.50 |
|
36.58 |
5.89 |
21.20 |
|
9.09 |
9.05 |
|
30.59 |
21.54 |
|
Stephen Edwards |
43.50 |
|
41.33 |
6.65 |
23.96 |
|
6.33 |
6.20 |
|
31.06 |
24.46 |
|
Trevor Hooley |
46.00 |
|
43.70 |
7.04 |
25.33 |
|
4.96 |
4.57 |
|
31.23 |
26.34 |
|
David Lewis |
41.00 |
|
38.95 |
6.27 |
22.58 |
|
7.71 |
7.43 |
|
31.30 |
23.47 |
|
Tony Blythe |
43.00 |
|
40.85 |
6.58 |
23.68 |
|
6.61 |
6.37 |
|
31.32 |
24.55 |
|
Adrian Trevelyan |
43.25 |
|
41.09 |
6.62 |
23.82 |
|
6.47 |
6.28 |
|
31.48 |
25.20 |
|
Chris Stubbs |
39.00 |
|
37.05 |
5.97 |
21.48 |
|
8.81 |
8.49 |
|
31.54 |
23.05 |
|
Amnuay Scott |
48.50 |
|
46.08 |
7.42 |
26.71 |
|
3.58 |
3.35 |
|
32.08 |
28.33 |
|
Davina Smith |
53.00 |
|
50.35 |
8.11 |
29.19 |
|
1.10 |
1.06 |
|
32.12 |
31.06 |
|
Matthew Coles |
42.00 |
|
39.90 |
6.43 |
23.13 |
|
7.16 |
7.10 |
|
32.21 |
25.11 |
|
Peter Vickers |
40.75 |
|
38.71 |
6.23 |
22.44 |
|
7.85 |
7.51 |
|
33.09 |
25.18 |
|
Kay Gambles |
52.00 |
|
49.40 |
7.95 |
28.64 |
|
1.65 |
1.39 |
|
33.53 |
32.14 |
|
Lisa Flesher |
49.20 |
|
46.74 |
7.53 |
27.10 |
|
3.19 |
3.12 |
|
33.59 |
30.47 |
|
Jo Belcher |
46.10 |
|
43.80 |
7.05 |
25.39 |
|
4.90 |
4.54 |
|
34.33 |
29.49 |
|
Edward East |
41.60 |
|
39.52 |
6.36 |
22.91 |
|
7.38 |
7.23 |
|
34.37 |
27.12 |
|
Ros Stinton |
55.00 |
|
52.25 |
8.41 |
30.29 |
|
0.00 |
0.00 |
|
34.57 |
34.57 |
|
Michael Compton |
51.00 |
|
48.45 |
7.80 |
28.09 |
|
2.20 |
2.12 |
|
34.58 |
32.46 |
|
Gary Naylor |
45.00 |
|
42.75 |
6.88 |
24.78 |
|
5.51 |
5.30 |
|
39.16 |
33.46 |
Well done to
Michael who is the 2003 winner who received the special trophy, presented to
him by the 2002 winner, David Lewis, at the presentation afternoon at the
Symposium. Steve Little improved on his
previous year’s position taking second place with Peter Helliwell in 3rd.
It’s
been a couple of months since I last gave you an update of the “running
world’s” best website. This month has
seen the hit counter go soaring past 13,500 hits. The exponential growth seems to have returned
with a vengeance. September and November
have been very good months after the lean August we had. Remember the September peak was caused by the
Great North Run and November’s peak is the Cross Country results.
Lets
have a look in a little more detail.
November’s
peak was on the 23rd and 24th which was the first cross
country and the following day where everyone eagerly awaited their
results. The rest of the month has been
fairly quiet as those 2 days alone accounted for nearly 40% of the month’s
traffic. It’s interesting to find that
the two busiest times of day are 9am and 8pm.
The most popular pages are the cross country ones followed by the Abbey
Dash results. There’s no doubt that the
start of the cross country season is responsible for the major hike in
interest, and I’m confident this trend will continue through the winter season.
The
top 10 popular searches this month are as follows – I won’t mention the top
search again this month. (She’s a popular lass though !!!)
|
1 |
19 |
7.79% |
Donna
Edmondson |
|
2 |
12 |
4.92% |
south
leeds stadium |
|
3 |
10 |
4.10% |
idle
ac |
|
4 |
9 |
3.69% |
leeds
abbey dash |
|
5 |
7 |
2.87% |
abbey
dash |
|
6 |
6 |
2.46% |
chevin
chase |
|
7 |
6 |
2.46% |
guy
fawkes 10 |
|
8 |
5 |
2.05% |
brass
monkey half marathon |
|
9 |
5 |
2.05% |
liversedge
half marathon |
|
10 |
4 |
1.64% |
manchester
marathon |
We
are still getting lots of interest
There
has been minor interest from foreign countries, only odd hits, but some strange
countries nevertheless: USA, Canada,
Argentina, Sweden, Romania, Belgium,
Mexico, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Netherlands, Denmark & France.
Current
work at the moment is keeping the site ticking over with the results &
events lists together with updating the Winter League pages in readiness for
the coming season. I’m working on a
clever spreadsheet so that we can get results out quickly post race by using a
laptop computer that I have access to.
I’ve put the photo album on hold at the moment as the method I’ve started to
develop is very high maintenance & I don’t want to spend all my time
sorting out photos on the website. I’m
looking at some automated web albums, but for the time being I think it’s good
enough to have the photos on the relevant pages – i.e.: on the results pages
etc.
The XML stylesheets & datasets I mentioned a few months ago should emerge
as pages for the WYWL results. Hopefully
you won’t notice too many differences.
That's all for this month - Keep Browsing
- Martin.
January-
24 runners for 3rd cross country at
Stainland with Ian finishing in 1st position and Donna in 5th
place. 10 runners at the Brass Monkey Half marathon and 6 pb’s. Donna finished 2nd in the Roundhay
Romp 10k.
February- Idle AC finished 4th overall in
our 1st cross country season and members picked up 5 individual
trophies: Ian (1st Male), Steve (3rd M45), Donna (5th
female), Davina (3rd F35) and Peter Vickers (Dave Turpin trophy for
most improved male). 3 club records broken at the Liversedge Half: Chris Stubbs
(male), Dave Lewis (M40), Donna (female).
March- We celebrated our first year since the
formation of Idle AC (formed 22nd March 2002) with a 1st
anniversary party and a t-shirt to mark the occasion which noted all 43 members
at that date. We also set 2 club records
at Spen 20 and Chris, Davina and Kay represented Idle in the wettest race ever-
Dent 14.
April- Our 1st men’s team in a marathon as Chris
Smith, Pete Vickers and Peter Helliwell ran at London and raised money for the
Yorkshire Air ambulance. Jo Belcher ran her 1st marathon finishing an
impressive 3.57. A large turn out for the Bunny run fell races – the start of
Chris’s ‘fell race course’.
May- The three John Carr 5k races proved popular with 16, 17,
and 20 runners at the events and a string of pb’s and club records were set,
including Dave Lewis who kept breaking the M40 record. We had 2 teams in the
WYWL Canal relay, coming in 3rd and 7th position and
Chris Smith won the Ilkley Moor Baht'at 40k trail race in a time of 3.24.
June- The 10th June 2003 saw us mark our first year as
an affiliated club and to celebrate 13 members ran the Bronte 5 race at Haworth
with Chris Stubbs, Tony Blythe, Simon Bellwood and Jo Belcher all break club
records. We also had our first weekend
away when many of us ran the Blackpool marathon/Half. Alison Garlick gave birth to Thomas.
July- The women’s fell team of Amnuay, Jo and Kay
were 2nd team in the Widdop fell race. The Black Sheep series proved
popular and Amnuay finished 3rd F35 in the Burton Leonard 10k and 3rd
women in the series.
Aug- Pete Vickers was the first member to run ‘overseas’
when he finished 36th in the Isle of Man marathon. We had 8 runners
at the Arncliffe 4 mile race and 4 runners in the fell race. Jo, Kay and Davina
were the 1st womens team in the road race despite Davina being 5
months pregnant.
September- We smashed the men’s World Marathon record in
a time of 2.01.55 by running a relay over a distance of 21 metres (2008 reps)
at Idle Tide and in addition raised money in support of the Lord Mayors appeal.
Ian fisher was second in the great Langdale Half marathon, we welcomed Jane
Lewis as our 50th member and the website reached a milestone by
clocking 10,000 hits.
October-
We had a record turn out in the Horsforth 10k with 24
runners and three club records: Trevor Hooley, Jo Belcher and Amnuay Scott were
set at the Holmfirth 15 mile race. Davina and Chris set a new ‘personal best’
when Davina gave birth to twins, Joe and Katie, future runners for Idle AC.
November- The start of the 2003/4 WYWL cross country
season saw Idle combined team finishing in 3rd place. Ian won the
race but he had strong back up from James waters in 13th place and
Doug Briggs in 18th. For the women Donna finished in 4th
place and Amnuay in 9th place.
We also had a strong turnout in the Abbey Dash with 20 runners on the
start line and good individual performances from Doug and Joe who battled it
out on the line and from newer members Heather and Elaine.
December- The second WYWL fixture saw us successfully
hosting our first ever event with a record 30 Idle AC runners. Ian won his
second race and Doug improved to take 16th place in the men. The
women produced a strong performance finishing in 2nd place with
Donna in 2nd place, Amnuay 5th and Jo in 8th
place. They were supported by an 8 women team, which included newcomers, Lisa
Flesher, Katy Ostick and Heather Johnson.
Overall 2003 was a really successful year which saw our membership
continue to increase from 43 to 61 members and with training nights regularly
seeing 20 members at a time. We showed that we can provide strong team and
individual performances in road, cross country and in fell and trail races
alike.
We now look forward to 2004 when we will be sending teams to the
Regional and National cross country championships for the first time and when
we’ll aim to continue to succeed at all distances and in all disciplines.
December is a busy month for us all running wise with the
second cross country fixture on 7th the Meal on the 12th,
and the Sewage works Surprise Race on the 21st. With Christmas and New Years Day both being
on a Thursday there will be no training on those evenings. Hopefully we should
have a good turn out for the Chevin Chase 7 mile race on Boxing Day 11am. The
28th sees the Jolly Holly Jog race from Ripon, a fine multi terrain
10k race. Finally for those wanting a run on New Years Eve you could run the
Auld Lang Syne Fell race!! This is a ‘B’ Medium fell race which starts from
Penistone Hill Country Park at Haworth at 11.30 am. The race is 6 miles with
900’ of climbing (speak to Chris if you want to know more details about the
course) its only £3 to enter (on the day only) and all finishers receive a
bottle of Briscoe’s Brewery ‘Auld Lang Syne’ beer. All prizes are beers, ales,
ciders etc.
This year we have seen the club grow in strength and in
achievements. However next year will be even better! Thanks to all the
members we really have achieved a great deal during 2003.
Merry Christmas and a happy new
year.
From the
Coach…
I reflected at the Christmas do on what is inevitable as we move towards the end of December. We look both backwards and forwards. The two faced ancient Roman God Janus, after whom our month of January is named, did just this, with one face looking into the past, and one into the future. He was also, interestingly, the god of doorways, and of new beginnings.
We are at the Club now at least able to inform our future with the experiences of the last year or so. We know what went well, and the things which really didn’t work. Personally, too, we can have a hard look at what succeeded, and learn from the mistakes we made. When I do want to analyse what went wrong in a period of my running life, it’s then that I am glad that most of the time I have kept a training diary. A year after an injury occurred, when I look at the diary it is suddenly obvious why it happened. By the same token I can see a successful period of training before a success in a race. I have gradually gained a comprehensive record of what works, and what doesn’t. Coming back to a race the following year, too, I have a reliable record of the previous year’s performance.
Many Club members this year, myself included, are talking seriously about the prospect of at least one marathon in 2004, and general comments about training are made elsewhere in this issue. I would however strongly advocate that you use some of those W H Smith vouchers from Auntie Ethel to buy a decent diary, and start to keep a record of training and races. When preparing for major marathons I would always diligently record weekly mileage, type of training and times in my A5 ‘Week to View’ diary, and this knowledge of my training effort became an important psychological weapon in the only true battle which occurs for most of us during a full marathon race – the battle with oneself. I personally believe that a stopwatch is vital too, though some would avoid such constant self examination as timing every run. Others go further in diaries and record pulse rate and weather conditions.
Armed
then with a record of what we have achieved, and a plan for what we want to
achieve, we can set forth through the doorway of a new year, but, like Janus
the god who could look both ways at once, not forget the old one. Chris.