2015 reports – Page 10 – Stilton Striders

17 June 2015 – Club Handicap Race

Thank you to everyone who came along to make this year’s race a great evening. 18 runners lined up for this year’s event (it seemed like more until Rutland Runners headed off to run their loop of the same course around the peninsula!).

With predicted times based on a mixture of recent race times and parkrun Melton PBs, this race really rewards those who put in that extra effort on the night. There is a staggered start such that if everyone runs precisely in line with Mr Chairman’s expectations, they would all finish together. With a 24 min 30 sec gap between first and final starter, it was then a waiting game to see who will turn the corner first into the (deceptively long) finishing straight to claim this year’s trophy.

After battling the surprisingly steep hills of the first 3 miles, the course flattens out – on this occasion, just as the runners turned into the wind, which rapidly was added to with a short sharp rain shower.

First to turn the corner and head for home (with applause from the crowd of Rutland Runners who had made it back – thanks guys!) was Debbie Wilson, rapidly followed a few seconds later by Nicholas Smith. Jon Wilson finished in third (I can see a family trip to Melton Sports at the weekend to spend those vouchers!).

We then had 5 runners all within 15 seconds of their predicted time – Steph, Andy, Mike Bryan, Jay and Jenny. A special mention must go to the epic sprint between Jenny and Jay, who had started nearly 25 minutes apart but pushed each other to finish pretty much bang on their time.

Tam and John were next home, after starting together, and it was Tam who took the honours (reversing the Rothley 10k result from the night before), followed by Mike Brighty, Simon, Shane, Iain, Celina, Clive, Isaac and Stuart.

Full results are below, and check out the gallery here for photos of the evening.

16 June 2015 – Rothley 10k

Six Striders made their way to the race start on a warm Leicestershire evening to join the 600+ other runners taking part in the event. First out of the blocks and first home for the Striders was Michael Atton who finished 66th with a time of 43.56 and 6th male Vet 45. Next back just fourteen seconds later was Dan Valencia 75th overall in 44.10, nearly three minutes later John Houghton crossed the line 129th overall in 46.54, Tam Nicol followed in just 40 seconds later 139th overall and 8th male vet 50 in 47.34.

The in form Louise Houghton continued to make her presence felt finishing 210th overall and 3rd female Vet 45 in 50.27. Last back was the ever present Stuart Gregory 448th overall in 1.02.53 his third fastest 10k this year and just a little slower than Stathern 10k two days previous. [Stuart]

12 June 2015 – Rab Mini mountain marathon

Rab Mini Mountain Marathon – Dovedale

Two Striders Andrew Easom-Bentley and Simon Bottrill left behind a rain soaked Melton Mowbray and headed into Derbyshire for what was a glorious summers evening in beautiful surroundings. This was to be a really well organised event and no sooner had we arrived at the start (The Old Dog Pub in Thorpe) we collected our dibbers, were handed a map, formulated a quick plan and were on our way.

Racing as a pair we had a 2 hour time limit to find 15 locations marked on the map in and around Dovedale with points awarded for each location dependent upon difficulty. With little time to warm the legs up we immediately started to climb and arrived at our 1st location within minutes, this spurred us on and very soon after we had reached the 2nd. From there an ankle breaking decent brought us to the River Dove and we wasted far too much time trying to find our 3rd location.

We soon got back on track but the delay caused us to rethink our strategy opting to do the big ascents in order to gain more points. The warm evening air combined with the climbs made finding the next 5 locations tough going. We managed to complete our challenge in 2:04 having made it to 8 location and covering 8.4 miles (with just under 1700ft of ascent) coming in 44th place out 107 competitors. [Simon]

12 June 2015 – Notts 10

Three Striders made their way to the National Watersports Centre for the Notts AAA ten mile road race – Stuart Gregory, John Houghton and Louise Houghton, all hoping for a great run.

John Houghton was first Strider back to cross the finish line in 1hr 14m 19s 175th overall after 10 miles, 4 of which were in torrential rain. Not too far behind was Louise Houghton, finishing in even worse conditions in 1hr 20m 58s 230th overall and 7th lady vet 45.

Meanwhile after a shockingly slow start and getting lapped after just 3.5 miles Stuart Gregory had finally picked up the pace as he enter the final 5 miles and began to make up for a lot of lost time early on to complete the course and second 5 miles in 45 minutes and crossed the line in terrible weather conditions in a time of 1hr 45m 09s 331st overall, his second worst time and worst ever finishing position in this event. [Stuart]

11 June 2015 – Leicester City 5k

Four striders – Jay Barton, Matt Gayton, Darren Glover and Stuart Gregory – made the trip to Leicester along with 100 others for the second race in the Leicester City 5km series on a sunny Leicestershire evening. Jay Barton, who had already shown good form in the first race of the series, made light work of the 5km course as he pushed ahead from the early stages finishing third overall in a time of 17.29. He was followed little more than two minutes later by Mat Gayton 19.38 14th place overall, who held on by 6 seconds ahead of Darren Glover 19.44 15th place and first vet 40. Stuart Gregory rounded off the quartet with a time of 28.01 71st place much better than his performance the previous day.

In a very close fight Stilton Striders were also crowned the overall team champions on the night, to round off a good evening by all Striders. [Stuart]

10 June 2015 – Nottingham 5k series

After his recent downward trend in results Stuart Gregory arrived in Nottingham hoping to steady the ship as he lined up with 53 other runners at the start line as the only Stilton Strider for race two in the four race series. Having missed the first race due to an unexpected situation, Stuart started the race well completing the first 2.5km lap in a steady but not overly fast 13.45, before slowing during the second lap to finish the 5km circuit 40th overall in a time of 29.36. [Stuart]

7 June 2015 – Swithland 6

The ever popular Swithland 6 marked the start of the LRRL summer season. A contingent of eight Striders made there way to the race start and, with near perfect runner conditions, Jay Barton made the most of things and was first Strider home in 34.45, and finished 21st overall. Darren Glover was next in 38.45 for 84th place overall, followed by a fantastic performance from Luke Eggleston for 40.08 (111th overall and 4th junior male) and Andy Nicholls in 42.09 (184th).

Louise Houghton was first Female Strider in 47.38 for 348th overall and was followed in around 9 minutes later by Steph Barlow (in her debut league race for the club) and Tam Nicol both in 56.59 (561st and 562nd). Last Strider to cross the finish line was Stuart Gregory 1.03.28 636th overall.

6 June 2015 – No Walk in the Park

Stuart Gregory was the only Strider to make the trip to Chesterfield for the sixth race in the series. As there were a number of other races taking place that day the field was surprisingly only very slightly depleted with 86 runners taking part on a very windy morning. Stuart started the race at a steady pace for the first 2km, before slowing down markedly at the 3km point, he then continued with the slower pace until 4km, before lifting the pace slowly over the final 1000m with a 200m sprint finish, to finish in a time of 29.23 and 78th place, his worst time and finishing position in the monthly series to date, in his first competitive race in nearly three week. [Stuart]

31 May 2015 – Outlaw Half

Nottingham Holme Pierrepont staged the 2015 Outlaw Half Ironman competition, also known as a 70.3 event. Consisting of a 1.2mile Swim, then 56mile Bike, finishing with a 13.1 half marathon Run.

Wayne Hackett in his first ever Triathlon event completed the race in a total time of 5hrs 44mins in very wet and windy conditions. Swim – 39:09, Bike – 2:55:25,and the Run – 1:59:52.

This gave him good practice and a recce of what is needed for his main event in two months time which will cover double the distance and raise needy funds for local Leukaemia Charity The Karen Green Foundation. [Wayne]

31 May 2015 – Peat Pits 3 fell race

Only one Strider (Simon Bottrill) made the trip (and only because I was camped around the corner) to Alderwasley for the 3rd of the Peat Pits Wood Fell Races. Disappointingly the terrible overnight weather in Derbyshire meant that some parts of the course where impassable so the race was reduced from 5 down 3 miles.

The short two lap race was still challenging enough though and after a quick start I soon found myself picking my way through a very wet peaty trail with some tight turns, a sharp downhill and a long slow climb (which seems steeper on the second lap) back to loop past the start. Came 15th out of a small field of only some 43 runners in 21:19. [Simon]