Pensby Runners

Congratulations to the ten Pensby Runners who completed the Chester Marathon last weekend, and the five who ran in the metric marathon.

Leading home Pensby field in the marathon was Rob Beech in his 100th marathon!  Rob’s been notching up the marathons since 2013, but has really stepped things up in the last few years with over 25 marathons and ultras in the last 24 months alone.  His efforts have taken him overseas to Paris, Amsterdam and Tokyo, and to some pretty random off the beaten path events over here in the UK.  Racking up the numbers hasn’t stopped him from running fast either – Rob’s best times have been sub 3 hours for the last five years, and his pb is a 2:49!  Finally on Sunday he joined the 100 Marathon Club, and received his medal for his efforts.  There was a great turn out in Chester, both of fellow runners and supporters from the club to cheer him in and celebrate with him.  Well done Rob – a huge congratulations from everyone here at Pensby Runners!  

Here are the details for next Saturdays interclub relays at Delamere Forest – The Delamere Interclub Relay Teams (DIRT). The event will take place on Saturday 22nd September 4pm start.
• Teams of 6 (although runners can do more than one leg)
• 4 legs
• Enter on the day (but let us know in advance)
• £2.50 per person
• At Delamere Visitors Centre CW8 2JD
• Teams can be: male, mixed, female or male or female vets.
Leg 1: Railway Slalom 5k 1 team member
Leg 2: Ace of Spodes 8k 2 team members
Leg 3: Lotto 6kish 2 team members
(might be useful to be able to read a map for this one (simple though)
Leg 4: Park Run 5k 1 team member
(This is the usual Delamere park run course)

As Autumn approaches the new cross-country season beckons. Here are the dates to put in your diary. Who will be the one who manages to run all 9?

League Races & Dates

RACE 1 Sun. 28th October 2018, 10.00 a.m., Clarke Gardens
RACE 2 Sun. 18th November 2018, 10.00 a.m., Beacon Park Skelmersdale
RACE 3 Sun. 16th December 2018, 10.00 a.m., Arrowe Park, Wirral
RACE 4 Sat. 5th January 2018, Merseyside Championships , OR Cheshire Championships, OR Other County Championship (Start Times to be advised)
RACE 5 Sun. 13th January 2019, 10.00 a.m., Town Park, Runcorn
RACE 6 Sat. 26th January 2019, North Of England Championships, (Pontefract Racecourse)
RACE 7 Sun. 3rd February 2019, Croxteth Hall Country Park
RACE 8 Sat. 23rd February 2019, English National Cross-Country Championships, Harewood House, Leeds (Start Time to be advised)
RACE 9 Sun. 24th February 2019, 10.00 a.m., Forest Park, Birchwood

Well done to the eight Pensby Runners who headed over to Llandyrnog for the Two Hillforts race, as part of the Pensby Fell League.  At just over 9 miles in length, with over 1800 foot of climb, the race has a reputation for being a lovely run in good weather but no push over.  Fortunately the sun was shining, particularly on Rob Grantham who finished second overall.  Great to see a couple of new runners to the League, Hazel and Mark, as well as appearances from the likes of Andie and Claudia who don’t get into the hills as regularly as some, and who both put in very strong performances. Also great to see Nigel and Jeff going from strength to strength as they both recover to hopefully 100% running capacity again after long term lay offs.  I have to put in a mention for Andrew P as well now – he gets a photo in here powering a downhill and looking as comfortable as ever in the terrain – 4th Pensby overall for Andrew.  Great running all round – well done Pensbys!

Thanks to SJ Photography for photos:  https://www.facebook.com/SteveJefferyPhotography/

A reminder (and information for newer members) that in September there is the Multi Terrain series every Tuesday night. There is unlikely to be anybody at the club on Tuesdays in September. The races are:

Tues 4th Sept Royden Park 7pm

Tues 11th Sept Harrison Drive 7pm

Tues 18th Sept Thurstaston 6.30pm

Tues 25th Sept Arrowe Park 6.30pm

£1 to enter, Club vests MUST be worn. You are earning points for your club and we’d like to see as many members taking part as possible. Hopefully, see you there.

The second “Run and Swim” this year took place on Sunday, 5^th August to take advantage of the low tide that day. The weather was very warm and very sunny.

As previously, there were three run options – a 7.2 mile run (5 miles out to the main island and 2 miles back); a 5-mile run (3 miles out to the main island 2 miles back) and a 4 mile run (2 miles out to the main island and 2 miles back).

Due to family holidays, numbers were slightly down on our June excursion but nevertheless, 37 plus one dog completed the run, and 22 joined in the swim. Nine members completed various pre-Chester Marathon distances of 5, 8 or 10 miles, prior to the event.

We finished off with coffee at the Lattetude Cafe in Dee Lane.

Hopefully we will have another in 2019.

(Report and photos from Ian Chalmers – and from the club, another big thank you to Ian for once again being the organiser of what was a highly enjoyable and very well run event).

What a brilliant run last night night!  Ian Chalmers organised another Hilbre Run from West Kirby, and 57 runners, including 11 juniors headed out from the prom, to eventually meet on the Hilbre Islands, before returning via a run or a swim, for fish and chips at Marigolds.

The Hiblre islands are small archipelago of tidal islands in the Dee estuary just off the coast from West Kirby.  At low tide it’s possible to run out to them across the beach.  Of course last night was a beautiful example of the kind of warm sunny evening we’ve been having of late, so what a night to do such a thing!  Three groups of runners headed off around 6pm on ‘pre-islands’ run routes of various lengths, before hitting the beach and following the driest path out across the sands, to rendezvous with one another on the largest of the islands.  It was such a brilliant way to unwind and particularly lovely to have so many families together on the night.  We were of course all carefully checked out and checked back in again, by Jackie and her clipboard, before most people headed to Marigolds who coped ably with a stamped of slightly sweaty and soggy runners starving for fish and chips.

A huge thank you to Ian, for once again putting in so much effort to organise an event that really epitomises the ethos of our club.  I know Ian would like to thank Claudia for originally coming up with the idea of the run, and John, Alan, Jackie and Colin for their help on the night.  As well as Marigolds for catering for us all.

Roll on next year!

Last night we replaced our normal Tuesday night training session with our first ‘Plogging’ event.  For the uninitiated, plogging is a Scandinavian concept – a portmanteau of ‘picking’ and ‘jogging’, used to described running groups going out to clear litter in their locality, whilst enjoying a health giving run.

As a running club we get a huge amount of use and pleasure out of the roadways and pathways of the Heswall area, and the wider Wirral.  Some of our members have a quite unbelievable knowledge of the little shortcuts and long forgotten footpaths in the area.  We are very aware though, that as with all populated regions, we suffer from litter and particularly plastic litter.

Last night more than 50 club members gathered at the squash club, donned gloves, grabbed rubbish bags and headed out for up to seven miles of running, and litter picking.  It was great to see so many people supporting what will hopefully become a regular event.  The runners returned after  an hour, and binned bag after bag of litter.  A great team effort.  Thanks to Dave Green for being chief organiser, and thanks to everyone who got involved.  I’m sure this will be happening again soon – I think plogging went down well with all involved.

A huge well done to Rob Grantham who won the Welsh 1000m peaks fell race in North Wales on June 2nd.   The 1000m peaks is a seriously tough race, with 30K of gruelling mountain terrain and 2500m of climb overall.  Rob finished in frankly ridiculous 4:18:56, six minutes ahead of the next finisher.  Congratulations Rob!

Rob and his winners trophy!

Also due a mention this week, Simon Rogers is in 9th place overall for the Merseyside Grand Prix road racing league.  Four races down and six to go, he’s going strong!

The Moel Eilio fell race, run from Llanberis was the second of the Summer Fell League for Pensby Runners.

Moel Eilio is definitely my favourite fell race, and happily I was already just down the road from Llanberis for work.  In total seven Pensby Runners took part in Saturdays rather humid outing into the foothills of Snowdon, and I think we gave rather a good showing (especially Lucy!).

What makes Eilio such a great race in my book is just how runnable it is.  There was some questioning of this ‘runnability’ by some fellow Pensbys at the start of the race (see attached photo of detailed scanning of the profile), but having watched Lucy run all the way up the side of Eilio (I think I counted about 20 paces where she walked), I can confirm it’s definitely a runnable route (I was walking most of that time). The race starts with a section of trail that undulates, but largely gains height as you head up to the foot of the eponymous mountain.  The ascent to the summit is something of a slog, but you gain height fast and if you’re willing and able, it’s definitely runnable.  Then the real fun starts.  The route drops sharply – and this is where I finally caught Lucy – into switchback mode, as you plough down one hillside, then up onto Foel Gron, then down once again, and up Foel Goch. I think at this stage Lucy was back behind me, and I could see Dave in the not so distance.  The next descent is one of those tricky traverses where you angle down at 45 degrees across the hills, meeting a gateway to the clear valley path, but instead heading back up at a mirror angle to ascend the final peak of Moel Cynghorion.  This one always brings me out in sweats, as it’s the last of the Peris horseshoe (coming up in this year’s league I see), and the descent from the top back down to the valley is brutally steep, and although grassy, unforgiving on tired knees.  I was pleased with my descending all things considered, and found a good line down this time, but just as I was feeling proud of myself for apparently leading a little trail of runners behind me on my clever new ‘line’, I fell flat on my face in the bog!  After jumping the stream, it’s a sole-of-feet singeing pound back down the roadway into Llanberis.  I always think this is the most dangerous part of the race – a high risk of catching a stud and tripping on very hard ground, and a couple of runners crossing the line gushing blood from hands and elbows were testimony to this theory!

Our crew did very well indeed, with particular mention for Lucy who, according to the results on FB was third lady overall!  Great to have seven Pensbys crossing the line, and enjoying ice cream in the village afterwards.  A huge thanks to the race organisers and all the marshals.

Ralph

The official team photo, and the team surveying the profile of the route and trying to spot the biggest mountain they could run up!