Vale Royal AC - Senior Section

NOTICES

NORTHERN AND NATIONAL XC ENTRIES: Anyone wanting to enter please inform Stu Doyle by Thurs 9 Jan. Northerns are at Kirklington, N Yorks on Sat 25 Jan. Nationals are at Wollaton Park, Nottingham on Sat 22 Feb.

ROSEBANK SPORTS VOUCHER SCHEME: There is a new Loyalty Voucher scheme for VRAC Members. Details here.

RUNNING PAST 40: An interesting read from WeaverPysio Sports and Injury Clinic. Click here.

TRACK ETIQUETTE: PLEASE READ AND COMPLY TO THE RULES AGREED BY THE VRAC COMMITTEE. VIEW HERE.

RACE REPORTS: We try and keep the website up to date. The volume and variety of races makes this challenging. Please help by sending a brief race report with a link to the results to info@valeroyalseniors.com. If you have been a Park Run tourist somewhere novel let us know about that too!

OUR WEALTH IS OUR HEALTH.

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ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. NO HUMAN IS LIMITED.

Eliud Kipchoge 1hr 59m 40s

ATHLETE OF THE MONTH

Plenty of worthy AOM contenders in Dec. A number of PB's at the inaugural Mid Cheshire Boxing day 5k including Dominique Searle with an F40 win. Gemma Barnett was in the prizes with a 10 mile PB at Stockport. Sarah Murphy and Chris Williams impressed at Telford with Chris going sub 32 minutes for the first time. However, this month we recognise an individual who made an impressive comeback following a hernia operation earlier in the year. Running successive seasons bests at Telford and Ribble Valley 10k's December AOM is MIKE HARRINGTON.


In 3 Words CHAMPIONSHIP XC ENTRIES

Other Useful Website links - Click here.

Thanks to Bryan Dale for allowing us to use his photos. Visit his racephotos website for more pictures!

Injured? There are a number of good physios - ask around. Several of us have had very successful treatment at Athlete Matters in Worsley (Duncan Mason): Details below. 10% Discount for VRAC.

ROSEBANK SPORTS LOYALTY SCHEME


RACE REPORTS please email us at info@valeroyalseniors.com with news and results.

FOUR VILLAGES HALF MARATHON - HELSBY

19 Jan: The usual strong and talented turnout for this popular local race which was won in 1.06.14. Plenty of VRAC vests throughout the field. Chris Standidge was at the sharp end with a top 10 finish just 8 seconds short of his PB. It was a good day for Mr and Mrs Richardson with Gary close to a 2 minute PB and Debbie completing her first half marathon abley paced and nattered round by Jo Edwards. Following a busy cross country season Nick Mort was another half marathon debutant comfortably under his target of 2 hours. Some excellent runs by VRACers with Paul Davies and Debbie Broad delivering big PB's with Paul improving by over 3 minutes and Debbie 'very happy' with a huge 4 min 44 sec PB. Good day for VRAC. Full results here.

Pos	Gun time	First name	Last name	Chip Time	Chip Pos	Gender	Pos	Category	Pos
8	01:11:54	Chris	Standidge	01:11:51	8	Male	8	V40	2
25	01:13:57	Stuart	Doyle	01:13:56	26	Male	25	V45	4
90	01:19:49	Gary	Richardson	01:19:40	90	Male	86	V45	14	PB
107	01:20:59	Michael	Harrington	01:20:54	110	Male	102	V45	16
131	01:22:16	Tom	Armstrong	01:22:15	135	Male	124	V40	20
150	01:23:23	Richard	Murray	01:23:00	150	Male	141	V50	14
289	01:30:04	Ian	Simpson	01:29:51	296	Male	261	V50	29	Debut?
302	01:30:36	David	Haines	01:30:22	313	Male	273	V50	30
388	01:33:31	Helen	Smith	01:33:03	390	Female	46	V50	7
439	01:35:13	Paul	Davies	01:34:52	447	Male	384	V45	62	PB
451	01:35:38	Mark	Pilliner	01:35:15	456	Male	393	V50	48
498	01:37:44	Melanie	Johnson	01:37:15	511	Female	70	V35	22
570	01:40:30	Debbie	Broad	01:40:00	589	Female	90	V50	14	PB
754	01:46:56	Mary	Tavener	01:45:42	752	Female	141	V55	5
890	01:51:03	Jayne	Lomax	01:50:29	936	Female	183	V50	25
1043	01:55:45	Nick	Mort	01:54:27	1064	Male	816	V55	70	Debut
1421	02:12:32	Debbie	Richardson	02:10:47	1433	Female	392	V50	54	Debut
1422	02:12:33	Joanne	Edwards	02:10:48	1434	Female	393	V55	22
1710	Finishers

MORECOMBE 5K SERIES

17 Jan: Graham Miles reports: Andrew and myself headed to Morecambe for an early 5k.Once we had battled the M6 on a Friday night to arrived for a low key but reputedly quick 5k. It was a wet and windy night and Andrew was running in his third race in six days (on three different surfaces).He went off in the lead and ran on his own winning in a new PB of 15.09 winning by a minute. I finished in 18.51, with my category position being unknown at the time of going to press. A low key race with no chip timing but worth going to. The race is run every 6 weeks if anyone fancies giving it a go.

MANCHESTER XC LEAGUE MATCH 4 - TATTON PARK

11 Jan: Colin Rathbone reports: Great new venue, excellent weather and good conditions underfoot. A decent turnout in the men’s race but again only a skeleton number in the women. Everybody ran exceptionally well with some high placings giving us a possible promotion boost back into Division 1. All we need is a good turnout for the last fixture at Heaton Park on the 8 February. Full reults here.

52nd. Holly Carrington. 36.53

71st.   Claire Thompson. 37.59. 9th V40
257th. Paula Manley.       48.44. 55th V40
313rd. Carole Williams.   56.54. 6th V65

Total runners 328
Ladies Team 41st out of 69
Ladies Vets Team 46th out of 69

21st. Stu Doyle.     34.16.   1st V45
31st. Aaron Doyle. 34.44. 5th U20
36th. Ryan Moore. 34.53
42nd. Mark Crabtree. 35.08. 4th V40
136th. Gareth Williams. 38.49. 10th V50
195th. Matt Hough.   40.17. 30th V45
274th. Bob Corinaldi. 43.03. 17th V50
284th. Mark Pilliner.   43.31. 19th V50
385th. John Clarke.    47.44. 4th V65
446th. Nick Mort.        53.22. 33rd V55
478th. Paul Hudson.    1.06.30. 6th V65

Total runners 478
Men’s Team. 10th out of 62
Vets Team ‘A’ 8th out of 57
Vets Team ‘B’ 44th out of 57

KIDSGROVE 10K

11 Jan: Helen Harrington reports: Cracking little event hosted by Mick Hall with a few testing climbs. The men’s race was run before the women which made it a little spread out in the ladies field. Nonetheless, Helen finished third overall despite running solo for most of the race. Tony Dutton on his way back from injury enjoyed the race and has a lot more to come as he continues to build his fitness. Ed: The observant will note Tony's achievement of finishing in the same position as his race number. Race pic for H awaited.

Race	Pos	Name	Chip	Cat	Pos
Female	3	Helen Harrington	42.54	F35	1
Male	141	Tony Dutton	54.52	M45	25

NORTHERN INDOORS - SHEFFIELD

11 Jan: Proud Graham Miles reports: Andrew Miles went for his annual pilgrimage to the Northern Indoors at the English institute of sport at Sheffield to take on the 3000m.The first 2k was tactical with Andrew going through in a close lead group of 7 in 6.04.The race sped up from there with Andrew running the penultimate 200m in 30.3.With 200 m to go he was second and held on to 2nd in a 11 second indoor Pb of 8.48.7, 3 seconds behind the winner and holding off the third runner by 1/2 a second.This was Andrew’s first region medal, with his previous highest senior position being 7th.

CHESHIRE XC CHAMPIONSHIPS - KNIGHTS GRANGE

4 Jan: The Cheshire Champs XC was at Knights Grange and jointly hosted by Cheshire clubs. Thanks to all the people who helped. The VRAC competitors turned out in force and did themselves and the club proud. The ladies fielded 4 full teams with Sarah Murphy, Katie Brough and Helen Smith taking 2nd team overall and 1st vet team. The men had 4 in the top 10 and took 1st team overall and also 1st vets team. Full results here.

LADIES Pos.	No.	Name	Category	LV Pos.	Cat pos	Time
3	647	Sarah Murphy	V40	2	2	33:08
11	638	Katie Brough	V35	5	1	35:21
14	653	Helen Smith	V50	7	1	37:03
16	652	Dominique Searle	V40	9	5	37:35
17	654	Claire Thompson	V40	10	6	37:39
19	639	Holly Carrington	L		9	37:45
24	649	Clara Pettitt	L		11	38:39
37	642	Melanie Johnon	V35	24	5	40:49
44	650	Jeanette Pope	V40	29	12	41:24
65	643	Jayne Lomax	V50	48	7	44:38
68	641	Liz Gale	V40	51	18	45:37
72	640	Jo Edwards	V55	54	5	46:31
74	645	Debbie Moreton	V50	56	8	46:42
80	644	Paula Manley	V40	62	21	50:22
86	651	Debbie Richardson	V50	66	10	54:08
91	655	Carole Williams	V65	71	3	55:54
91	Finishers

Team A	2nd	3 count	Vets Team A	1st	3 count
B	4th		B	4th
C	10th		C	12th
D	20th		D	15th

MEN Pos.	No.	Name	Category	MV Pos.	Cat pos	Time
4	140	Harry Dexter	M		4	38:28
8	141	Arun Dight	M		7	39:32
9	142	Stuart Doyle	V45	2	1	39:39
10	134	Josh Betteley	M		8	39:55
14	157	Nathan Williams	M		9	40:47
17	138	Mark Crabtree	V40	7	5	41:13
27	148	Matt McCormack	M		18	42:37
32	147	Duncan Harris	V50	11	1	43:10
53	135	Lee Carrington	M		28	46:13
59	199	Rick Murray	V50	29	8	46:25
91	139	Bob Corinaldi	V50	56	13	49:38
93	145	David Haines	V50	58	14	50:08
128	151	Andrew Pope	M		45	56:21
133	132	Alex Ashcroft	V45	88	23	58:52
136	137	Steve Collier	V60	91	7	1:00:15
137	143	Anthony Dutton	V45	92	26	1:00:44
142	136	Barry Chambers	V65	97	4	1:05:20
145	149	Nick Mort	V55	99	15	1:07:51
148	Finishers

Team A	1st	6 Count	Vets Team A	1st	4 Count
B	8th		B	15th
C	14th

2020 GOALS

1 Jan: Happy New Year to all at VRAC. May it be a healthy and rewarding running year. A good time to step back and think about what you want 2020 to bring in terms of your running. Well worth taking a look at coach Andy Carter's checklist of things that will help you improve. You will find his advice in the Training section here. Meanwhile, here were a few who got the New Year off to a good start with double dip park runs.

RIBBLE VALLEY 10K - CLITHEROE

29 Dec: Graham Miles reports: 5 Vale Royal members attended the undulating Ribble Valley 10km as an ideal blowout between Christmas and New Year. First home in a time of 31.43 was Andrew Miles finishing in 42nd. Andrew was followed home by Mark Crabtree, making his debut on the course. Mark’s chip time was 35.17 finishing 138th and 11th Vet 40. Next home was Mike Harrington in 36.39 in a season’s best finishing 178th and 13th Vet 45. The last to complete was Graham Miles with a chip time of 39.21 finishing in 270th and 12th Vet 50.Unfortunately Josh Betteley started but dropped out around 2 ½ miles. A very well organised race which have I run on a number of occasions, but not a PB course despite the quick times throughout the field, but that just might be me!

Pos	Name	Gun	Chip	Cat	Pos	Net Cat Pos	Gen	Pos
42	ANDREW MILES	00:31:43	00:31:43	Male	38	38	Male	42
138	MARK CRABTREE	00:35:34	00:35:17	V40	11	11	Male	125
178	MICHAEL HARRINGTON	00:36:53	00:36:39	V45	11	13	Male	157
270	GRAHAM MILES	00:39:42	00:39:21	V50	11	12	Male	242
	JOSH BETTELEY	DNF	DNF	Male			Male
1288	Finishers

RUN CHESHIRE BOXING DAY 5K - NORTHWICH

26 Dec: Helen Harrington reports: Some great performances for Vale Royal AC at the inaugural Run Cheshire Northwich Boxing Day 5k, led home by Harry Dexter who finished second overall. A great race for the ladies saw Amelia Pettitt finish first lady in a race long battle between her and Holly Weedall who finished just 10 seconds back for second place. Excedllent runs were also had by Dylan Carney, Rhys Bowden and Jack Searle all setting new PB’s for 5k. Add to that no less than 6 age category wins! Everyone enjoyed the new Boxing Day Challenge and mince pies were well received by all finishers. Brilliant free to download pics from Mick Hall here.

Pos	Gun time	First name	Last name	Chip Time	Gender	Pos	Cat	Pos
2	16:13	Harry	Dexter	16:12	Male	2	U 21	1	PB=
4	17:29	Dylan	Carney	17:29	Male	4	U21	2	PB
5	17:31	Amelia	Pettitt	17:30	Female	1	SF	1
6	17:40	Holly	Weedall	17:40	Female	2	U21	1
14	18:51	Gary	Richardson	18:48	Male	11	Vet 45	1
15	18:58	Lewis	Brown	18:57	Male	12	SM	6
21	19:55	Tom	Armstrong	19:53	Male	17	Vet 40	6
22	19:58	Robert	Price	19:55	Male	18	U21	4
25	20:26	Dominique	Searle	20:24	Female	5	Vet 40	1	PB
32	20:56	Melanie	Johnson	20:53	Female	7	Vet 35	3
33	21:04	Rhys	Bowden	21:02	Male	26	U21	5	PB
46	22:17	John	clarke	22:13	Male	37	Vet 65	1
49	22:23	Claire	Thompson	22:21	Female	11	Vet 40	2
63	23:38	Jeanette	Pope	23:33	Female	14	Vet 40	4
66	23:46	Jack	Searle	23:44	Male	50	U21	6	PB
100	27.02	Paula	Manley	26:56	Female	30	Vet 40	8
131	29:32	Debbie	Richardson	29:14	Female	46	Vet 50	3
195	Finishers

ROUND THE WALLS - CHESTER

26 Dec: Just two VRacers at a very wet RTW. Great to see Tony Dutton back racing even if he does need to work on his selfie technique and vest strap malfunctions :) VRAC representation abley assisited by the evergreen Barry Chambers.

Pos	Gun time	First name	Last name	Chip Time	Chip Pos	Gender	Pos	Category	Pos
186	36:19:00	Anthony	Dutton	36:06:00	189	Male	149	Male Vet 45	23
209	37:30:00	Barry	Chambers	37:00:00	210	Male	165	Male Vet 65	6
451	Finishers

SAXON SHORE MARATHON - KENT

21 Dec: Huge congratulations to Gary Richardson on achieving his ambition of breaking 3 hours. Here's his report:

I wanted to do a marathon in December but limited races available with most being off road, so had to travel all the way to the Kent coast. This is a low profile race with no real timers or marshals out on the course so times are reliant on you GPS watch. The course was 5 out and back loops running only a few feet from the waters edge along the sea wall. The weather was horrendous with strong coastal winds and driving rain. Good on the 2.5 mile out loop but awful on the return leg. Managed to achieve my long term goal of Sub 3, finishing in 2:59:20 and 2nd place overall. Very scenic and pretty course I can imagine in the Summer. I must thank Anna and Paddy (Daughter and her boyfriend) who were my support crew and braved conditions and were soaked through and freezing cold by the end.

STOCKPORT 10 MILE

15 Dec: Four solid runs from VRAC. Gemma Barnett first home with a PB commented: "10 years since I'd last did this race. Happy with a minute quicker and 4th lady. Strong field so I'll take that". Not far behind an under the weather Helen Harrington.

Pos	Name	Cat	Pos	Gun	Chip
82	GEMMA BARNETTT	F 18-39	4	01:06:47	01:06:37	PB
132	HELEN HARRINGTON	F 18-39	7	01:10:26	01:10:14
142	JOHN TODD	M 55-59	4	01:10:50	01:10:39
171	DAVID MURPHY	M 40-44	30	01:12:38	01:12:15
989	Finishers

TELFORD 10K

8 Dec: Debbie Broad reports: Seven athletes headed to Telford In what was a cold wet and windy day. Both men had a great race - our very own Mike Harrington found himself in the elite race by mistake but pulled out a seasons best with Chris Williams going sub 32 minutes for the first time with a PB in an impressive 31.59. Our top woman Sarah Murphy smashes out a season best and a 4th v40 in 37.03. Mel Johnson and Chloe Broad had solid runs. Although Chloe has been ill for a month and has been taking training very steady. Fab run by Helen Smith who is getting back to form with a great seasons best and I finished my year with another sneaky PB! Full results here.

Pos	Name	Gun	Chip	Cat	Pos	Gen	Pos
105	CHRIS WILLIAMS	00:32:07	00:31:59	Senior U40	100	Male	105	PB
298	Sarah Murphy	00:37:03	00:37:00	W40	4	Female	43
315	MICHAEL HARRINGTON	00:37:21	00:37:13	M45	16	Male	267
408	CHLOE BROAD	00:39:30	00:39:27	Lady U40	70	Female	86
520	MELANIE JOHNSON	00:42:33	00:42:24	Lady U40	84	Female	119
544	HELEN SMITH	00:43:11	00:43:03	W50	8	Female	129
594	DEBBIE BROAD	00:44:33	00:44:27	W50	10	Female	142	PB

MANCHESTER LEAGUE RACE 3 - ARROWE PARK, BIRKENHEAD

8 Dec: Colin Rathbone reports: Good weather (just the odd gust), a bit spongy under foot but overall great new course. We only managed a skeleton women’s team (again) but a great commitment from the ladies who turned up, including 2 new recruits to the Manchester league - Helen & Caroline, both a bit nervous but when the race started they were firing on all cylinders. In the men’s team also just managed a team + 1, relying heavily on the usual xc stalwarts. Good to see Mark Crabtree has made a good recovery from his recent injury. Paul Hudson gave it a go but retired after the first lap.

Ladies

30th. Hollie Carrington. 42.48. 14th senior lady
133rd. Caroline Buckley. 53.09. 10th V50
142nd. Helen Betteley.    54.21.   13th V50
172nd. Carole Williams. 64.06. 3rd V65

Total 179 - Women 27th team out of 34 - Vets Women 27th team out of 31.

Men

40th. Mark Crabtree.   45.09. 9th V40
84th. Lee Carrington.   48.12. 42nd SM
118th Rick Murray.        50.34. 10th V50
139th. Dave Haines.      51.51.   24th V45
167th. Mark Pilliner.       53.46. 14th V50
201st. Chris Beard.        56.18.   17th V50
277th. Barry Chambers. 67.04. 4th V65

Total 286 - Senior Men 17th team out of 37 - Vets Men 11th team out of 32.

Will Ashfield in the Under 17 Boys ran a perfectly paced race to outsprint Finlay Proffitt (Macclesfield ac), a reversal of the result at Wythenshawe Park in the 1st Manchester xc event to gain a well deserved 1st place.

TATTON PARK YULETIDE YOMP 10K

8 Dec: Debbie Moreton reports: A gloriously bright, sunny morning for the Tatton Park Yule Yomp 10 trail race. Lots of effort made with the fancy dress and the usual great atmostphere. However, fighting with a very strong, cold wind, battling with all the mud glorious mud and being knee deep in cold water at one point seemed to make the race feel a lot tougher than normal. Managed a smile or two for the photographer, except at the finish line when all the water sloshing about in my shoes had turned my feet to ice and everything hurt!). Have to say, the race missed James Ainsworth and his tutu though.

Claire Thompson FV40 Category position 1 Chip time 00:47:38

Stephen Thompson MV55 Category position 15 Chip time 00:52:20

Eleanor Riches FV45 Category position 3 (running as Waters Winter Wanderers not Vale) Chip time 00:52:27

Debbie Moreton FV50 Category position 6 Chip time 00:56:54

Jo Edwards FV55 Category position 2 Chip time 00:57:24

Chris Griffiths MV60 Category position 13 Chip time 00:59:37

Paula Manley FV40 Category position 32 (running as Waters Winter Wanderers not Vale) Chip time 01:01:38

Debbie Richardson FV50 Category position 32 Chip time 01:09:22

Eleanor and Paula's team came first in the teams.

PARKRUN TOURISM - RUSHMOOR, ALDERSHOT

30 Nov: The local Rushmoor crowd clearly had a bit of a shock with a sudden influx of VRAC quickies! FB post "Lads on tour, Rushmoor Parkrun (Aldershot)! Unfortunately James Stringer had more important things to do (hair dresser). George Thompson with Pete Cox, Zach Cross, Tom Heawood and Chris Perry (winner)."

WILMSLOW 10K

23 Nov: A massive 10k field of over 4000 at Wilmslow and some terrific times with 7 runners going sub 30 minutes. 18 runners from VRAC and no less than 10 PB's! Andrew Miles improved on his recent PB at Leeds Abbey Dash by around 1 minute. Good to see James Aimsworth making his comeback with his first race for 5 months targetting 36 minutes and not far off. Matt Hough, Ian Simpson, David Roberts and Mike Atkinson all carved between 1 and 2 minutes off their 10k best. AOM Debbie Broad had missed sub 45 min by 2 seconds at Leeds but smashed through the barrier here. Well done all. Full results here.

Pos	Gun time	Name	Name	Chip	Pos	Gen	Pos	Cat	Pos
11	31:26:00	Andrew	Miles	31:25:00	11	Male	11	Senior	9	PB
29	33:09:00	Ryan	Moore	33:08:00	29	Male	29	Senior	16	PB
47	34:50:00	Chris	Jones	34:45:00	46	Male	46	Vet 35	8
58	35:14:00	George	Thompson	35:08:00	57	Male	57	Vet 35	11
100	36:36:00	James	Ainsworth	36:31:00	100	Male	96	Vet 40	18
122	37:13:00	Robert	Roe	37:04:00	122	Male	117	Vet 40	23	PB
139	37:32:00	Matthew	Hough	37:24:00	141	Male	131	Vet 45	6	PB
144	37:35:00	Richard	Murray	37:26:00	145	Male	135	Vet 50	5	PB
164	38:13:00	Ian	Simpson	38:01:00	166	Male	153	Vet 50	8	PB
215	39:12:00	Kate	Moulds	38:58:00	217	Female	15	Senior	6
297	40:54:00	David	Roberts	40:35:00	311	Male	276	Vet 45	33	PB
311	41:05:00	Carolyn	Dooley	40:47:00	320	Female	25	Vet 45	3
421	42:52:00	Geoff	Fawkes	42:21:00	440	Male	386	Vet 45	52	PB
424	42:55:00	Brian	Dooley	42:22:00	442	Male	388	Vet 45	53
455	43:19:00	Melanie	Johnson	42:37:00	457	Female	44	Vet 35	9
569	44:52:00	Mike	Atkinson	43:45:00	542	Male	507	Vet 65	4	PB
617	45:22:00	Debbie	Broad	44:39:00	648	Female	68	Vet 50	6	PB
1136	50:33:00	Jayne	Lomax	49:31:00	1296	Female	216	Vet 50	18
4131	Finishers

NORTH STAFFS RACE 3 - PARK HALL

16 Nov: Coln Rahtbone reports: A misty & cold start at the cross-country at Park Hall. Three women and nine men turned out. Park Hall one of the best cross-country courses so it was disappointing to not achieve a women’s team for the second time this season. Knights Grange was our only complete team outing. Men have cumulative team position 5th out of 14. West Cheshire & Congleton not far in front of us - let’s get good teams out for the last match at Rodbaston on 14 December.

Pos	Name	Cat	Time	Pos	Name	Cat	Time
75	Jeanette Pope	W40	28.40	16	Josh Betteley	SM	25.21
116	Paula Manley	W40	33.06	45	Aaron Doyle	JM	27.12
155	Carole Williams	W65	39.18	60	Mike Harrington	M45	27.58
173	Finishers			130	Bob Corinaldi	M50	31.23
				161	Mark Pilliner	M50	32.43
No Score	Team Div 1 (incomplete Team)			188	John Clarke	M65	34.26
				236	Barry Chambers	M65	40.08
				245	Nick Mort	M55	40.56
				246	Colin Rathbone	M75	40.59
				256	Finishers

				3rd/19	Team Div 2 (4 counters)

BRITISH AND IRISH MASTERS XC INTERNATIONAL - AINTREE

16 Nov: Liz Renondeau reports: The British and Irish Masters International XC was held at Aintree with three VRAC representatives. Gareth Williams for Wales (M50 team), Liz Renondeau for England (W40 team) and Carolyn Dooley who was a reserve for the England W45 team and ran in the Open race. It was a pleasure to see Helen Smith there who also ran in the open race. Everyone turned up expecting a mud bath of a course given the recent rain fall. Actually the course was pretty runnable. No hills (yeah!) and good to firm in places and slightly squelchy in others. Weather was cold but dry (for once)! I was pretty apprehensive about how I was going to run as picked up a shin / ankle injury a few weeks before and hadn’t run for three weeks. However adrenaline kicked in and I had a pretty good race (Ed - understatement!). Absolutely delighted to win bronze individual and team gold. Carolyn had a brilliant run in the open race finishing fifth lady overall. Great to see Helen Smith in the open race too - think she was a couple of places down on Carolyn. Overall a fabulous event topped off by a presentation and awards ceremony at Southport convention centre afterwards. Carolyn and I were lucky enough to be seated on the same table as legendary masters runner Claire Elms as well as her coach who is results editor for AW. So hopefully you will all see more mention of Vale athletes results in coming editions! Although we did spend the first half hour of the conversation thinking he said he worked for VW as opposed To AW. So we’re slightly confused for a while. Evening topped off with some serious dancing and celebrating with all the other teams. Northern Ireland lot won the prize for most vocal and best dancing. Both of us hope we make the team next year when it is Dublin’s turn to host! Ps awesome support from Bernie Jones on the course who despite being Wales team manager made a lot of noise for us English ladies!

Name	Race	Distance	Pos	Cat	Cat Pos	Country	Time
Liz Renondeau	W35 - W60	6k	8	W40	3	ENG	21.58
Gareth Williams	M50 - M60	8k	50	M50	28	WAL	30.07

WARRINGTON WAY ULTRA

8 Nov: John Clarke reports: I ran the 40 mile Warrington Way Ultra, It starts and finishes in Lymm, You can do it as a solo runner in pairs or team relay, I did it as a solo runner in a time of 8 hours 29 min, 66th out of 231 solo runners, slower than I wanted but some of the last 10 miles in the fields were nearly impossible to run on with loads of thick mud and water, so walked a bit more than expected, This is a great race for anyone wanting to do there first ultra with 3 checkpoints all stocked food and drinks very friendly staff with great support around the course, with people offering you sweets and also more food and drinks even cans of cider, And you get a hot meal at the finish.

MANCHESTER LEAGUE XC RACE 2 - KENTWORTHY WOODS

9 Nov: Colin Rathbone reports: What a cracking day for the 2nd instalment of the Manchester xc league at Kenworthy Woods. The weather confounded all predictions and we were treated to a fine dry day only to be surpassed by the performances of the Vale Royal Seniors.

Ladies

16th. Kate Moulds. 28.43

69th. Helen Smith. 31.07. 3rd L50

79th. Claire Thompson. 31.28. 11th L40

93rd. Mel Johnson. 32.05. 17th L35

316th. Carole Williams. 44.20. 6th L65

Total 343 ladies

Senior Ladies 12th out of 68 teams

Vets ladies 11th out of 71 teams.

Good to see Kate Moulds leading the Vale Royal charge & a good close finish for Helen, Claire & Mel. Carole was our team safety net and ran well in her new spikes.

Men

1st. Ed Shepherd. 31.51

14th. Chris Williams. 33.17

149th. Gareth Williams. 39.22. 8th V50

191st. Rick Murray. 40.16. 13th V50

245th. Dave Haines. 42.11. 36th V45

307th. Mark Pilliner. 44.05. 26th V50

347th Chris Beard. 45.23. 31st V50

482nd. Barry Chambers. 54.00. 6th V65

492nd. Nick Mort. 55.45. 39th V55

Total Male runners 512

Senior Men’s Team 22nd out of 70 teams

Vets Team 21st out of 59 teams.

It was brilliant to see Ed win by a clear 17 seconds, leading in a massive field of 512 runners, a truly uplifting moment. Chris Williams ran a superb, perfectly measured race to finish in 14th place. Our other 7 runners did the club proud, each one giving their usual 100%. A great performance. Let’s see if we can get even more runners at the next Manchester event at Arrowe Park, Birkenhead on SUNDAY 8 December. Note the change of day to the Sunday. All details on maccl.co.uk. Full results here.

NATIONAL XC RELAYS - BERRY HILL PARK, MANSFIELD

2 Nov: Gareth Williams reports:Very wet conditions at Berry Hill Park in Mansfield didn't prevent a great day for the club claiming 1 team gold (U15 girls) and 2 team silvers (U15 and U17 boys).The senior ladies team of Helen Smith, Liz Gale and Debbie Broad came in a very respectable 81st out of 121 complete teams. The rain had stopped by the time the senior men's race started but the muddy conditions meant times were much slower than normal for the course. Chris Perry and Richard Pettitt got our A and B teams underway. Nathan Williams, Josh Betteley and Gareth Williams made up the rest of the A team, finishing in 48th out 161 complete teams. Full reults here.

ABERGELE 5 MILE

3 Nov: Mel Johnson reports: My self and chris made the journey to abergele for the Abergele 5mile the last inter counties match. Good racing conditions with slight wind going out. Chris looked strong when I saw him out on the course finishing an amazing 11th in a great time of 27.58 (PB) and 1st vet 35. I believe the mens Cheshire team finished 2nd. I had a good run finnishing 72 and 4th vet 35 in a time of 35.11... there were a total of 216 finishers. Cheshire ladies won gold! So a great day for us both.

Pos	Time	Name	Name	Chip	Pos	Gen	Pos	Cat	Pos
11	00:27:59	Chris	Jones	00:27:58	11	Male	11	Vet 35	1	PB
72	00:35:25	Melanie	Johnson	00:35:11	72	Female	16	Vet 35	4

NORTH STAFFS XC RACE 2 - STAFFORD COMMON

26 Oct: Colin Rathbone reports: A good overall turnout for the event but sadly the Vale Royal contingent was minimal due to the distance to this event coupled with the atrocious weather. Senior Women could not field a team, in both the Seniors or the Vets. Vale Royal. 8th Senior Men Team in Div 2. But sadly could not field a Vets team. Despite the low number of Vale Royalers they all committed fully & deserve praise for their efforts. Full results and photos at Bryan Dale here.

Pos	Name	Cat	Time	Pos	Name	Cat	Time
12	Katie Brough	F35	22.24	19	Aaron Doyle	JM	28.53
37	Mel Johnson	F35	25.09	64	Mike Harrington	M45	32.09
115	Paula Manley	F40	31.24	213	John Clarke	M65	40.51
192	Finishers			235	Barry Chambers	M65	45.34
				255	Finishers

LAKE DISTRICT DIRTY DOUBLE

26,27 Oct: Bob Corinaldi reports on dirty weekend with Mrs C: Another treat from Mrs C last weekend! Dirty double in the Lake District is 2 trail runs, 15K on Saturday & 14k on Sunday. The weather had been horrendous on the lead up to this event and snow was forecast on the upper reached of Helvellyn. Saturdays 15K was a route around the lower part of Helvellyn and as I was running both days I opted for road shoes as I need my comfort now I’m getting older. My first mistake was starting towards the back and having to pick my way through the field at the start. This was followed closely by me losing my shoe in an unexpected boggy bit at 2 ½ miles and landing on my backside. This undid most of my hard work at the start and due to the nature of the terrain its difficult to pass on most sections so I only managed 1:18:00and 46th place & Mrs C in 2:36:17. Sunday’s 14K was along part of the Ullswater shore line which meant a trip up the lake on a boat to the start (I don’t do boats!) and although Ullswater was probably like a millpond my stomach did start to go onto a slow spin cycle by the time we got off. This was quite a lumpy trot with 1300ft of elevation. Keen not to repeat all of the mistakes from Saturday I stuck with the road shoes but managed to get up front at the start and hang on for 11th place in 1:18:49 & Mrs C in 2:48:01. Hellvellyn results here. Ullswater results here.

WINSFORD 10K TRAIL RACE

27 Oct: Brian Dooley reports: Sunday saw a break in the recent wet weather and a large Vale Royal contingent were greeted with blue skies and sunshine for the Winsford 10k Trail race. That said because of the previous heavy rain the course had to be altered as the section along the Weaver back to the salt mine was now under water. Rather than cancel the organisers changed the route to an out and back heading from the salt mine and taking in the Whitegate way and Grange lane before turning around at Vale Royal Abbey for the dash for home. The battle at the front of the race was between Ryan Moore and new to VRAC Matthew McCormack, Matt was in the lead at the half way turn but Ryan finished strong to clinch the victory. Gary Richardson had a typical solid race finishing 5th and taking 1st male over 50 with the next battle between Gemma Barnett and myself, it was nip and tuck for most of the race with Gemma just pipping me on the line. More VRAC battles happened further down the field with Debbie Moreton next to take victory passing Jayne Lomax in the closing stages of the race and taking 1st female over 50. All in all a successful day out for VRAC picking up 1st & 2nd male, 2nd & 3rd female, 1st M O40, 1st M O50, 1st F O50, and 1st Team. Full results here.

Pos	Gun time	First name	Last name	Chip	Pos	Gender	Pos	Cat	Pos
1	35:24:00	Ryan	Moore	35:24:00	1	Male	1	Senior (18-39)	1
2	35:57:00	Matthew	Mccormack	35:57:00	2	Male	2	Senior (18-39)	2
5	39:02:00	Gary	Richardson	39:01:00	5	Male	5	O40 (40-49)	1
11	41:14:00	Dominique	Searle	41:13:00	11	Female	2	O40 (40-49)	2
14	42:08:00	Gemma	Barnett	42:08:00	14	Female	3	Senior (18-39)	1
15	42:09:00	Brian	Dooley	42:08:00	15	Male	12	O40 (40-49)	3
16	43:34:00	John	Todd	43:33:00	16	Male	13	O50 (50-59)	1
33	47:09:00	Claire	Thompson	47:08:00	33	Female	7	O40 (40-49)	5
83	52:43:00	Debbie	Moreton	52:40:00	85	Female	18	O50 (50-59)	1
86	52:59:00	Jayne	Lomax	52:56:00	91	Female	19	O50 (50-59)	2
186	01:02:58	Debbie	Richardson	01:02:44	186	Female	74	O50 (50-59)	16
204	01:05:07	Carole	Williams	01:04:55	205	Female	88	O60 (60+)	5
285	Finishers

LANGLEY '7' (NOT) FELL RACE

26 Oct: Chris Beard reports:Dave Haines and myself travel to the peak district for this popular 'hilly' race. 24 hours of rain of biblical proportion saw us faced with a journey through overflowing streams, rivers and fjords just to reach the race start. With no let up in the weather we ran through torrential rain and the majority of the course was under water, there were streams flowing down the hills and standing water on the flats, it was knee deep in places but, it all added to the experience. Dave ran a fantastic race battling through the field to finish 14th overall, and 2nd MV45 in a time of 1:00:06 which was faster than last year in much better conditions. I finished way back in 47th place, 8th MV50 in 1:06:13. Judging by the pictures taken around mile 6 I had enjoyed the water way too much! A great race and well organised and marshalled, plus there's tea and cake at the finish.

134 Finishers.

LEEDS ABBEY DASH 10K

27 Oct: Graham Miles reports: Five vale royal runners made the trip to Leeds, for the Abbey Dash 10km,one of the quickest 10k’s in the country. It was a windy day and the course was not as fast as I expected, or it might be a sign of me getting older. First home with a PB of 36 seconds was Andrew Miles in 32.25.Andrew was a little disappointed with the time due to struggling with a stitch from mile 4 onwards. The quality of the race was such that Andrew finished 129 with 29 men under 30 minutes. Andrew was followed home by Sarah Murphy in a chip time of 36.19 a PB by 5 seconds to finish 44th lady and 4th F40. Sarah had a battle with Amelia Pettitt who’s chip time was 36.09 but they finished one place apart in the race(369 &370). Debbie Broad had an excellent run to knock 45 seconds of her PB finishing in a chip time of 45.01.The final member of the team was a older gentleman ,who thought the ideal way to spend time with his family was to take them to a race which entailed getting up at 5 and then letting them stand in the cold while he went and did his hobby! I was aiming for sub 39 minutes and actually ran 38.57( chip time) with a negative split, the second half being 17 seconds quicker than the first half despite almost walking up the final hill. I was 531 overall and 15th M50. A race I would definitely good back to and would recommend to anyone ,but could have done with less wind and being a lot fitter.

POS	NAME	M/F	CAT	GUN	CHIP
129	Andrew Miles	M	MSEN	00:32:30	00:32:25	PB
369	Sarah Murphy	F	F40	00:36:34	00:36:19	PB
370	Amelia Pettitt	F	FSEN	00:36:35	00:36:09
531	Graham Miles	M	M50	00:39:25	00:38:57
1150	Debbie Broad	F	F50	00:46:38	00:45:01	PB

CLWYDIAN HILLS FELL RACE

27 Oct: Lee Carrington reports: I did the Clwydian hills fell race today.a partially marked 9 mile course with 3000ft of climb..Managed 10mins quicker than last time and didn’t get lost.

SNOWDEN MARATHON

26 Oct: Jo Edwards took part in the 37th Snowdonia Marathon. My training had gone well leading up to this but unfortunately came down with man flu the night before, well I’m here now so I might as well get that T-shirt, weather was evil but the rain stopped as I reached the top of Pen y Pass, so much water on the roads and the last two miles were very dangerous but the race was as well supported as ever, despite my throat being on fire I was happy with my result.

Finish time 4.36.33
6th in age group out of 59
224th female out of 805
1,163rd out of 2,333

THESSALONIKI 5K - GREECE

19 Oct: Bob Corinaldi reports: Whilst on a recent trip to Greece Mrs C treated us both to a 5k in Thessaloniki. Thankfully it was at night as there’s a bit of a heatwave going on at present. A 5k after 10 days eating & drinking was never going to be pretty and as a late entry we ended up at the back of the start pens. I managed to pick my way through a packed field in 20:43 which is ok for a holiday stroll! Mrs C finished in 36:35 but won the sprint to the ice creams at the end!

Name	Gun	Chip	Gender Pos'n	Final Pos'n
Bob Corinaldi	35:39:00	20:43	472	733
Ashlin Corinaldi	51:50:00	36:35:00	988	2452

NORTHERN XC RELAYS - GRAVES PARK, SHEFFIELD

19 Oct: We struggled for numbers but managed to field one senior mens team. John Humphries, Josh Betteley, Cameron Weaver and Matt Hough finished a very worthy 17th team out of 51 on a muddy course. Unfortunately, the ladies were unable to field a team but Holly Carrington flew the flag as a solo runner putting in a good performance. Full results here.

FARNDON 10K

13 Oct: Full report awaited but looks like some good performances with Rick Murray taking the M50 win.

Pos	Gun time	Name	Name	Chip	min/m	Gender	Pos	Cat	Pos
3	34:20:00	Raif	Serif	34:20:00	05:31	Male	3	U21	1
14	38:09:00	Richard	Murray	38:06:00	06:08	Male	13	Vet 50	1
17	38:38:00	Robert	Roe	38:36:00	06:12	Male	16	Vet 40	4
22	39:35:00	Ian	Simpson	39:32:00	06:21	Male	21	Vet 50	2
26	40:23:00	Gemma	Barnett	40:22:00	06:29	Female	3	Vet 35	2
34	42:07:00	David	Roberts	42:04:00	06:46	Male	30	Vet 45	7
51	43:43:00	Anna	Begbie	43:37:00	07:01	Female	8	Vet 35	4
53	43:51:00	Melanie	Johnson	43:44:00	07:02	Female	9	Vet 35	5
61	44:58:00	Mike	Atkinson	44:52:00	07:13	Male	50	Vet 60	2
299	59:19:00	Debbie	Richardson	58:44:00	09:27	Female	124	Vet 50	8
477	Finishers

MANCHESTER LEAGUE XC RACE 1 - WYTHENSHAWE PARK

12 Oct: Colin Rathbone reports: What started as a sunny day at Wythenshawe Park but with the recent rain the course was boggy in many parts. A decent turnout for the men with 9 runners but only 4 women (a basic team). What we lacked in numbers we made up with gutsy performances by all 4. Hopefully there will be more at Kenworthy Woods on the 9 November. I must also mention Will Ashfield in the Under-17 race. Will shared the lead with Finley Proffitt of Macclesfield who is a year older than Will to lose out by 2 seconds in a thrilling sprint finish. I was 1st over 75, 4th over 70. Think the oldest category in Manchester is the over 70!

Paul Hudson reports: First club league cross country since 2017. - 6 miles of mud and tree roots through the affluence of Wythenshawe.Totally unfit so planned to come last (last = fame - everyone looks to see who came first or last - the 2 most important positions). Thought I'd executed the plan well only to be thwarted by someone else who had slipped in about 600 metres behind to steal the position - totally gutted.

Pos	Name	Cat	Pos	Time
41	Helen Smith	L50	1	35.44
54	Claire Thompson	L40	6	36.36
167	Mary Tavener	L55	10	42.08
264	Carole Williams	L65	5	52.42
283	Finishers

31/55	Team	4 Count
16/56	Vets Team	3 Count

Pos	Name	Cat	Pos	Time
109	Gareth Williams	M50	4	38.31
110	Lee Carrington			38.35
209	Darren Cottier	M45	33	42.38
218	Dave Haines	M45	36	42.56
277	Chris Beard	M50	27	45.10
332	John Clarke	M65	7	47.53
378	Colin Rathbone	M75	1	52.43
386	Nick Mort	M55	28	53.48
415	Paul Hudson	M65	10	65.13
416	Finishers

30/52	Team	6 Count
18 and 46/48	Vets Team	4 Count

HALFWAY TO HELL 10K - DELAMERE FOREST

12 Oct: Kate Dickinson reports: I completed the 10k Hell Run in Delamere this Saturday (otherwise known as The Half Way to Hell Run). It was a fantastic, challenging course with plenty of mud, brambles and bogs. Including the legendary Bog of Doom! I placed 2nd overall and was First female.

PETERBOROUGH HALF - THAT WASN'T

13 Oct: Liz Renondeau reports: Selected for my first North if England vest running in Peterborough half. 7 hour round trip with 0430 wake up call on race day from some Scottish revellers fighting in room next door. Arrived at start in torrential rain. Warmed up... still torrential rain. 10 mins before due to go to start... told there was a slight delay due to incident in course. 45 mins later... race cancelled. Man seen acting suspiciously on course and police and fire arms squad called to investigate! So in summary got the vest but unfortunately not able to run in it... unless you count my warm up!

MANCHESTER HALF MARATHON

13 Oct: Stu Doyle reports: Good conditions and a flat course for this morning’s Manchester Half marathon. Pleased to run my quickest half for a couple of years at 1.13.23 and also managed to win my age group (764 other M45’s!!!). I felt strong throughout as evidenced by the 5k splits below - my 5k to 20k was a 17. 25 – and could have got under 73 mins if I’d pushed earlier but key target was to run a decent time and I didn’t want to risk blowing up. I saw Chris Standidge (had a superb run in 71.42to come 30th overall) and Chris Griffiths 1.53 (4107th and 41st V60) but not sure if there were any other VRAC runners... Note: there were! See results table opposite.

POS	NAME	M/F	CATEGORY	GUN TIME	CHIP TIME
28	Chris Standidge	M	MO35	01:11:44	01:11:43
37	Stuart Doyle	M	MV45	01:13:25	01:13:24
1204	Vincent Jensen	M	MO35	01:41:18	01:40:57
2627	Scott Bamber	M	MV50	01:55:15	01:48:27
3749	Chris Griffiths	M	MV60	02:04:29	01:53:26
4351	Chris Hudson	M	MO35	02:09:04	01:58:35

NATIONAL ROAD RELAYS - SUTTON PARK

5 Oct: A great day for Vale Royal on Sunday at the National Road Relays in Sutton Park - the club took 2 of the 8 team golds on offer and ended up with 7 top 30 finishes - a great performance by everyone competing - Both Under 15 teams won gold, and by good margins. The Senior Women finished 26th with Tessa McCormick clocking the 32nd fastest and Amelia 40th. Our senior Men came 30th with Chris Perry clocking the 41st fastest. Overall this was one of our best days ever on the National stage - when you consider the number and quality of clubs running, only 5 other clubs including a Welsh club took team gold. Hopefully we can replicate this at Mansfield for the National cross country relays on 2nd November - a venue where we have taken silver on a number of occasions but never gold! Full reults here.

BOURNEMOUTH MARATHON

6 Oct: Colin Rathbone reports: Colin & Carole spent a few days in Bournemouth and took in the Festival of Running Marathon. We didn’t anticipate it being so hilly combined with the stiff sea breeze resulting in slightly disappointing times for both of us:

Pos 596. Colin Rathbone. 4.00.33. 1st over 70
Pos 1712. Carole Williams. 5.09.12. 2nd over 65

Total number of runners: 2131

Bournemouth Festival of Running is held over 2 days Saturdays races include a few children’s races + a 10k & a 5k and Half Marathon & Marathon on Sunday. Due to the tough nature of the course the organisers have decided not to hold the Marathon next year after a 7 year history (people seem to want pb’s).

CARDIFF HALF MARATHON

6 Oct: Brian Dooley reports: Carolyn and I travelled down to south Wales for the Cardiff Half Marathon, we both had great runs there last year and this year Chloe was racing as well. Weather was good with almost perfect conditions apart from a slight breeze and as always support all around the course was superb, this is the second biggest half in the UK after the great North run with over 20,000 people taking part. Mrs D and I had disappointing runs with me just sneaking under 90mins and Carolyn just over. The story of the day however was Chloe’s run, targeting around 85mins feeling good she went for it from the start and ran a pretty perfect race with even splits and finishing in an amazing time of 80:57 – 14th female overall and the first non-elite athlete home. Running in her Cardiff Uni AC kit Chloe said the support around the course was incredible and really kept her going, a lot more to come yet.

Full results https://www.tdleventservices.co.uk/event-results/events?event=3477

Name	Name	Gender	Gen Pos	Cat	Cat Pos	Gun	Gun Pos	Chip	Chip Pos
Chloe	Dooley	Female	14	FOPEN	11	01:21:07	180	01:20:57	178	PB
Brian	Dooley	Male	536	M45+	51	01:29:54	581	01:29:41	618
Carolyn	Dooley	Female	48	F45+	5	01:30:26	609	01:30:12	662
20299	Finishers

CHESTER METRIC MARATHON

6 Oct: Vince Jensen reports: One of the main reasons I ran was in memory of Trevor Cording (pic below). I wanted to run last year, but got injured. Trevor helped me a lot in improving my running. The race itself was also to test myself coming back from injury, 16.3 miles was probably a step too far as really struggled with the last few miles. Definitely felt it the following day. One downside is the metric is an out and back. Main thing is I am back running!

SHREWSBURY HALF MARATHON

6 Oct: Chris Beard reports:This was my 3rd attempt at this race and although training hadn't been great due to niggles and work commitments I was looking forward to running on tarmac roads after last weeks mud fest on the Sandstone Trail. Conditions were quite windy today but unlike last week there was no rain and we were treated to spells of warm sunshine throughout the race. A very hilly route starting at the show ground in the centre of Shrewsbury then leading you around the streets and through the town centre and along the river before eventually taking you out into the country before heading back for the finish at the show ground. The race was won in 1:19 which goes to show it's not a particularly fast course and not one for PB chaser but none the less it's a well organised event and there's a nice bit of bling and a tee shirt at the end.

1252 Finishers, I was 12 in the M50 group.

NORTH STAFFS XC RACE 1 - KNIGHTS GRANGE

28 Sep: Colin Rathbone reports:Good turnout for Vale Royal in the first North Staffs match of the season at Knights Grange - 13 Senior Women & 14 Senior Men completed the muddy course. Liz Renondeau led home the women in 1st place overall with a superb textbook run in 20.46, 21st Dominique Searle 23.08, 24th Sophie Smith 23.26 & 28th Hollie Carrington 24.11 completing the Vale Royal counters now standing 2nd team in Division 1 after the 1st race. In the men’s event 10th Matthew McCormack 30.03, 12th Aaron Doyle 30.09, 17th Ryan Moore 30.37 & 25th Chris Jones 31.08 completing the men’s team counters (only 4 to count in Division 2 teams) resulting in being placed 1st in Division 2. Full results will be displayed on the NSCC website here as soon as they have been verified. It was difficult for the results team as most of the team finishing sheets were wet & soggy due to the heavy showers. Full provisional results and photos on Bryan Dale's site here.

SANDSTONE TRAIL A AND B

29 Sep: Poor shoe choice seemed to be the headline of the day. After the rain of recent weeks the sandstone trail looked a much different trail to last year with many a number of sections muddier than previous years. Gemma Barnett ran a phenomenal race to finish in second place in the ladies B race only 11s behind the winner having opted for road shoes and struggling to stay upright in places. Another fantastic perfomance in the B race was by Matt Hough who finished third overall. Debbie Broad and Colin Rathbone also recorded category wins in the F50 and M75 respectively. The A race didn't quite go to plan for Lee Carrington who despite navigating all 34 miles successfully earlier in the year took a wrong turn and eventually withdrew after a flying start. Gary Richardson led the A contingent home in a best finish position of 14th with Dave Haines, Anna Begbie, Paul Davies Swift and Jo Edwards all completing the distance.A special mention for Jayne Lomax who was seen for hours shuttling runners along from Gresty's waste to the finish line, it's rumoured she covered the entire distance simply as a support runner. Congratulations to all who finished and to Mike Harrington who pulled together another good race on a not so good weather day.

A Race
14	Gary	Richardson	02:23:26	Vet 45	3
23	David	Haines	02:29:28	Vet 45	4
74	Anna	Begbie	02:46:21	Vet 35	2
147	Paul	Davies	03:06:44	Vet 45	27
152	Joanne	Edwards	03:10:05	Vet 55	3
B Race
3	Matthew	Hough	01:21:37	Vet 45	2
12	Gemma	Barnett	01:27:54	Vet 35	2
30	Chris	Beard	01:34:24	Vet 50	3
45	Melanie	Johnson	01:40:11	Vet 35	6
54	Debbie	Broad	01:42:19	Vet 50	1
76	Colin	Rathbone	01:47:33	Vet 75	1
139	Christopher	Griffiths	01:59:07	Vet 60	9
216	Ruth	Mooney	02:17:44	Vet 45	18
217	Helen	Betteley	02:17:52	Vet 50	13
247	Barry	Chambers	02:28:39	Vet 65	6

MACCLESFIELD HALF MARATHON

22 Sep: Darren Cottier flew the VRAC flag on this lumpy course putting in a good solid performance.

Pos	Name	Chip	Cat	Cat Pos
54	Darren Cottier	1.32.27	M45	11
502	Finishers

SWANSEA BAY 10K

22 Sep: Brain Dooley reports: Back at university in Cardiff Chloe Dooley continued her current good form with another PB in the Swansea Bay 10k, just sneaking under the 37 minute mark in a chip time of 36:57 in less than perfect running conditions. In a stacked field she finished 6th overall and first junior (U23). Full results here.

Pos	Name	Gun	Chip	Gender Pos	Cat	Cat Pos
62	Chloe Dooley	37:01:00	36:57:00	6	FJ	1	PB

ST. NICHOLAS RIVER RUN 10K - NORTHWICH

22 Sep: Three from VRAC tackled this new and interesting race. All three won their categories. James Edwards first race for a very, very, very long time rewarded with V60 win. His feedback: "Well organised, well marked course with virtually all terrains. Full of variety with a very hard finish up steep slopes and steps. The weather made it even better as I can imagine a normal September run round the campus playing fields being very wet!" Full results here.

Pos	Gun time	First name	Last name	Chip Time	Chip Pos	Gender	Pos	Category	Pos
5	44:07:00	Yasper	Freestone	44:07:00	5	Male	5	Under 18	1
11	45:37:00	James	Edwards	45:34:00	12	Male	10	Vet 60	1
17	47:36:00	Katie	Dickinson	47:35:00	20	Female	2	Senior Female	1
122	Finishers

NORTHERN ROAD RELAYS

15 Sep: All of our Senior teams ran brilliantly, the A team finished in 8th place, our best ever position in the Northerns with Chris Perry getting the 8th fastest individual time and 4 of our athletes in the top 75 out of 678 runners - with the B team finishing in 30th place it looks as though we have 2 mens teams through to the Nationals ( depending how you read the rules - but as our B team finished 30th beating the 25th A team we should be in ) - the C team finished in 79th place with 107 teams finishing. The only other clubs to qualify 2 teams were Salford, Sale, Leeds and Morpeth so we're in distinguished company!! Once we get confirmation then we only have a short window to accept the invitation therefore can any runners who have competed in either the North West or Northern relays let Stu Doyle know by Sunday 22nd if they wish to compete in the Nationals which are in Birmingham on Sunday 6th October. He can then assess whether there is sufficient interest for 2 teams and pick squads. Please either respond to this post, text Stu Doyle on 07775 550364 or let Andy, Shaun or Stu know in person. The The Senior Ladies did even better finishing 5th - with Liz Renondeau 4th fastest overall, Sarah Murphy 19th fastest, Holly Smith 27th and Amelia Pettitt 30th out of 284 runners - the B team came 13th with Chloe 14th fastest and Sophie 55th - the C team finished in 43rd out of 69 teams .The Ladies do not need to qualify for the Nationals so will e able to enter as appropriate. Well done all. Full results here.

SUTTON 6 10K - GUILDEN SUTTON

15 Sep: Excellent win for Chris Williams only 6 seconds short of his PB. Nice category win for Gemma Barnett. Nice cakes too it seems. Full results here.

Pos	Gun time	First name	Last name	Chip Time	Gender	Pos	Category	Pos
1	32:28:00	chris	williams	32:27:00	Male	1	Senior Male	1
20	38:02:00	Tom	Armstrong	38:00:00	Male	18	Male Vet 40	5
30	39:30:00	Michael	Harrington	39:28:00	Male	28	Male Vet 45	6
35	40:21:00	Gemma	Barnett	40:19:00	Female	3	Female Vet 35	1
94	48:53:00	Barry	Chambers	48:43:00	Male	79	Male Vet 65	4
118	50:54:00	Jayne	Lomax	50:49:00	Female	20	Female Vet 50	4
169	01:00:10	Debbie	Richardson	01:00:05	Female	44	Female Vet 50	9
200	Finishers

VALE OF YORK HALF MARATHON

15 Sep: Disappointed and disenchanted at the late cancellation of the English Half Marathon at Warrington Katie Olliver made the trip north for an alternative, She was rewarded. "Ran my heart out today for sub 90 min and achieved 87 min. Just an agonising 8 week wait for the Championship places to open up at London marathon now".

Pos	Name	Chip	Cat	Pos
129	Katie Olliver	1.27.56	F35	2
1449	Finishers

NORTH WEST ROAD RELAYS - EDGE HILL

8 Sep: Good conditions and an excellent location including an interesting 5k+ course which started and finished on a running track but incorporated path’s and roads with several twists and turns and some undulations.The senior men fielded 4 strong 4 man teams with ages ranging from those making their debuts in the senior ranks to V50’s! All Team’s acquitted themselves well and out of 71 complete teams with 12 complete Cheshire Teams achieved the following results:

A team 5th place overall (within 30 secs of 2nd place) and were 1st Cheshire team.

B team - 13th Overall and 3rd Cheshire

C Team – 25th Overall and 4th Cheshire

D Team – 45th Overall and 10th Cheshire

The ladies also put in a very creditable performance fielding 3 teams with 51 teams competing overall and 9 Cheshire teams.

A Team 3rd overall and 1st Cheshire

B Team 12th overall and 3rd Chashire

C Team 36th overall and 8th Cheshire

Full results here.

GREAT NORTH RUN

8 Sep: The GNR has become a regular race in John Clarke's schedule. This year Mel Johnson made the trip too. Good runs from both with John going 4 minutes quicker than last year.

Name	Pos	Finish Time
Melanie Johnson	2443	01:39:20
john clarke	2687	01:40:12

SALFORD 10K

8 Sep: Two quick ladies joined a big field at Salford. Carolyn Dooley comments: New tactic, racing myself to fitness Salford 10k 40.33 and 14th female overall. 4 weeks to Cardiff Half, time to focus and prepare. Debbie Broad comments: a little pb from me 45.46. Not sure about my hair band!!

Name	Name	Gen	Pos	Cat	Pos	5K	Gun	Pos	Chip	Pos
Carolyn	Dooley	F	14	F45+	5	00:19:59	00:40:37	109	00:40:33	114
Debbie	Broad	F	46	F50+	4	00:22:45	00:45:53	309	00:45:46	337	PB
1992	Finishers

SANDBACH 10K

8 Sep: Jayne Lomax reports: Very cold start before the sun burst out to heat things up before the sting in the tail hill at the end. Not the biggest turn out with so much going on today elsewhere but what we lacked in runners was made up for in effort with both ladies and gents holding there own in the category places. Great to see the Mike Harrington's return to racing with an excellent 2nd M45 finish. Bionic Bob Corinaldi (who wasn't feeling it) had a nap in his car before revving up his own engine to secure 3rd in his category. The Nifty 50's women's club cut through the glam and glitter to show their grit, all finishing well up in the field.

RESULTS
MEN
Chris Jones Pos: 6th SM: 3rd. Chip: 35:36
Mike Harrington. Pos: 20th. M45: 2nd. Chip: 41:14
Bob Corinaldi. Pos: 31st. M50: 3rd. Chip:42:41
199 Finishers
LADIES
Debbie Morton Pos: 15th. F50: 3rd. Chip: 49:24
Jayne Lomax Pos: 24th. F50: 4th. Chip: 51:37
Caroline Buckley. Pos: 30th. F50: 5th. Chip: 52:37
Helen betteley Pos: 48th. F50: 9th. Chip: 55:07
Debbie Richardson. Pos: 85. F50: 14th. Chip: 59:21. P.B
231 Finishers

MONTANE DELAMERE HALF MARATHON TRAIL RACE

8 Sep: Jo Edwards reports: Jo Edwards took part in this race 8th September, tough race with lots of hills and a sting in the tail at mile 11, up to the top of the mast, narrowly missing an age category win by twenty seconds, finished in 1.58.41, 14th out of 50 women, didn’t mind the 2nd place as I finished eight minutes quicker than last year. Great race.

CHESHIRE HALF MARATHON - CAPESTHORNE HALL

1 Sep: Good to see Vincent Jensen enjoying his running again. Following up on the Mid Cheshire 5k on Thursday he tackled the Cheshire Half Marathon on Sunday! "Absolutely stoked with the time considering the amount or lack of training I have been doing. A year ago today I walked away from Dingle marathon very disappointed due to getting injured. Today I ran Cheshire half marathon and completed it in a time I never thought I would be near after the limited training I have done. Today I also finally got my motivation back since Dingle. The last mile was an absolute killer till I saw Rach and kids. This gave me the boost I needed. Now to push on from here and build". Full results here.

Pos	Name	Gun	Chip
141	VINCENT JENSEN	01:38:00	01:37:38
793	Finishers

MID CHESHIRE 5K - KINGSLEY

29 Aug: Another fast, furious, high quality race with 15 runners going sub 15 minutes. Charlie Hulse from Liverpool Harriers stormed home in 14.21 closely followed by VRAC's Chis Perry equalling his PB of 14.25. Great running conditions and, as usual, VRAC heavily represented with 36 athletes with great performances and battles throughout with no less than 12 PB's. Brilliant evening's racing. Full results here.

No.	Pos	Gun	Name	Name	Chip	Gen	Pos	Cat	Pos	3K	Finish
6	2	14:25	Chris	Perry	14:25	Male	2	Senior Male	2	08:43	14:25	=PB
32	26	15:22	Andrew	Miles	15:21	Male	26	Senior Male	18	09:10	15:21	PB
24	57	15:53	Matt	Rowlinson	15:51	Male	57	Senior Male	39	09:31	15:51	PB
135	63	15:57	Chris	Standidge	15:54	Male	63	Senior Male	43	09:37	15:54	PB
128	66	16:00	Nathan	Williams	15:59	Male	66	Senior Male	45	09:32	15:59	PB
642	127	16:51	George	Thompson	16:49	Male	122	Senior Male	75	09:58	16:49
280	152	17:19	Tessa	McCormick	17:13	Female	8	Senior Female	4	10:15	17:13
147	155	17:23	Holly	Smith	17:18	Female	9	Under 21	5	10:10	17:18
162	179	17:47	Sarah	Murphy	17:44	Female	17	Vet 40	18	10:37	17:44
226	181	17:51	Chloe	Dooley	17:46	Female	19	Under 21	8	10:42	17:46	PB
211	198	18:01	Rob	Mcbain	17:51	Male	175	Vet 40	22	10:47	17:51
676	216	18:19	Tom	Armstrong	18:13	Male	190	Vet 40	24	10:55	18:13
402	218	18:22	matthew	hough	18:13	Male	192	Vet 45	15	10:59	18:13	PB
727	226	18:32	Richard	Murray	18:23	Male	200	Vet 50	7	11:00	18:23
285	252	18:58	Graham	Miles	18:49	Male	221	Vet 50	8	11:22	18:49
316	265	19:15	Kate	Moulds	19:03	Female	33	Senior Female	17	11:19	19:03
302	277	19:24	Craig	Sephton	19:14	Male	239	Vet 45	26	11:30	19:14
655	280	19:25	Carolyn	Dooley	19:17	Female	40	Vet 45	3	11:31	19:17
331	282	19:28	Scott	bamber	19:18	Male	242	Vet 50	10	11:34	19:18
401	341	20:16	David	Roberts	20:05	Male	285	Vet 45	32	12:08	20:05	PB
381	344	20:19	Paul	Davies	20:00	Male	288	Vet 45	33	11:53	20:00	PB
299	345	20:20	Hollie	Carrington	20:09	Female	57	Senior Female	26	12:14	20:09
408	349	20:23	Anna	Begbie	20:10	Female	60	Vet 35	9	12:03	20:10
374	363	20:45	Paul	Jackson	20:33	Male	298	Senior Male	155	12:16	20:33	PB
439	371	20:56	Melanie	Johnson	20:42	Female	68	Vet 35	12	12:20	20:42
264	372	20:57	Vincent	Jensen	20:43	Male	304	Senior Male	158	12:23	20:43
414	389	21:17	Geoff	Fawkes	21:08	Male	315	Vet 45	34	12:33	21:08
425	403	21:37	John	clarke	21:22	Male	323	Vet 65	4	12:45	21:22
513	480	23:27	steve	collier	23:13	Male	371	Vet 60	14	13:56	23:13
640	499	24:03:00	Sharon	Wilson	23:38	Female	121	Vet 45	17	13:53	23:38	PB
562	500	24:05:00	Joanne	Edwards	23:48	Female	122	Vet 55	5	14:12	23:48
697	503	24:06:00	Debbie	Moreton	23:49	Female	124	Vet 50	5	14:13	23:49
515	514	24:33:00	Jayne	Lomax	24:16:00	Female	131	Vet 50	6	14:20	24:16:00
569	519	24:50:00	Barry	Chambers	24:21:00	Male	386	Vet 65	15	14:47	24:21:00
558	526	25:02:00	Nick	Mort	24:43:00	Male	388	Vet 55	22	14:48	24:43:00
587	558	27:18:00	ann	collier	26:50:00	Female	157	Vet 55	9	16:09	26:50:00
696	570	28:08:00	Debbie	Richardson	27:50:00	Female	166	Vet 50	12	17:02	27:50:00	PB
	603	Finishers

CILCAIN MOUNTAIN RACE

25 Aug: Gareth Williams reports: Cilcain Mountain Race is held every August bank holiday as part of the Cilcain village show. The race is 4.5 miles starting and finishing in the village and essentially goes to the summit of Moel Famau and back. It is popular with clubs from North Wales, Cheshire and Merseyside and is a great family day out, usually with sunny weather to match. The winner this year was Stephen Skates of Prestatyn RC and first lady was Gemma Moore of NWRRC. Finishing in 21st, Gareth Williams had hopes of retaining the over 50's Llys Fynydd Shield but could only manage 3rd in category this time. Full results here.

NATIONAL TRUST - CHIRK

25 Aug: Debbie Moreton reports: Free to enter National Trust 5K & 10K at beautiful Chirk Castle held on the fourth Sunday of the month. 1st lady & 2nd person home for the 5K. Was going to do another loop and make it 10K but very hot and hilly so went back to the family at the ‘van for a cooked breakfast instead.

PARK RUN TOURISM - ANGLESEY

24 Aug: Debbie Broad reports: Tourist parkrun in Anglesey interesting multi terrain course with some sand dunes thrown in but a new parkrun pb 22.49 so very pleased.

BRAMHALL RUNNERS FOODBANK 5K

21 Aug: Chris Jines reports: On Wednesday I raced the Bramhall Runners Foodbank 5K. I had planned on racing at Ellesmere Port 5K but left it too late to get a place and managed to find this race on the same night, entry was just £6 plus a donation for the local foodbank.Though being advertised as 5K it is actually a 5.5K multi terrain race over stone paths, muddy fields, roads and twice through a river. I had a tough decision whether to opt for racing flats or trail shoes, after choosing flats it got a bit hairy through the muddy field sections but was worth the risk for the benefit on the road sections. After taking the lead early on I managed to stay in front to take the win after being pushed all the way by a young runner from Stockport Harriers but was able to distance him a little in the last 500 metres

Well worth 6 quid and a tin of fruit. Full results here.

Pos	Time	Name	Name	Gen	Pos	Cat	Pos
1	20.43	Chris	Jones	Male	1	Senior	1
167	Finishers

ELLESMERE PORT RC 5K

21 Aug: Seven from VRAC at EPRC 5k (formerly Capenhurst 5k). A trio of Pettits all performing well with Ed first U20 and a 5 second PB. Tessa McCormick (course record holder) went well placing 2nd lady. Amelia Pettitt and Kate Moulds were also placed high in the field. Great to see Steve Caldwell racng again and delivering a not too shabby time just outside 20 minutes. Full results here.

Pos	Gun time	First name	Last name	Chip Time	Chip Pos	Gender	Pos	Category	Pos
6	16:22	Edward	Pettitt	16:22	7	Male	6	Under 20	1	PB
29	17:34	Tessa	McCormick	17:33	28	Female	2	Senior	1
43	18:09	Amelia	Pettitt	18:07	43	Female	4	Senior	2
53	18:43	Michael	Harrington	18:41	54	Male	48	Vet 45	5
69	19:13	Kate	Moulds	19:11	69	Female	9	Senior	4
91	20:03	Steven	Caldwell	20:02	93	Male	78	Vet 35	17
200	24.22	Richard	Pettitt	23:58	196	Male	153	Vet 55	11
327	Finishers

BIRCHWOOD 10K

18 Aug: Stu Doyle reports:A good turnout for this morning's race which featured an inter counties event between Cheshire, Staffs and North Wales. Quite a number of the VRAC contingent were representing Cheshire and helped them to first place in the ladies and 2nd in the men's competition.The course is relatively flat although is quite twisting as it follows footpaths round Birchwood. Conditions were reasonably good although pretty windy in parts. The most notable performance was Chloe Dooley's 3rd place overall whilst we had 2 age group victories plus a number of placings and in addition a first sub 36 for Aaron Doyle in his 2nd 10k.

Pos	Gun time	First name	Last name	Chip Time	Chip Pos	Gender	Chip	Category	Chip
12	34:13:00	Stuart	Doyle	34:12:00	12	Male	12	MV45	1
25	35:58:00	Aaron	Doyle	35:56:00	25	Male	25	MJ	2	PB
39	37:16:00	Gary	Richardson	37:13:00	38	Male	37	MV45	4
54	38:09:00	Chloe	Dooley	38:07:00	54	Female	3	FS	3
65	38:40:00	Richard	Murray	38:38:00	65	Male	59	MV50	1
72	39:07:00	Katie	Brough	39:03:00	72	Female	8	FV35	2
82	39:36:00	Brian	Dooley	39:33:00	82	Male	70	MV45	11
97	40:27:00	Carolyn	Dooley	40:24:00	98	Female	14	FV45	2
158	44:05:00	Melanie	Johnson	44:00:00	160	Female	25	FV35	6
912	Finishers

EL PORT DE LA SILVA 10K - SPAIN

14 Aug: Holidaying Mel Johnson managed to squeeze in a warm and cheeky 10k race. She said "Should have been a 10k but measured short (5.73 miles) 3rd lady in 43.34".

BRITISH MASTERS TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS - BIRMINGHAM

10 Aug: Top work by Liz Renondeau and Mark Crabtree at the British Masters Track and Field Champs in Birmingham. Liz rounded off a busy week of racing where she had already set 3k and 1500 track PBs, ranking her 2nd and 3rd in the UK W40 rankings, Liz claimed the W40 1500 title at the Alexander stadium meeting. Key message from Liz: "Don’t let age be a barrier. I genuinely thought my track days were behind me until this summer!" Mark Crabtree was also in action picking up silver in the M40 5000 meters. Well done both.

PRESTON 5 MILE

11 Aug: Debbie Broad reports: No other blue and yellows ventured up north for the windy 5 miler but so glad I did with a v50 category win. Full results here.

Pos	Gun time	Name	Name	Chip Time	Gender	Pos	Category	Pos
53	37:04:00	Debbie	Broad	37:02:00	Female	16	FV50	1

PIE AND PEAS 5 MILE - MOULTON

7 Aug: Another brilliant VRAC Pie and Peas event incorporating an additional fun run to celbrate VRAC 25 year anniversary. Thanks to the organisers and all the volunteers. A high quality race with fast and furious competiton throughout the field. A large VRAC contingent in the mix throughout. Some excellent individual performances and team wins for ladies and men. Team and category results plus photos on the main VRAC website here. Category wins for Alex Doyle, Stu Doyle, Gareth Williams, Carolyn Dooley and Jeanette Pope. The two Debbie's also practiced their well rehearsed rehydration strategy. Full results here.

Pos	Gun	Name	Name	Chip Time	Gender	Pos	Cat	Pos
2	27:32:00	Alexander	Doyle	27:31:00	Male	2	U20	1
3	27:49:00	Raif	Serif	27:49:00	Male	3	U20	2
4	27:53:00	Nathan	Williams	27:53:00	Male	4	Senior	2
5	28:00:00	Matt	Rowlinson	28:00:00	Male	5	Senior	3
6	28:05:00	Stuart	Doyle	28:04:00	Male	6	Vet 45	1
11	29:39:00	Aaron	Doyle	29:38:00	Male	11	U20	4
12	30:10:00	Gareth	Williams	30:09:00	Male	12	Vet 50	1
13	30:14:00	Gary	Richardson	30:14:00	Male	13	Vet 45	2
17	30:58:00	Robert	Roe	30:56:00	Male	17	Vet 40	3
25	32:16:00	Graham	Miles	32:15:00	Male	25	Vet 50	2
28	32:32:00	Brian	Dooley	32:30:00	Male	28	Vet 45	8
32	32:41:00	Scott	Bamber	32:39:00	Male	32	Vet 50	3
39	33:21:00	Matthew	Scott	33:19:00	Male	37	Vet 45	10
44	33:38:00	Carolyn	Dooley	33:37:00	Female	3	Vet 45	1
46	33:57:00	Anna	Begbie	33:55:00	Female	5	Vet 35	3
58	34:47:00	Bob	Corinaldi	34:44:00	Male	52	Vet 50	8
61	34:57:00	Geoff	Fawkes	34:55:00	Male	55	Vet 45	15
64	35:00:00	Chris	Weedall	34:57:00	Male	58	Vet 40	9
81	36:34:00	John	Moulds	36:29:00	Male	73	Vet 50	9
82	36:35:00	Katie	Dickinson	36:31:00	Female	9	Senior	3
90	37:13:00	John	Clarke	37:09:00	Male	79	Vet 65	2
117	38:43:00	Emma-Louise	Pyatt	38:39:00	Female	17	Senior	7
118	38:53:00	Jeanette	Pope	38:48:00	Female	18	Vet 40	1
123	39:05:00	Steve	Collier	39:00:00	Male	103	Vet 60	5
129	39:28:00	Liz	Gale	39:24:00	Female	22	Vet 40	3
134	39:43:00	Eleanor	Riches	39:36:00	Female	25	Vet 45	6
160	41:18:00	Anthony	Dutton	41:11:00	Male	127	Vet 45	23
162	41:20:00	Debbie	Moreton	41:13:00	Female	35	Vet 50	3
163	41:22:00	Jo	Edwards	41:15:00	Female	36	Vet 55	4
177	41:53:00	Christopher	Griffiths	41:47:00	Male	136	Vet 60	10
193	42:57:00	Barry	Chambers	42:39:00	Male	146	Vet 65	5
207	43:37:00	Nick	Mort	43:28:00	Male	154	Vet 55	25
247	46:00:00	Paula	Manley	45:54:00	Female	72	Vet 40	13
267	47:31:00	Ann	Collier	47:25:00	Female	86	Vet 55	10
276	48:01:00	Debbie	Richardson	47:53:00	Female	95	Vet 50	13
382	Finishers

SALE SIZZLER 5K - RACE 4

8 Aug: Another set of good results from the Sale Sizzler crew. Mark Crabtree within 2 seconds of his PB.

Pos	Gun	Name	Name	Chip	Pos	Gender	Pos	Cat	Pos	Chip	Finish
10	15:48	Chris	Williams	15:47	10	Male	10	SM	8	8	15:47
29	16:34	Mark	Crabtree	16:34	29	Male	29	Vet 40	3	3	16:34
45	16:59	Chris	Jones	16:58	45	Male	44	SM	32	32	16:58
62	17:24	Elizabeth	Renondeau	17:23	63	Female	2	Vet 40	2	2	17:23
76	17:48	Tessa	McCormick	17:48	77	Female	4	SF	1	1	17:48
113	18:40	Tom	Armstrong	18:30	110	Male	106	Vet 40	12	12	18:30
129	19:06	Michael	Harrington	18:59	128	Male	122	Vet 45	12	12	18:59
139	19:18	Darren	Cottier	19:11	140	Male	131	Vet 45	16	16	19:11
467	25:59:00	Barry	Chambers	25:37	465	Male	341	Vet 65	9	9	25:37
568	Finishers

NORTH WALES HALF MARATHON

4 Aug: Jo Edwards reports: Jo gave herself a full week to prepare for this race by entering it the week before. The first and last miles were on the beach at Conway Morfa, a nice slightly undulating first five miles then a gruelling ascent up Conway Mountain, one little flat bit at the top then the scary slow ( Jo turned her ankle three days before) down the other side with the castle in sight. Not a PB course but great scenery and even better support, not a fast time but really enjoyed it.

Chip time 208.44, 4th FV55, 194th/365.

TEGGS NOSE FELL RACE

3 Aug: Great to hear from Andy Gibbs. Here's his report: On Saturday 3rd August 2019 one Vale Royal athlete ran the Teggs Nose Fell Race. Saturday was a very hot and humid day, surprisingly the route was in very good condition considering how much rain we have had over the last month! From the start the pace was pretty easy and 5 of us split away and ran in a tight bunch. The bunch stayed together through the fields and didn’t start to spread out until the first climb. I was feeling very strong at this point, the first four runners started to pull away on the second climb and down the steep hill the gap increased and I was left in limbo. I kept running hard and on the second ascent of Teggs Nose was caught by another runner, I tried to stay with him but on the tracks leading off the top he left me. I had to really dig in to my reserves as I did everything I could to stay with him. Crossing the last set of fields the wheels came off and he left me and I just hung on for dear life. Running the last mile on the road was so painfully slow. All in all, a disappointing time, my slowest in 14 years, but a great finishing position.

Andy Gibbs, 6th overall 1st Vet 50, 64.54.

BARRY ISLAND 10K

4 Aug: Brian Dooley reports: Mrs D and I made the long trip to the home of Gavin and Stacey (Barry, South Wales) for the Barry Island 10k. We wouldn't normally travel this far for a 10k but Carolyn had been selected to represent England Masters again. In my unofficial role of agent/manager/chauffeur I decided I may as well run also. A great location for a 10k if you're a spectator, less so if you're running!. Described as a 'challenging course' by the race director (we all know what that means!) it certainly lived up to expectation. After a nice flat start things started to get lumpy at 2k with a tough climb from 4k to 5k, this was followed by a mostly downhill section to 8k but then two surprise climbs in the final 1.5k put pay to any quick times. I was happy overall with my run, managing to keep it under 40mins despite the tough course, a good confidence boost in my road to recovery. Carolyn also had a solid run going slightly quicker than her other England appearance at the Birmingham 10k an equally challenging course. Great finishers T-Shirt as a bonus.

Pos	Gun	Name	Name	Chip	Pos	Gen	Pos	Cat	Pos
70	39.44	Brian	Dooley	39.34	72	M	60	M45	7
103	41.23	Carolyn	Dooley	41.19	108	F	22	F45	5

SEFTON PARK 5 MILE

31 July: Frequent racer Anna Begbie managed to squeeze in a mid week event and delivered another impressive performance. Including parkruns (20) it looks like she has run in 42 races in first 7 months of 2019! 1.35 events per week. Phew.

Pos	Gun	Name	Name	Chip	Pos	Gender	Pos	Cat	Pos
74	33:51:00	Anna	Begbie	33:45:00	74	Female	9	Senior	5
458	Finishers

HELENA TIPPING 10K - WREXHAM

28 July:Rain didn't dampen the VRAC spirits in Wrexham on Sunday with PB's for no less than 5 Vale Royal Athletes. The race was won in a staggering 29:57 and with a new faster course promised for 2020 this is one to watch in the future. Chris Williams paid the price for going off with the early blistering pace however still led the club home and finished in the top 3 overall just outside 33 minutes. First PB of the day was an extremely impressive 36:41 by Gary Richardson smashing his old 10k PB by almost 2 minutes. Tommy had a solid run leading home the 'infamous' VRAC train of Lee, Rob and Rick who all recorded new PB's. The final PB of the day and her first sub 60 was from Debbie Richardson making it a clean sweep in their household for the day.

Pos	Gun	Name	Name	Chip	Gen	Pos	Cat	Pos
3	33:07:00	Chris	Williams	33:06:00	Male	3	SM	2
27	36:47:00	Gary	Richardson	36:41:00	Male	27	Vet 45	2	PB
37	37:32:00	Tom	Armstrong	37:28:00	Male	34	Vet 40	9
39	37:45:00	Lee	Carrington	37:40:00	Male	36	SM	19	PB
43	37:55:00	Robert	Roe	37:49:00	Male	40	Vet 40	12	PB
45	37:56:00	Richard	Murray	37:51:00	Male	42	Vet 50	3	PB
107	42:57:00	John	Todd	42:52:00	Male	96	Vet 55	5
118	43:39:00	Anna	Begbie	43:10:00	Female	14	Vet 35	3
224	49:25:00	Eleanor	Riches	48:55:00	Female	51	Vet 45	7
250	50:47:00	Joanne	Edwards	50:16:00	Female	59	Vet 55	3
430	59:49:00	Debbie	Richardson	59:17:00	Female	148	Vet 50	18	PB
590	Finishers

CHIRK CASTLE NATIONAL TRUST 10K

28 July: AOM Bob Corinaldi still recovering from Comrades reports! Every 4th Sunday the National Trust organise a free 10k around Chirk Castle. Its 2 twisty loops of mainly trail with a fair few lumps and bumps along the way. Last Sunday was a typical Welsh summers day (howling gale & raining). At the start I was in a group of 3 which broke away early but I drifted off the back and spent most of the time plodding round on my own expecting to get caught by the pack behind. At the end of lap one this looked likely as there was a small group of people about 30s behind. This gave me the kick up the backside I needed and on lap 2 I dropped the pursuing group then caught and passed the second place runner on the last uphill at about 9k to finish second overall.There’s no official results as it’s a fairly low key event but I can assure you that more than 3 people ran it!

PARKRUN TOURISM - CAFFARELLA, ROME

20/27 July: Two Parkruns at Caffarella for Matt Scott. 2nd place (20.42) on 20 July and 4th place (21.13) on a 'bloomin' hot' 27th July.

SALE SIZZLER 5K - RACE 3

25 July: Possibly the most sizzling Sizzler ever but some cool performances from the 10 gentlemen VRACers. Family Doyle the first 3 back with a close battle between Messrs Armstrong and Hough. Likewise another close one between friends and rivals Haines and Beard. Well done lads. Ladies?

Pos	Gun	Name	Name	Chip	Gen	Pos	Cat	Pos
7	16:08	Alexander	Doyle	16:07	Male	7	U20	2
22	16:47	Stuart	Doyle	16:46	Male	22	Vet 45	4
57	17:54	Aaron	Doyle	17:52	Male	56	U20	8
83	18:41	Tom	Armstrong	18:35	Male	81	Vet 40	11
85	18:46	Matthew	Hough	18:42	Male	82	Vet 45	12
132	19:57	Darren	Cottier	19:49	Male	124	Vet 45	18
153	20:22	David	Haines	20:10	Male	140	Vet 45	22
163	20:42	Chris	Beard	20:30	Male	149	Vet 50	12
225	22:10	Geoff	Fawkes	21:57	Male	201	Vet 45	32
359	25.42	Barry	Chambers	25.17	Male	291	Vet 65	10
483	Finishers

ALDERLEY PARK TRAIL RACE

17 July: Tony Dutton reports:The inaugural Alderley Park Trail Race took place on Wednesday evening. A 2 lap course of approximately 5 miles within the hidden grounds of Alderley Park which was part trail and part road made for a exciting course. I would definitely recommend this race for next year, well organised and marshalled, the race sold out within 48 hours this year. Chairman Stuart Doyle lead home the Vale Royal 4 finishing in 4th place with a time of 28:20. Son Aaron was 1st U20. A solid run by Debbie Moreton finishing 10th in her age category was another brilliant run on the night with a total of 430 finishers.

Pos	Gun	Name	Name	Chip	Chip Pos	Gen	Pos	Cat	Pos
4	28:21:00	Stuart	Doyle	28:20:00	4	Male	4	Vet 45	1
13	31:11:00	Aaron	Doyle	31:09:00	15	Male	13	U20	1
113	39:41:00	Anthony	Dutton	39:37:00	120	Male	92	Vet 45	15
164	42:08:00	Debbie	Moreton	42:03:00	169	Female	37	Vet 45	10
430	Finishers

SALE SIZZLER 5K - RACE 2

11 July: Another good turnout and excellent performances from VRAC. Mark Crabtree is in good form and equalled his PB. Liz Renondeau had a good race on the track earlier in the week and backed this up coming in second lady and first F40. Chloe Broad had another good race and mum Debbie posted an impressive PB. Looks like messrs Cottier, Haines and Beard had quite a battle with the latter two posting identical gun and chip times!

Pos	Gun	No.	Name	Name	Chip	Pos	Gen	Pos	Cat	Pos
15	16:33	827	Mark	Crabtree	16:32	15	Male	15	Vet 40	3	PB=
46	17:22	776	Elizabeth	Renondeau	17:20	46	Female	2	Vet 40	1
108	18:51	692	Chloe	Broad	18:46	110	Female	7	Senior Female	4
109	18:51	720	Matthew	Hough	18:36	99	Male	102	Vet 45	11
144	19:35	757	Darren	Cottier	19:26	142	Male	133	Vet 45	14
175	20:06	655	David	Haines	19:58	179	Male	161	Vet 45	19
177	20:06	657	Chris	Beard	19:58	180	Male	162	Vet 50	15
311	22:25	690	Debbie	Broad	22:12	313	Female	49	Vet 50	5	PB
446	24.48	684	Barry	Chambers	24.16	435	Male	349	Vet 65	9
603	Finishers

NORTWICH FESTIVAL OF RUNNING 5K and 10K

7 July: Another excellent event staged by our friends at Northwich Running Club. A 2k Fun run and a 5K and 10k trail run in and around Carey Park. Good representation in all races by VRAC. The 5k saw Messrs Ainsworth and WIlliams (senior) take 2nd and 3rd with Mel Johnson 1st lady. In the 10K Williams (junior) repeated his victory from last year with Gary Richardson in 3rd. Carolyn Dooley took 1st lady and Anna Begbie took ist U40. It seems Mel Johnson doubled up and raced both 5K and 10k back to back finishing 4th lady and second in her category!!

5K
Pos	Gun	Name	Name	Chip	Pos	Gen	Pos	Cat	Pos
2	18:00	James	Ainsworth	17:59	2	M	2	Over 40	1
3	18:56	Gareth	Williams	18:55	3	M	3	Over 50	1
11	22:26	Melanie	Johnson	22:24	11	F	1	Under 40	1
26	24:40	Daniel	Richardson	24:40	26	M	22	Under 40	14
144	Finishers

10k
Pos	Gun	Name	Name	Chip	Pos	Gen	Pos	Cat	Pos
1	36:54:00	Nathan	Williams	36:53:00	1	M	1	Under 40	1
3	39:15:00	Gary	Richardson	39:13:00	3	M	3	Over 40	1
11	41:42:00	Rob	Mcbain	41:41:00	11	M	11	Over 40	4
14	43:09:00	Carolyn	Dooley	43:08:00	14	F	1	Over 40	1
18	44:38:00	Anna	Begbie	44:34:00	18	F	2	Under 40	1
26	45:49:00	Mel	Johnson	45:46:00	26	F	4	Under 40	2
85	54:20:00	Christopher	Griffiths	54:17:00	85	M	68	Over 60	6
242	Finishers

ALDERLEY EDGE 10K

7 July: Stu Doyle and Debbie Moreton report: Six of us did this mornings race - an out and back course with a few undulations but reasonably quick and the conditions were pretty good although it did get warm towards the end. Stu Doyle under 34 mins for the first time in 18 months with 33.55 to win his age group. Matt Hough had a storming run to finish in 38.35 which he was delighted with. Debbie Moreton (49.29) , Jo Edwards (50.24) , Jayne Lomax (53.10) and Debbie Richardson (breaking the hour mark in 59.39) also ran and seemed to enjoy themselves - particularly the glasses of prosecco they were all drinking afterwards!!

Debbie Moreton adds: Thankfully not as hot as last year’s race being cloudy with a slight breeze at the start, however by the time I was halfway round the clouds cleared and it became a bit of a scorcher. Luckily there appeared, like an oasis, a pop-up pub “Air of the Dog” at which Debbie Richardson was insistent that we celebrate her PB with a glass of Prosecco. Would have been rude not to!

To pre-empt complaints it can be confirmed the ladies have been reported to to committee for having too much fun. The trial continues.

Pos	Gun	Name	Name	Chip	Pos	Gen	Pos	Cat	Pos
13	33:59:00	Stuart	Doyle	33:55:00	13	M	13	M45	1
58	38:44:00	Matthew	Hough	38:35:00	59	M	55	M45	5	PB
516	49:51:00	Debbie	Moreton	49:29:00	553	F	77	M45	8
576	50:46:00	Jo	Edwards	50:24:00	602	F	93	M55	5
711	53:32:00	Jayne	Lomax	53:10:00	770	F	142	M50	9
1210	01:01:44	Debbie	Richardson	59:38:00	1187	F	388	M50	28	PB
1818	Finishers

FOREST PARK LADIES 5K

3 July: Lisa Meadows reports: A lovely sunny evening saw 182 ladies take part in the 27th annual Forest Park Ladies 5k at Birchwood on Wednesday 3rd July. Just myself and Val Dunne taking part in VRAC colours this year along a single lap course that offers a bit of everything, firm parkland paths, wooded trail and a grassy start and finish with a few twists and turns for good measure! Whilst Val hadn’t run this race before and so quite naturally had a few pre-race nerves, she needn’t have worried, completing the race in 22:13 to finish 8th overall. and also secure a fantastic V60 age category win. For me this was my second year running at this event with recent training sessions paying off and helping me to a course PB of 22:43, an improvement of 24s on last year and a V45 age category win too! Definitely a race I would recommend, a lovely friendly race for runners of all abilities, with great support along the course..

Pos	Name	Time	Cat	Cat Pos
8	Val Dunne	22.13	V60	1
11	Lisa Meadows	22.43	V45	1
182	Finishers

TRIERER HALF MARATHON - GERMANY

30 June: Holidaying Craig Sephton couldn't resist. Here's his report.

I took the opportunity to hop over the border from Luxembourg into Germany on Sunday morning and ran the Trierer Half Marathon. The organisers had already moved the start time forward as temperatures later in the day were 37’c! Thankfully In the morning I just had to contend with the high 20’s. It’s a 2 lap city race, the atmosphere, German brass bands and impromptu showers provided by the residents and spectators made this sight seeing tour in my trainers one to remember!

Chip time 1:32:35 50th placed overall & 6th in age group

BMC GRAND PRIX - WATFORD

29 June: Congratulations to Chris Perry who blazed away from his competitors to record a new 3k steeplechase best of 8:44.55. Full results here. Well done comrade Perry. The story behind the vest is yet to unfold.

SALE SIZZLER 5K SERIES RACE 1

27 June: The first in the summertime 4 race series with weather to suit. A good start for 11 VRACers. Chris Williams first home for VRAC with a great battle between father Doyle and his two sons. All very close wth Alex taking the bragging rights with an U20 course record. Another solid performance from Chloe Broad taking 2nd lady. All rounded off with the evergreen Barry Chambers.

Pos	Gun	No.	Name	Last name	Name	Gen	Pos	Cat	Pos	Finish
6	15:38	335	Chris	Williams	15:37	Male	6	SM	6	15:37
12	16:04	254	Alexander	Doyle	16:04	Male	12	U20	1	16:04
22	16:24	252	Stuart	Doyle	16:23	Male	22	Vet 45	2	16:23
35	16:48	263	Aaron	Doyle	16:46	Male	35	U20	4	16:46
91	18:26	242	Tom	Armstrong	18:18	Male	87	Vet 40	9	18:18
131	19:22	271	Chloe	Broad	19:17	Female	6	SF	2	19:17
135	19:31	269	Darren	Cottier	19:23	Male	128	Vet 45	14	19:23
152	19:53	226	David	Haines	19:44	Male	143	Vet 45	17	19:44
154	19:57	230	Helen	Harrington	19:52	Female	11	Vet 35	3	19:52
180	20:17	225	Chris	Beard	20:08	Male	163	Vet 50	15	20:08
376	24:55	257	Barry	Chambers	24:22	Male	293	Vet 65	8	24.22
520	Finishers

NORTH CHESHIRE 5K SERIES RACE 5 - HOLLINS GREEN

23 June: Four regulars at the final race of the series. Congratulations to recent member Anna Begbie who was in the prizes with a very worthy series win in the F35 age category.

Pos	Gun	Name	AG
50	21:26	Anna Begbie	V35
85	24:21:00	Mary Tavener	V55
101	26:09:00	Anthony Dutton	V45
136	Finishers

PARKRUN TOURISM - ROME

23 June: Geoff Fawkes reports: Two options available and I chose the one nearest to where I was staying, called Caffarella in the south eastern quadrant of the city. Set off on a 3 mile jog in 27 degree heat (with my mate Ed from Sunderland Harriers) and arrived at 8.50 to find a small gathering of about 20 locals, half a dozen Brits (including us) and about 5 Australians. The briefing was done in Italian and English and we were off bang on 9 onto the relatively flat dusty trail course (2 laps), which was very well marked out with signs, cones and nearly as many Marshals as runners! Finished 5th out of a field of only 31 (Ed was 4th) and then we jogged backed the 3 miles to our apartment for a well earned Italian breakfast.

COLSHAW 10K

23 June: Another very well organised Mike Harrington Cute Fruits event at this years Colshaw Hall 10k helped by good weather and a great venue. The course is pretty fast and flat other than for 2 reasonably tough hills at 1m and 4.5m. An excellent VRAC contingent who featured heavily among the prizes with men's and ladies individual titles thanks to strong runs from Chris Williams and Sarah Murphy. Three out of the top 4 men were wearing the blue and yellow quarters of VRAC. Sarah Murphy, Gemma Barnett and Mel Johnson won the ladies team prize which resulted in a clean sweep after Chris Williams, Raif Serif and Stu Doyle took the men's title. There were age category wins for Raif Serif, Stu Doyle and Sarah Murphy and a 10k debut for Debbie Richardson. It was also good to see Vincent Jensen back racing for VRAC after a lay off with injury. Full results here.

Pos	Gun	Name	Name	Chip	Pos	Gen	Pos	Cat	Pos
1	33:03:00	Chris	Williams	33:03:00	1	Male	1	SM	1
3	34:18:00	Raif	Serif	34:18:00	3	Male	3	U21	1
4	34:24:00	Stuart	Doyle	34:23:00	4	Male	4	V45	1
15	36:46:00	James	Ainsworth	36:44:00	15	Male	15	V40	3
28	38:51:00	Rob	McBain	38:48:00	27	Male	28	V40	5
32	39:04:00	Sarah	Murphy	39:02:00	32	Female	1	V40	1
37	39:47:00	Matthew	Hough	39:26:00	35	Male	36	V45	7
53	40:56:00	Ian	Simpson	40:48:00	54	Male	52	V50	6
69	42:20:00	Gemma	Barnett	42:16:00	70	Female	5	V35	3
73	42:40:00	Vincent	Jensen	42:32:00	77	Male	68	SM	28
87	43:30:00	Melanie	Johnson	43:20:00	91	Female	8	V35	4
110	44:30:00	John	Todd	44:14:00	114	Male	99	V55	7
119	44:56:00	Paul	Jackson	44:44:00	122	Male	107	SM	43
192	47:22:00	Lisa	Meadows	47:06:00	197	Female	23	V45	6
295	50:32:00	Debbie	Moreton	50:10:00	311	Female	52	V45	11
303	50:39:00	Joanne	Edwards	50:16:00	313	Female	56	V55	5
340	51:39:00	Jayne	Lomax	51:17:00	353	Female	76	V50	10
723	01:02:08	Debbie	Richardson	01:00:39	709	Female	261	V50	30
1071	Finishers

U20/U23 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS - BEDFORD

22/23 June: Brian Dooley reports: Having achieved the qualifying time over 5k at the Cardiff 5k and also at Christleton Chloe travelled to Bedford to compete in the U23 national championships. Conditions for racing were far from ideal with a strong wind and high humidity and the race was inevitably quite tactical. In a quality field which included Jodie Judd, Chloe who had the slowest time on paper had a strong race finishing 6th overall in a time of 18:09 and was very happy with her performance and thoroughly enjoyed her first exposure to top class track racing. Also competing at the championships in the U20 class was soon to be senior Ben Lee, Ben made it through to the 800m final and finished in 7th place with a new PB of 1:50:52 in a race which saw the British U20 record fall.

TOUGH TEAM - TATTENHALL

21 June: Classic Friday night 'fun' at Tough Team. Mark Crabtree, George Thompson and Ed Shepherd made a formidable trio and secured an excellent 2nd place overall. Lee Carrington was part of the first mixed team. Many other VRAC runners in various teams can be seen in the results here.

MEERBROOK 15K

22 June: Fantastic to see 6 from VRAC representing Cheshire with county debuts for Rick Murray, Gary Richardson, Anna Begbie and Debbie Broad. Hot weather and brutal ascent/descents, allegedly the 4th hilliedt course in Britain, made this a tough, tough race. Great performances from all helping Cheshire to 4th place in the mens and 3rd in the womens team events in a very strong field. Category wins for Rick Murray and Gemma Barnett. Full result here.

Pos	Name	Cat	Cat Pos	Time
10	Chris Jones	MS	3	59.31
25	Gary Richardson	M45	2	1.02.05
35	Rick Murray	M50	1	1.04.41
50	Gemma Barnett	F35	1	1.07.21	6th Lady
84	Anna Begbie	F35	4	1.12.07
94	John Todd	M55	4	1.13.44
166	Debbie Broad	F50	3	1.25.18
255	Finishers

BMAF 5k ROAD CHAMPIONSHIPS - HORWICH

16 June:A small but committed group made their way to Horwich for the BMAF 5k champs and encountered the usual high quality fields in all age groups. The ladies did superbly to come away with 2 individual bronze medals plus an excellent them gold. Times were a bit down for all as the course contains 3 laps with a decent hill on each plus a strong wind on the long back straight. Results here.

Pos	Name	Cat	Cat Pos	Time	Gen Pos
13	Stu Doyle	M45	5	16.29	13
40	Liz Renondeau	F40	3	17.57	3
53	Sarah Murphy	F40	5	18.27	5
74	Carolyn Dooley	F45	3	19.47	13
128	Finishers

STONE 10K

16 June: Two VRAC ladies helped the Cheshire team to second place at Stone. Chloe Broad was 3rd lady overall and first Cheshire counter with a PB and improving on her recent Manchester 10k time by nearly a minute to go sub 39 minutes. Great to see the new Mrs Olliver enjoying her comeback and racing again, winning her age category... and some alcohol. Perhaps to be shared with Mr Olliver. Perhaps not.

Full results here.

Pos	Name	Cat	Cat Pos	Chip
42	Chloe Broad	SF		38.41	3rd Lady	PB
64	Katie Olliver	F35	1	40.20	5th Lady
517	Finishers

MARPLE 10K TRAIL RACE

16 June: Debbie Moreton reports Jayne Lomax,Jo Edwards and Debbie Moreton thoroughly enjoyed this trail race. Scenic, lots of mud, puddles and hills. Lovely lot Marple Runners, very friendly and supportive and very generous with the goody bag. Even a copy of the Beano and looking at their strip I understand the connection. Rather epic medal too. Have to admit to a huge schoolgirl error though as left my trail shoes in car at Jayne’s house and whilst wearing my road shoes nearly ended up going for a swim in the canal! Jayne 3rd in age category, Jo 1st and myself 2nd.

Full results here.

Pos	Name	Cat	Cat Pos	Gun	Chip
115	JO EDWARDS	Female 55-59	1	00:54:03	00:53:56
126	JAYNE LOMAX	Female 50-54	3	00:54:43	00:54:37
131	DEBBIE MORETON	Female 45-49	2	00:55:07	00:55:02
288	Finishers

PARK RUN TOURISM - HERMANUS, S AFRICA

15 June: Bob Corinaldi reports: Bit more Parkrun Tourism. Went to Hermanus parkrun and started at the back because I've got a stinking cold and didn't want to get carried away or home for that matter. Finished 14th from 245 runners in 26.22 on a very twisty / technical course!

NORTH CHESHIRE 5K SERIES RACE 4 - DUNHAM MASSEY

13 June: A great turnout for the 4th race in the series with 18 VRACers on the start line. Some good performances with age category wins for Stu Doyle, Aaron Doyle and Andrea Hilldrup who also clocked a PB. One more race to go in the series at Hollins Green 23 June. Full results here.

Pos	Name	Cat	Time	cat pos
5	Stu Doyle	M45	16.32	1
8	Chris Jones	SM	17.02
9	Aaron Doyle	MJ	17.19	1
21	Gary Richardson	M45	18.10	4
25	Matthew Hough	M45	18.24	5
32	Andrea Hilldrup	F40	18.41	1	PB
46	Tom Armstrong	M40	19.21	6
69	Anna Begbie	F35	20.26	3
71	Geoff Fawkes	M45	20.32	18
72	Mel Johnson	F35	20.34	4
137	Mary Tavener	F55	23.21	3
155	Debbie Moreton	F40	23.59	6
162	Jo Edwards	F55	24.12	6
167	Jayne Lomax	F50	24.20	5
175	Tony Dutton	M45	24.53	25
185	Oliver Johnson	MJ	25.20	8
224	Debbie Richardson	F50	28.45	11	PB
242	Finishers

COMRADES MARATHON 'UP RUN' - DURBAN

9 June: Bob Corinaldi reports: This was part 2 of my 50th birthday present to myself. I did the Comrades 'down run' last year but apparently that's only half way. So I returned to Durban to complete this years 'up run' and taste the final part of my 50th birthday treat to myself. Also if you complete your first 2 Comrades in succession you get an extra medal called a 'Back to back'. That's a once in a lifetime deal that fools like me can't resist!

The Comrades has a huge following in South Africa & spectators turn out along the entire route to support the runners and offer food & drinks, salt, massage, physio etc, which is in addition to the official aid stations placed every few km along the route. The race itself is also streamed live on national TV throughout the day. The up run is shorter at only 87km long (it was just over 90km last year on the down run).The up run is exactly as you might imagine, generally uphill for about 68km but with plenty of downhills in there as well so the climbs can be quite brutal. The only flat part is the racecourse at the finish which is only a few hundred metres long. For a decent course description click here.

All started well as it was relatively cool but very humid in Durban. As planned I took my time and held back at the start, letting the over enthusiastic runners disappear into the distance. I plodded steadily up Cowies and onto Fields hill which came sooner than expected. The 4km steep climb can make or break your day. All good up Fields although I did get passed by the 9 hour bus near the top but I decided not to go with them. Onto Bothas hill, leaving a flower on Arthur's seat, wishing him good morning and and onto the halfway point in 4.35 & feeling ok. Inchanga beconed which is a long undulating climb passing through the 42km to go marker and beyond. A few amusing comments made by runners at this point were;

1. 'I love this point as we only have a marathon left to finish!'

2. 'If I felt this bad at the start of a marathon I would go home!'

On the steady climb to Umlaas Road (the highest point) the sun came out and things started to hurt. By Umlaas, the gels & percy pigs wouldn't go down and so the latter stages were fuelled by coke & energade. The energade turns everything bright orange so it looked like I'd spilt fake tan all over my hands. Things were turning ugly! Down to Little Pollys and the sub 10hr finish is looking doubtful as Little Pollys is a speed bump compared to the real Polly Shorts.

At the top of Little Pollys the supporters take great pleasure in reminding us that were about to take on the real thing and we'd better get ready. Up we go, I get plenty of encouragement from seasoned vets with many Comrades under their belt, it looks like my back to back medal is in the bag, but can I get the new sub 10hr medal the Robert Mitshali.

Once over Polly's just stay on your feet and roll downhill to the finish, legs absolutely battered. Turns out I managed a bit of a sprint finish and crossed the line in 9:47:46. Very happy/relieved. In general I had a much better run than last year although both runs are wildly different. Yes it hurt but at no point did I feel that a finish was doubtful. That was the end of a journey that started in June 2017 with training for Chester Marathon as my first qualifier, ending a few days ago on 9th June 2019. The Comrades medals are probably the smallest out there but definitely the hardest won.

Special thanks must go to my long suffering wife Ashlin for her understanding and support as I've spent the past 2 years running at every opportunity although she has had 2 holidays out of it so it's not all bad!

PARK RUN TOURISM - DURBAN

8 June: Ahead of Bob Corinaldi's epic 2nd Comrades Ultra marathon he and Mrs C took a in a Park Run in Durban. "North Beach parkrun for a gentle stretch prior to the big one. 1999 runners, swelled by the influx of Comrades runners but this one is regularly over 1000 runners." Winner did 16.24! Results here.

NADEN VALLEY - ROCHDALE

8 June: Tony Dutton off piste: Picture from today's race at Naden Valley Rochdale. Not sure I'm happy with the Photographer position on this, I'll be honest, not my finest hour! Stylish effort Tony.

RACE THE HORSE - WALES

8 June: The Man versus Horse Marathon is an annual race over 22 miles (35 km), where runners compete against riders on horseback. The race — which is a shorter distance than an official marathon road race — takes place in the Welsh town of Llanwrtyd Wells every June. Brian Dooley reports: Well folks I survived, 22.5 miles, 4000ft of ascent and I beat 5 horses, also snook under my target time of 4 hours with a finish time of 3 hrs 47mins. Phenomenal event and experience, brutal but thoroughly enjoyable at the same time and great sense of camaraderie between both runners and riders - oh yes and I got a cheeky snap with Sophie Raworth who finished 10mins behind me. (Wow... respect Sophie!)

NORTH CHESHIRE 5K SERIES RACE 3 - BOWDEN

6 June: Debbie Moretn reports: The rain stopped and the sun shone. Good VRAC turnout. Age category wins for Andrea Hilldrup, Anna Begbie and Mary Tavener. Ladies team 2nd again!

Pos	Name	Cat	Cat Pos	Finish Time

20	Adrea Hilldrup	F40	1	19.07	2nd lady
41	Anna Begbie	F35	1	20.27
44	Mel Johnson	F35	2	20.36
51	Geoff Fawkes	M45	9	20.50
59	John Clarke	M65	2	21.22
77	Tony Dutton	M45	11	23.05
86	Mary Tavener	F55	1	23.43
97	Debbie Moreton	F45	4	24.14
99	Jayne Lomax	F50	3	24.20
165	Finishers

NORTH CHESHIRE 5K SERIES RACE 2 - BIRCHWOOD 5K

30 May: Full results here.

1st M Ed Shepard SM. 1st. 15:06 rumoured to be new course record

17th M Gary Richardson V45 2nd. 18:31
47th M Geoff Hawkes V45 5th. 21:18
82nd M Tony Dutton V45. 12th 24:35
90th M. Barry Chambers V65. 26:13

4th Male team out of 15 teams ( 4 to count )

3rd F Katie Moulds SF 2nd. 19:06
8th. F Anna Begbie V35 1st 20:26
27th F. Mary Tavener V55 2nd 23:48
30th F Debbie Morton V45 5th 24:26
35th F. Jayne Lomax V50 5th. 24:50
51st F. Debbie Richardson V50 7th 28:42

2nd and 7th Female teams out of 11 teams ( 3 counters )

BLACKPOOL 10 MILE

25May: Great run from Helen Harrington winning the ladies race overall in 1.07.24 (gun). "Sunny and Fun! Came home with lots of booze and chocolate.

First race win in around 13 years and 12s off my PB at Blackpool 10m this morning."

MANCHESTER 10K

19 May:

Name	Pos	Finish Time
Raif Serif	38	00:33:03
Chloe Broad	262	00:39:41
Melanie Johnson	419	00:41:34
Ella Ferguson	2562	00:49:33
Sharon Wilson	2875	00:50:11
Geoff Davies	9953	01:02:45
Lydia Davies	9962	01:02:46
David Humphreys	16154	01:19:48

NORTH CHESHIRE 5K SERIES RACE 1 - DUNHAM MASSEY 5K

23 May: The hard way round! Full results here.

MEN:

22nd M     Gary Richardson.         18:38.     V45. 2nd
31st M.     Tommy Armstrong.      19:05.     V40. 3rd
82nd M.   John Clark.                 21:40.     V65. 1st
116th M.    Tony Dutton                23:29.     V45 14th
LADIES:
9th F.   Anna Begbie.                   20:50.     V35
33rd F. Joanne Edwards.            24:09.     V55 4th
34th F.   Debbie Morton.              24:16.     V45 7th
36th F. Jayne Lomax.                 24:34.   V50 4th
56th F.   Debbie Richardson.        28:59.     V50. 9th

CHESTER HALF MARATHON

19 May:

Pos	Gun time	No.	First name	Last name	Chip Time	Chip Pos	Gender	Pos	Category	Pos
7	01:13:34	14	Chris	Williams	01:13:34	7	Male	7	MSEN	5
109	01:25:52	1046	Rob	McBain	01:25:43	107	Male	103	MV40	17
153	01:28:09	5247	Gemma	Barnett	01:28:01	152	Female	8	FV35	2
188	01:29:39	410	Chris	Swift	01:29:31	189	Male	179	MV35	38
383	01:36:05	420	John	Todd	01:35:18	370	Male	360	MV55	9
579	01:40:09	696	Paul	Jackson	01:39:36	591	Male	519	MV35	102

ANDERTON MULTI -TERRAIN 10K

19 May: Full resuts here.

8th M Gary Richardson          39:46      V45 1st
3rd F.   Anna Begbie.              44:21.     V35. 1st
17th F. Jayne Lomax.             54:17.     V50 3rd
52nd F. Debbie Richardson.   1:02:31      V50 9th

BIRMINGHAM 10K

26 May: Brian Dooley reports: Sarah Murphy, Liz Renondeau, and Carolyn Dooley swapped their Vale Royal vests for England ones at the Birmingham 10k with Chloe gaining an elite entry making up the foursome. At 5k all 4 looked on for impressive times but a tough uphill second half and headwind finished off with a final 1k of twists and turns including a 180 degree turn around a traffic cone meant times ultimately suffered. Nonetheless a day for all to be proud particularly for Sarah, Carolyn, and Liz rewarded for their commitment and representing England topped off by Liz taking the V35 prize.

Name	Pos	Finish Time
Elizabeth Renondeau	86	00:37:12
Chloe Dooley	100	00:37:53
Sarah Murphy	141	00:39:20
Carolyn Dooley	224	00:41:24

CHRISTLETON 5K

17 May: As usual there was a great VRAC turnout for one of the fastest 5ks in the region. There were numerous PBs including Matt Rowlinson getting agonisingly close to a sub 16, Chloe Dooley shaving even more time off her recent 5k PB and taking second place. This helped the women's team to a great victory in a traditionally strong race. Good to see the spring marathoners back out racing the shorter stuff and great to see Amelia Pettitt running well and injury free. Full Results

Pos	Gun	Name	Name	Chip	Pos	Gen	Pos	Cat	Pos
19	15:40	Andrew	Miles	15:39	19	Male	19	Senior Men	15
35	16:05	Matt	Rowlinson	16:02	35	Male	35	Senior Men	23
52	16:17	Stuart	Doyle	16:16	53	Male	52	Over 45	5
61	16:29	Edward	Pettitt	16:27	62	Male	61	Under 20	7
66	16:36	Mark	Crabtree	16:32	65	Male	66	Over 40	11
67	16:37	Aaron	Doyle	16:34	67	Male	67	Under 20	9
96	17:20	Gareth	Williams	17:15	96	Male	95	Over 50	2
117	17:50	Chloe	Dooley	17:48	119	Female	2	Senior Women	1
124	17:57	Robert	Roe	17:49	122	Male	121	Over 40	18
127	17:59	Sarah	Murphy	17:58	128	Female	4	Over 40	2
130	18:06	Amelia	Pettitt	18:00	129	Female	6	Senior Women	3
137	18:12	James	Griffiths	18:07	134	Male	130	Senior Men	68
141	18:19	Lewis	Brown	18:13	142	Male	133	Senior Men	71
146	18:24	Richard	Murray	18:17	144	Male	137	Over 50	6
175	19:00	Kate	Moulds	18:56	178	Female	13	Senior Women	6
177	19:02	Graham	Miles	18:57	179	Male	163	Over 50	7
185	19:08	Andrea	Hilldrup	18:59	182	Female	17	Over 40	4
195	19:22	Carolyn	Dooley	19:17	198	Female	23	Over 45	3
203	19:27	Brian	Dooley	19:24	208	Male	179	Over 45	26
211	19:36	Helen	Harrington	19:30	215	Female	25	Over 35	6
242	20:14	Hollie	Carrington	20:02	241	Female	38	Senior Women	14
245	20:15	Lee	Carrington	20:02	242	Male	204	Senior Men	95
246	20:17	David	Haines	20:07	248	Male	205	Over 45	33
264	20:46	Geoff	Fawkes	20:33	264	Male	215	Over 45	35
331	22:53	Debbie	Broad	22:36	329	Female	69	Over 50	4
350	23:35	Anthony	Dutton	23:17	349	Male	272	Over 45	44
380	25:18:00	Richard	Pettitt	25:09:00	382	Male	287	Over 55	20

MIDDLEWICH 5K

12 May: A strong turnout for Vale Royal in this reasonably new race as the club took four of the top five places. The men took the team prize and the women took the women's team prize with Mel Johnson claiming 2nd lady and Debbie Richardson with a strong PB. Full Results.

SANDSTONE TRAIL RACE

11 May: Bob Corinaldi sent us this report on the full Sandstone Trail Race:

A small Vale Royal contingent took on the Sandstone Challenge on Saturday 11th May and an ‘interesting' day was had by all.

The Sandstone Challenge is organised by Helsby Running Club and takes in the full Sandstone trail from Whitchurch to Frodsham which is about 33 and a bit miles depending upon how good your navigation skills are! As this was Gary's first foray into ultra running, shoe choice was critical. Thankfully he brought several pairs of road and trail shoes with him to try and he was seen jogging round the car park sporting various types of running shoes trying to make up his mind. I'm sure at one point he may also have tried a pair of Debbie's high heels. He eventually settled on road shoes by the way!

As the run started, the early morning mist lifted and Lee disappeared into the distance. He had a cracking run, breaking the 5 hour barrier, finishing in 2nd place in a time of 4:58. Given the number of stiles and the ground conditions this was a fantastic performance and he took 20 minutes off his time from the previous year. Gary was hot on Lee’s tail eventually finishing in 7th place in a time of 5:31 claiming that he should have stuck with trail shoes after all! Bob was on for a sub 6 hour finish until two schoolboy errors saw him get lost twice on a course he allegedly knew like the back of his hand! The navigational blunders dashed any hope of a sub 6 and he finished in 18th place in a time of 6:02 & still managing to shave a few minutes from last years time. Matt got off to a flying start but seemed to suffer in the heat towards the end and followed Bob into the finish (probably not a good idea) finishing in 19th place also in a time of 6:02. Sophie who is preparing for an Ultra later this year and true to form had a few falls but a steady run given the conditions, finishing in 29th place in a time of 6:29 John has obviously kept both his stamina and the ability to run on a full stomach between aid stations (see photo) finishing in 39th place with a time of 6:51. Full Results

ROUND THE RUNWAY - MOBBERLEY

7 May: Tony Dutton reports: Perfect conditions for Wilmslow Running Clubs spring Round the Runway 5 mile trail race. Myself and Debbie Moreton took on the event this year that usually sells out within a few weeks. This was my 2nd time running the race and Debbie's first, would definitely recommend this race, which has one rather steep climb after crossing underneath the runway through the Bollon tunnel. Full results here.

Name	Pos	Time
Tony Dutton	139	40.15
Debie Moreton	147	40.46
Finishers	331

KESWICK HALF MARATHON

5 May: Bob Corinaldi reports: Made my annual visit to the Keswick Half Marathon over the weekend. Much cooler conditions than last year but I still got sunburn! Made a conservative start, not wanting to get tripped in the melee at the start and I was also wary of the previous days 'easy' run..12.8 hilly miles which included an enthusiastic Parkrun. From the first mile onwards it just got better and better. Went really well through the hilly first 8 miles and found another gear when I hit the road back to Keswick at Grange. Target was to equal or sneak under last year's 1:44 but managed 1:36:37 which took 5 minutes from my previous best around that course. Old age seems to be working out!

Position 86

Time 1.36.37

CARDIFF 5K

5 May: 'Proud Dad' Brian Dooley reports: On the back of her performances at the Northern X-Country champs and recent 10K PB at Arley Chloe was selected to run on the Northern team at the Cardiff 5K. Perfect conditions for racing and despite a tough course there were lots of fast times and PB’s, Chloe didn’t disappoint posting a huge 48 second PB and going sub 18 for the first time with 17:57. The young Northern team came third overall only being beaten by more senior teams from Wales and Northern Ireland. Looks like mum and dad will be bringing up the rear at Christleton in a few weeks time

Vale Royal AC - Senior Section

Running and Athletics in the Heart of Cheshire.

NOTICES

ATHLETE OF THE MONTH

FOUR VILLAGES HALF MARATHON - HELSBY

MORECOMBE 5K SERIES

MANCHESTER XC LEAGUE MATCH 4 - TATTON PARK

KIDSGROVE 10K

NORTHERN INDOORS - SHEFFIELD

CHESHIRE XC CHAMPIONSHIPS - KNIGHTS GRANGE

2020 GOALS

RIBBLE VALLEY 10K - CLITHEROE

RUN CHESHIRE BOXING DAY 5K - NORTHWICH

ROUND THE WALLS - CHESTER

SAXON SHORE MARATHON - KENT

STOCKPORT 10 MILE

TELFORD 10K

MANCHESTER LEAGUE RACE 3 - ARROWE PARK, BIRKENHEAD

TATTON PARK YULETIDE YOMP 10K

PARKRUN TOURISM - RUSHMOOR, ALDERSHOT

WILMSLOW 10K

NORTH STAFFS RACE 3 - PARK HALL

BRITISH AND IRISH MASTERS XC INTERNATIONAL - AINTREE

WARRINGTON WAY ULTRA

MANCHESTER LEAGUE XC RACE 2 - KENTWORTHY WOODS

NATIONAL XC RELAYS - BERRY HILL PARK, MANSFIELD

ABERGELE 5 MILE

NORTH STAFFS XC RACE 2 - STAFFORD COMMON

LAKE DISTRICT DIRTY DOUBLE

WINSFORD 10K TRAIL RACE

LANGLEY '7' (NOT) FELL RACE

LEEDS ABBEY DASH 10K

CLWYDIAN HILLS FELL RACE

SNOWDEN MARATHON

THESSALONIKI 5K - GREECE

NORTHERN XC RELAYS - GRAVES PARK, SHEFFIELD

FARNDON 10K

MANCHESTER LEAGUE XC RACE 1 - WYTHENSHAWE PARK

HALFWAY TO HELL 10K - DELAMERE FOREST

PETERBOROUGH HALF - THAT WASN'T

MANCHESTER HALF MARATHON

NATIONAL ROAD RELAYS - SUTTON PARK

BOURNEMOUTH MARATHON

CARDIFF HALF MARATHON

CHESTER METRIC MARATHON

SHREWSBURY HALF MARATHON

NORTH STAFFS XC RACE 1 - KNIGHTS GRANGE

SANDSTONE TRAIL A AND B

MACCLESFIELD HALF MARATHON

SWANSEA BAY 10K

ST. NICHOLAS RIVER RUN 10K - NORTHWICH

NORTHERN ROAD RELAYS

SUTTON 6 10K - GUILDEN SUTTON

VALE OF YORK HALF MARATHON

NORTH WEST ROAD RELAYS - EDGE HILL

GREAT NORTH RUN

SALFORD 10K

SANDBACH 10K

MONTANE DELAMERE HALF MARATHON TRAIL RACE

CHESHIRE HALF MARATHON - CAPESTHORNE HALL

MID CHESHIRE 5K - KINGSLEY

CILCAIN MOUNTAIN RACE

NATIONAL TRUST - CHIRK

PARK RUN TOURISM - ANGLESEY

BRAMHALL RUNNERS FOODBANK 5K

ELLESMERE PORT RC 5K

BIRCHWOOD 10K

EL PORT DE LA SILVA 10K - SPAIN

BRITISH MASTERS TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS - BIRMINGHAM

PRESTON 5 MILE

PIE AND PEAS 5 MILE - MOULTON

SALE SIZZLER 5K - RACE 4

NORTH WALES HALF MARATHON

TEGGS NOSE FELL RACE

BARRY ISLAND 10K

SEFTON PARK 5 MILE

HELENA TIPPING 10K - WREXHAM

CHIRK CASTLE NATIONAL TRUST 10K

PARKRUN TOURISM - CAFFARELLA, ROME

SALE SIZZLER 5K - RACE 3