Barnsley Park Run - Latest Results

8	Stephen STOREY	19:53	VM55-59	77.95 %	M			PB stays at 00:19:44
19	Matthew BURTON	22:16	VM40-44	61.30 %	M			PB stays at 00:21:08
32	Paul FRYERS	24:47	VM45-49	57.23 %	M			New PB!
42	Annie LIGHTOWLER	26:12	VW40-44	58.72 %	F			New PB!
52	Raymond BROWN	27:06	VM70-74	66.73 %	M			PB stays at 00:26:34
53	John SPENCER	27:11	VM55-59	57.51 %	M			PB stays at 00:26:46
68	Norman COLE	29:37	VM75-79	66.40 %	M			PB stays at 00:29:06
90	David HORSFALL	33:32	VM70-74	55.57 %	M			PB stays at 00:31:00
92	Kim PORTEOUS	34:07	VW50-54	51.69 %	F			New PB!
93	Colin PORTEOUS	34:09	VM50-54	44.27 %	M			New PB!

Running or Training?

So, what's on the cards for you this weekend? Are you out training for the VLM? I think that I could run the Virtual alternative. Hats off to all those people who have put in so many miles to achieve whatever goal they have set themselves!
You could have a go at the popular Park Run in Barnsley or any of the nearby venues. Quite a few PFR &AC members are trying to post a time before the championship closing date, which is ... 27th April I think.


 
For the fell lovers amongst you, there is the Ian Roberts Fell Race. About 10k in distance, this is a very enjoyable mixture of terrain, ascents and decent descents! Apart from the last one that is, I remember cursing the last time I did it. From a fairly easy run at the side of the golf course, it now goes back onto the moor and then through lots of tussocky grass and slippy slopes. You WILL fall at LEAST once. Brilliant scran afterwards and always a warm welcome. No muddy boots inside though.




You might be off to Retford for a quick 13.1 miles OR be totally stupid and have a bash at a hilly 20 miles in the Spen 20! With no long distance training to speak of, I think that I'll be going into the zone and imagining I'm running up to the windmills and back, TWICE! Last time I ran it in 2010, I had to walk for some of the last couple of miles. Finished in 2:32:13 I'd be happy with that on Sunday but I think it might be nearer 2:45
Whatever you do this weekend, enjoy it, take photos wherever possible and let us know how you went on.   

Editor's Training - FELL RUNNING!

Photo by kind permission of Mountain-Zac

The weather outside is awful at the moment and I can well understand why animals hibernate! Having just woken up from a 45 minute "power nap", I have a little bit of energy which can be put to good use: a boring little post about this week's training!

The week started off with an eight or nine mile run with Alex. We took in part of the TPT to Thurgoland and then a steady climb up Well Hill to Green Moor. It does go on a bit and it was a welcome sight when we saw the bus shelter at the top. A parting of the ways at the top of Castle Dam and an 75-80 min steady one in the bag. Monday came and I decided to take Willow for a run on the moors. Yes, the MOORS! There was an ulterior motive; a bacon buttie and latte at the Bank View Cafe!

By kind permission of the Editor!

REVIEW:This is a great spot to stop after a ride over cut gate. We often start in the Langsett car park and ride up and over to Derwent. We tried to go to the pub across the road one Sunday (a lot easier than crossing the busy road) but when it wasn't serving food, we decided to pop in to the cafe. What a stroke of luck! Really big "post ride" portions, the owner is obviously bike friendly (there's a sign above the counter saying "borrow our track pump" - nice touch!) and being a bit mucky is no problem. This place is like the Woodbine in Hope (supports mountain rescue etc.) so if you've been in the outdoors for a ride/walk I'd definitely recommend crossing the road and enjoying a nice cuppa and some cake in this place....top drawer!

Liked: Food, Service, Atmosphere, Value

We headed out from the car park and made our way towards the Little Don or Porter as it is sometimes called. Early on a Monday and not a soul in sight. Brilliant. I kept an eye out for sheep, Willow doesn't chase them but they're not to know that.  

 

A steep climb up to find the Hordron Road. There was still a little bit of snow about but not as much as you can see in the photo.

  



The ford just before we made our way back into the woods. It can be a "bit" of a wet foot place at certain times of the year.

Back to the car and time to hit the cafe. A well earned cuppa and a bacon and tomato butty went down a treat. Willow certainly enjoyed it.

 Managed a 5k steady 8 min pace with warm up and warm down on Thursday. It took a bit of doing to get out of the house with all the fog about. It just doesn't inspire you at all.

AND today (Friday), we actually went for another run on the moors. Something I haven't done for ages. Being really wet underfoot, I just didn't fancy a Willow walk in the fields. Instead, we ran out onto the moors again for another adventure.  Muddy? YES! Enjoyable? VERY!

 

The Norton 9 - The big test

You may or may not know that last July I had rather a nasty problem with my back.  Basically one of my lumbar discs decided to split and a bit came off.  It kindly attached itself to my sciatic nerve - ouch ouch ouch.  I have never in my entire life experienced such pain and I just could not get rid of it not matter what mind altering drugs the doctor gave me.

As an active person I found the most frightening thing was the forced inactivity.  I literally could not stand up for more than a few seconds without this painful ‘hot’ needle pain shooting up and down the back of my right leg.  Awful.  I has also lost the sensation in my right foot.  When I could finally stand I tried to go up on my toes on the right foot - couldn’t.

The big thing for me besides the awful pain was the fact that I couldn’t see how I would ever get better or run again.  Depression loomed large and also its best mate anxiety! The negatively even as I write this is obvious.

After a lot of patience from my top Physio Phil Willams and of course Daren I started to improve.  Eventually a scan showed the full extent of the problem but by that time there was a small light at the end of the tunnel and I was improving.   Luckily for me surgery was not required, my body had started to absorb the bit of disc!

I attempted to run again in September.  It felt like a bit of my right leg had been chopped off?  Very bizzare.  It hurt everywhere but not in my back.  I carried on but was so so unfit.  Two miles felt like 10.  The belief I could run again was being drummed into me by Daren and Phil - it took me a while to catch up.

Eventually it started to come back - but would my power in the right side ever be there again?

After running round the Ward Green 6, then doing the Winter Track Series I knew I needed another challenge just to see where I was - The Norton 9.

Never done this race before.  No watch, no negative thinking and off I went.  Support from the club great.  Started slow and just did what I could.  Conditions were perfect and my pace nice and steady and even.  At 7 miles even though I was tired I was smiling - I’d achieved my come back.  At 8 I knew it was downhill home and I tried so hard to push on.  The hill to the finish virtually had me beaten - where was the finish line.  Everyone watching at the bottom said ‘Finish is just up there’!  Where I could not see it.  After a little stress I turned into the field and there it was.  Crossed the line and burst into tears - I felt so tired, so emotional and a bit sick!  But objective achieve and an average pace of 8.20.

The support I received for finishing in not a bad time was fab and meant an awful lot.

So on to the next challenge - The Segovia Half Marathon on 17 March!  It will be hilly but just going to trot round and ‘smell the roses’ on the way happy that I can run.

 A little taster of what's to come......

Conclusion of this Year's Winter Handicap

A disappointing turn out for the last race of 41 runners but a warm welcome to Joe Mann who made the trip from Cumbria to take part.   The results show the finishing order but not necessarily the handicap champion!    The group starts mean that the finishing positions have to be adjusted to the actual handicap so the champion will not be revealed until the presentation evening.  


 
The WMA winner is Steve Frith but Steve Storey had a storming run after some winter training in the sun to take second place leaving Mark Law for the second year running in third place.

Many thanks to all who have taken part or helped in any way and especially to Martyn and Anne.

PFR Winter Handicap race 7           26th February 2013

Pos

Name

1

MORRIS

Nick

2

SKENE

Caryl

3

SWIFT

Andy

4

RIORDAN

Mark

5

STOREY

Stephen

6

CLAYDON

Peter

7

SPENCER

John

8

NEEDHAM

David

9

MOXON

Julie

10

ROEBUCK

Steve

11

MANN

Joe

12

FRYERS

Paul

13

STEAD

Steve

14

CABLE

Nick

15

SMYTHE

Anne

16

TAYLOR

Emilia

17

MACKIE

Richard

18

KNOX

Alan

19

FRITH

Steve

20

LAW

Mark

21

GOODWIN

Martyn

22

DEACON

Christopher

23

STANLEY

Pete

24

COCKERTON

Jane

25

GRIFFITHS

Paul

26

GEE

Paul

27

HIGHAM

Susan

28

PARKIN

Paul

29

STEAD

Emma

30

ALLCROFT

Dean

31

SANDERS

Steve

32

CHARLESWOR

Susan

33

SYKES

Sarah

34

DICKINSON

Steve

35

DIMELOW

Geoff

36

WALSH

Michael

37

BLACKBURN

Wayne

38

FOSTER

Dave

39

WOODHEAD

Stuart

40

HENSON

Andrea

41

BIRCHALL

Craig

Martyn's Weekly Round Up (6)

Members of Penistone Footpath Runners & AC had success last weekend in two very different types of event.

The Norton 9 Road Race was the second race in this years Club Championship and two Club Records were broken and one equalled.       Steve Storey set a new vet 55 record with a time of 57-13 when finishing 3rd in that category, Ray Brown set a new vet 70 record with 77-40 to also finish 3rd and Dave Needham equalled the vet 65 record with 67-14 to finish 2nd.    Sue Higham was 3rd vet 60 Lady.

Ricky Sunman was first home in 25th place in 54-24 to score maximum points in the Championship and also take the 3rd vet 40 prize.          A total of 26 completed the race.    Full results were 25, R Sunman 54-24; 44, S Storey 57-13; 48, SS Roebuck 57-40; 123, P Gee 63-27; 133, A Knox 64-08; 150, M Riordan 65-18; 163, P Buckley 65-46; 192, D Needham 67-14; 221, G Dimelow 68-33; 224, S Sykes (L) 68-37; 228, D Allcroft 69-04; 238, D Foster 69-29; 254, B Innes 70-32; 260, J Moxon (L) 70-58; 264, S Woodhead 71-17; 286, S Charlesworth (L) 73-09; 294, C Birchall 73-34; 319, A Nockells (L) 75-06; 357, R Brown 77-40; 375, P Fryers 79-35; 376, Lisa Taylor (L) 79-39; 406, J Cockerton (L) 81-48; 451, S Higham (L) 86-19; 468, J Spencer 88-58; 485, P Parkin 91-26; 511, J Foster (L) 103-00.       2nd claim Member Darren Nockells was 1st vet 45 in 13th place in a time of 52-35.

Several Members took part in the High Peak Marathon.   The race, which starts on Friday evening, is a 42 mile night time navigational endurance challenge for teams of 4.    Starting and finishing at Edale in Derbyshire, the teams have to navigate their way to various checkpoint during the hours of darkness.   Weather conditions were fairly good but some of the route was still wet underfoot.   Running under the name of Three Blind Mice and a Farmers Wife, Nicky Spinks, Ian Charlesworth and Simon Rippon teamed up with Keith Holmes to finish in 4th position overall and take the 1st vet team prize in an overall time of 9-04-23.    Mark Pearce and Brent Lindsay teamed up with Steve Burgess and Amanda Heading under the name of Pot Noodle to finish as 5th vet team in 17th place overall in a time of 10-52-03.

Martyn Cartwright

Fancy a Run?

By kind permission of RS1979

Why not go for a fantastic 15 mile run around the beautiful Derwent Valley.
Lisa T is organising the event which will take place on 23rd March, start time is 9:30 a.m. You can run it or get ON YER BIKE! Contact Lisa for further details.

  


Steve Storey is running round Langsett tomorrow Wednesday 6th March,  meeting at 9.30 am at Langsett Barn and everyone is welcome.









 

High Peak Marathon - A Pot Noodle's Account



Photo by Willy Kitchen

High Peak Marathon 2013

Mark Pearce

Once more we found ourselves at Edale village hall on the first Friday night in March. Myself, Brent Lindsay, Steve Burgess and Amanda Heading had entered as team Pot Noodle. It was a good team combination, we have all run together in similar events before, know our strengths and weaknesses and work well as a team, which is essential in these undertakings.

Pre-race  discussion was around what time we were aiming for. Sub 11 hours was floated, but seemed a tall order as our previous best was 11:37. Unattainable or not, the seed had been planted, and that's the way these things work.

At 23:27 Richard Bradbury set us off on our travels and we were off. The first couple of hours is a bit soul destroying with three big climbs up Lose Hill, Win Hill and then a slog up the road to Stanage Edge. At this stage it’s also easy to get the pace too fast and risk blowing up later. Across from High Neb the ground was quite soft and muddy, temperature hovering around freezing and clear visibility.

At the Moscar checkpoint we had a very quick stop to fill up with water and fill the baby cup with tea to drink on the run down to Cut Throat Bridge. In the rush to clear the checkpoint I had left my water bottle behind, so I was consigned to drinking stream water for the rest of the race.

Once up on Derwent Edge, most of the big climbs were done and I was finally settling in to the race, the ground was now solid and the temperature was dropping. Looking backwards showed us leading a huge precession of torches which was quite surreal but quite annoying – we’d come out for a quite overnight run, not a trip to the local bus station.

From Lost Lad the field spaced out more, and one team’s desire for solitude had taken them all the way across Bradfield Moor, miles off course. On the climb out of Abbey Brook, up towards Cut Gate, I grabbed some water. It tastes better than it looks. Eating was now getting difficult, forcing small bits of food down whilst feeling like throwing up takes a bit of will power.

The run over Outer Edge and Howden Moor was straightforward, although at one point we came across a runner who seemed to be stumbling around with no rucksack which was very concerning as he was potentially in real danger. Fortunately his team had realised they had a problem and were heading back for him.

By now we were slogging along like walking dead, early hours are always tough, but from experience you learn that it passes with the arrival of daybreak. Usually anyway. Eating was now a waste of time as my body was insisting it was asleep and shutting down non-essential functions, so all the energy for the next few hours comes from fat burning. Luckily I carry enough body fat to keep going for about 132 hours and 45 minutes.

Heading from Swain's head we had a couple of teams following our line (and had been for a while) so we turned our torches off and ran on night vision which was tricky until our eyes adjusted. By Bleaklow Stones there were signs of daybreak and we crossed Bleaklow via the secret route as it got light. Sunrise was beautiful and as expected, I started to feel better.

At the Snake Pass summit checkpoint it was time for food, so on the advice of my sports nutritionist I downed a pork pie with a sachet of HP sauce stolen from Manchester Velodrome, a bag of cheddars and some warm orange squash.

Just past 7am and a beautiful day, we trotted across to Mill Hill, each of us making sure we were all eating again. Looking after each other is a key factor in the success of these events as we all have ups and downs at different times. The two miles of stone flags is a real slog which makes the steep climb on to the Kinder plateau seem welcome.

Kinder edge was tricky, running into low sun with tired legs, fighting cramp, but before long we were at Brown Knoll with the finish in sight. We all stuffed gels down for the last few miles and rolled on to the checkpoint at Lord's seat. From this point it’s pretty much down hill to the finish, but very hard to get much speed out of tired legs.

Heading to Hollins Cross, Amanda suddenly stepped up the pace, it took me a while to work out why, she had just checked her watch and realised that we were still on for sub 11 hours. When er reached Hollins Cross she announced that we had 15 minutes to finish so we gave it everything down the steep descent and on to the road, finishing in 10:56. It's surprising what's left in the tank when the needle is on empty. After dibbing in at the finish we then collapsed among the dustbins outside the village hall.