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MENS FELL NEWS
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The Cross Keys Road and Fell Relays
Saturday 1st September 2007
Uppermill
Once again, a lovely day out on the Saddleworth Moors, not too many teams out, but thanks to Paul Simons,
Salford started the relay season in winning ways.
Andi Jones had an epic battle with his old adversary Gareth Raven who was running for East Cheshire,
Andi just got pipped at the post with Gareth doing the fastest road lap of the day (15.23). Rob Hughes
volunteering to do the fell for the first time put us in a winning position from which we were never headed.
Billy Martin put in a solid lap to hand the glory leg to Phil West who bought Salford home first for the first
time and was very disappointed that there were not thousands of spectators to cheer him over the line.
He is looking forward to his picture on the front spread of athletics weekly.
Salford Harriers, first (73.17), East Cheshire Harriers, second (76.38), Salford Harriers B, sixth (78.29).
Andi Jones had a good training session and ran another leg in his build up to the Dublin Marathon.
Salford Harriers team was Andi Jones 15.26, Rob Hughes (fell) 19.54, Billy Martin 18.00,
Phil West (fell) 19.57. Salford Harriers B team was Paul Simons 19.12, Paul Birkett (fell) 20.57,
Andi Jones 16.22, James Jackson (fell) 21.58.
Thanks for turning out.
The Gravy Pud 5
Saturday 2nd December 2006
Tintwistle
The second running of the Gravy Pud 5 was won by Phil West in 37.06.
During what was a good race, in better conditions that the previous night's gale force winds,
Phil made light work of the course, including Lees Hill!
Second place runner was Simon Harding from Congleton in 37.13 and Salford's Billy Martin was third in 38.01.
First lady in the race was Christine Howard from Matlock AC in 41.08.
The race was staged by northernboyslovegravy with the purpose of raising funds for the John Taylor Fondation.
More information about the work of the John Talyor Foundation can be found at www.johntaylorfoundation.org.uk
Many thanks to all those who came and supported the race.
Next year nblg are planning on staging the Gravy 6 and the Gravy Pud 5.
Full details of these races will be available at www.northernboyslovegravy.co.uk early in 2007.
The 3rd International 'Rock of Gibraltar' Mountain Race
Saturday 28th October 2006
The 3rd International 'Rock of Gibraltar' Mountain Race was held on the Saturday 28th October 2006 and it was raced over macadamised surfaces with sharp inclines and descents.
The mens race was 11.8 kilometres with the women competing in 8.2 kilometres. The race started at sea level and finished at the top of the Rock with views to the Mediterranean Sea on one side and to the Atlantic Ocean on the other side. It is a unique opportunity to race among spectacular scenery and in the company of friends.
Two Salford Harriers, Andi Jones and Anne Buckley and one ex Salford Harrier, Martin Cox, travelled to the event which was also the last race in the WMRA Grand Prix. With Grand Prix ranking points up for grabs the race was always going to attract some very good international mountain runners.
The mens race started very competitively with 8 runners going off at the front and running together. The challenging course, with monkeys thrown in for good measure, made for testing times. Going in to the first lap on the upper rock the eight were still tightly packed. Previous World Champion Jonathan Wyatt (NZL) broke the group up on a steep climb, but the group quickly rejoined on the gentle descent. On the second of the two laps on the upper rock Wyatt broke away, dragging Vicente Capitan (ESP) and Andrzej Dlugosz (CZH) with him. This left Andi Jones, Marco De Gaspri (ITA), Martin Cox, Julian Rancon (FRA) and Tom Cronthwaite (ENG) chasing hard to limit the damage done by the front three.
Wyatt extended his lead over the chasing runners and went on to run 43.03. Capitan, last years winner, finished strongly in second, 43.31, followed by Andrzej Dlugosz 3rd in 44.00. Martin Cox worked well and ran strongly in the latter stages to pull through to fourth place in 44.06, De Gaspari 5th in 44.19 and Andi Jones 6th in 44.21.
In the ladies race Anna Pichrtova (CZH) front ran the race and won followed by Mateja Kosovelj (SLO) in second place and Iva Milesova in third place. Anne Buckley ran well and finished in fourth position earnng herself extra points for the WMRA GRand Prix ranking.
Overall in the WMRA Grand Prix Jonathan Wyatt was the lead man and Anna Pichrtova the lead lady. Martin Cox finished in third place and Anne Buckley nineth.
49th Trofeo Vanoni, Morbegno
WMRA associate member race
domenica 22 ottobre 2006
Andi Jones once again competed for Great Britain at the weekend in the 49th edition of the Trofeo Vanoni, Italy. Andi came in first on his leg in a time of 30m06secs. Fastest leg if the day went to Marco De Gasperi (Italy), who set a new course record of 28m45s, with Julien Rancon of France second quickest. Andi also led Team Great Britain in securing second place in the team competition behind the C.S. Forestale Team of De Gasperi.
FRA Fell Relay Championships
Saturday 14th October 2006
Andi Jones
Carl ran very well on leg 1, struggled a little on the very rough stuff, but the funniest bit of the day was seeing carl return black, covered in pig poo after what seems to have been a very impressive fall. He was that black John didn't see him coming.
John ran very strongly, but was let down by myself through a stinker of a cold I got this week. We managed to get round the leg, which was a great course incorporating some of the leg 4 of Calderdale Way Relays.
Once we got back Phil and Rob were off out on the 6 mile navigation leg. Not a leg I would have liked to have done, so well done to the pair of you for tackling it so well. After a few left turns, a few right turns and a bit of running round in circles they finally appeared over the final hill. Someone did suggest they might have got that wrong they could have ended up in Burnley!!!!!
They handed over to Ray who ran well on the final leg, which was a reverse of the leg 1 which Carl did.
27th overall, well not bad really considering. I am sure we can medal at this event in future years, but the navigation leg will always catch us out. (Remember our medal a few years ago at Church Stretton?) Thanks to Duncan for selecting the team and sorting it all out for us.
Coniston 14K Trail Race
Saturday 7th October 2006
This weekend saw the second running of the Coniston 14K Trail Race through some of the most dramatic mountain scenery in the Lake District with the first three finishers being from Salford Harriers, Andi Jones smashing the course record in 52.29, Billy Burns 54.04 and John Brown 54.46.
36th Parbold Hill Race (6.75 mile)
Saturday 11th February 2006 (2.00 pm)
Paul Birkett
A team of five intrepid Salford Harriers headed out West for the infamous Parbold Hill Race, which incidentally has a very good prize list. We were promised 6.75 miles of running as running used to be in the good old days before Health and Safety, and Risk Assessments became the watchword of all and sundry. It was a glorious sunny day on arrival but a cold wind was blowing so there was a wintry chill in the air, along with the stench of the countryside from Farmer Giles' massive pile of **** that we passed on the way to the start.
The race set off without much warning amid slightly chaotic scenes. The runner in front of me had just decided to tie his shoe laces, a bad move as he was trampled unceremoniously into the muddy field by his fellow competitors. There was an initial brisk pace as the race headed downhill on the road for a short section before heading uphill along a rough track. At this stage all five Salfordians were handily placed. I came across Billy Martin and James Williams in the pack, James Kovacs was further up front with the leaders, whilst Julie Laverock was in the pack too. The race then continued uphill for some time crossing fields before dropping back down to the road and then a very long uphill haul. The course to date had not been too challenging, other than the hills, there'd been the odd stile here and there but no major obstacles. Global warming had ensured the course was relatively dry, some mud had been encountered but this certainly wasn't a mud bath unlike the Boggart Hole Clough XC course even on a dry day.
The course now continued slightly uphill but the toughest climbing was over. As the run headed back down towards the finish two rather strange apparitions appeared in the distance. Both appeared to be farmers fences covered in best quality axminster (Parbold's the sort of pace where it was probably underfelted too). Sure enough as we got closer the penny dropped we had a couple of farmers fences to negiotiate, which the race organisers had thoughtfully draped in carpet, presumably to protect the fence. I took the first at full pace, which as you imagine was pretty slow after the uphill climbing, but maintained a good hurdling stile and kept my feet to 'power' on once grounded again. I decided I must have looked good jumping the first hurdle so endeavoured to do the same again at the second one. I approached it at a reasonable pace and leapt for it. As I sailed over the carpet I realised there was a sharp drop, about 15 feet, on the blind side of the fence. A good crowd of youngsters had gathered to watch the unsuspecting leaping into oblivion. How they cheered and shouted encouragement like "good leap old chap" (I told you it was a posh sort of place) as I sailed through the air. The flashes on the junior paparazzi's cameras lit the air as they waited for me to land on my ****. Fortunately I managed to keep my feet, turning a landing skid into an accidentally impressive turning manoeuvre and kept on running. The crowd let out a slight groan as they realised they weren't going to see any blood on this occasion.
The race was more or less over now, downhill all the way. I could see James Kovacs up ahead but as usual was nowhere near catching him. I stumbled across the finish line closely followed by Billy Martin, who put in a strong finish holding off a couple of competitors with an impressive turn of pace and not much further behind James Williams continued his improving form. Julie Laverock then completed the course looking as fresh as she'd started (are you sure you jumped the carpeted fences Julie?) and had a good solid run. On reaching the finish line we were all greeted with a Mars bar, a pair of sports socks, a drink of water, and a hose down with icy cold water. A great run out all in all and highly recommended. I for one will be back next year. Unfortunately we were all out of the prizes so hopefully we can put this right next year too.
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