Another Wednesday evening and another five mile race – this time in the lovely setting of Ingbirchworth reservoir.  The weather was particularly delightful with sunshine and light winds but without the heat of the Worsborough event.

Many thanks to Martin Baggaley for photos.

Runners gathered at the Fountain pub prior to the event and the prospect of a post-race pint in the pub garden becoming ever more appealing.  At least one nameless hardcore Strider decided not to wait and had a glass or two before the race began – it didn’t seem to have much impact on their performance mind as they came storming through at the finish.

The race starts on a narrow lane above the reservoir, and Keith Binney’s warnings about safety and having all your wits about you proved very relevant when a car full of lads came driving towards the runners at high speed, clearly thinking it was a huge joke.  Fortunately no-one was hurt and I did learn a few new interesting insults.

This is probably the kindest of the 5-mile events.  It has the usual climbs, including a short but nasty steep hill around the 3-mile mark, but overall it is downhill with a fine finish across the dam wall back to Ingbirchworth.

An impressive 47 Striders turned out for the final fixture, with a good number still in contention for a place in the league.  To be eligible runners needed to have completed 3 out of the 4 races, with the last one at Ingbirchworth counting as a decider in the event of a tie.

The performances from the Striders women were simply magnificent, with medalists in five different age categories, three first places and victory in the overall team category.  A super run from Annie Chambers saw her very close to the 30 minute barrier which was enough to claim overall victory in the senior women’s event.  She ended up on equal points with Barnsley’s Naomi Drakeford, with two race wins apiece, but victory at Inbirchworth was enough to secure Annie the overall title. The bronze medal also came down to the final race, with Emily Green edging out Yasmine Chaffer by less than 20 seconds on the night to claim third place.

The F35 contest was even closer, with Gillian Allen and Naomi Tuckett taking first and second places on the night, resulting in gold and silver positions in the league.  Gillian kept her best run to last in the series, and in a superb tussle managed to keep just one place and 5 seconds ahead of Naomi in the final straight to claim overall victory.

Claire Wren just missed out in the F40’s with a very consistent set of runs over the four race series leaving her in a fine 4th place overall.

Caroline Greenough went into the last fixture on equal points with Lesley Pickersgill from Barnsley so she needed to beat her rival on the night to claim third place.  An excellent run saw her finish 13 seconds ahead of Lesley to take the bronze medal.

We have amazing strength in depth in our F60 category, with Kate Scott, Karen Clark and Jo Gleig all in contention for a podium place going into the final fixture.  Kate and Karen both had excellent runs to claim silver and bronze behind Totley’s Anne Hegarty, with Jo finishing in a strong 4th place overall.

 

 

 

There was no such drama for Kate Waddicor in the F70 category as she continued her excellent season.  A third victory saw her comfortably take the overall title – all the more impressive as she also won the Manchester marathon F70 race at the end of April and finished 2nd F70 in the Bristol Half Marathon just 3 days before Ingbirchworth.

 

The Striders men were not quite up to the same standard as the women.  Naeem Stevens was an excellent 11th place in 28.09 but as he had only done two of the races he didn’t score in the league.  The best senior league position for Striders was Edward Shattock who had his best race of the series at Ingbirchworth to take 13th overall.

 

Amazing consistency from John Kilcoyne saw him finish in the mid twenties at the last 3 races to take a comfortable second place in the M45 category behind Sheffield RC’s Rob Cassy.

 

The M60’s category had seen a different winner at each of the three previous races, with Jed Turner and myself battling with Rotherham RC’s Graham Dodd for the title.  Graham had seemingly saved his best effort for the final race – all the more impressive as he had recently completed the London Marathon – and his 31.51 effort was good enough for victory, with Jed using his 800m finishing speed to claim second place on the night and in the league.

Finally, a massive tussle in the M70’s for the bronze medal.  Graham Hague had beaten Penistone’s Nick Whittingham by just two seconds at Elsecar, with Nick reversing the order and claiming an 18 second lead at Worsborough.  All to play for in the final fixture, and Graham came through strongly to put a minute between him and his rival and take third place in the league.  New member, Rob Pearson, was a fine 2nd place in the M70 category at INgbirchworth in his debut for Striders.

Many thanks to everyone involved in putting on a great series of races, including Richard Pegg and Chris Moss, and to the great Mr Binney for keeping us all safe and in order.

 

Striders Results