News
Ralph Lloyd and Paul Watts will be continuing with their Spring Marathon training this weekend but you are all welcome to join them. This Sunday the plan is to meet at the Rowing Club at 9am and run the Breinton 10 mile course. If you want to run just 5/6 miles thats fine too just nice to have a big group to start with.
Dates as follows:
The next torchlight run is scheduled for Monday 28th Jan subject to the predicted weather improvement. Meeting point is the Co-op Car Park situated off Three Elms/Grandstand Road. The run will start at 6.15pm. It is essential that all runners wear a high visibility jacket and bring along a hand or head torch.
There will also be the usual club run from the rowing club at 6.15pm.
Summer 10k will be held on May 1st Wed evening, 7pm start.
Charity Quiz and Disco Nite - Fri 17th May. This years charity of the year is Hereford Haven Breast Cancer. Venue: Rowing Club.
30th Anniversary Reunion Night - mid to end June. We are trying to reschedule the provisional 28th June date because of conflict with the Cotswold Relay. Venue Rowing Club. Date will be confirmed shortly.
Hereford 10 Mile Road Race - Sunday September 8th - 11am start. Venue Rowing Club
Club Xmas Party - Sat December 21st Venue: Hereford Rowing Club
We are having another brilliant season in the cross country league and an incredible 43 of the 126 runners at Monkhall Farm represented Wye Valley Runners. Including race marshals our turn-out must have been touching 70. Wow!! It always good to see all the Wye Valley vests out there with runners of a wide range of ability levels competing throughout the field.
On the subject of vests we must remind our runners that it is a Herefordshire Cross Country League rule that ‘club colours must be worn’. The reason for this is to help officials identify runners and ensure accurate placement and scoring. Anyone who has spent any time on a finish line will know what a difficult job this is at the best of times without trying to work out which club a runner is representing. It is also important and only fair to fellow competitors that they know which team you represent particularly in the team events.
Paul Bouston our XC Guru issues repeated reminders about the ‘club vest’ rule and if for any reason you forget to pack a vest, it happens to us all, we can usually rustle up a replacement from the troup.
We are all looking forward to the Presteigne XC where we hope to retain our men’s and women’s team titles but please be aware that it is necessary to wear a club vest.
Thanks for your cooperation and hopefully we will all enjoy the excellent post race refreshments and awards ceremony .
Wye Valley Runners
The page for our charity of the year is now active under the Charities section.
If anyone is planning any fundraising events in aid of the organisation please could you pass the information onto Alan Lewis so he may update the page. You can use the contact form on the Memberships & Contacts page.
Many thanks!
Click to open fileAs some of you may know Matt Taylor is running this year's London Marathon in aid of charity. Throughout the coming months he will be organising and/or participating in various events to hopefully raise £1800 through his fundraising efforts.
First up is a plan to take a group of non-runners and get them to a point where they are able to complete a 5K run. His 'Counch to 5K' programme is semi-reliant on word of mouth, so if anyone knows somebody who has considered entering an event please pass Matt details onto them. The attached flyer provides the necessary details (click the pic on the left).
Click to open fileNext up is his 'Onesie' Quiz Night at the Rowing Club. Tickets will be £10, and the soiree will take place on February 22nd at 7pm. Onesie attire is optional! Once again click the pic (this time on the right) for full details.
As and when his other fundraising events are set in stone they will be posted within the Charities section on the website.
We've had the regular results and close on their heals come the county championship results.
Thanks as usual to Mike Blenkinsop for compiling all the data together.
Click for Frosty 5 series standings
The latest Frosty 5 update is ready, and now the competition starts in earnest.
The competition has reached its sixth event which means those runners who have competed in all six races are now trying to better previous scores to improve their totals. Meanwhile, some of you will be approaching the 5 race qualifying requisit.
With this in mind this update is the first to show the current table for those who have completed 5 or more races.
In the mens event perennial John Pullen (239) currently enjoys over Adam Michmiok (229), who in turn leads Steven Flowers (213) by 16 points. However, the final races could see this turned on its head.
The ladies event has only 3 competitors who, to date, have completed 5 races. In first place is Becki Ansfield (226), closely followed by Lynne Compton (221). Hot on their heals is Jan Edwards (215). The next race will see a few more ladies enter thr fray so expect these standing to change considerably.
Click the pic for the full results.
Click for Monkhall XC resultsI'm sure you've all be waiting anxiously for today's results, so without further ado click the image on the left to download the file.
You can also see a multitude of pictures over on Flickr
Check back tomorrow for the latest Frosty 5 update
Here's one for the calendar...
Worcester AC are putting on an event at Wichenford on May 19th. It's a undulating 6.5 mile race, and it is limited to 150 competitors, so get your entries in early! Click the link below to download the entry form.
Updated with information from Dave Sherwood
We are hosting the next league race which takes part at Monkhall Farm, near Dewsall Court HR2 8DA.
We are hoping for a good turnout from the club to take part in the race but also need a team of marshals to be positioned at various points on the course.
If you are able to help then please arrive by 10.00 AM.
The race starts at 11.00.
Monkhall XC course (click to enlarge)An unexpected title, for sure, but related...
First up.. The map on the left is the course for Sunday's XC. Dave Sherwood will be sending further instructions out tomorrow, and these will be posted as an update.
Secondly.. Sarah Bowring has come up with a great suggestion for any unwanted Xmas pressies. She would like to raffle them for our charity of the year, The Haven. Therefore, if you have any presents you would like to donate please could you bring them to the race on Sunday.
A new collection of photos from New Years Day are now available in the website gallery.
The slideshow highlights a few of those included. Click the slideshow to visit the gallery.
In between the coughing and spluttering over my keyboard I've processed the results from the 10K, and the file below contains the latest update to the Frosty 5 series.
New Years Day 10K (handicap applied) & Frosty 5 standings after 5 races
NB: the latest update includes the points scored by Phil Butler during the Mortimer Forest 10.
Some important lessons learned over the last few days, the most important of which is when all seems lost call Les and Dave.
At 9 am on New Year’s Eve, as I walked the riverside towpath, I was totally oblivious to the drama that was about to unfold. Tow path clear, Belvedere Lane clear, Rugby Club and Rowing Club car parks clear. Met a cheery chap driving a mini road sweeper ‘Yes we will soon clear that mess up’ he said pointing to the pile of riverside debris on the entrance to the footpath. ‘I’ve been working along the river for 20 years and I reckon it’s peaked now, you’ll be okay for tomorrow but you must be crazy to want to run in this’. Well the word of an experienced road sweeper was good enough for me so web site duly updated ‘Race On’ feet up for the rest of the day.
I started to appreciate the folly of my ways after making a few cursory checks of the river web cam link provided by Alan Lewis . A few phone conversations with Les soon settled me down again, as Les said we’ve got a plan B so were sorted. A little later after watching an Idiots Abroad DVD, yes I know how to celebrate New Years Eve, I got my first text from Dave who was attending the New Years Eve party at the Rowing Club ‘River has risen 6 steps since we’ve been here!!’ Somewhat later another text arrived ‘Blokes in waders lighting fireworks’. Already committed to collecting Kirsty from some strangely named night club in High Town at 1.30am I decided to pop around to the Rowing Club on the way back home. ‘But it’s New Years Eve Grandad’ Kirsty complained, undeterred I met with with Dave and Bousty at the Rowing Club and we proceeded to check the river level from various vantage points around the club, scaring a few courting couples in the process. They must have thought that either we were local wierdo’s or looking for a body in the river. The fact that I was wearing a red jacket didn’t help. We convinced ourselves that the river was at or near it’s peak so a few happy New Years later I was on my way back. Couldn’t resist a peek at Belvedere Lane and found it was flooded up to the top gate. Parking plan B went straight out of the window , no Rugby Club parking for us.
Approached the Rowing Club a few hours later with some trepidation. What a relief we could still get into the Rowing Club although the car park was partly under water. Les & I quickly concluded that the water level had peaked after Ian did a top step welly test. Race is still on but plan B quickly became C then D. We quickly agreed location for a new race start and finish, just knew that Duathon route plan would come in useful some day. Bill and Matt worked on a new parking plan and everything went like clockwork.. Well not exactly, it was not quite the well oiled machine of previous years a few little things going awry but in the words of Vic Tarrant ‘Considering the conditions and all the changes you’ve had to make, you couldn’t have put on the race without great teamwork’.
Many many thanks to the veritable army of volunteers that turn up to marshal for race after race sometimes in very trying circumstances. Special thanks to all our course and car parking marshals, to our race registration and results Team, to our finish line team,to our refreshments team, lead and trail bike riders and to our chairman Harry Franklin for yet again providing superb hand made trophies for our race winners.
The vast majority of runners were very pleased that we were able to put on a race despite the conditions and we would very much like to thank them and the cyclists and pedestrians on the Great Western Way cycle path for their understanding of the situation.
Mike
We have now reached our entry limit and are unable to accept any further entries.
Hereford Haven Breast Cancer is the club,s chosen charity of the year for 2013.
We will be raising money at club organised races and events throughout 2013
We will once again be organising a Quiz and Disco Nite to be held at the Rowing Club on Friday 17th May so pencil this date in your diary.
Donations for refreshments at yesterday's race raised £57.09.
The collection at the club Xmas party raised £71.00
Thanks for your generous support.
Wye Valley Runners
Hmm.... an interesting correlation here. As the flood waters rose so did our website traffic. It appears rain is good for business.
A new daily record was set today with over 2500 visits. It'll be interesting to see how this measures up against the day of the Muddy Woody!
