Take an hour or so to attend the club Prizegiving this Saturday 29 th.A bit of preparation goes into putting this on and it's your chance to congratulate our champions and achievers , plus a Golden Mile relay to sharpen your speed for the upcoming track season.
"Don't forget our end of year run and Prize Giving coming up on Saturday 29 September. We hope you can join us to celebrate the wonderful season that we've enjoyed. There are lots of awards to present for attendance, for improvement, for training and of course for our Club Champions. We also have our Golden km Mixed Age Relay and the highly prized CHAV Crown Jewels trophy will be presented to the fastest team. "
When: Meet at 1:45pm for relay team selection with race start 2:30pmDate: Sat 29th SeptWhere: Russley School, Cutts Road
Afternoon Tea: 3:00pm (please bring eats )Prize Giving: 3:30pm
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Takahe /Akaroa relay Saturday 22 Sept .As club Selector and Race Secretary I find Akaroa the most difficult one to organise and bring to reality . This year was slightly less so because we only had three 'adult' teams ; the two Junior teams being managed by Craig . The mixture of available runners made the choice of team types difficult : we had only two Senior runners and two Vet women in the pool and I wanted to give them a meaningful run . There were enough for a reasonable M50 team ,but a read of the club Constitution clearly demanded the priority be to field the best Senior A team. So I put six vets and Nick and Perrin together and they were duly graded 'B' . I had eight runners left and they all happened to be veterans (including Jane and Robyn ) . Perfect , they were graded 'B' too . The third team was needed to carry Bob Perry through his signature event .This team didn't materialise until after the entry deadline , but with a bit of string-pulling they toed the line on the day .Customarily we have been able to surround Bob with reasonably good runners . This year his teammates were about his own calibre, so Bob had to take on one of the longest laps in the 6 lap social event .Bob ran his lap (4 ) faster than last year and completed his 55 th consecutive Akaroa relay with the club.Gosh he must have been young when he started. Thanks to Ian Brownie, Rob Holland , Andrea Ward , Samantha Neighbours and Margot Gibson (reserve) for offering to run with Bob.
The weather was very good all day - sunny and coolish, with moderate breezes and a bit of cloud from Cooptown onwards. CHCH Avon had a very good day results-wise :
1- we retook the COTY trophy
2- we won the Sen Men B grade race
3- we won the Vet Men B grade race
4 - we took 1st and 2nd places in the Junior relay.
5 - two teams got beer spot prizes.
Not many stories from the SMens team . Perrin ran a good Lap 1 then went back to CHCH . John Gamblin ran a solid Lap 4 for best V50 time even though he's training majorly on the bike nowadays. Andrew Reese Jones tore through the long Lap 5 and bettered his 2011 time .Richard Seigne took the glory Lap 8 and recorded 2nd best Vet time of the day . Anthony Rogal survived his lap 3 off recent injury .They won the grade by 8 minutes .
The Junior 'Blue' team won their relay by 15 minutes ! The Junior 'Orange' team had two young ladies on board . They edged out the third-placed team courtesy of it's final runner having breakfast retention issues caused by Natalie D pushing him faster than he could handle . All's fair in relay running.The Blue team lowered the record by 12 minutes and the Orange team got within four mins of the old record .
The Vet Mens B team won the grade and we had a great day. Everything went right . B grade Vet teams can include women so I had no hesitation selecting our two star females . Paul Norton got a 12 seater van 'cheap as ' and drove and entertained us all day as well as baking chocolate muffins for the runners. Dave Tyrrell got us underway at 8.30 am on the tricky Lap 1 .He had heard the advice not to overdo the downhill to Govs Bay, but forgot it slightly , and paid the price of losing a few of his hard won placings in the final 10 mins . Here is Dave's own account :
"I was absolutely knackered/buggered/exhausted/deflated/stuffed
I felt good until I passed the Governer’s Bay Pub...it did look awfully tempting to just finish there in the bar. My legs started to feel like they were splaying out at 90 deg not straight ahead. That final hill into Allandale really killed me.
When I hopped in the car to head away I still didn’t feel in control of my legs and depressing the clutch pedal was an effort.
The rest of the day at work involved many small steps as opposed to the normal stride but managed to survive.
I am still suffering today so it will be a recovery day.
I am keen to get my revenge next year !!! "
.JPG)
Chris assured us he could handle the tough 10.4 km Lap 2 and he did - without a single walk up Gebbies . Chris also took the photos that appear here .
Robyn wanted Lap 3 .She had a good run with the top VW placing , and moved us through the field a bit. She also recorded a 10 km pb (44.30)
Paul put in a big run on the so called 'easy ' Lap 4 .With a head wind and little running in his legs he slogged it out and held off John Gamblin from the CHA SM team, who had started 30 mins behind us. We gave John major stick as he passed , by playing a recorded slogan through Paul's megaphone : "GAM-BLIN, GAM-BLIN , GAM-BLIN " !! it blared . John saw the funny side of it , but didn't slow down.
Jane struck the only midges of the day on Lap 5 .The sun was also at it's warmest here and she took water . Andrew R/J from the SM team passed her on the way to their team victory. Jane cruised home for fastest VW50.
John Palmer used his trademark regular patter all the way to the Hilltop, and despite not getting as much training as he'd have wanted, managed a good V50 run as a 60 year old.
.JPG)
-------John on the gruelling uphill Lap 7.----------------
Me on Lap 7 went ok, but I wasnt fit and there were many places I wished I had been. I like Lap 7 because there are no spectators to see you suffering (or walking ) .I feel I have to assign myself this lap to avoid allegations of using office to procure easy laps .Lap 7 is the most damaging lap (closely followed by lap 1)
Denis was waiting to take the baton off me at Devauchelle .He had indicated that he didn't mind what we yelled out to him on the road . Denis had been a bit mischievous to us during the day eg he had told Robyn that the first 3 km of her lap was slightly downhill whereas it was slightly uphill ; and he had given Jane a water bottle on her lap supposedly filled from Lake Forsythe. He had also been telling us to run hard for "the Team" all day , so Paul recorded a megaphone message saying "..FOR THE TEAM DENIS .. FOR THE TEAM DENIS" and it got blared to him at every stop .He can blame that for his rather modest time ( though he'd claim it was no training for two weeks).
.JPG)
At the prizegiving we weren't sure that we'd won until the Port Hills team got regraded ( because they had had a Junior Woman on their first lap) .So it was eight medals and a cup for us . A fair while since I've been in a medal winning team.... Normally there is a bit of a lull in the spirits between the end of the prizegiving and driving home , but we just crapped on the whole way back in the van (possibly fuelled by modest sampling of the spotprize beverages ) .
Iain will be rue-ing his luck that saw him unavailable to run. Should also acknowledge our friends in the Aorangi team whom we narrowly edged into 2nd place (nice try guys !)
Thanks to John Ingles' marshalling team who ably controlled the busy Hilltop intersection.It was great to see Richie Merrett,Vic , Sandie and Andrea all 'manning' intersections up there .Andrea had already done a lap for Bob Perry's social team earlier in the day . Andrew Perkins spent part of his 52 nd birthday helping too.
Thanks to the organisers who would have been pleased with 36 main teams and 12 six lap teams. Great also to have the event sanctioned so we could enter five unregistered runners .
The only downside of the day was learning that Craig , who had run his first lap 7 , got bad blisters and needed medical treatment . My apologies for that Craig - but you ran a good time, and the medal will compensate . I had to use the elevators at work today for downstairs journeys : )
Trainspotters might have noticed that Paul Scahaapveldt came within 11 secs of Vic Sykes's (CHA ) longstanding Lap 1 VM 50 record .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anyone wondering where Laura and Emily Wood have been recently ? Laura was third in an ITU medium course triathlon in Tahiti . She was only 2 minutes behind the winner and was described as in the 'elite ' rank. Emily has been concentrating on her biking all year and just claimed first place in a national U 20 hillclimbing championship . Running underlies these achievements.
Well done .
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is a piece of brazen self promotion from a Port Hills Club member (Peter Bayliss ) who has
issued an invite to long distance runners .Pete is a good mate so we are happy to print his message :
" Sunday 28 Oct . Chucka's Run is an event that I organise for people that are training for the Kepler or other long off road events or for those that like a good day out on the tracks. I run from the Hilltop Tavern and go along the top tracks up to the top of Mount Herbert and have two directions from here. The short course goes down to Diamond Harbour which is about 28km and the bus will be waiting to take you to Teddington Tavern. The long course goes around the back of Mount Bradley and then along to the Packhorse Hut where you follow the good track down to Gebbies Pass and down the road to Teddinton Tavern and this is about 35km.
At this point we have a drink and something to eat before heading back. We meet at Hansen Park for a departure time of 0800 and an arrival time of 1700 and we make one stop at Little River on the way out. The cost is $25 and I can be contacted by these ways: Home 9808395, Cellphone 0273587153, or by E-Mail chucka@clear.net.nz
Peter Bayliss"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
" Hi all
I would really appreciate if you could forward this email to all clubs in your respective centres.
Last night I had the priviledge of running with Victoria Taylor as she completed her run down the North Island Victoria
This puts her two days behind her intended timeframe, however Victoria
Today Victoria hit the South Island, and has run from Picton to Blenheim after running on a treadmill while crossing the Cook Strait on a ferry.
Tomorrow she continues her run down the South Island via SH1.
Any support your members can give to Victoria
As you can expect after running the North Island, Victoria is running approx. 80km per day by maintaining a gentle pace (of around 7m30s km pace) so this is a pace any runner can deal with. Estimated updates of Victoria ’s schedule means she will probably be going through Kaikoura on Friday and arriving around Christchurch
For updates on Victoria
You can support Victoria
Regards
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do we run to eat , or eat to run ?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Answers to last week's quiz :
It's Dan Reese aged about 18 in 1973 , running lap 5 in the Greymouth two person relay.
Some say the other UNI runner is Simon Young .Can't make out the two NB (?) chaps in the background
This week's quiz : Who is the athlete on the cover of this 1980's running mag ?
1- Dan Reese
2- Rod Dixon
2- Rod Dixon
3- Mark Spitz
* I haven't sought Dan's consent to use to use these images, but they were on his FaceBook page and all publicity is good publicity.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nick Haley
No comments:
Post a Comment