Vale Royal AC Runners

A resounding victory for Vale Royal's women,  category prizes for Stuart Doyle and Stevie Stockton, and some useful points scored in the Cheshire GP series made it a successful evening for the club and one enjoyed by a record 250 finishers!

Undoubtedly the biggest news on the night was that Nicky Archer, having decided to run at the Pie & Peas only at the last minute (and clearly wearing unsuitable clothing!), wrapped up the ladies' Cheshire road-racing title with a fifth straight victory in the series. Nicky said farewell to home ground with a convincing win in 29:00 (9th overall) and also led the team (Stevie Stockton (30:02, 14th, and 1st FU20), Kathy Stringer (32:07, 35th) and Rebecca Craigie (32:37, 39th)) to an easy victory on a sultry Wednesday night.

Gemma Todd-Barnett (is this the first race under her new title?!) had another strong run to finish 58th in 33:55, and was followed in by Kate Spilsbury (35:22, 77th) and that ball of energy known as Jayne Lomax (40:13, 145th).

Three of our "lady-friends" from Tattenhall were competing: Liz Crawshaw was first home on 33:22 (47th), Jo Marsden was next in 34:30 (68th), with Sara Atkinson not far behind her (35:13, 75th).

The mens' race was won at canter by Daniel Cliffe of Warrington in 26.31.  Wilmslow fielded another strong team and headed off Vale Royal's challenge - but Stuart Doyle had another great run in the series to finish 6th overall (1st M35) in 28:45. He was followed by 5-mile specialist Mike Harrington (11th, 29:36), who made a rocket start and hung on well to stay ahead of Tom Annable who had another good run to finish 15th in 30:04. Darren Cottier was only a few seconds behind in 30:16 (17th). Pete Maher, improving with every race, had another strong run for 29th place in 31:08 - while the mens' counters were completed by a fast-finishing Toddy who recorded 32:05 for 33rd place.

Finishing rather less quickly and maybe paying for a quick start, Marcus was caught by Toddy and Kathy in the last 300m, finishing 5 seconds behind JT in 36th. Gary Weedall was not far behind for 40th in 32:39, and was followed by two of our U20s, James Stringer (48th, 33:25) and Peter Cox  (49th, 33:26)- separated by one place and one second! Steve Smith (71st, 34:49) was having an excellent run and passed Andy Blair (72nd,  34:53) in the final stages.

Next home was Rob Oliver, making a great debut in the blue and yellow. Rob was 73rd in 34:56 and it is a sure bet that he will soon be moving up the ranks! Sergey Ryabov has been on the comeback trail recently - 35:53 and 88th place is not a fair reflection of his ability when fully fit but it is great to see him racing once again. Completing the men's finishers was Steve Collier (120th/38:18), meaning that all the men finished in the top half of the field of 250.

All in all it was a great night for the club, with many more from the group out on the course marshalling and supporting - and of course the event would not happen at all without a great deal of work from a lot of club members and their families.