Vale Royal AC Runners

After a foul weather night the prospect of running the Gilly Hilly 7.5 mile road race in Gillingham, North Dorset was a daunting prospect on Sunday 2 November but with true stoicism the perennial Vale Royal pairing of Colin Rathbone and Carole Williams were not easily deterred.  Gillingham is a pleasant little town and the route although all on roads does not really describe the narrow minor country lanes, mainly car free, that actually compose the course.

Of the 120 starters the two intrepid Vale Royal athletes entered the fray at 11 am.  Colin in confident mood hoping to reverse the 2^nd position in the O60 category with Geoff Scott of Poole in the 2007 event.  After about half a mile Colin realised his ageing legs were not up to the task and settled for 2^nd again in a time of 54.58, a few seconds slower than last year, 40^th overall.

Now Carole who was running it for the first time had no corrections to make and settled in to a brisk steady pace, afterwards expressing her race long enjoyment, finishing in 87^th position overall, 2^nd O50 (would have been 1^st O55 if such a category had existed as the 1^st O50 was only a juvenile at 51) in a good time of 67.07 (a 7.5 mile PB).

A nice race, well organised by Gillingham Trotters, with nice medals and goody (fruit etc) bag at the finish.  We took a hamper of Marcus’ wonderful food with us and treated ourselves in the evening to a feast of mouth-watering pleasure. 

The increasingly popular race on the outskirts of Macclesfield attracted a record entry of 300, including 11 from Vale Royal. Prior to the race Glyn Evans put on a demonstration of his physical fitness, by completing a 45 minute burpee challenge, as a tribute to one of his long time friends who had recently lost his battle against Cancer. Anyone who has ever done burpees will appreciate what a strenuous exercise it is, and Glyn certainly did his mate (Rory) proud by completing 355!! Less than 30 minutes later he was on the start line, not in his Vale Royal vest but in his 22lb weighted vest! The sweepstake suggested that his finishing time would be between 1hr 12 and 1hr 38!

On a lovely day, the runners were able to take in the fantastic views once they made it to the top of the hill at 3 and half miles! Stuart Doyle once again led home the VR contingent, finishing in an excellent 4^th place in 40.03. Goffy and Darren had a mid race battle up the hill and finally finished in 22^nd and 28^th places respectively in times of 43.32 and 44.17. Just over 2 minutes behind Darren, who was using the race as a warm up for the following days ‘Hellrunner’ at Delamere Forest!, was Toddy. John completed the race in 46.30 to take 43^rd. Gemma followed her dad home, and looked to have 3^rd place in the ladies race secured with only a quarter of a mile to run. However, in the heat of battle, Gemma missed the final turn on to the finishing field and lost a few vital seconds which ultimately cost her a position. Clearly upset at her error Gemma flung the bottle of beer, which was given to all finishers, in the general direction of her dad, and was heard swearing like …… her dad! Gemma’s time was 48.33.

Dave Haines managed to keep up with Gemma going up hill but couldn’t quite stick with her on the way back down. Dave finished 10 seconds behind in 63^rd place. Rob Olliver had both Gemma and Hainesy in his sights for most of the race and finished just over a minute behind them taking 71^st in 49.49. John ‘Click’ Clarke was next home in 51.13, which was good enough for 93^rd. The final 3 Vale Royal finishers all had remarkable runs considering their build ups to the race. Just a week after an extremely tough Snowdon Marathon, Langley proved to be something of a ‘cakewalk’ for Clutty and Braddy! With both looking relaxed throughout the race, Paul managed to break the hour, coming home in 59.37 for 196^th place with Steve recording 61.40 for 212^th place.

Last of the VR finishes, but definitely not least, was the man himself! Glyn crossed the line nearly 10 minutes quicker than the most optimistic prediction! Recording a fantastic time of 62.47 for a very hard earned 220^th.  position!! Well done Glyn lad!!