START FITNESS HARRIER LEAGUE ROUND 3 – TEMPLE PARK SOUTH SHIELDS – 20 FEB 2010

 

Bright and sunny – very light NW wind – conditions soft on the parkland but very muddy on the outback

 

NSP RESULTS:

 

U13 boys  4th team on the day ; 4th overall in the league

7          00:13:54        KELLY, Elliot (Fast pack - 0:12:24)

30        00:15:41        ROBSON, William

35        00:16:39        PRICE, Lewis

 

U15 boys

7          00:13:05        WALLETT, Anthony    F

 

Senior Men - 315 ran; 2nd team on day, currently 2nd team overall in Division 2

10        00:36:36        BRACKEN, Guy (Medium pack - 0:34:06)

34        00:37:25        HEMY (V), Vaughan(V) (Medium pack - 0:34:55)

44        00:37:40        BATY, John(V)

71        00:38:27        ATWELL, Stephen(V)

74        00:38:31        YOUNG, Barry(V)

84        00:38:47        ATKINSON, Peter(V)

110      00:39:26        HEAP, Michael(V)

136      00:40:03        ROBSON, Gary(V) (Medium pack - 0:37:33)

166      00:40:49        QUINN, David

169      00:40:56        HADDON, Martin

180      00:41:17        REES, Philip(V)

198      00:42:15        HUGHES, Paul(V)

223      00:43:40        RICHARDSON, Ian(V)

230      00:44:06        JOHNSON, David(V)

246      00:45:05        SMALL, Mark               

255      00:45:33        WEBB, Andrew(V)

296      00:49:53        ADAMSON, George(V)

 

(Chris Whitehead and Steve Marks were not recorded in the results – but both for certain finished – it is reckoned in the slot between Ian Richardson and Dave Johnson)

 

U15 girls

11        00:15:22        TANNER, Vicki (Fast pack - 0:13:52)

21        00:17:05        GILROY, Hannah

 

U20 women

16        00:38:39        CHHINA, Chelsey

 

Senior women - 112 ran; 6th team on day, currently 5th team overall

16        00:29:04        DANN, Stephanie (Fast pack - 0:26:04)

29        00:29:48        ROBINSON, Lucy (Fast pack - 0:26:48)

31        00:29:52        HALL, Louise

34        00:30:02        DAVISON, Leah(V)

50        00:30:57        NEILSON, Karen(V)

57        00:31:25        CLARKE, Jo

68        00:32:04        ROBINSON, Emma(V)

75        00:32:54        HUGHES, Sophie

79        00:33:07        GILROY, Victoria(V)

81        00:33:15        STEPHENSON, Vicki (Fast pack - 0:30:15)

90        00:34:09        JACKSON, Holly

 

 

The finest day of the year so far and an excellent turn out for our reds.

 

Anyone can do surveys – which is why politicians like them. Research is a lot more serious and is left to just a handful of elite academic institutions – and is carried out by boffins in white lab coats (usually with their names written on the pocket in a green biro).

 

The latest research into running comes from Top Dog researchers at Cambridge University. You can check the link below for the full story:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jan/18/running-brain-memory-cell-growth

 

Basically, it holds that people that run refresh their brain cells and as a result are a lot smarter than those that don’t.

 

The quickest way to find where the top universities are is to find out where the good football teams play. As a bonus for having a rubbish football team – some towns and cities get great universities. Test this. The following towns are useless at football : Oxford , Cambridge , Durham and err Newcastle – but they have good universities

 

On the other hand good football teams like Liverpool, Manchester and Aston Villa never seem to feature on University Challenge.

 

As compensation for having a useless football team – a lot of research grants are given by the government to the top university towns. 

 

The Poly – as both a sporting and academic institute – leaves its research in the hands of a dedicated team under Steve Clark. He is currently preparing a paper on the use of body doubles in races – which will no doubt cause a deal of concern in some quarters as publication date nears.

 

All of this running research leaves several lingering questions : such as,  is it better for  brain cells to be a sprinter than a distance runner? Or put another way, is there a good chance that our sprinters could be smarter than our distance runners? You’ve probably got lots of your own to ask.

 

So starters for ten and back to the racing.

 

Again we began on a high with the U 13 boys team. Another impressive performance from the Three Musketeers – saw them grab 5th place on the day in a field comprising 89 runners (which itself must be some record). As the final match approaches, they lie in 4th place overall – but easily within striking distance of Gosforth for a 3rd place finish. This would be a great achievement and so let’s hope for another fine run on the final day – and maybe we can get some of the other U 13 s fit and back. Overall, Elliot Kelly at 7th was again the best overall NSP male finisher of the day – jointly with Anthony Wallett in the U 15s and both pipping high flying senior GB by 2 places.

 

Elliot and Anthony join a select band of the NSP males – in featuring in 3rd and 5th places respectively in their individual leagues. The others are the Club Capt (in the vets league) and Guy – who should be there ; but isn’t.

 

The seniors saw a huge turnout – so big in fact that it seems the race results did not have space for Chris Whitehead and Steve Marks. All told we fielded 19 runners – a best for the season

 

It was a great atmosphere in the Club tent – which the Club Capt had commandeered as his HQ for the day.  There was a real buzz contributed to by the arrival for the first time of the Club’s chirpy Scouser and blazing 10k runner – Michael Heap.

 

Team orders were issued by the Capt as to who was to finish where and when – which were almost followed to the letter. 

 

The team were told (this time) to support GB to hit the top 10 – which worked. Although the Cpt certainly had a vested interest in getting his sparring partner booted up into the fast pack next time out – freeing the way for the Cap to have the Glory Run at Prudhoe.

 

Again – and this must be another record - for the third time the same 1,2,3. The Capt again boxed, like a French sardine in a tin, between Guy and John Baty. The man from Melton Mowbray, Steve Atwell – led in the band of vets this time– with Peter Atkinson again showing he’s a very handy cross country runner and Michael Heap (bit uneasy for his first run on mud).

 

Gary was third fastest on the day – but languishes in the medium pack until next year. Midfield saw another run out by anti xc runner Phil ‘The Track’ Rees. Dave Quinn again picked up a few more places and just closed ahead of Martin Haddon. Paul Hughes and Ian Richardson have not featured in a XC race for a while as they get over injuries – and joined George Adamson as our recovering vet xc runners. Dave Johnson was also back out from the fells.  With Mark and Chris again turning out for the mid-table tussle.

 

So we’re now 2nd – with Prudhoe to come and 2 points clear of Crook and 4 from Saltwell.

 

There is a smell of danger in all this. Crook is a Walt Disney style mountain kingdom – with snow peaked summits at every compass point and the passes only clear for 3 months of the year; Saltwell are unique in being the only north eastern club to host their own fell race. Their club colours – red and white barber pole stripes – were, by legend, created so that it was easier for search parties to spot them on the fells if their runners should ever unluckily go missing.

 

So it’s gonna be battle – and maybe the option of setting fire to Prudhoe so that Mick Golightly has to bring his big red fire engine to the scene – is not such a bad idea.

 

So how many brain cells did our blue stockings agitate on the mud flats at SS…………

 

Speaking of brain cells, the girls (once again) contributed the vast majority of them for the club on the day. Another good turnout saw 14 red vests adorning the female events. There was an excellent 'first race of the season' performance from one of our U15s, Hannah Gilroy, and Vicki Tanner continued to fight back against her handicap and finished within touching distance of the top ten - excellent work! The U20 race saw Chelsey Chhina put in a solid performance that should support her series of good runs in the junior grand prix that currently have her in 10th position with only one race to go.

 

In the senior ladies event, an eleven-strong throng of physios, doctors, scientists and teachers took the opportunity to refresh yet more neurons and further increase their (already immense) brain power. The Capt offered one valuable gem before the off - take the left-hand-side at the 'water jump' thus avoiding the wooden hurdle at the right. However, the appearance of an orderly queue at this point in the run saw most ignore his advice, with the instinct of potentially capturing a last-minute bargain in the sale perhaps taking over.

 

A familiar 1, 2, 3 scored the team's points - Steph Dann, Lucy Robinson, and Louise Hall - and left us as 6th team on the day. Overall in the league the ladies are now 5th, but only a single point behind Sunderland Strollers and well-clear of Blyth (who are 18 points behind). Hopefully lying one point behind a club which uses the word 'Strollers' in its title should provide sufficient motivation for a spirited performance from our bright belles at Prudhoe.

 

The lynch pins of the field, keeping other teams counters further down the running order, did an excellent and very consistent job. Jo Clarke has shown remarkable improvement since her first outing at Sunderland. Leah Davison and Louise Hall have done well to hold their spot in the rankings over a variety of terrains and conditions. Sophie Hughes gained a few positions on her debut appearance on the town moor and did well not to let the treacherous conditions that day put her off another outing!

 

So where does the debate rest on sprinters v distance runners on the brain cell question? We didn’t have too many sprinters at the race on Saturday – with only Andrew Webb and Paul Hughes – to consider this with.  True to form – both of them engaged their minds and bodies over the final 400 metre haul. For sure both probably left on a high  – having between them  passing more runners in the final straight than the rest of us combined. But are the Richard Bakers, Gina Rutherfords  and Andrew Webbs smart because they sprint or sprint because they’re smart?

 

Normally the Club Capt would provide a good point of reference on these issues – but he’s a bad example these days. The marathon Cpt of old has declined to the middle aged / middle distance Cap with one of his size 9 flat feet in the sprint and the other in the distance camp. Could this be the best combination?  (We don’t mean having size 9 flat feet).

 

This has got to be another area for Steve Clark’s over-worked sport research team to look into.

 

To Prudhoe at the end of March for the final encounter – so things will be a bit quiet on the Harrier League front 'til then. Will the Club Capt then lead the team over the hill to glory – or will he just lead an over the hill team?

 

Meantime engage your brains and get your names down for the Capt’s first relay squads of the year at the Signals Relays this Saturday.