There’s been a feeling of change in the air this week…the weather certainly changed with the mercury returning to more ‘normal’ levels and a series of thundery storms moving through the region during the week. The leaves are falling early and Mortimer Forest had its first wet parkrun for many weeks. One constancy has been the continued high level of activity and running across the club.
The Juniors kicked off the last week of summer running with a session led by Mark Paviour with Tori helping. It was only a small group but they all put in a great effort covering some agility and co-ordination, acceleration and speed over varying distances, and some pace judgement on ‘meet and retreats’.
On Tuesday Sam and Tori led a ‘hilly’ session at Croft Castle using the paths that run up from Fishpool valley to the drive/car park area for a variety of effort/recovery drills finishing with a single effort up Heartbreak Hill.
Wednesday was track day with 400m reps led by Wye Valley and Steph K was the sole Croft representative .
On Thursday Tim led a session focused on long intervals at Croft Castle- with a fast moving thunder storm passing through just when the session would normally start proceedings were delayed for 15mins and the 13 that braved the storm then resumed down in Fishpool Valley.
On Friday evening Eric A. and Saffi R were racing the Mid Cheshire 5k race just outside the village of Kingsley (very close to where I grew up as a child *Tori editor). Run on closed roads (lanes) in the relatively short time it has been running it’s gained a reputation as a very fast course attracting a competitive field of over 1,000 runners from all over the country. There is a Spring Race in May and Summer in August. The first across the line had a blistering time of 13:59. Just over a minute behind was Eric in a PB chip time of 15:13 and at 70th comfortably in the top 100 runners. A fantastic achievement.
And in Eric’s words ‘1242 days and I’ve finally done it. A 15 second pb Coming in i had one goal get under 15.28 no ifs buts or maybes and my God I made good on my promise to myself. It was a perfect course with so many fast runners and perfect for doing the job that I needed to do. Now we are back at 1 day hopefully won’t be that long between PBS but I’ll be happy if that’s the last one in the 5km. “Perfect is just progress you haven’t made yet”
Saffi also had a great run finishing in a chip time of 19:50 and 21st in the Under 21 Female group – a fantastic result in a wide age category.
Saturday is parkrun day and we had runners at 8 different locations. Huw W. (30:25) was flying the flag at Shrewsbury joining 757 other runners. Not far away at Haughmond Hill, Angus K. was notching up a post operation PB (31:48). Kath H was the sole representative at Y Premenad Aberhonddu chalking up 23:58 on her first outting on this course. Mike H. (33:14) was the sole representative at Queenswood. There were four at Hereford with Sam J. running another PB in 15:11. Bryan Davies (49:10) joined a smaller parkrun in Newent. Casper (21:07) and Richard C. (24:41) were further afield at Brandon Country Park, near Thetford Forest. and it was another PB for Casper. There were 8 runners at Mortimer Forest, Paul L and Jamie S. doubled up on volunteer duties with Frank, Karen & Adrian Coffey were volunteering also. Well done everyone.
On Sunday Karen and Adrian Coffey were flying the Club flag at Pershore Plum 10k alongside 287 other runners. It was a first time 10k for Karen. In Karen’s word “Lovely day for it and very nice course. Super pleased with my time of 1.08:32. Adrian less pleased with his 1.06:46 mostly because he doesn’t want me overtaking him. Think I’ve now got the 10K bug!” Well done both of you.
For anyone interested in this run next year I found this description online “The Pershore Plum 10K takes place in Pershore, Worcestershire as part of the town’s popular Plum Festival weekend. Starting at Pershore Leisure Centre, the multi terrain route heads through the town centre, crosses the River Avon and continues along countryside trails and field paths around Wick before returning to Abbey Park. The flat multi terrain course combines quiet roads, riverside paths and off road countryside trails, creating a varied but accessible running experience. The race finishes in the grounds of Abbey Park with Pershore Abbey providing a memorable backdrop to the finish, while the event retains its friendly community atmosphere.”
