Distance League Newsletter 152 December 2010

WAKEFIELD DISTANCE RUNNING LEAGUE

NEWSLETTER 17th December 2010

Ron Needham 01924 829495 email: rodillianrunners@yahoo.co.uk

A Very Merry Christmas Handicaps

We had one of the best Christmas Handicaps events in memory last night, with 13 runners, most in fancy dress, a wonderful cake competition, our usual sumptuous buffet, and a good night of fun and frivolity in the bar afterwards.

In the running, the handicap system produced a new winner in Claire Peckett, although Rodillian Runners’ 2010 Champion Steven Pilling nearly made up Claire’s 5 and a half minutes start, being only 5 seconds behind at the close. Steven actually took nearly 2 minutes off the time her did in finishing 6^th last year. Tony White was the fastest man after handicap allowances have been removed, completing the course in 20-31, whilst a very in-form Helen Mann took maximum league points in the ladies’ event with 26-13.

The fancy dress competition produced some very imaginative outfits, with a ghost, a vicar, a Cadbury’s Milk Tray man, an elf and assorted Santas and angels running around Stanley. Richard deserves a special mention, if only because he clutched a rather large box of Milk Tray around the entire course (not easy in the sub-zero temperatures), but it was Darren’s vicar that took the judges’ eyes for originality and fun, even if he was initially mistakenly identified as Hitler (it was the moustache that did it Darren).

The cake competition was very exciting as well as being scrumptious, with seven entries from ladies and 3 from men. Points were awarded by our judging panel for taste and presentation and Alan tells me it was one of the hardest jobs I have ever talked him into doing - he said it was sheer hell having to eat so much cake in such a short space of time, especially with such a lot of chocolate being used, even harder than sorting out finish positions for the hundreds of excitable under 11s that finished within 4 or 5 minutes of each other at one of the Jane Tomlinson races last year, harder even than getting to Roundhay Park at 4-30 on a frozen February morning to start working on the National Cross Country Championships. We feel very sorry for putting you through such an arduous task Alan. Our other judge was Tony’s lady wife Wendy - it was a very close thing in the end, but they both performed admirably in sorting out the final winners from such a very high standard, with Louise taking the ladies’ prize for her chocolate and butter cream bonfire (complete with sparkler) and Richard taking the men’s for his mint and chocolate Rodillian Runners’ vest. It was great to meet Wendy, by the way and we hope she’ll become a regular visitor to cheer on Tony (my first words to her were actually “pleased to meet you, you’re judging the cake competition”). It was also good to see one of our founder members Val Anderson making a visit to the event.

The food was plentiful and sumptuous, as it always is (helped, of course, by the wonderful cake baking). Our thanks, as always to Sue and to Dot for the preparations.

League positions are now starting to sort themselves out as we’re 40% through the year, with Tony adding to his perfect season to take him 6 points ahead of Steven, whilst Louise is now 9 points in the lead in the Ladies’ event.

VETS

Please let me know if you are a vet and haven’t been included in the Vets tables. As in the last few years, we shall be running a combined vets league - ladies will also be given vets points but depending on where they finish amongst other lady vets, as will men, and the tables combined (so, if you finish first lady vet, you get 10 points, and if you finish first man vet, you get 10 points - all go in same table and winner will be one with most points, male or female). For our purposes, male vets start at 40, female at 35.

Next Event

The next event will be on 13^th January and will be from the Bay Horse PH on the old Bradford Road about a mile from Newton Bar (you may remember we went there in March last year, had an excellent, well lit run, were made very welcome and they have Old Peculiar on tap). It will be two laps on road from Wrenthorpe Park, approximately 2.75 miles.

Result of 4th Meeting

Approximately 3 miles, Christmas Handicaps on road from Stanley Rodillian Rugby Club.

Men

		Actual Time	H/cap Time	2009	2008	2007	2006
1	Tony White	20-31	28-31	19-25	20-02	19-17	19-14
2	Steven Pilling	21-32	27-02	23-23
3	John McCarthy	21-44	29-14
4	Gerard Coyle	22-41	27-41	23-36
5	Richard Mann	23-31	28-01	22-30	24-19
6	Darren Duckworth	27-09	27-39
7	Stuart Anderson	29-20	29-20	27-32

Women

1	Helen Mann	26-13	27-43	26-11	26-59
2	Claire Peckett	26-57	26-57	26-52
3	Sharon Richman	27-57	27-57
4	Charlotte Sommerville	28-18	28-18
5	Louise Walker	28-21	28-51	25-56	29-21	27-20
6	Debbie Mann	37-01	37-01	39-25

Tables

LADIES’ LEAGUE TABLE

1	Louise Walker	34
2	Sharon Richman	25
3	Claire Peckett	23
4	Helen Mann	22
5	Charlotte Sommerville	21
6=	Dot Hand	18
6=	Gill Day	18
8	Sue Needham	15
9	Debbie Mann	13
10	Jo Hodgson	06

MEN’S LEAGUE TABLE

1	Tony White	40
2	Steven Pilling	34
3	Gerard Coyle	28
4	John McCarthy	26
5	Richard Mann	20
6	Dave Shaw	17
7	Darren Duckworth	16
8	Stuart Anderson	11
9	Mark Hannett	10
10	Alan Stainer	04

VET’S LEAGUE TABLE

1	Tony White	40
2	Louise Walker	34
3	Steven Pilling	34
4	Gerard Coyle	28
5	John McCarthy	26
6	Sharon Richman	25
7	Claire Peckett	23
8	Helen Mann	22
9	Charlotte Sommerville	21
10	Richard Mann	20
11=	Dot Hand	18
11=	Gill Day	18
13	Dave Shaw	17
14	Sue Needham	15
15	Stuart Anderson	13
16	Mark Hannett	10
17=	Jo Hodgson	06
17=	Alan Stainer	06

Christmas Cheer for fell runners

Seeing as it’s Christmas, a couple of fell-runner jokey-things doing the rounds:

“Fell runners are unarguably the fittest people in the world. They survive on a diet of sharp stones and dew. But should they happen to land on a sheep while abseiling without a rope down the north face of Scafell Pike, they will usually eat it. The brain is considered a rare delicacy - understandably, for brains are indeed rare among fell runners.”

Two 90 year old men, Mike and Joe, have been friends all of their lives.

When it's clear that Joe is dying, Mike visits him every day. One day Mike says, "Joe, we both loved fell running all our lives, and we ran in fell races together for so many years. Please do me one favour, when you get to Heaven, somehow you must let me know if there's fell running there."

Joe looks up at Mike from his death bed," Mike, you've been my best friend for many years. If it's at all possible, I'll do this favour for you.

Shortly after that, Joe passes on.

At midnight a couple of nights later, Mike is awakened from a sound sleep by a blinding flash of white light and a voice calling out to him, "Mike--Mike."

"Who is it? asks Mike sitting up suddenly. "Who is it?"

"Mike--it's me, Joe."

"You're not Joe. Joe is dead." (Note - if you’re Mark Hannett, that would be “Joe is did”)

"I'm telling you, it's me, Joe," insists the voice."

"Joe! Where are you?"

"In heaven", replies Joe. "I have some really good news and a little bad news."

"Tell me the good news first," says Mike.

"The good news," Joe says," is that there's fell running in heaven. Better yet, all of our old friends who died before us are here, too. Better than that, we're all young again and running at our best. Better still, it's always spring time and it never rains or snows. The mountains are all glorious, the tracks are wide but challenging, it’s never misty and you never get lost, the water in the streams is delicious, the officials don’t wear blazers, there’s lots of prizes, there’s always a ceilidh after the race, with good pies and free beer. There’s always hot showers. And best of all, we can run in a fell race every Saturday and we never get tired or injured."

That's fantastic," says Mike. "It's beyond my wildest dreams! So what's the bad news?

"There’s a race this Saturday and I’ve seen the start list. You're in it."

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL
Rodillian Runners and the Distance League

Rodillian Runners is a running club affiliated to NoEAA and UK Athletics. Our headquarters are Stanley Rodillian Rugby Club and we meet there on Tuesday nights for training runs. Most everyone is very welcome to run with us on a Tuesday night but we have to be aware that we are using the rugby club premises and facilities and to be fair to our hosts. For that reason, we ask that all who use the facility on Tuesday training nights either join us as first or second claim members (which in effect means joining the rugby club and gaining all the benefits of membership) or pay a £1-50 per session training fee (this is still 50p cheaper than other clubs in the area). First or second claim membership costs £32 per year. For this, members get full membership of the rugby club and are able to use the facilities free and also to book the clubhouse for private parties for free. First claim members are also able to vote at Rodillian Runners’ meetings and to compete in open events under the banner of “Rodillian Runners.” First and second claim members will also be able to have other advantages such as making use of club places in the London Marathon.

The distance league was started to provide a fun and not too serious monthly run out for members and friends of Rodillian Runners and a social occasion afterwards. There is a general open invitation for anyone in the area to take part – the more the merrier. The Committee of Rodillian runners, however, reserves the right at any time to decide who may and may not participate.

Next Event

Next Event

13th January

Approximately 2.75 miles, two laps on road

Bay Horse, Bradford Road

7-30 Start

Entry - £2

Future Events

To give everyone the opportunity to plan, we’ve set the dates for the next few events.

These will be: 13^th January, 10^th February, 10^th March.

If anyone is in touch with anyone else planning an event please let them know our dates, to avoid clashes.

Getting the newsletter

Newsletters are distributed by email (they seem to get round everyone). However, if you aren’t on email and would like me to print one for you, please just let me know. Each month, by the way, one or two emails are returned because of address problems - please remember to let me know, if you change your email address. If you don’t want to receive the newsletter, please let me know and I’ll remove you from the list.