Preston
Harriers Fell Section
:- fellblog
Gt
Hill Handicap Spring
2007 May
22nd Report by Brian Dearnaley
The drama that often associates itself with this
event started early with Steve Jackson parking his car in a rather large ditch.
Not everyone’s first choice but, hey, it’s a free world. It looked quite
spectacular and I hope the moment was captured on film. Question: How many fell
runners does it take to get a car out of a ditch? Answer at the end of the
article.
The
car in question........................ Brian Dearnaley & Debutant M Birbeck
are the first runners away
Twenty-three runners turned out, the fact that 24
names appear in the results is down to the fact that Joe Howard submitted a
postal application, which was accepted by the organiser and the officials on the
night. Joe will do almost anything to record a victory over me. Of the 23
starters 3 were debutants and all feature highly in the results due to generous
handicaps.
George
is surprised by Robyn's reliant start. George retired hurt soon after this
picture. Eddy
& Debutant M Holmes
Last
away is Gordon.
Debutants
M Birbeck & Greg Altham finishing fast. Chris Nash flies in.
The gang await the
leader.......................... home at last, almost dark, is Brian.
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers
Talking of handicaps I slipped up a bit with Matt
Nash. With a PB of 1.21.33 he should have had a 5-minute handicap like his Dad.
However, news that he was running well caused me to up this to 12 minutes but
this was clearly not enough. Matt won the race by 5 minutes taking an
astonishing 18 minutes of his PB. Brother Chris knocked 5 minutes of his PB
whilst the best Mum and Dad could do was a reduction of 2 & 3 minutes
respectively. Whilst bettering her PB mum (Karen) also broke the ladies course
record (which she held). The record now stands at 1.03.49.
Conditions were good on the night and it was
obvious that all the runners had trained well and “peaked” to perfection.
Fourteen ran faster than their last outing collecting a few PBs along the way.
Two ran similar times whilst 4 were slower. Fastest on the night was John
Griffiths running close to the PB he achieved when he was now’t but a lad.
Chris receives the
prestigious award from 65 year old Brian Dearnaley
After all the excitement it was off to the pub
where moments of glory were relived and Chris Nash was presented with the
prestigious Great Hill Fellrunner of the Year award for his performances last
year. Congratulations Chris. This was followed by the only downside of the night
-- the pub failed to provide food despite Simmy ordering in advance which meant
that many of us went home earlier than we might otherwise have done.
The only food available!
Just for the record this was the 18th
Gt. Hill Handicap. The event was first run in September 1998 and won by Eddie
Stewart/Alan Griffiths who dead heated in a time of 1.10.25. Evidence Eddie, if
needed, that you are getting slower!! My
report on that event started “This event was conceived as a light hearted end
to the Tuesday night fell training session”. I never thought it would still be
going 10 years later. Thirteen ran that night, 10 of which are still turning
out.
Finally, a word of thanks to our officials
Mess’rs Taylor & Shepherd for controlling the night and producing the
results which meant that I could have a run and sleep over on Wednesday morning.
Message from Eileen……he has a sleep over every morning!!!!
Answer to “How many fellrunners……” By my
count it was 14. Most were looking, some were active. A passing motorist who
also had a towrope saved the situation.
More
pictures from Steve Jackson below
