Our ladies have found it a tough season in terms of the league, with them finishing in 13th place. Out of a membership of 74 we unfortu-nately only have 19 ladies. From these 14 of them took part in at least one of the LRRL races, en-suring that (except for out own race, when we required marshals etc.), we had a ladies team out and competing. Many thanks to them.

oth the Strider’s senior and veterans teams achieved their season long ambition, by gaining promotion back to Division 1 after a two year ab-

sence.

The vets. were first to secure their return to the top flight, when they were placed second behind Owls at the Hungarton 7, which turned out to be the only Sum-mer race they didn’t win. However they finished the season in style by comfortably winning the last race at Huncote.

The seniors had a much closer tussle on their hands., with Roadhoggs running away with the title, leaving Striders and Beaumont fighting it out for second spot. Following the Winter races, it didn’t look as though they were in with a great chance, with 5 teams ahead of them in the table. However along came the Summer and an improvement in the results, starting with a first win at the Hinckley half.

Going into the last two races we were equal with Beaumont on 136 points, fortunately a two point gap was opened when they achieved a second at Hungarton, and promotion was secured with a win at Hun-cote. This left poor old Beaumont to finish third place in both the seniors and vets. division 2.

Congratulations to both teams and many thanks to everybody who ran, but in particular Mr. Dave Lawrie. At the start of the season he declared that he wanted the men to make it back into the first division. And over the last 8/9 months he has used persuasion, bribery and coercion, to ensure we had as many Striders out competing, as we could possibly get for each race. This resulted in an average turnout of 22 Striders per race for the season, with two race topping over 30 of our members running. Phenomenal! Well done Dave and thanks.

Leicestershire Road Running League.

Strider’s men achieve promotion at the double!

Aug & Sept 2005 Volume 6 Issue 6 Newsletter for Desford Striders Running Club

Thanks to the man at the front Dave Lawrie, this was not an uncommon scene during the 2005 LRRL season. Strider’s out in force!

LRRL

100%

The 2005 season saw 52 Striders run in at least one of the LRRL races. Of these on-ly Clive Coulson and Dave Lawrie ran in every single

race. Many congratulations to them. The will be receiving a

nice little award form the LRRL for their achievement.

THE NEWSTRIDER Page 2

Hungarton 7

Men

LRRL

Time Pos

Steve Humber 43.33 22

Gwyn Morgan 45.16 46

Duncan Percy 46.56 66

Dave Lawrie 48.37 89

Clive Coulson 50.12 113

Ady Cave 50.46 122

Matt Taylor 51.18 127

Carl Rutt 51.31 130

Lee Barber 52.12 142

Dave Playford 52.50 148

Paul Goddard 53.30 156

Francis Breen 55.59 179

Michael Amos 55.59 180

Steph Pandit 56.50 185

Steve Bailey 1.04.53 221

Steve Hibben 1.22.01 238

Ladies

Marie Playford 54.32 21

Liz Cave 1.00.23 48

Gwyneth Reed 1.04.25 64

Eula Lawrie 1.09.19 78

Valda Holmes 1.11.56 80

Huncote 5

Men

LRRL

Time Pos

Nigel Stirk 25.25 3

Steve Humber 29.22 31

Mick Strange 29.35 34

Alistair Richards 29.35 35

Duncan Percy 30.32 52

Gwyn Morgan 30.38 55

Simon Shuttlewood 32.35 101

Dave Lawrie 32.40 105

Mike Percy 33.18 123

Lee Barber 33.42 133

Clive Coulson 33.52 138

Matt Taylor 33.55 139

Ady Cave 34.00 142

Paul Goddard 34.28 155

Carl Rutt 34.35 158

Francis Breen 35.25 176

Michael Amos 37.14 207

Steph Pandit 37.36 211

Phil Lord 37.51 214

Henry Long 38.58 229

Steff Wittering 41.19 241

Richard Greenlees 41.22 242

Jim Wallace 42.00 245

Steve Bailey 42.59 248

Sean Tebbutt 49.54 262

John Greenlees 50.14 263

Steve Hibben 52.14 264

Ladies

Liz Cave 38.14 29

Gwyneth Reed 42.42 61

Valda Holmes 45.18 80

Eula Lawrie 47.21 88

Pam Lord 47.22 89

June Morris 48.30 94

The final League positions

LRRL 2005

Ladies Div

Pts Beaumont 261.5

Huncote 216

Birstall 213

Barrow 208

Nuneaton 190.5

Owls 180

Wreake 170

Hinckley 161.5

Harborough 136

West End 134.5

Roadhoggs 134

Stilton 119

Striders 118

Shepshed 117

Hermitage 100

Charnwood 86

South Derbys. 52

Whetstone 35

LRRL 2005

Men Vets Div. 2

Pts Striders 206

OWLS 182

Beaumont 163

Whetstone 140

Hermitage 126

Charnwood 120

Harborough 106.5

South Derbys. 94.5

Leics. Cori. 78

LRRL 2005

Men Div. 2

Pts Roadhoggs 193

Striders 173

Beaumont 168

Whetstone 138

Charnwood 136

Hermitage 125

Harborough 124

Leics. Cori. 92

South Derbys. 88

Gwyn Morgan shows the sort of form at The West End 8, which brought him a third place in the LRRL’s V50 category.

He was the only Strider to win such an award and is deserving of our praise and congratulations.

You can see Gwyn pick up his award at the LRRL presentation evening on Fri-day October 14th. Details below.

LRRL Presentation Evening. On Friday 14th October 2005 the LRRL are holding their awards presenta-tion evening. We are hoping to take a larger contingent of Striders, particu-larly as the men have the Vets. Division 2 trophy to collect. But also Clive Coulson, Dave Lawrie and Gwyn Morgan will be presented with awards as well.

It’s not often we are in a position to collect awards, so let’s get as many there as possible and make it a night to remember!

The venue is Newfoundpool WMC, tickets are available from Phil Lord (01455 823368) and the cost, which is to be confirmed, is usually around the £5 mark. See you there!

THE NEWSTRIDER Page 3

West End

Pts. Tebbutt, Sean 50 Hibben, Steve 49 Cave, Liz 48 Messenger, Julie 47 Greenlees, John 46 Humber, Caroline 45 Percy, Duncan 44 Strange, Mick 44 Humber, Steve 42 Morgan, Gwyn 42 Cave, Adrian 40 Hobbs, Graham 39 Playford, Marie 38 Shuttlewood, Simon 37 Cole, Andrew 36 Lawrie, Dave 35 Marvin, Emma 34 Houghton, Jim 33 Lawrie, Eula 32 Bailey, Steve 31 Cox, Sue 30 Goddard, Paul 29 Playford, Dave 28 Trotman, Nigel 27 Barber, Lee 26 Wallace, Jim 25 Holmes, Valda 24 Coulson, Clive 23

Swithland

Pts. Hibben, Steve 50 Houghton, Jim 49 Cave, Liz 48 Rutt, Carl 47 Holmes, Valda 46 Goddard, Paul 45 Pandit, Steph 44 Playford, Dave 43 Humber, Steve 42 Bailey, Steve 41 Percy, Duncan 40 Cave, Adrian 39 Lawrie, Dave 38 Playford, Marie 37 Coulson, Clive 36 Tebbutt, Sean 35 Strange, Mick 34 Hobbs, Marie 33 Eckersley, Dawn 32 Trotman, Nigel 31 Shuttlewood, Simon 30 Reed, Gwyneth 29 Cole, Andrew 28 Barber, Lee 27 Breen, Francis 26 Hobbs, Graham 25 Holmes, Andy 24 Taylor, Matt 23 McCartney, Dave 22 Lawrie, Eula 21 Lord, Phil 20

Church Langton

Pts. Humber, Steve 50 Coulson, Clive 49 Lawrie, Dave 48 Richards, Alistair 47 Playford, Marie 46 Morgan, Gwyn 45 Hibben, Steve 44 Cave, Liz 43 Cole, Andrew 42 Taylor, Matt 41 Percy, Duncan 40 Ball, Andy 39 Lawrie, Eula 38 McBean, Richard 37 Hobbs, Marie 36 Playford, Dave 35 Trotman, Nigel 34 Wallace, Jim 33 Cave, Adrian 32 Bailey, Steve 31 Goddard, Paul 30 Shuttlewood, Simon 29 Lord, Pam 28 Hobbs, Graham 27 Breen, Francis 26 Tebbutt, Sean 25

Hungarton

Pts. Hibben, Steve 50 Rutt, Carl 49 Pandit, Steph 48 Playford, Marie 47 Playford, Dave 46 Humber, Steve 45 Goddard, Paul 44 Cave, Adrian 43 Coulson, Clive 42 Lawrie, Dave 41 Taylor, Matt 40 Percy, Duncan 39 Morgan, Gwyn 38 Lawrie, Eula 37 Bailey, Steve 36 Reed, Gwyneth 35 Cave, Liz 34 Breen, Francis 33 Amos, Michael 32 Barber, Lee 31 Ball, Andy 30 Holmes, Valda 29

Huncote

Pts. Hibben, Steve 50 Richards, Alistair 49 Goddard, Paul 48 Greenlees, John 47 Cave, Liz 46 Stirk, Nigel 45 Pandit, Steph 44 Long, Henry 43 Holmes, Valda 42 Breen, Francis 41 Wittering, Steffan 40 Rutt, Carl 39 Cave, Adrian 38 Taylor, Matt 38 Bailey, Steve 36 Shuttlewood, Simon 35 Coulson, Clive 34 Percy, Duncan 34 Humber, Steve 32 Reed, Gwyneth 32 Lawrie, Dave 30 Morris, June 30 Barber, Lee 28 Strange, Mick 27 Lawrie, Eula 26 Wallace, Jim 25 Amos, Michael 24 Morgan, Gwyn 23 Ball, Andy 22 Greenlees, Richard 21 Percy, Mike 20 Tebbutt, Sean 19 Lord, Phil 18 Lord, Pam 17

R.A.C.E.S. Challenge Handicap Trophy

Steve sets early Handicap Trophy pace

Here they are at long last! Sorry for the delay, but as mentioned in the last newsletter, events have conspired against those involved in trying to do the necessary work on the times.

I know it’s going to look a little bit bamboozling, but I have listed the results from the five

summer races included in the handicap series, together with the up-to-date table.

As you will see, the Strider on top at the moment is Steve Hibben, who has picked up three wins from the races run so far.

The two other race winners were Sean Tebbutt at the West End 8 and Steve Humber at the sweltering Church Langton 7.5.

As there are so many races I’m not going to attempt a resume on them all, I’ll leave that to

yourselves to work out from the results.

I would like to thank Francis Breen and Richard McBean for their hard work in allocating the

times.

H o w d o e s

i t w o r k ?

Before turning over, be warned! I’ve attempted to explain the

handicap system overleaf! You may wish to read it if you suffer

from insomnia!!

THE NEWSTRIDER Page 4

Desford Striders R.A.C.E.S. Challenge

Handicap Trophy

Position after 5 races Pts. Hibben, Steve 243 Cave, Liz 219 Humber, Steve 211 Percy, Duncan 197 Goddard, Paul 196 Cave, Adrian 192 Lawrie, Dave 192 Coulson, Clive 184 Bailey, Steve 175 Playford, Marie 168 Lawrie, Eula 154 Playford, Dave 152 Morgan, Gwyn 148 Taylor, Matt 142 Holmes, Valda 141 Pandit, Steph 136 Rutt, Carl 135 Shuttlewood, Simon 131 Tebbutt, Sean 129 Breen, Francis 126 Cole, Andrew 106 Strange, Mick 105 Reed, Gwyneth 96 Richards, Alistair 96 Greenlees, John 93 Trotman, Nigel 92 Ball, Andy 91 Hobbs, Graham 91 Wallace, Jim 83 Houghton, Jim 82 Hobbs, Marie 69 Amos, Michael 56 Messenger, Julie 47 Humber, Caroline 45 Lord, Pam 45 Stirk, Nigel 45 Long, Henry 43 Lord, Phil 38 McBean, Richard 37 Marvin, Emma 34 Eckersley, Dawn 32 Cox, Sue 30 Morris, June 30 Holmes, Andy 24 McCartney, Dave 22 Greenlees, Richard 21 Percy, Mike 20

For those new members who

have not come across the Handi-

cap trophy before, here’s a brief

description of how it works.

1. Each Strider it allocated a time that they are expected to be able to

achieve, for example 8 minutes per mile.

2. This time is set by calculating the average time per mile achieved,

over each of the previous year’s LRRL (2004) road races.

3. They are then checked against people’s performances in the current

(2005) Winter LRRL road races. If there is a serious discrepancy, then the

individuals times is amended.

4. Next each person’s time is deducted from that of the slowest runner

and this is the handicap time given to that person for each mile run in the

Trophy races. Their actual race time is added to this, giving an overall

race time.

R.A.C.E.S. Challenge Handicap Trophy

Fred, the slowest runner runs at 11.00 per

mile.

Sylvia runs at 8.00 milling.

Sylvia’s handicap time per mile is 3.00 minutes.

Fred’s is 0 minutes per mile.

They both run a 5 mile race, Sylvia’s has a steady run and finishes in

39.49.

Fred runs well and finishes in 54.00

The combined times are:

Sylvia - 3.00 x 5 = 15 minutes then add 39.49 = combined time is 54.49.

Fred - 0.00 x 5 = 0 minutes, add 5.00 = combined time of 54.00

In this case Fred has won the race, points are then awarded for each per-

son’s finishing position.

I hope this gives you an inkling of how it works. If you need anymore ex-

planation, please feel free to ask me anytime.

S o , h o w d o e s

i t w o r k ?

* CLUB RUN – FROM SID SUN 16TH OCTOBER *

* CLUB RUN – DATE TO BE ARRANGED *

* TWO CROSS-COUNTRY RACES *

(DATES TO BE CONFIRMED, SHOULD BE FIRST TWO

OF THE SEASON IN NOV/DEC)

Following the success of last year’s

format for the club handicap race, I can confirm that the run on Sun

16th October will be run in the same way. Runners will go off at

staggered times, depending on their handicap time, with the first

runner going off at 1000 hrs.

You may think you aren’t in with a chance if you are

half way down the table, but remember, after the last fixture each runner’s two worst results, are deducted

from their total.

Also not everybody can make every race, so the more you run in, the more chance you have.

For the first time The Striders fielded two teams in this year’s running of the Round Leicester Relay. This was very largely due to the marvellous effort put in by Dave Lawrie in rounding up candidates to run the 13 stages.

We needed 26 people to run the 13 legs for each team, a seemingly impossible task. But with his charming wit and personality (and promise of brown envelopes laden with cash – which failed to materialise!) he succeeded in signing up 25 runners, just one short. This is where we now say a big thank you to Steve Humber, who after running the 4th keg for the men’s team in the morning, had a nap, probably not having taken his running shoes off, and then flew around leg 11 for the mixed team, to ensure we got two complete teams out.

Desford Strider’s Round Leicester Relay Results

Men's Team

Time Position Leg Overall Leg Overall

Mick Strange 45:10 45:10 5 5 Gwyn Morgan 37:45 1:22:55 4 4 Adrian Cave 45:08 2:08:03 19 8 Steve Humber 33:26 2:41:29 3 6 Duncan Percy 41:24 3:22:53 6 5 Simon Shuttlewood 1:02:15 4:25:08 14 7 Dave Lawrie 49:40 5:14:48 12 6 Carl Rutt 50:11 6:04:59 15 7 Paul Goddard 43:41 6:48:40 12 7 Graham Hobbs 1:00:44 7:49:24 13 9 Alistair Richards 51:39 8:41:03 10 9 Lee Barber 53:07 9:34:10 12 9 Clive Coulson 50:13 10:24:23 16 9

Mixed Team

Henry Long 1:00:24 1:00:24 27 27 Steph Pandit 48:24 1:48:48 20 24 Steve Bailey 55:53 2:44:41 29 27 Liz Cave 43:53 3:28:34 21 26 Pam Lord 57:23 4:25:57 30 27 Phil Lord 1:11:48 5:37:45 26 27 Eula Lawrie 1:10:53 6:48:38 30 28 Marie Hobbs 1:03:33 7:52:11 27 29 June Morris 58:39 8:50:50 30 29 John Beadman 1:19:23 10:10:13 30 29 Steve Humber 49:58 11:00:11 5 28 Mike Amos 59:43 11:59:54 25 28 Valda Holmes 1:07:58 13:07:52 30 29 31 teams

Round Leicester Relay Final Table

1 HUNCOTE MEN 9:09:27 2 HARBOROUGH MEN A 9:18:53 3 LEICS CORITANIAN MEN 9:23:11 4 WREAKE MEN A 9:44:46 5 OWLS MEN A 9:55:33 6 HINCKLEY MEN 9:57:08 7 BARROW MIXED A 10:07:45 8 BIRSTALL MIXED 10:10:14 9 DESFORD MEN 10:24:23 10 HUNCOTE MIXED A 10:25:49 11 WEST END MIXED A 10:44:40 12 BEAUMONT MEN 10:47:39 13 WREAKE MEN B 10:49:21 14 BIRSTALL MEN 10:55:53 15 HINCKLEY MIXED A 11:00:25 16 HARBOROUGH MEN B 11:01:50 17 ROADHOGGS MIXED 11:10:02 18 OWLS MEN B 11:47:03 19 BIRSTALL ODDS&SODS 11:50:01 20 HUNCOTE MIXED B 12:00:23 21 BARROW MIXED B 12:02:49 22 BARROW MIXED C 12:04:23 23 WREAKE LADIES 12:12:20 24 HARBOROUGH LADIES 12:17:44 25 WEST END MIXED B 12:25:23 26 OWLS LADIES 12:31:14 27 WREAKE MIXED 12:46:49 28 BEAUMONT LADIES 12:56:32 29 DESFORD MIXED 13:07:52 30 HINCKLEY MIXED B 13:30:19 31 WEST END MIXED C 14:01:15

The day kicked of when most of us were still rolling out of bed, with Mick Strange and Hen-ry Long lining up at 0830 hours, to run the first leg from Mowmacre Hill to Ratcliffe. The weather, whilst warm, was a lot more pleas-ant than the last couple of year’s , when run-ners have been packed off to hospital with heat exhaustion. Our two team’s results are listed along with the final table, which shows the men finishing 9th and the mixed team 29th. Excellent effort by everybody, well done!

THE NEWSTRIDER Page 5

The mass line-up for the start of the 2005 Round Leicester Relay, which saw the Strider’s Mick Strange and Henry long lead off our two teams.

THE NEWSTRIDER Page 6

Hello to Rob Steele and Jan Bi-siker who have joined us since the last Newsletter. We look for-ward to seeing you run in a Strid-ers vest soon.

Many thanks to everybody who ran and also to the supporters who turned out to give a cheer, it was much appreciated.

Round Leicester Relay Leg 6 Slawston to Foxton Round Leicester Relay Leg 6 Slawston to Foxton Round Leicester Relay Leg 6 Slawston to Foxton Round Leicester Relay Leg 6 Slawston to Foxton ---- 7 miles (yeah right)!7 miles (yeah right)!7 miles (yeah right)!7 miles (yeah right)!

Seven miles my Aunt Fanny, it turned out to be 8.6 as measured by someone else's GPS! I only agreed to run at the last minute because Dave Lawrie 'made me an offer I couldn't refuse'! Pam and I ran leg 5 and 6 respectively. Com-paring the two legs on paper I chose the latter because it was only supposed to be marginally longer (7 against 6.6 miles). Still, at least it was relatively flat.

The start. In keeping with previous years, I got to the start area in plenty of time but then totally lost the plot.. I was just chatting to someone saying that "I'll go up to the change over area in a minute, stand in the shade and wait for....." I didn't finish the sentence because Pam came flying round the corner with the baton. "Oh dear (or some-thing like that), I'd better go" I said sprinting up hill 50m to the change over area. I was out of breath before I start-ed!

The rest of the leg went without incident but it was very long and very hot, two of my least favourite factors in a race. Approximately three of the last four miles were along the canal tow path. At one stage I got so hot I nearly jumped in. However, common sense prevailed and I just plodded along. At about 3, 4 and 7 miles I manage to over-take other runners making up 3 places, but by the time I got to the end I was running on empty. Thanks to Karen, Dunc and the boys for cheering me in, it really helped. It also helped that Pam poured the contents of a water bottle over my head and shoulders! How surreal is this: I was standing on the grass verge. soaking wet and exhausted, holding on to the village post box to stop me keeling over, eating a sandwich. A car stopped in the middle of the road and a bloke held out a large envelope. Is this a spot prize I thought? Unfortunately not. "Put this through the post box will you mate" he said driving off into the distance!

By the evening I'd recovered enough to go to the pub for the traditional post-relay meal with a load of other Striders and their families. We had whole room to ourselves in The Gate at Osbaston. The food was good and the service great especially as 32 people descended on them and all ordered at the same time. Whoever choose the pub and booked the room deserves a pint or two................

It’s always great to receive other Strider’s input into your Newsletter. It gives another view point, more tales and I don’t have to write as much of my own drivel.

So it’s with many thanks to Phil Lord for providing his drivel, sorry I mean reminiscences!!!!, from leg 7 of the relay. Over to you Phil………………...

THE NEWSTRIDER Page 6

Leicester Marathon – Sunday 2nd October 2005

The Leicester Marathon and Half Mara-thon organisers, Birstall R.C. are again looking for volunteers to help on the day e.g. to marshal, be at water sta-tions etc. A you can imagine, an event of this scale is a nightmare to organise and relies very much on volunteers from all the clubs. Having been a mar-shal myself in 2003 it felt really good to be part of the event and 'give some-thing back' to running. The organising of the marshals is very professional with section leaders from Birstall and nothing is left to chance.

The race is based as last year, at the Caterpillar site with the course remain-ing the same. With us being the local club, it would be good if we could have plenty of volunteers from those who are not running. If you are available, con-tact Mick Newton (from Birstall R.C.) on 0116 267 5917 or 07850 726064 or e mail him on mick.newton@bt.com

Phil

A big THANK YOU to all

Striders who contributed to-

wards my fundraising for the

Lymphoma Association. As

at 15th Sept. the web site

www.justgiving.com/

lycralads had registered

£13,105.22 (including off-

line donations), a sum which

has exceeded all our expecta-

tions.

Thanks again,

Phil.

Just a quick note to let you know, that for the first time the club will be taking part in the MCAA Road Re-lays at Sutton Park in Birmingham on September 24th.

We will be sending both ladies and men’s teams and hopefully, some-body will do a report for you for next month’s NewStrider.

Once again a large contingent of Strider’s members, family and friends

descended upon Tywyn, for the annual, ‘Let’s get whipped by the

Train Again Race’ (unless of course you’re a whippet called Gwyn Morgan! Who was on his second cup of tea before the steaming

locomotive got home!).

Weather conditions were an improvement on that of the previous two

year’s, although the jokes produced by Dave Lawrie and Peter Hobbs

(son of Graham), around the campfire, showed no improvement whatsoever!

A few of our party were trying the event for the first time and after

they recovered sufficiently, proclaimed it a success! The results are listed on the next page for you to look at. As you will see the 10K is

becoming as popular with our members as the full race. Anyway enough waffle……...here are a few piccies. Possibly a few more next month.

Race The Train 2005 THE NEWSTRIDER Page 7

Sean Tebbutt during the return section of his race the Train de-

John Beadman finds the going warm!

Karen Fairall and Julie Mes-senger smiling, must be at the start of the race

A scenes from the campfire, brilliantly controlled by

‘Lawrie the Log’.

June knocks up an ener-gy supplying post race breakfast!

After the 10K – little did the ladies know what was in store!

Striders Ladies away win in Wales

Congratulations to Liz Cave, Marie Hobbs, Pam Lord, Eula Lawrie and June Morris; the Striders ladies team

who took first place in the annual 10k Race The Train in Tywyn, Wales, on Saturday 20th August.

All who went had a good time, and the annual campsite revelry was something to behold with Dave 'I'm a fire starter' Lawrie in great form keeping the fire roaring until 1.30 am on the Saturday night!

THE NEWSTRIDER Page 8

Striders open their account at Alliance & Leicester

No we're not playing the stock market but we are continuing to win team prizes at races. Congratu-lations to Duncan Percy, Paul Goddard, Steph Pan-dit and Sean Tebbut who collectively made up a Striders vets team and came third overall in the A&L 5k road races on Sunday 4th September.

Each received a bottle of wine. Being finely tuned athletes they probably didn't drink them but gave them away instead! They also won a highly pol-

ished dish that will go into the Striders award cab-inet in SiD.

LRRL Individual Club Standings

Lawrie and Lawrie clean up the veteran’s titles

Female seniors Pts

Liz Cave 25 Caroline Humber 11 Emma Marvin 6

Male seniors Pts

Steve Humber 98 Lee Barber 67 Adrian Cave 65 Matt Taylor 53 Sean Tebbutt 35 Michael Amos 29 Carl Rutt 27 Alistair Richards 26 Nigel Stirk 20 Dave McCartney 6 Andy Richardson 6 Richard Greenlees 2

Female vets Pts

Eula Lawrie 37 Gwyneth Reed 37 Marie Playford 28 Pam Lord 22 Valda Holmes 15 Marie Hobbs 8 Karen Fairall 6 Dawn Eckersley 6 Julie Messenger 5 Sue Cox 4 June Morris 2

For the second year running the two vets. Titles have been won by a husband and wife team. Following on from Phil & Pam Lord’s success in 2004, Dave and Eula Lawrie have won their respective titles.

Going into the last two races Dave had a 10 point lead over Duncan Percy and it would have taken a disaster or not running at all, to allow himself to be over-hauled by him. As it was he did enough to take the title by 6 points, leaving Dun-can to finish in the runner-up spot for the second year running. Third place was taken by Gwyn Morgan, who has come back from illness running a strong as ev-er.

The ladies vets. category was a lot closer when everybody lined up for the last race at Huncote. Eula held a two point advantage over Gwyneth Reed. As it was Eula finished two places behind her challenger, which left them equal on 37 points. Her victory has come from the fact that she ran in 10 of the races, as op-posed to Gwyneth’s 7. I don’t think we will see many narrower winning margins.

The Huncote 5 saw a record 10 senior men run for The Strider’s. Whilst this was excellent news (and long may it continue), it meant that all the scores had to be recalculated. It didn’t however affect the overall result, with Lee Barber finish sec-ond, as he did last year, and Ady Cave taking third place in his first season.

No real change either to the senior ladies table. With Liz being the only senior female to run at the last four races, Caroline and Emma stay in second and third respectively.

Congratulations to this year’s winner’s and indeed to the incredible 52 Strider’s, who took part in at least one of either the winter or summer league races in 2005. This surpasses the previous best of 43 achieved last year. Well done and many thanks to all of those who represented the club.

Male vets Pts

Dave Lawrie 160 Duncan Percy 154 Gwyn Morgan 133 Clive Coulson 125 Simon Shuttlewood 100 Graham Hobbs 95 Paul Goddard 94 Francis Breen 74 Richard McBean 67 Jim Wallace 60 Mick Percy 59 Andrew Cole 58 Steve Bailey 56 Nigel Trotman 55 Mick Strange 51 Dave Playford 41 Steph Pandit 40 John Cooper 30 Steff Wittering 23 Steve Hibben 15 Henry Long 14 Phil Lord 11 Norman Gould 7 Jim Houghton 6 Andy Holmes 6 John Greenlees 5

Race The Train Results 10K Pos

Dave Lawrie 53.14 69 Liz Cave 1.00.37 147 Phil Lord 1.00.37 148 Marie Hobbs 1.10.26 258 Pam Lord 1.12.46 279 Eula Lawrie 1.13.08 282 June Morris 1.13.42 287 360 finishers

14.7 mile

Gwyn Morgan 1.43.34 59 Clive Coulson 1.58.33 220 Graham Hobbs 2.18.17 451 Karen Fairall 2.19.42 462 Julie Messenger 2.25.28 514 John Beadman 2.32.02 558 Steve Bailey 2.42.02 616 Sean Tebbutt 3.07.41 667 678 finishers

MIDLANDS CROSS-

COUNTRY RELAYS

Being run on 8th October at Aston University Playing Fields, Walsall, we need people to run in the event. Each lap is 6K and we are after 3 ladies and 4 men per team.

Interested then let Phil Lord (01455 823668) know at the very latest by Wed. 21st September at the latest.

THE NEWSTRIDER Page 9

Thursday night club running – an announcement

Nothing dramatic. Historically the time set for meeting has been 1830 hrs, to set off by 1845 hrs. This over the recent months/years has slipped to starting the run nearer to 1900 hrs. We have had feedback from a number of members who find this inconvenient, for various reasons, and have requested that we try and get back to the originals times. So if you do come up on Thursdays (and hopefully you will, because the more the merrier), please can you ensure you’re ready to go by 1845 hrs. Many thanks.