Blackhill Bounders Running Club.

Yes the time is approaching so that you can all now book your holidays / negotiate the time off with partners / get the dog sitter in / start the course of tablets etc AS IT IS THE LONG DISTANCE RELAY 2012.

The dates are Sat 30^th June and Sun 1^st July; for The Inn Way, North York Moors     

(31 Pubs should be “passed”)

This year we are voyaging south to do a walkers route called the Inn Way. It is apparently in parts hilly – though it looked flat on the map, and Richard has kindly both measured the route and worked out elevations. It is a circular course starting and finishing in Helmsley and in an area we have only touched upon in the past. Allegedly it passes 31 pubs which may in itself be a challenge to some.

We intend to leave Consett by 17.00 on the Friday. Brian as our accommodation expert will be looking into overnight options which in the past have included camping, sleeping under a digger bucket, in a warehouse, B & B and of course in the van and cars (every taste is included).

Format:

Min of 2 runners at all times – runner and a carer (but who is which?). Ideally one of the runners will be sighted and able to read a map. As previously, you can self-select what you want to do and how much. (If you don’t and have upset me, I will select your running legs). Last year we had 25 runners and 10 supporters and record numbers staying overnight.

It is not a race but rather the annual Bounders social event that happens to be somewhere else in this case in the North York Moors National Park. You will be ensured of a very different time and plenty of things to talk about afterwards. You are free to run as many legs as you want.  Non-runners – the Bounderettes, also generally come along. Please note that awards will be presented so be careful – you are being observed.

Runners are responsible for their own personal safety but the “team” should run together and one should carry a mobile phone (but check reception). There will be the telephone number cards again and each “team” will have one either to contact base camp – the van, or fellow team members. Tell the van before you set off who has the mobile phone. (Naturally you should change your mobile numbers when you get back!)

There will be a marked route map which will be given to the highlighted team leader – as on the to be provided list, (a copy will be carried in the support van), plus timings and change over points. Given past experiences stick to the marked route – please note whoever is running with Mike his reputation is well founded!

Hand overs to be completed before the next team starts out – the van should be at every change over point. There will be spare drivers to take your car on if you so wish (but be prepared to have all your radio settings changed and any of your CDs played). Let me know how you are travelling and if in the van there is a requirement to provide a tape / cd (check which medium) which must be truly appalling for our musical accompaniment. There will be a 2012 anthem.

Change over points: If arriving independently you must phone before hand to check progress. In any case arrive at least 30mins before the noted time.

The Infamous Overnights:

First night – will be somewhere in the Helmsley area the second somewhere en route probably near Rosedale Abbey.  Please check where we are to meet up for the social – all I know is that it will be somewhere that Stakeout hasn’t been asked to leave from in the past.

Please come prepared for the nights out with your fellow Bounders and note that the running part will be the easiest bit of the weekend.

Other:

There will be a commemorative T-shirt at cost.

All van costs will be paid for by the Club.

Further details / information from Ray on info@rhatourism.co.uk Mobile is 07703 288893 – please note I don’t do texts or Facebook. If in doubt of the sanity and wisdom of the Long Distance please speak to any past runner – or maybe not.

The actual legs will be available in the near future.

Keep the weekend free NOW – you know it makes sense.

By Sara Sarginson:

This was to be a day of firsts for me. My first proper race, my first half marathon and also my first run representing the Bounders. The date seemed to approach fast after Christmas and New Year and I felt a little under-prepared, not having stuck to any kind of proper training schedule. Those nagging doubts started to creep in a few days before the race.

My heart sank when I woke up on Sunday morning and I heard the gale still blowing outside. Of all the weather conditions Mother Nature has to offer, wind is my least favourite. In fact I’ll go so far as to say strong winds scare me. I definitely didn’t feel happy about running a half marathon that morning. Apart from the wind, the weather was bright and dry as we headed for York’s race course. Once there, we soon spotted Erin, Shelagh, Amanda and Lyndsay heading towards the start. After a quick pit-stop (for the umpteenth time that morning) I joined them and the others (Mike S, Mike G, Mark, Dave, Aidan and Ian) on the line. The nerves suddenly disappeared and I felt that if I could just get round the course, I might actually enjoy it.

The gun went off and we shuffled slowly forward towards the start. There was a shout of “C’mon the Bounders” from Derren who was in the crowd lining the road. I fell behind the rest of our little group almost immediately, as I always struggle to get my breathing under control in that first mile or so. The course took us through the village of Bishopthorpe where there was support aplenty and words of encouragement from spectators and marshals. Come the two mile point I was starting to get into my stride; I knew the course ahead was totally flat, so that only left the wind to contend with. Even though it was good to know there’d be no surprise hill around a corner, I was concerned about the monotony of the flatness. After all, with no up-hills, there were no down-hills to look forward to. Around the second mile, I was sad to see poor Erin have to pull out, due to a leg injury that’s plagued her for the last couple of months. The third and fourth miles were on long straight stretches lined with tall hedgerows, thankfully offering a little shelter from the relentless side wind. In places where the hedge broke, the wind almost knocked me clean off my feet. In the fifth mile the hedges completely disappeared and the going got a little tougher for a while. Still, at least it wasn’t raining!

As we entered the loop that would eventually fetch us back round onto the return leg, the wind was suddenly at our backs pushing us along. It felt great not to have to battle against it. This was the moment I realised how good I was feeling and that I was enjoying myself immensely. Approaching the halfway point I swear I saw angel in a hi-viz jacket, handing out jelly babies! I spent the next couple miles or so playing “leapfrog” with a gentleman who turned out to be quite an experienced half marathon runner, having completed 25 Great North Runs and almost as many Brass Monkeys and various other races. We exchanged a few words on the joys of running, before he asked me what time I was looking for. I had really wanted to try and slip in under 2:20 but to be honest I would’ve been happy with anything under 2:30. He told me he was aiming for 2:25 so if I wanted a 2:20 I had every chance of making it if I picked up my pace a little. I was still feeling quite fresh so we exchanged a final “goodbye and good luck” and I left him behind.

The next few miles rolled by surprisingly quickly. The encouraging words from every marshal I passed spurred me on. The wind was pretty much at my back all of the way home and I was having a blast! Back through Bishopthorpe and the twelve mile marker came into sight. My legs were starting to feel heavy now and the little run up and over the flyover felt almost like climbing a mountain. With great relief I finally turned into the race course and could see the finish line. I came down the home straight to hear shouts from the other Bounders and further down, a group of Elvet Striders. There was even a shout of “Where’s the Beagle?” From Durham parkrun’s event director, Alister Robson. Then I heard Derren cheering me over the line. It was all quite emotional.

All in all, I had an absolutely fantastic run and I was pleased with my 2:21, but I know I could’ve pushed a little bit harder. I’m really looking forward to shaving a few minutes off that time next year!

The race was won by Yared Hagus (Wallsend Harriers & AC) in a time of 01:06:42, and the first lady home was Felicity Milton (Woodford Green with Essex Ladies) in a time of 01:17:50. Despite the windy conditions there were many reports of PBs.

Bounders times are as follows

Ian Young 01:37:24
Aidan Hughes 01:44:20
Dave Anderson 01:44:29
Mike Gill 01:50:15
Katherine (Mike S daughter) 01:51:07
Amanda Phillips 02:01:44
Mike Swainson 02:02:34
Lyndsay Sewell 02:05:47
Shelagh Richmond 02:13:26
Mark Phillips 02:14:21
Sara Sarginson 02:21:15
Sam Crampton 02:48:30

Photographs courtesy of Flaming Photography

For anyone who is interested in taking part this year, Sarah Lister won the ladies event in 2010.

Key to table abbreviations:   EOD = Enter on day

ER= Experience required              LK= Local knowledge                      NS= Navigational Skills

PM= Partially Marked                    T= Toilets                                             NT= No Toilets

The ninth running of the North East Counties Athletic Association (NECAA) Fell Running Championship series is to take place during 2012. As in previous years the series will incorporate the North East Hill Running Association (NEHRA) Fell Running Championships for veteran men and women.

This year the series will again consist of seven races of which a competitor’s best four results will count. For LV60+ and MV70+ a competitor’s best three races will count. The results will be calculated on the same basis as the British and English Fell Running Championships, i.e. 1^st =  52 points, 2^nd = 49 points, 3^rd =  48 points and then 50^th onwards = 1 point, in each category (see below).

This year, as has been the custom, races are selected from those that are published in the first edition of the FRA calendar. The races have been selected from Northumberland, Durham and North Yorkshire and distributed over the whole of the region. The selection is intended to give competitors the opportunity to participate in at least four of the required seven races within a reasonable travelling distance of their home. An attempt has been made to select races that also balance the competition in terms of length, ascent, winning times, and distribution throughout the year.

The first race in the series will be the Danby Beacon race on Sunday 12th February.

The competition is open to all those over the age of eighteen who were born in or have been resident for more than one year within the boundaries of the old NECAA, that is, from Whitby, north to Berwick upon Tweed, (Northumberland, Durham, Tyne and Wear, Cleveland and part of the old North Riding of Yorkshire). Age categories and clubs will be those that are declared on the results sheets. It will be assumed that members of clubs from within the region are eligible unless they declare themselves ineligible. Unattached runners and runners from clubs outside the region will be assumed to be ineligible unless they declare otherwise.

Engraved medals will be awarded to qualifying competitors as shown below.

Competition categories are:

NECAA FR Championships

First three Senior Males and Females

NEHRA FR Championships

First three Vet O40 Male and Female

First three Vet O50 Male and Female

First three Vet O60 Male and Female

First three Vet O70 Male and Female

Details about this year’s Blaydon Race have been announced at www.blaydonrace.co.uk; that web site says that entries will open on February 6th - entries will be split between 2000 online entries, and 2000 by post - the online entry form will be made available from www.blaydonrace.co.uk  in 4 stages during the course of February 6th - each stage will allow 500 entries before closing, last year online entries filled in a few hours and entries by post filled in 4 days

The course will be changed this year, because of planned redevelopment at Blaydon Shopping Centre. The Finish will now be on the playing fields at Shibdon Road, a bit further on from the Shopping Centre - the Derwenthaugh Marina section will be reduced in distance so that the total distance will still be around 5.9M, every Finisher will receive a special bottle of proper beer, brewed by Wylam Brewery in Heddon-on-the-Wall, the ”Kiddars” Blaydon Fun Run, for youngsters from local schools, will take place at Blaydon before the Race.

This years race is on a Saturday so lets try and get a good turnout from the club so we can organise transport and drinks, remember get your entry in quick as it does fill up within hours.

Please note times are estimated (based on terrain and changeovers) and always the best thing is to ring one of those out running e.g. Mike Gill or Ray. It is not a race and we will all run together and wait at changeover points.

Please repsond by email what legs you intend to run to Ray info@rhatourism.co.uk and if you intend to go to the pub afterwards to Dave Clarke bigandbouncy@sky.com

25^th Anniversary run

The bounders Anniversary run is taking place on Sunday 19^th February. You can run any leg of the run that you wish, from 0 – 25 miles in total and Ray will be organising that over the next couple of weeks. Please try and get involved in some way, shape or form – even if it is just providing transport and hot drinks at the changeover points.

The most important part of the run is obviously the obligatory pub visit afterwards and the plan at the minute is to finish in the Travellers rest around 2pm, where there will be food provided and drink available.

Could anyone who is going to take part, please let me know via email roughly how far you wish to run, whether you are able to act in a support role and roughly how many sausage rolls you can eat in one session.

NB – vegetarians need to be able to calculate how much sausage roll PASTRY  they can eat in one session.

I am looking for runners to run in my team for the charity ‘stray aid’ which is a dog re-homing charity based in Coxhoe – it also has a website that re-unites Lost dogs with their frantic owners!
I need at least 6 people to make up the team and hopefully raise a few quid in sponsorship. With it being a small charity, we haven’t been able to organise charity places this year so each runner will need to organise a number, but there are usually plenty floating about the week before the race!
Let me know if you are interested!

By Sara Sarginson.

With the festivities of Christmas and New Year over and done with, it was time for the trip back up to Bolt’s Law Fell to strip the lonely tree of it’s decorations. Sunday 8th January was the chosen day and at 8:30am there was a good turnout of Bounders at the assembly point in Edmundbyers – All the usual suspects, plus a few new faces. The weather promised to be a whole lot better than the “Deck the Tree” run, back in December. It turned out to be quite mild and dry, with glorious spells of sunshine – as good as it gets for January.

We set off just as the sun rose above the hills

We followed the same route as before and although the ground was an awful lot wetter than in December, it was a great run. Once again the Beagle was allowed to join us, and we tried out the new canicross kit we got for Christmas.

Brian and Ray waiting for me to catch up

Bolt's Law Fell in the distance

Just as he had on December’s run, Colin Watkins suddenly made an appearance as a speck of blue on the distant horizon. He then proceeded to chase us down, almost like a game of “Fox and Hounds” in reverse. He caught up with us at the foot of the fell and made it to the summit well before the stragglers (namely Murphy and I) in our group. The final climb up to the summit was interesting, with no clear path and a few well concealed, deep boggy patches. A few of us went in up to our knees on more than one occasion. We stopped briefly at the top for the obligatory summit photo, then we made a hasty retreat out of the biting wind.

After the visit to the summit we ran down off the fell and down to the tree. Sadly, there was no-one waiting with mince pies and mulled wine this time. The tree was thoroughly de-decked and the baubles and tinsel safely stowed in a backpack for the return journey. The return route is far more sheltered, making it rather warm work when the sun made a proper appearance. Nevertheless, it sure did feel good to be running with the sun on our backs.

Before we knew it we were back in Edmunbyers; wet, muddy and covered in scratches from gorse bushes – All signs of a good run! Having done this route twice now, I think it’s definitely becoming a firm favourite with Murphy and I.

Take a 3D fly-over of the route!

Bolts Law Fell Run Map

For those of you off roaders out there, the next away Sunday run will be the Champagne Run. This starts at Blanchland and heads over to Slaley Forest doing a loop, there is a little on the road but it is predominantly over fields and fells. The route is approx 12 miles, very scenic and you get to be enlightened as to the name of the run!

Again dress appropriate for the fells and have something warm to change into at the end. There is the option of tea and cake in the tea rooms after the run or the pub!

Entries for the 2012 Northumberland Coastal Run, which takes place on Sunday 22nd July, will open at just after midnight on Saturday 21st January. The 1150 places are expected to be filled by the Sunday so be quick. Entries will be accepted via www.entrylive.com only, and the details re costs are on that site. Please note that there will be NO refunds if you are unable to take part and NO deferrals. Also if you wish to take advantage of the bus from Alnmouth to the start at Beadnell you MUST book this when you enter the race, as there will be no facility to book a place on the bus at a later date.

Best of luck in getting a place in this fabulous race!