Monday 30 May 2011

Cader Idris 28th May 2011

Now you see it now you don't, that seems to be the case each year as Cadir hides in a blanket of cloud then appears in all it's grandeur the next moment.
Rain heralded the arrival of the 'Buckley Blues' but remarkably ceased just prior to the start and was kind enough to stay away for the duration.
Jez led the way with an awe inspiring time of 1:35 and still managing to encourage colleagues on the way up as he descended.
Scores on the doors then,
Jez 1:35:54
Chris 2:00:32
John 2:02:58
Fen 2:15:44
Rob 2:55:22

John took the first v sixty prize in what was a very strong age group field, well done Mr. Morris.
Chris H

Monday 23 May 2011

Carneddau fell race

Bad weather put off the good runners, leaving the coast clear for those who like an excuse to walk in the mist.
5. Simon R, 1:53:44

Sunday 22 May 2011

Llandudno 10

Despite a delay at the start to restore signs blown away by the wind etc, a well organised race, congratulations to Erika for winning lots of prizes and Jez too

Llandudno 10 Results for Buckley

Race Number First Name Surname Gender Gender Position Category Category Position Club Gun Time Overall Position Chip Time Chip Position
126 Jez Brown Male 21 M35+ 3 Buckley Running Club 00:59:45 23 00:59:43 23
941 Erika Robinson Female 4 FOPEN 4 Buckley Running Club 01:01:54 40 01:01:51 40
326 Simon Edwards Male 52 M40+ 12 Buckley Running Club 01:03:49 57 01:03:19 51
77 Stephen Bellis Male 90 M55+ 6 Buckley Running Club 01:08:37 101 01:08:35 102
1225 Dawn Urquart Female 43 F35+ 14 Buckley Running Club 01:17:32 298 01:17:26 311
1224 Fenella Higgins Female 62 F40+ 9 Buckley Running Club 01:19:34 355 01:19:25 369
1223 Chris Higgins Male 292 M55+ 24 Buckley Running Club 01:19:34 357 01:19:26 370
1061 Jack Thomas Male 396 M65+ 4 Buckley Running Club 01:26:14 511 01:25:30 513
903 Susan Anne Ridings Female 170 F50+ 17 Buckley Running Club 01:32:41 666 01:31:29 662
9 Ann Ablett Female 299 F55+ 19 Buckley Running Club 01:52:07 898 01:50:55 898

Thursday 19 May 2011

John runs on duracell batteries !

News of our intrepid Buckley Runner, posted out in Switzerland, is that he's won a 12 hour race in Basle (or Basel).

John Pares covered a mere 127km in the 12 hours, beating his nearest competitor by almost 10km !

Next stop is an ultramarathon - this time a proper run at 215km - in Hungary in June.

Finally it's back home to Llandudno around 23-25 Sept for the Commonwealth 24 hour race. I know he would welcome some support for that one, so let's see if we can get a few of us across to cheer him on.

Dave

Sunday 15 May 2011

Not for the faint-hearted!

I fancied a bit of a run in the hills. Moel Eilio is only 2,382 feet, how tough can that be? Its only 500 feet higher than Moel Famau, and the scenery must be splendid! On Saturday 14 May I met Chris and Paul D at John's house, bags in the boot and off to Llanberis. Register (eventually - after being wrongly directed by the web-site) and got ready, walked/jogged to the start up the hill. Fairly uncomplicated start "Ready, set, go" she shouts, so we go.

Long steady climb for about 40 minutes up to sumit of Eilio, bit cold climbing up in the brisk north-westerly, but OK. Now for the rest of the race. Stupedous views as we make our way along the ridge over Foel Gron, and un-named Moel and Foel Goch before dropping down steeply to the track from Snowdon Ranger Station. Last climb is the long ridge up to Moel Cynghorion, about a mile and 750 feet, the summit of Snowdon less than two miles away covered in cloud but visibility here is good. Left over the stile, "down there" says the marshal. Down there? All I can see is a void. Finally realise it is a slope not sheer drop. You know its steep when the contour lines on the map don't have a gap between them. It flattens out and you scramble across a stream and up a bank to the track. The finish is a mile or so down the track. I say down, but it being Wales there is "up" mixed with the "down". And it's raining by now. But I finished.

Jog back to the car, change, pint in the pub and off to Pete's Eats for sausage, chips and beans and the biggest mug of tea you ever saw and all is well in the world. Chris had finished in 40th, John was 42nd and won the V60, Paul was 55th and I was 72nd.

An excellent run but tough. Luckily the weather was good for running. Did I enjoy the day? Yes. Did I enjoy the run? Surprisingly, yes I did. Would I do it again? Yes. Would I recommend it? Yes, but not to the faint-hearted or if the weather was poor.

Posted by Rob

ps. The statistics. 73 finishers (I wasn't last!) 48 of whom run for Eryri. 15 unattached, 4 Buckley, 2 from Mercia and 1 each from several other clubs.

Friday 13 May 2011

BUCKLEY CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP Events list 2011 -2012

You must complete 1 race from each category to qualify for points
1st place scores 26pts, 2nd 24pts, 3rd 23pts etc ……down to 1 point for 25th
Plus O/40 1pt, O/50 2pts, O/60 3pts.
Every extra race you complete off the list earns you a point
Please note that you must enter the race as a Buckley Runner to qualify


We hope that you will run in a Buckley vest


EVENT MILES DATE


EXTREME


HALF MARATHON (any) MAY 1st –APRIL 1st


MARATHON (any) MAY 1st - APRIL 1st


RAS-YR ARAN 10 (FELL) SAT. 9th JULY


LLETTY 9 (FELL) SAT 20th AUG


RACE THE TRAIN 14 SAT AUG 20th


DASH IN THE DARK 4 JAN & FEB



MULTI TERRAIN


THURSTATON CHALLENGE 6 TUE 10th MAY


WINCLE TROUT 6 SAT 4th JUNE


FRECKLED COW TRAIL 7 SUN 3rd JULY


PUSH UP THE PINCYN 6 SAT 30th JUL


HALLOWEEN HELL RAISER 9 31st OCT



FELL


LLANGYNHAFAL LOOP 4.7 SAT 7th MAY


MOEL-Y-GAMELIN 9.5 SUN 26th JUNE


GREEN GRASS HOME 4.5 WED 27th JULY


GLADSTONE 9 9 SUN 14th AUG


CLWYDIAN HILLS 8.5 SUN 6th NOV



ROAD


CAPENHURST 5 K WED 24th AUG


FLINTSHIRE 10K SEP


GUILDED SUTTON 10K SUN 18th SEP


SPRING 5 5 APRIL 2012


WREXHAM 10 APRIL 2012



BORDER LEAGUE 2011-2012


7 RACES OCT to APRIL



CROSS COUNTRY 2011-2012


N.WALES CROSS COUNTRY LEAGUE OCT 1ST to 4TH JAN


N.WALES CHAMPIONSHIPS JANUARY 28TH 2012



Wednesday 11 May 2011

Thurstaton Multiterrain Challenge 10th May

After a couple of years off the callendar this excellent race is back. It attracted a very competitive field af around 100 runners, mainly from local clubs (i.e Wirral and Merseyside). There were a few Welsh runners there, mostly from Buckley.

The course is 6 miles and is a real "multi terrain". A great mixture made up of: -
0.5 mile on a private road
1.5 miles along the beach (stony or very muddy sand, take your choice)
3/4 mile up a road
3/4 mile around Heswell Dale on tracks with an excellent downhill at the end
Short section of road
1.5 miles of gravel along the Wirral Way (disused railway so its flat)
200 yards on grass

Buckley was well represented by Huw, Dawn, Chris, Fenn, Marcus, Paul S, Paul D, Rob, Jez and John. (don't think I've missed anybody)

Prizes were hard to come by; Jez was 5th, Dawn got 3rd and John got 3rd. It was very competitive.

Rob

Annual Presentation of Awards


The Annual Presentation of Awards will be on the evening of Tuesday 7th June at The Running Hare Ewloe from 8pm onwards.


Food will be available from the bar, they serve meals up to about 9.30. The manager has agreed to fence off an area for us. It is generally fairly quiet on a Tuesday evening so we can set up our own corner. They have made an exception to their usual management practice for us, please come along and support them and your club.


It would be really useful if you could indicate if you are coming, just so I can relax a bit and feel confident that we will have a good turn-out.


We will be there from about 8pm. You can order your own food when you arrive. I envisage doing the presentation sometime after 9.00 we have had a chance to eat. There a lot of awards again. There will be presentations for: -


Border League (top 10 men and 4 ladies) based on the 6 races


Cross Country (top 6 men and 4 ladies) based on 5 races


The club Championship (top 3 men and 3 ladies) plus recognition of everyone who has achieved 100 points.


We will also be awarding the annual "Members Award". This award is made to a club member who has made a significant contribution to the club during the year. It is based on nominations from all the club members. We will collect nominations on the night but I am happy to accept nominations prior to the evening. The nomination must state in 20 words or less why that person deserves the award. The award is judged on merit, not just on numbers.


Many thanks


Rob

Llangynhafal Loop

A bumper turnout from the club at this tough, short race. This year, it was part of the Welsh Champs, North Wales series and Buckley champs - so a demoralisingly strong field was present! John and Chris had their own private battle, while some other members chose this hard race to make their debut in the hills.
9. Jez
11. Simon E
15. Simon R
52. John
53. Chris
63. Mike
67. Dawn
69. Paul D
79. Marcus
82. Fen
95. Margaret

Dinas Bran fell race

A good time had by all at this revived race. Jez came a fine 2nd, Simon R 4th, Simon E 6th, with Pete winning his category easily.

Tuesday 3 May 2011

North Wales 10 mile Championship 2011

This race was two 5 mile laps around the roads of Wrexham Industrial Estate, it was a very hot day, so the risk of dehydration was high. However, Buckley turned out and had good results.

Jez Brown 60:20 (2nd 35)
James Huggins 65:37
Michael Jones 66:08
Dave Boothroyd 68:59 (2nd 45)
Chris Higgins 78:41 (2nd 55)
John Morris 79:19 (1st 65)
Fenella Higgins 83:37 (2nd 40)
Margaret Ludden 87:30
Jack Thomas 89:55 (3rd 65)

Buckley men came 3rd men's team and 3rd Masters team.

Monday 2 May 2011

Red Kite Challenge 2011

Five Buckley Runners made the trek down to mid-Wales for the Red Kite Challenge on Saturday 30th April.

The weather was fine and bright and warm. A stiff easterly breeze made interesting conditions; hot in the sunny sheltered valleys, cooler in the wind, but very dehydrating. The track from the top of the forest section across the open moorland was challenging being uphill and into the headwind. It was an excellent day out, many of us accompanied by family enjoying the friendly atmosphere and the spectacle of the kites feeding.

Paul Stinton had an excellent run finishing 45th in a high class field in 1.38.17.

Its good to see Huw Lewis running well with 54th place in 1.39.53.

Dawn was 73rd overall, collecting FV35 Silver Medal in Welsh Championship in 1.44.58.

Paul Donoghue was struggling in the conditions, much slower than last year but still did a creditable 1.54.04 finishing in 97th place. But he seemed tom recover quickly and was last seen heading for Aberystwyth to stock up with food (and beer I hope)

Rob found it hard going. Partly the conditions but probably more to do with going for a long walk with the dogs on Friday to avoid weddings on television and laying paving slabs at 7.30 the night before. 124th in 2.19.46 meant I missed the red kites being fed. It was much slower than last year, but made better by getting Bronze in MV60 Welsh Championships. Beer and food on the way home completed a good day.

An excellent day out. Even the organisers admit it is tough. Just when you think it should be going down it goes up again. The cause is the massive downhill between 2.5 miles and 4 miles. What goes down must go up!

Posted by Rob

Sunday 1 May 2011

Border League Wrexham, April 27th

Wednesday 27th April at Wrexham was the last race of the season and
presentation night in the club house. It was the usual 4 mile mad dash, on a
perfect night for running, sunny and clear with enough breeze to keep it
fairly cool. It was a big field again, over 280 runners. It was hotly
contested at the front, Dave Mountford on good form, Matt Rose running well
and keen to repeat his win in the Deeside event and Ricky Challinor back
from injury and a training camp in Portugal was the unknown quantity. In the
event Matt couldn't keep up with Dave who had a clear lead, but held off
Ricky to take second.

The results were available about an hour after the finish thanks to
excellent work by Rup. Buckley men held onto third in Division One. The
ladies performed well on the night but having struggled since picking up
penalty points when we only had two runners in Race One were unable to avoid
relegation to Division Two.


It was great to see Clive West and Chris Davies at Wrexham. The club
collected a good range of awards from good, consistent performances
throughout the season. Matt was second male overall, Erika second lady
overall. All the finish places on the night are shown below (1st column),
along with the awards (last column).

2nd Matthew Rose, 2nd SM
27th Jez Brown, 5th SM
40th Erika Robinson, 1st SL
57th Simon Edwards,
63rd Mike Jones,
70th Eric Campbell, 2nd V45
74th John Bradshaw,
79th Jeff Gifford, 7th V45
85th Shaun Hooson,
89th David Boothroyd, 8th V45
101st Steve Bellis, 3rd V55
114th Michael Ludden,
119th Paul Stinton,
120th Daniel Hollingworth, SM
124th Marcus Reid, 10th V45
129th Chris Higgins,
181st John Morris, 2nd V65
202nd Fenella Higgins, 2nd LV40
217th Jane Lindley,
218th Margaret Ludden, 4th LV45
230th Leighton Williams,
254th Rob Mackey, 4th V60
255th Jack Thomas,
DNF Les Coathup 2nd MV55

pp Rob