The Countryside Tour of Horwich and Rivington 19^th – 24^th June 2007

Scenery: 8

Atmosphere: 10 - A smaller version of the defunct Tour of Tameside and a not to be missed event.

Organisation: 10 - Superb. There was a bit of controversy surrounding the prize giving whereby, if a V45 beats a V40, the V45 gets the V40 prize. A bit unusual, but I understand that’s the way they do things in Bolton!

Value: 10 - £20 odd to enter for 5 races over 6 days. Mementos include sweatshirt, T-shirt, whisky glass and spot prizes, (including £2 drinks vouchers on the Friday) etc.

Beginner Friendly: 10 - distances from 5k to 6 miles and no offence to Dawn Lock, but Dawn did the Fell Race and wasn’t disgraced, (second in her age category). Pauline Weller got a P.B. on the fifth race (a 5K) of the week.

Do it again: Definitely. Don’t know why I haven’t run it before. I’ve done two individual races before, (Tuesday’s 6 miler and Wednesday’s 5 mile road race but never the full Tour).

After two Lakeland Trail Races, the Windermere Marathon, the Interclubs and Freck Half, I was jaded and needed a rest. If anyone had expressed an interest in taking my number, they could have had it!! Am I glad I didn’t get rid of it!

The SIS Lever Park Run is the first race on Tuesday 19^th June from the Crown Hotel, Chorley New Road, Horwich. It is roughly 6k on paths and trails. 121 of us lined up at the start.

This race confirmed George’s return to form – although he was walking on the hills, he still finished well in 36^th position, only 31 seconds behind Peter Cruse. I have done this race before and remembered to bring my midge spray! (I’m not surprised it puts the midges off - it stinks! - especially when mingled with my sweat!) Once down off the fell, I thought the race was over, but the Finish straight seems to go on for ever. I frantically quizzed the marshals: “How far to go?”, but I mustn’t have been making any sense in my agitated state, cos I never got an answer. As soon as I got through the finish I wanted to sit down and a St John’s Ambulance lady gave up her seat, fetched me a cup of water and a blanket! Did I look that bad?

1^st Man Nick Leigh (Altrincham) 23:28

1^st Lady (32^nd) Jenny Clague (Liverpool) 27:56

5^th Charlie P 24:20

21^st Peter Waywell (3rd V40) 26:44

31^st Pete Cruse 27:51

36^th Big George 28:22

42^nd Bates (3^rd V50) 28:46

75^th Graham Vickers 31:58

81^st Dempsey 32:34 (3^rd LV40)

88^th Sarah (2nd LV35) 33:28

94^th Julie Cruse 34:04

119^th Pauline Weller 40:55

Jubilee Road Race 5 miles from Rivington Bowling Club. A two lap race round the reservoirs.

George and I were nip and tuck on this one for a while till George seemed to ‘take off’ despite struggling, (again), on the hills. The highlight of today was after the race when Peter Cruse got talking to another runner who asked Pete if he’d done the Haig Hall 5. Pete replied, “No.” Next question: “Have you done the Chorley 4?” Pete replied again, “No” to which the guy replies, “Have you done any races???”

Pete ran 586 competitive miles last year and was our Number 1 racer…….apart from the Cross Country where he didn’t try.

1^st Male Rick Hayman (Sale) 25:45

1^st Lady: Jenny Clague (LPL) 30:10 (32^nd)

9^th Charlie P 27:50

35^th Peter Cruse 30:28

40^th Peter Waywell 30:35

50^th Big George 31:29

54^th Bates 31:40

100^th Graham Vickers 35:04

106^th Dempsey 35:29 (3^rd LV40)

133^rd Stephen Wilkinson 37:33

144^th Julie Cruse 37:57

147^th Sarah Sharratt 38:05 (3^rd LV35)

154^th Chris Moss 38:57

182^nd Pauline Weller 43:39

200 finishers

Men 5^th Open and 3^rd Vets

Ladies 3^rd Open and 2^nd Vats

The Walsh Two Lads Fell Race on the Thursday is 5.25 miles and includes 900 feet of ascent. It starts from the Bridge Inn on Church Street.

I was, cumulatively, quite close to George after two races and thought I might have a chance to overtake him tonight. I was beginning to wonder how I might fare in my age group. Keith Thomas from Lostock was already uncatchable, but I was doing well and might have a chance of a prize come Sunday. Today was also a Civil Service Championship race, but I knew I wouldn’t be anywhere near Bob Graham and Veteran Ali Welsh.

I picked Richard Davies’s brain before the race and he advised me to try and get a good start as the race enters a narrow track through some woods almost immediately. Trouble is I’m not much good at fast starts anymore, but I got a fairly good start and was only held up occasionally like the rest of the field when approaching a stile or a kissing gate, (where I kept bumping into Peter Cruse). (We shared a bed together once in Berlin, but that’s another story!)

I eventually caught George and went past and then targeted Peter Cruse. I had no idea what to expect, but got within touching distance of Peter, but never managed to close the gap. I presumed after we hit the trig point it was all downhill!…..and I was right. There were quite a few spectators encouraging their teams, (mainly Horwich), and I tried to pick up a few tips. We started the descent on the fell; the paths were too narrow, for my liking, to overtake. When the path turned into a wide track, I was virtually alongside Peter when disaster struck……for Peter, (he went flying!). He picked himself up straight away, but I didn’t hang about. I asked how he was, then whizzed past and overtook a couple more. After the race, Julie told me off for not stopping and Peter was telling everyone there was a Bates size 9 footprint on the back of his vest as I trampled over him in my eagerness to get ahead!

1^st Nick Leigh (Pudsey)? 31:42

1^st Lady: Katie Ingram (Horwich) 36:53

8^th Charlie P 34:20

44^th Pete Waywell 38:39

65^th Bates 40:33

70^th Pete Cruse 40:48

89^th George Kennedy 42:38

124^th Graham Vickers 45:16

147^th Dempsey 47:26 (2^nd Lady Civil Servant)

156^th Sarah Sherratt 48:19

186^th Julie Cruse 51:50

222^nd Pauline Weller 62:54

226 finishers

Men 3^rd Open and 3^rd Vets

Ladies 5^th Open and 4^th Vets

A great result for a road running club!

The fell is so named to commemorate the alleged perishing of two lads many hundreds of years ago.

The Joseph Holt Brewery Cross Country Race is on the Friday from Ridgemont Park, Horwich, but with registration at the Crown. The race is roughly 4.5 miles long and four well-marked laps in the shadow of the Reebok Stadium.

Lee Barlow came with us tonight to watch, which was handy as he played football with my son, Levon. It was throwing it down tonight, but there was no mud on the course to speak of and no hills.

We followed the Cruses down, as we weren’t sure of the Start and parked right opposite the entrance to the park. Had a quick recce and then we were off. I managed to get in front of Peter and George and as there were a couple of hairpins I could keep them in my sights without seeming to look anxious! Levon and Lee gave me a shout on each lap and Lee kept warning me that Peter was putting in surges, which made Pete laugh! I managed to hold Peter off, finishing just 11 seconds ahead, (every second counts!), but still a bit behind cumulatively, but I put a positive slant on it by telling Peter and George it was 2 – 2! Sarah and Dempsey had a real battle all the way round and it was anyone’s race as Sarah came on stronger than she had done on the previous races and really challenged Dempsey. The result was that Dempsey pipped her on the post by the skin of her teeth. Sarah had a stormer and I’m sure there’s more to come!

1^st Andy Ward (Wigan) 24:35

1^st Lady Anne Washington (Leigh Harriers) 29:12

4^th Charlie Pass 25:43

25^th Peter Waywell 29:09 3^rd V40

31^st Martin Bates 29:32 2^nd V50

33^rd Peter Cruse 29:43

49^th George Kennedy 31:17

54^th Graham Vickers 32:18

70^th Dempsey 34:29 2^nd LV40

72^nd Sarah Sherratt 34:39 1^st LV35

79^th Julie Cruse 35:35

95^th Pauline Weller 42:00

98 finishers

Men 3^rd Open and 2^nd Vets

Ladies 2^nd Open and 1^st Vets

It was just ‘Tourists’ in today’s race and Wesham made up over 10% of the field and I feel sure that’s the secret of why we all did so well. There’s the friendly rivalry between ourselves and of course we were all there for each other shouting encouragement, (except for the ‘eyeballs out’ bits when you can barely breathe, never mind shout!)

The runners can have a well-deserved rest on Saturday before completing the Tour with the Horwich Carnival Town Centre 5K, once again from the Crown. This is three laps and starts at 12:50, (The British Masters took part at 11:15am)

I don’t know the results for the Masters only race, but I believe Alex Rowe and Alan Hudson took part. Alex had arrived after driving back from an International race in Belgium (?) and his times were only a second out. Talk about dedication!

I was lying 2^nd Vet50 and barring injury I was assured a medal, not that I was taking anything for granted! The atmosphere was electric for this race and numbers were swelled to 218 with some lean looking Kenyans on the front row, (next to where Johny Winters would have been, had he been there). Sorry, I digress! A lot of the Masters had stayed behind to watch the final Tour Race and we all received plenty of encouragement.

I had my usual lethargic start and seemed to take a lap to get going. Tony Codling and George were running together, (the tallest and shortest runners in the race?). I caught them after about a lap and tried to pick it up. I could hear Preston’s Alan Appleby close behind, (leading V60) receiving encouragement from the Preston spectators. I was anxious to pass anybody that looked remotely 50! I knew I was doing OK as I was amongst the usual faces, (another characteristic of the Tour of Tameside). On the last lap, the 400 metres to go sign came into view. I couldn’t run any faster. I was having a battle with a Horwich runner. I briefly got in front of him, till the 200 metres to go and he got me, (he didn’t look 50!).

We got together for team photos and adjourned to the pub with Lee Barlow. The pub was full of Bolton Wanderers regalia and there was even a 1950 Blackpool team photo! We don’t seem to have the same pride in Blackpool. Too many Preston, Burnley, Blackburn, Carlisle immigrants? The presentation wasn’t till 4pm, which was delayed to nearly 5, so we were well oiled. I sympathised with Edna Appleby. Her sister is seriously ill, and remarkably she gave her condolences to me when she heard I lost my dog last November. It never eases to amaze me – people’s selflessness – sympathising with me when they are facing a much greater loss.

1^st Gemechu Kidane (Birchfield) 14:01

1^st Lady and 26^th

overall Cathy Mutwa (Birchfield) 16:09

36^th Charlie P 16:35

63^rd Lee Barlow 17:30

71^st Steve Myerscough 17:58

73^rd Peter Waywell 18:05 (3^rd 40)

75^th Peter Cruse 18:07

88^th Martin Bates 18:39 (2^nd 50)

96^th George Kennedy 19:02

133^rd Graham Vickers 20:09

147^th Dempsey 21:10 (3rd 40)

158^th Sarah Sherratt 21:50 (2^nd 35)

159^th Julie Cruse 21:54

194^th Pauline Weller 24:37 PB

Men 6^th Open and 2^nd Vets by 4 points. We were beaten by Horwich. Both George and I were beaten by a Horwich runner by 1 second!

Ladies 6^th and 1^st Vets

Overall Tour Positions

Men

1^st Glen Groves (Liverpool) 2:07:02

5^th Charlie 2:08:48

18^th Peter Waywell 2:23:12

25^th Peter Cruse 2:26:57

27^th Bates 2:29:10

33^rd George Kennedy 2:32:48

47^th Graham Vickers 2:44:45

Wesham 3^rd Open and 2^nd Vets

Ladies

1^st Jenny Clague (Liverpool) 2:25:58

7^th Dempsey 2:51:08

10^th Sarah Sherratt 2:56:21

11^th Julie Cruse 3:01:20

15^th Pauline Weller 3:34:05

Wesham 3^rd and 2^nd Vets by 2 points to Horwich.

I was elated at the finish from not wanting to get out of Peter’s car on the Tuesday, to going home today with £45 in vouchers.

Written by: Martin Bates

Submitted: 27^th June 2007

Edited by: Brenda J Earnshaw WRR Editor