Results

A small but perfectly formed group of ERR chaps took part in this event, and enjoyed the sunshine at Hook Norton. 'Good Egg of the Day' award goes to John for agreeing to run at short notice and allow Ben to rest his injury ahead of the London Marathon. Thanks also to the assembled Bishop, Ferrier and Storey families for cheering us on throughout.

For the record, we were 10th out of 13 Senior Mens teams with an overall time of 2:03:20. The individual results are below:

Dave Ferrier  19:40

John Bishop  23:46

Robert Storey 18:53

Graham Bridges 20:33

Mark Tyrrell   21:29

Dafydd Warburton 18:59

A decent ERR turnout for an event which was full months ago. Well done to Jane, and also to Ian (with his lady pacemakers) for their PBs. Let me know if I've missed any jokers. Denise won the wine, and her report follows the results.

Back in December when this race was put in the club championships, I gave Graham huge amounts of  grief as this clashed with my 18 mile tapering run I already knew was scheduled for that weekend.

Even so, my race secretary, (Graham), entered me so I sulkily took the view that I could run 13 miles then add 5 miles on the end.  As the race got closer and my running was showing a marked improvement, I started to consider the flat course may be conducive for a sub 1:40 (a PB for me), so I started to embrace the race more fully, after all, an eyeballs out half marathon was the same as a 18 mile taper....and then 5 days before the race I was ill.  I’m talking big ill, head down toilet, in bed for 5 days ill.

Only on Saturday night did I decide I could actually complete the distance, but a big effort, I was sure would leave me back in the same place, so the plan was to run  9 min/miles and be grateful I could do it.

Sunday morning came, and a very small group of ERRs gathered.  Despite the warnings to enter early, only a few of us managed to get in.  All three long-league men decided to play their jokers, a shrewd move, as the big guns  were absent.  Jogging towards the start, who should go past us, only Danger Mouse , this obviously prompted the question to  Ben where his  Bananaman costume was.  His excuse  was a club championship race should be taken seriously, but we all knew the flying super hero  didn’t want to lose to a rodent wearing a white polar neck jumper.

So we positioned ourselves at the start, all us girls behind Ian and Gareth, because it was a training run and Ian would control us.  Marie had her 9.30/mile pinned to her top, I was definitely running 9.00/mile, Katherine, was going to stick with me.  Lesley, had only just recovered from being  dressed by us as she was late arriving.  Just behind was Elaine and Jane Bishop, also claiming ‘training run’ status.

The gun went, and Ian and Gareth went charging off and us girls followed...first mile 8.00 mins.  Katherine could be seen disappearing in the distance, Lesley in hot pursuit.  Marie and I sat firmly behind our “control” and continued to run at 8 min pace...best laid plans... Eventually, our pace slowed to a more steady 8:15 min but  the Eynsham train was well and truly in full motion, Ian leading,  with Gareth, Marie and myself in tow. 

Mile 5, to gel or not gel, would the stomach be able to take it?...yeah, go for it, apple or orange flavour? (please be apple), orange...yuk!

Mile 8, Marie had made a conscious decision to back off, good move as the pace was increasing to 8:07.  I asked Ian when he was going to do his next marathon, response, “when I do a good half marathon”.  This seems quite a good one, I thought.

Mile 10, another gel, (all good practice for London), apple flavour, much better, stomach is behaving.  Pace is still at 8:07 Gareth has fallen back slightly and John Bishop has been reeled in.

Mile 11 and 12 it starts to be a bit undulating again, but the finish isn’t that far away....”What is your PB Ian?”  “1:52”.  We’re way inside that, just need to keep going.

The lane to the finish is one of those you can see meandering along way ahead of you, heads down, we charged along, picking off runners as we went.  The 400m sign...looked at the watch, just turned 1:47.  “Right, come on Ian, we get under 1:48..Go!” We went round the corner, all the earlier finishers were there “Ian’s PB” I shouted....”Come on Ian” they all screamed back!

Did he do it?  Course he did 1:47:51...Big smiles. 

(Note:   I’m not sure the 400m sign was in the right place as Christine Ohuruogu does 400m in about 48 seconds and she is the Olympic Champion).

(Note 2:  above time is based on Ian’s watch not the official time)

So what did everyone else do?

Ben kept a safe distance in front of Graham, “I nearly caught him up”.  Katherine,” just enjoyed running free “after too many weeks with a chest infection and was second V45 lady, whilst  Lesley wasn’t far behind.    Gareth followed myself and Ian, with Marie just behind again, never really achieving her desired pace of 9:30, more like 8:40.

John Bishop was next, but revealed that he had also been ill the day before, so was feeling a bit rough.  Fortunately, for the Bishop household, Jane had achieved a PB, and was ecstatic, she couldn’t believe she maintained 9:00min/mile for so long.   

Our last runner was Elaine, “I feel really good, and I could do all this again!” she commented.  “Well your opportunity  will come next week!”  She finished well within her target time of 2:30 and was also very pleased with herself.

For me, I was really pleased with my day.  I ran 13 miles after 5 days of being ill.  I was able to take gels and the body didn’t react, I got to practice running at my marathon pace, and I helped Ian smash his PB.  I believe he’s announcing his marathon comeback in the next few weeks.

Incidentally, Danger Mouse was extremely quick and would have put Bananaman to shame.

Denise

An excellent ERR turn-out at Carterton, with some great individual performances into the bargain.

Particular congratulations to Denise and Kate for winning their categories, and to Katherine, who we thought had won hers until she had the dreaded email from the organisers. The ERR ladies won the team prize, and Robert was 10th overall.

If I've missed anyone's joker or pb then please let me know. Also, these are the times from the 'official' results, so may be a second or two over your watch reading. Sheenagh wasn't in club colours, hence the early jobsworth award for me.

Well done to all those who raced in sunny but windy conditions. First overall place went to Lee Harper and first lady went to Lesley Parry-Jones. Nick Sheard was the fastest Eynsham Roadrunner.

More detailed results can be found on the Duathlon page.

See you in August for the ERR triathlon!

Congratulations to the ERR men's team for clinching the 3rd Division title with their best score of the season. Well done also to the ERR ladies, who also produced their best performance of the season for joint 3rd place in Division 2 on the day, and 4th place overall.

Individual performances worthy of note were Kate, who finished 2nd in the V55 category, Katherine, who was 6th in the LV45 category, and Robert, who was 7th in the MV40.

There were 111 competitors in the women's race and 221 in the men's.

Well done to Hannah for a fantastic performance, obviously the training in New Zealand paid off. This, coupled with Lesley's return, helped towards an excellent showing for the 2 Eynsham Ladies teams.

The men were second in Division 3 this time, but this was enough to preserve their lead overall.

There were 112 competitors in the ladies' race and 224 in the men's.

This was also the first club championship/short leage race of the season.

Thanks to everyone who represented ERR at the Highworth Half, and well done on getting there in the first place, bearing in mind how icy the roads were on Sunday morning. The individual results are below, whilst the team finished in 11th place out of, er, more than 11 (but only just).

There were 131 competitors.

Nice and fresh at Banbury, and the ERR men managed to maintain their lead in Division 3 with 2nd place this time round. Welcome back to Jane after her injury - you must have missed conditions like that.

The ERR women were 7th in Division 2, leaving them 8th overall.

There were 133 competitors in the women's race and 217 in the men's.

(by Katherine)

Well it appears to go like this... you spend almost four years entering nearly every club championship race, spending x amount on entry fees and eventually you just may win that elusive (or is it exclusive ?) bottle of plonk. ( I don't count the only other time I won it as it rolled out of my car boot on arrival at home , thereby disgorging all contents down my drive before I had chance to indulge )...

Ah.. cross country races, don't you just love 'em.....the wet, the cold , wind..and that's just the runners. Actually I do love them, weird as I am. Perhaps it's got something to do with hauling myself over the Lake District fells with my Dad in my distant youth that  brings back a few good memories.

With this race at Culham we had a great turn -out of numbers (nothing to with the fact it counted towards our own championship of course !) , so were sure of full teams for ladies and gents. Checking out the opposition both in our tent and others I could see it would be a tough race but that's supposed to be good, isn't it ?!! Hones the old mental skills, or something like that. Under starters orders and us ladies were warned not to knock over the poor youngster on the bend as he was still struggling around the final lap. Personally, I would have thought he could have got a PB seeing all us lot charging down on him . I didn't actually see him as Denise and Hannah had gone speeding off at Bannister pace and all I could focus on was their heels becoming more fainter by the second. Hey Ho .

Head down and get on with the job in hand...staying upright in a ton of mud that is . All thoughts of good running form are out of the window. Next minute the rush is on to get a good position on the staight narrow bit and I felt my ankles turning  in an unnatural angle to the ground ! Elbows out , that gets rid of a few trying to get past ! ( joking ,of course), Bit more flat straight bit and then don't look up or else your heart does a little flip (sorry that meant to read.. steely determination takes over ) as the two short sharp hills loom. Of course that means there are two downhills, (I didn't go to a grammer school for nothing you know ),and then it hits you that flying down isn't really an option...more like flailing down. How the FUDGE do these fell runners do it ? At the bottom and here we go around again. Whose stupid bloody idea was this anyway to make us delicate ladies run futher this year ? Sadistic B####S ! Moan over with and I look up to see if I could try and reel a few in . Apparently my breathing has been compared to Darth Vader as I try and overtake. I would like to think that is where the comparison ends. Seeing the Finish is always good and especially when I could see my neighbour(Woodstock Harriers) seconds in front. How come the legs don't do that sprint finish that gets practised in speed sessions ? Never mind , I 'll get her next time or the next..... Well done to us all for making that commitment to Team Eynsham. Us ladies are doing really well so it's now up to you chaps to try and catch us us.

A positive PB-fest for the elite group of ERR folk who took part in the 2009 Andy Reading 10k.  Congratulations to Marisa and Elaine for getting under an hour for 10K for the first time, and to everyone else who improved their previous bests. Ian's time, though not a PB, was still over 6 minutes faster than he ran here last year.