Dr Ron, Hyde 7 Mile Road Race
This was the latest round in the club championships and with so much going on elsewhere we had a relatively small turnout.
Named after local running legend Ron Hill, this is race four of a gruelling multi-terrain series held on consecutive days and for Simon Jones, who was here to complete the set it was a memorable weekend.
The race itself has the feeling of a much bigger city race with closed roads around the start, a huge entry field and a busy event base.
The course itself is undoubtably a test. There are no steep hills but a series of long ascents and descents with the sharpest climb of all appearing around a blind bend in the final mile. The 7-mile distance is unusual and combined with the elevation makes pacing very difficult indeed.
Starting outside the Town Hall the route is unspectacular but running through suburban Hyde has its plus points as a steady number of residents are around to cheer everyone on and runners from the local club received plenty of vocal support along the way. The occasional bewildered pyjama clad pensioner popping out to see what all the fuss was about was a particular highlight.
Soon after the start the roads were open but quiet and you needed to be aware of passing traffic in both directions, but the early Sunday start ensured that the roads were quiet.
The final finishing straight brings that big race feel back with an arched finish line and a welcome home over the P.A. system for each runner.
Out on the course, the ever-improving Alice Bernstein finished 4th female overall and first in her age category.
Haroon and Ayesha Rehman came home to a hero’s welcome from a giant hedgehog (no I don’t know why either) and Simon Jones shook off the fatigue and finished in an incredible time after his long weekend.
There’s a definite feel-good factor around this race and it’s one I’d recommend. A massive well done to all 14 RRC'ers who scored points in this one, the full set of results can be found here.
Freckleton Half Marathon and Race the Train
We also had runners at Race the Train and Freckleton Half on Sunday.
Sacha Fox, Cecilia Woods and Dan Stacey and Phil Morton felt the heat at Freckleton, the 2pm start meant they were racing just as the sun came out. Cecilia running in the V60 age group finished an incredible 8th lady overall.
The ever-popular Race the Train line up included Andy Norman, Catherine McIntyre and Martyn Bristow. Catherine finished first in her age group in a race that offers no respite from the steady climb from Bury to Rawtenstall.
Not race related but definitely worth mentions are Matt Hardy’s UK 3 peaks adventure finishing on a still snow-capped Ben Nevis just inside 24hrs after setting off at the base of Snowden and Sarah Clarke’s latest personal marathon challenge in Friday’s heat supported and accompanied by Eve Hart.
Super Dean Corrie
Just for some perspective, whilst all the above was going on run leader Dean Corrie was running non-stop in the 60 hour, 108-mile Summer Spine Race Challenger Ultra from Edale to Kirk Hadrow along the crest of the Pennines.
There’s not much more to say here that hasn’t already been seen on the RRC Facebook page but this is a true challenge for body and mind, and we are all incredibly proud of Dean’s achievement. Congratulations Dean! 👏🏼
parkrun
On Saturday 14 parkruns hosted RRC'ers.
The biggest turnout was at Heaton Park which welcomed Alexander Shield, Jo Wainwright, Richard Thatcher, Hannah Beswick, Andrew Hill, Ken Swarbrick, Karen Rothwell, Sacha Fox, David Rudman, Dave Carroll, Eve Hart, Diane Cohen, Mark Wainwright, Neil Rothwell and Adam Bolton.
In Bolton Paula Pilling PB’d the current course as first lady and Nydia Arunkumar also smashed her personal best time. They were joined by Don Nichol, Adrian Campbell, Justin Bones, Daniel Rawson, Colin Olajide, Cecilia Woods and Paul Jenkins.
Jeff and Christine Pendlebury took on the anytime parkrun at Pendle.
Further afield we had Luisa Shield at Morecambe Prom, Sandra Powers and Andrea Sidebottom visited Pennington Flash, Vanessa Lobb at Alexandra, Moss Side, Paula Jones at Concord in Sheffield, Beverley Dobson in South Shields, Laurence Keighley at Witton, Elizabeth Chantler at her home event in Delamere, Susan Morrison at Alness in the far North of Scotland, Chris Swainson was the second finisher at Ballina in Ireland, Karen Leach at the often-visited Rothay in the lakes and Jane Emanuel was first in her age category at Middleton Woods.
Even further afield, in Canada, Andrew Giles was at his local Nose Hill parkrun.
Well done to everyone who ran or raced this week and another huge congratulations to Dean Corrie for an immense achievement.
Please feel free to add anything I’ve missed to the Facebook post and include any pictures.