Race Reports
And so the P&B train rolls on…English AND British titles back in our grasp
Gale force winds and intermittent rain meant that the Holme Moss race, a must-win for our English team ambitions this year, was going to be a tough test for P&B's elite fell runners. Also doubling as the Yorkshire fell championships for 2010, it added an extra layer of meaning for those (few and far between and getting fewer and far betweener) Yorkshire Yorkshire team of Pearce, Pattinson and Stevenson ready to do battle.
And so, with great trepidation at the stern test to come, the claxon sounded and we were off. Settling quickly in to formation, it was 4 P&B in the top 6 with Pearce playing the team game giving shelter to President Rob against the incessant wind. Clearly Rob knows the benefits of shelter behind the larger framed, more "traditionally" built athelete, much wiser than Darren who decided to try to use the diminutive road/xc specialist and proper athelete Chris Birchall for cover early on. Oh dear, clearly our new member has a lot to learn.
I'd love to write a detailed and enthralling race report giving a blow by blow account of the titanic battles fought on the fell, the scenes witnessed only by those in the thick of it and the odd grouse, tales that will go down in history and make it into folklore of the land, tales that will be begin with the "were you there that day that Holme Moss race bore witness to…" words. But no. To be honest it was a bit of a Sunday peloton jog over featureless moorland for 95% of the race, with the race proper only starting about 2 miles from the finish and who had anything left by that stage. So there you are, P&B have a new number 1. And no, Pearce did not manage to pull out another Langdale, this time it was Daz Kay using some of that residual caffiene in his system from all the Costas to kick past Rob on the run in to claim bragging rights.
But what a team performance: Darren 2nd, Rob 3rd, Graham 6th, Dan 9th, Richard 14th - blew all other teams well out of the water - backed up by strong runs from Bri and James we are all over the English team champs now.
Special mention to John H who got up onto the fell, probably ran more miles than we all did, with a bucket load of drink and gels to provide valuable team support. Cheers John.
For the record, Graham got a silver in the Yorkshire champs race so unable to add a new P&B name to the legends firmly engraved on the trophy already - Devine, Sheard, Heneghan…our Yorkshire team ambitions were left in shatters once again, like last year, by Calder Valley and their team of Irishmen. Don't ask.members of the P&B line up.
Graham Pearce, Danny Hope , and Darren Kay were racing at the Valmalenco Valposchiavo Sky race, you can read Grahams report below.
Silent Valley 10th April 2010.
For one fine day in early April the deafening silence of the Silent Valley in the Mourne Mountains was broken by the sound of heavy breathing and gasping for air. No, not Martyn Finn looking at a poster of Pamela Anderson this was the sound of elite fell runners, Britain's best, taming the wilderness and conquering the brutal peaks of the Mournes. At 10 miles and 4,500 feet this was going to be a walk in the park for long distance specialist Graham Pearce, but the pure fear and abject horror in the eyes of those Lancashire men more used to gentle jogs over molehills like Winter Hill was clear for all to see.
P&B's top crew was led out by new President Rob Hope and Captain James Titmuss, and the two talismen were ably supported by Brian Stevenson, Alex Jones, Steve Bottomley (fresh from a winter spent getting robbed and fighting wild dogs in South America), Danny Hope and Graham Pearce. What a team. When was the last time 7 of our best runners made the trip West to do battle for Club pride?
Beautiful sunny skies and temperatures in the high teens meant that it was a vest only day and even Graham managed to run without gloves for a change. Bottomley went one better though - bear chested but he loses points for wearing ponsy skins, as does Brian. Steady start and complete confusion over the route up the first climb (think Lord of the Rings battlescene with Orks madly charging up from all directions) led to a bit of bottlenecking behind slower runners once the going got steep next to the wall. The first descent was good fun, although the bottlenecking problems continued. Steve had a point though - "why don't you just push them out the way?" (Sounds simple doesn't it?) The second climb was a toughie, and then the race just got a bit too long for some with 3 more climbs; the last being too much for Danny who was reduced to a sobbing wreck by that stage as he'd breached his 1hr30 limit for being able to run in any meaningful sense of the word.
Unfortunately Rob's reign in Ireland is now over as he charitably let Andy Symonds through for the win, and then also Morgan Donnelly (well he did have a ferry to catch) bagged second. The real battle was happening a little further back in the field though, as Brian and James had a silent fight of their own to be able to claim 5th counter spot and a place in the P&B team hall of fame, Brian just edging James on the final descent. Pearce mis-calculated his effort as he was up for another 2 laps of the course, so despite a late charge could only pull through to 11th. Results were Rob 3rd, Danny 6th, Graham 11th, Steve 32nd, Brian 46th, James 48th and Jonsey and it was good enough for 3rd team on the day.
The post-race party was a good laugh with Boff's t-shirts donned and good music and banter. Sadly Glen Ross no longer works at the club, much to the disappointment of the Wharfedale Ladies. Clearly the Irish recognised the superstars from P&B in their midst because the police saw it fitting to give some of the more seasoned elite superstar P&B athletes an escort home. Ahem. Hangovers the following day but Pearce still had enough left in the tank for an interval session up Donard.
To sum up - great weather and good times but work needed now to ensure we retain our English and British titles in our Centenary year.
Graham............