Fell Running

One of the great things about the Cleveland Way Relays is the coming together of club members-Runners and Supporters alike,and it is a great achievement to have two teams competing for a small club like ours and even better still to have a winning one.

It all started at the unearthly hour of 5 am at Filey and I had the pleasure of seeing proceedings begin from the off on a mild but overcast morning - excellent conditions for running.

Once again Dan Middlemas got us underway and despite his usual summer break from running answered our call and quickly gained a good lead coming into Scarbrough as he managed to pull away from the other six teams competing coming home in just over 55 minutes and handing over to Lewis Rodgers at Valley Bridge 90 seconds ahead of York.

Lewis was flying over his leg and by the time we'd driven to Cloughton did not have long to wait to see him come home beating his own club record of last year by over two minutes, and covering the 11.5 km run in an amazing 36.32 minutes handing over to Pat Messruther who tackled the leg into Ravenscar ,having a solid run and maintaining the good start made by the team.

Steve Hardy with his regained fitness tackled the short sharp leg into Robin Hoods Bay and quickly gave us our second course record of the day continuing his fine form ran a 21.37 minute leg knocking 49 seconds of Pat's four year best ,before handing over to Steve Mussett who you know will always give his all for the team, ran very well coming home into Whitby in 54 minutes which was a great effort.

Veteran Athlete John Hunter took over the baton at the Whale Bones knowing NYM had some top runners competing over the next several legs and we needed to maintain the momemtum already achieved by the lads and John ran as good as ever tackling the 8.1 mile course in 52.12 minutes and giving us a massive 32 minute lead due to the fact of an unfortunate injury to one of the NYM on the Robin Hoods Bay leg -luckily Brian was ok but shows what can go wrong over the course of the day.

With this in mind Club Captain Dave Parkin headed into the wind on the way from Runswick to Skinningrove extending the lead despite his dislike of Boulby seagulls ( due to the last few weeks training runs over there) handed on to Dave Collett.

Dave tackled one of the harder legs as the course left the coast at Saltburn and started to head inland through the woods and fields coming out at Slapewath in a very creditable time ( 66 mins ) despite Rob Cole motoring along we still held a good lead ,but only half way gone anything could still happen.

Mark Walker who ran the same leg for the B team last year held back the years to continue his fine form to head out towards Gribdale Gate via Roseberry Topping improving on his best by over a minute.

Next away was our sole female athlete Angharad Owen who again ran from Gribdale to Battersby Moor and she was flying, running as well as ever beating her own course record set five years ago by recording 22.28 minutes for the 7.5k leg nearly a minute off her previous before handing over to one of our top runners Alec Duffield who showed his strength and liking of the fells hammering his way over to Hasty Bank in another club leg record, but by knocking an amazing 3 mins 39 seconds off the five year record and still looked remarkable fresh for his effort At this point we were well ahead and the only team to avoid the mass start, so Paul Wildmore who was next on the baton, ran a well controlled leg arriving at Carlton Bank in another good time which was better still when you consider he had been on his sickbed the previous day-thanks Paul.

Tom Herbert who was just getting back into his running after illness proved again what a good team member he is by running a very strong leg up to Osmotherley despite the heavy rain lashing him he finished his leg in a very creditable 56 minutes handing on to Rob Williamson who excelled as the sun came back out along the fields and woodlands towards Sneck Yate extending the lead over our rivals.

We are delighted once again to have Kevin Patterson in our ranks and he must have enjoyed his return outing being under little pressure ( apart from being given the leg hours earlier ) ran a good time and proved what an asset he can be for the senior men in the future.

Kevin handed over to the CWR experienced runner Neil Chester who once again had the job of running the anchor leg from the Hambleton Inn to Helmsley and the privilege of touching the cross as first team and bringing the end to a very enjoyable day finishing in a time 12 hours 38 minutes and 53 seconds which was only four minutes outside the existing course record set in 2003.

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B Team Report #1
Another great day on the Cleveland Way and this year it was a bit special because we had 5 course records and 5 reserves and normally we are struggling to get a team. Many thanks to those involved on the last leg.

The B team race got off to a great start with the first course record of the day when Peter Hardy arrived at Valley Bridge Scarborough bang on 6.am - not bad for someone who hasn’t run for seven years. Freddie took over on the next leg and as usual was as reliable as ever with a good run and 100 % effort. He then handed the baton to our next runner and our first lady runner of the day - Jo Abbott. Another great effort and another great time on a leg that seems to be all uphill and had some terrible high steps to climb. Well done Jo. The fourth leg was run by our youngest team member – Danni, who had a fantastic run and just missed breaking the course record by 9 seconds on her first run in the Cleveland Way. She ran 24.22 from Ravenscar to Robin Hood’s Bay - most men would be pleased with that time. Well done Danni and good luck for the future.

Our next runner and second lady runner of the day was Julie, - a very experienced, talented and reliable runner, who had a great run to bring the B team into Whitby in 3rd place in a time of 57.28. Julie handed over to Dave Horness and before Dave got to Sandsend we were back in 4th place; it wasn’t Dave’s fault - it just happened that the bloke who over-took him was one of the best runners of the 272 runners out that day: Andy Bowman. Dave said the bloody swine shot past me as if I was standing still… anyway to prove Dave wasn’t standing still, he broke his own course record in a brilliant time of 59.08. Well done Dave - you did what you set out to do in fine style. Next up was Alan Bottomley who ran very well on a very long hard leg handing over to Tecca at Skinningrove. At this point I thought we would beat the 2007 course record but it wasn’t to be - we missed out by 9 minutes. Tecca ran a good leg unfortunately most of it was into the wind he wasn’t very happy with his time when I met him at Slapewath but I think he did marvelously considering he’s 60 shortly. Tecca handed over to Ian Brown who was shadowed by Dan because of injury worries. (For me that sums up the race, the club, and the person because Dan had already ran the 1st leg at Filey for the A team at 5am). Thanks Dan, and of course, well done Ian who had a great run considering he hasn’t been able to train due to injury and work commitments.

Ian handed over to Megan who got our third course record knocking 1 min 19 secs of the previous record and amazingly she did this running on a sprained ankle which she picked up running down from Captain Cook’s monument. Our next runner was Graham Youngston who ran very well considering the conditions: wind, rain and massive hills - not the best of ways to spend a Sunday afternoon! Anyway, Graham was very happy when I met him at Hasty Bank absolutely soaked. Chris was our next runner and he got our 4th course record on the 3 massive hills… I bet when I see him he wants a leg change next year!... that’s what usually happens on that leg, it’s so hard. It must be a first: father and daughter both getting course records on the same day, in the same race. Well done to you both. Chris handed over to Nicola at Carlton Bank - unfortunately I was unable to get to the start of her leg, but knowing Nicola she would always give 100% and she did on an extremely hard leg and finished with an extremely good time of 62 minutes. Darren took over at Osmotherly and in the 1st mile over took a North Yorkshire Moors runner and it was great to see 4 runners running up Black Hambledon on the same hill. Well Done Darren - I didn’t think anyone could sweat so much it just proves how much effort you put in! Darren handed over to Neil Duffield at Sneck Yate and just before Neil set off he was told by Dave to make sure he got a course record. Neil did that in fine style - he knocked 4mins 22 secs off the old record… just proves what good condition you are in Neil - well done and good luck for your Ironman.

The last leg was run by our 5 reserves: 3 ladies and 2 men… Julia, Adele, Jo, Steve and Graham, the ladies showed the men a clean pair of heals and the first one back to Helmsley was Julia. However she was pressed hard all the way by Adele and at the cross at Helmsley they were only 3 meters apart. Very well done and thanks to everybody who took part on Sunday and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. All the best to you all.

Well here we go again on the 176K ‘Fun Run’ (that’s a joke in itself!), however, after a 5 year retirement Pete Hardy decided (with a little encouragement from Norman) to kick off the ‘B’ team at the ungodly hour of 5am, knocking 1.57 off the leg record. God knows what he could do if he ever did any training! Pete handed over to Freddy Rodgers in 4th place out of seven teams. Freddy ran 10seconds faster than last year despite suffering with a cold and handed over to Jo Abbott who was running this year for the first time. After turning in a good time for the team she was quoted saying “I’m bloody knackered and I’m going back to bed.” Dani Braithwaite carried on the challenge with another first time outing for the team, narrowly missing out on a leg record by 9seconds (but then she ate up the ground with legs that long they reach up to my armpits and then get cheeky just like the rest of her). Julie Mastrolonardo took over at Robin Hoods Bay in 4th place and ran us into 3rd place after NYMAC ‘A’ developed an ankle injury (I hope she gave him a good kick as she passed in true Loftus and Whitby tradition). Dave Horness took over at the Whale Bones still in 3rd place but before he got to Sandsend the next NYMAC runner came flying passed like his arse was on fire and disappeared into the distance. However Dave carried on and this year managed to get to the top of Runswick bank but still ended up in a sweaty snotty heap knocking off 1.37 off his own leg record to hand over to Allan Bottomly (who only just made it in time – we nearly had Steve Hepples running for us!) Allan ran well on a tough leg and looked quite fresh at the finish in Skinningrove, where Tecca Howard was waiting. Tecca ran a good solid leg despite running into a strong headwind when he turned inland at Saltburn. He handed over to Ian Brown at Slapewath who ran very well on another tough leg. He was accompanied by Dan Middlemas who went along as an insurance policy just in case Ian’s recent ankle injury flared up. But Ian did the business and handed over to Megan Ellis who also turned in a record breaking leg clipping 1.19 off a four year old record (don’t you just hate bloody kids running this quick when us older so called runners think we are doing ok). However for her efforts she picked up an ankle injury, which didn’t get her any sympathy from anyone except her Dad who gave her a cuddle in Osmotherley. Graham Youngson set off in decent conditions but soon ran into heavy rain and wind which dramatically slowed his progress, yet he forced his way to Hasty Bank where Chris Ellis had set off along with five other runners on the mini mass start. He also set off in decent conditions but ran into shitty weather, despite this he finished at Carlton Bank soaking wet through but satisfied in the knowledge that he had knocked 1.21 off a five year record. Nic Kent got a good soaking as she climbed up a huge hill to start her leg but finished a very strong leg at Osmotherley in brilliant sunshine, saying “Trevor can bugger off next year I want my old leg back someone else can die on this one – I nearly did!” Darren Fawcett took over at Osmotherley turning in a strong performance on a demanding leg finishing strongly, sweaty and knackered, over taking another team runner on route after the mass start. Neil Duffield was waiting at Sneck Yate with strict instructions to turn in a leg record, which he duly did knocking off 4.22, this could have serious repercussions because Adele held this record, and was not best pleased. (There could be a serious lack of nookie in the Duffield household for the next month at least!) This year we had five runners on the last leg – Julia, Jo, Adele, Steve and Graham, which turned out to be a good friendly competitive finish between the girls, with Julia just in front bringing us home in 4th team place in a total time of 14.13.19 a mere 9mins outside the overall course record.

Finally thanks to Andy for organising the fish and chips with extended opening time so we all got fed. And a huge thank you to all runners and supporters for your commitment and efforts on an extremely successful day. Dave

Contact Dave Parkin 07980569650 to confirm please
Or email prkdav1@aol.com
Please be at your handover leg at least 15 mins prior to estimated start time and ensure you have good knowledge of your leg before race day.

*Subject to mini mass-start at 14.00 if incoming runner is not expected before 14.30

Hi all,

just a short reminder, the Cleveland Way Relay will be on again this year, the date remains as communicated at the end of last years race, 29th June 2008. I thought it was an enjoyable event last year, mainly thanks to the participation of a good number of teams. I therefore hope that you all can turn up a team again for this year's event. If possible, could you let me know if you intend to participate again, it would be much appreciated.

NYMAC is planning to have 2 teams again this year, and with a lot of luck, and some hard work by one of our ladies, we may even have a 3rd 'ladies only' team on this years relay.

Looking forward to hear from you or at least see you at Filey, 29.6.2008, 5AM.

Cheers,

Martin Dietrich