Aruba International Half Marathon, 15

9

NEWSLETTER

GWANWYN 2009 SPRING

Contents

1. Introduction by John Smith

2. Notes from the Chair by Sue Nicholls

3. The Aruba International Half Marathon, 15.3.09 by Pete Nicholls

4. Snowdon Marathon 2008 by Juliet Edwards

5. Tales from the Last Century by Barrie Jackson

6. How not to prepare for a race by John Smith

7. The Paris Half Marathon by Jan Preston

8. Wednesday evening training run schedule

9. Forthcoming races

1. Introduction by John Smith

This is an international issue with reports from Venezuela, France and even Walsall; and not forgetting Snowdonia. I watched the excellent S4C program about last years Snowdon Marathon, at the end I felt cold wet and tired without having moved from my armchair.

The Social Events program for the summer is taking shape. On the list of summer training runs there is now a Pub identified for a get-together after each run, runners and non-runners are welcome to meet up in the pub around 8pm. There will also be an evening social after each club-organised race, the venues will be decided and put on the website closer to each event. Of course there will also be the famous Fairbourne Beach Barbecue.

This is my first attempt at the Newsletter so any complaints should be addressed to the Committee that accepted me as a volunteer!!!

2. Notes from the Chair by Sue Nicholls

Hello all and welcome to the Meirionnydd Running Club Spring edition newsletter 2009.

First of all I would like to thank everyone who submitted articles for this edition.

If anyone would like to contribute to our summer newsletter please send your piece to John.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a bit of fun or even remotely related to running it would be great to receive something from you.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who has worked on behalf of the club. A huge thanks to the marshals who do a great job for us. We can’t thank you all enough.

I should like to take this opportunity to congratulate all club members who have taken part in any competitive races this year, well done to you all and especially those ladies who managed to get into the Welsh Athletics rankings.

For those of you who have a place in the London Marathon this year I understand how hard you must be training at the moment. I hope though you are looking forward to eating as much as you can possibly fit in during the next few weeks prior to the race. So all the best of luck to Pete Nicholls , Katie Woods, Kevin Evans and anyone else who I may have missed. Don’t forget to let us all know how you get on and we can make sure we add it to the web site.

Wednesday night training runs are always well attended and now that the lighter nights are here it would be great to see more of you. We are encouraging not only runners but walkers, bikers, children, dogs, in fact anyone actually who would like to join in. Everyone sets off at the same time and gets back at the same time. Our new group of beginners is slowly growing and suits us all. You can find out where to meet on the website or on the notice board at the leisure centre.

As the proud keeper of the Sheelagh Vaughan trophy two years ago I would like to offer my congratulations to this year’s winner Sioned.

See you all soon.

Sue Nicholls

Chair

3. Aruba International Half Marathon. 15:3:09 by Pete Nicholls

Aruba is a small island off the coast of Venezuela and is only 19 miles long by 9 miles wide. Our holiday there coincided with the islands largest sporting event - the Aruba International Half Marathon, so along with 556 other competitors I decided to give it a go. Because of the high daytime temperatures the race started at 6am, which for me meant getting up at 3.45am to get a bus to the southern tip of the island. The race organisation was casual but efficient - turn up, sign up, pay up, stand around for an hour then run.

Chatting to some locals before the start I was warned about two hills en route - "Be careful man, they're a killer". Not having seen any hills on the island I was a little surprised but nevertheless heeded the warning.

Anyway, we gathered in the dark at the start line and when everyone else started running so did I. The race started far too fast for me so I decided to just plod on and enjoy the run. The lead vehicle was a police motor cycle and I saw it’s flashing blue light get farther and farther away, eventually disappearing. At about 7 or 8 miles though (there were no distance markers) I caught sight of the blue light again and could make out lots of runners slowing to almost walking pace. The first hill! A hill but not as we know it, in fact a gentle incline would be a more accurate description. Fortunately it didn't hold me up and I must have passed 30 or 40 runners. I got quite encouraged by this so upped my pace just a little. About 15 minutes later the sun came up and the temperature was soon in the high 70's and rising.

At about 9 or 10 miles I reached the second 'hill', much like the first and I was again encouraged by the number of runners I passed. I reckoned I was in the top third so decided to really push myself for the last few miles. By now we were running through Orangestaad, the capital of Aruba and had to follow the white line in the middle of the road as cars passed either side of us. Water stations were now every few hundred yards but impossible to get at through the traffic. Then at the end of a long straight I saw the finish line, felt another burst of energy and finished in 1hr 45mins 14secs.

As I said earlier, the race organisation was casual and when I enquired about my position an official looked at my number, looked at his clipboard and told me I was the 5th fastest woman! A distinction I doubt I will ever achieve again.

4. SNOWDON MARATHON 2008 by Juliet Edwards

…or the great jelly bean scandal

Fancy a new challenge? Is your wardrobe full of London Marathon rejecting fleeces? Have you always wanted to really experience the breathtaking beauty of Snowdonia? Then the Snowdonia Marathon is a must do race.

The pre-race information boasted a challenging course with stunning scenery and 12 feeding stations- offering water, isotonic drinks and jelly beans. This information nearly scuppered my months of detailed planning and preparation (well not really) ……more later.

There is over 900 metres of ascent with the best climb kept till last. As I walked down to the start at Nant Peris the light shower changed to steady rainfall and the wind was bracing .There is only so long that one can survive hiding in a portaloo, other runners were crouching behind walls / between vehicles / beneath the rock face. Over 500 entrants dropped out before the start of the race leaving about 1100 mad runners. It was amazing to see how many council refuse departments were sponsoring the race as black bags were de rigueur before the start.

From my long training runs I had worked out that I needed 1 packet of winegums per 6-7 miles to keep going. I was not sure of the exact conversion factor to jelly beans needed but was confident that the feeding stations would not let me down. So I started with a handful of winegums and not much optimism. Why do we run marathons??

The first climb from Nant Peris to Pen y Pass is a fairly steady 250metres of up followed by a great run down to Llyn Gwynant and then on to Beddgelert. Hang on! It’s meant to be downhill, easy, relax, enjoy the view, let gravity do the work. No way. It was comparable with the last downhill leg of the long Lanzarote race, only colder, wetter and windier …and no swimming pool at the end (o.k. so there is a lake).

We had passed a few feeding stations and I was worried. Water and isotonic drinks but NO jelly beans. Were the lead runners (so I was only about 830th in the race) greedy? Had they miscalculated the number of jelly beans per runner needed? Had the jelly bean sponsors pulled out of the race?

At Beddgelert I was down to my last 3 wine gums. I spent much of the next climb up to Rhyd-Ddu working out when to eat my paltry supplies. Finally the wind was on our backs and the route was fairly level until we reached Waunfawr.

The trouble about Waunfawr is that it is the start of the final punishing 250 metre climb to Bwlch y Groes. I saw a red jellybaby on the floor and for a millisecond thought of picking it up to eat .Was I hallucinating? I was rescued by a knight in shining armour -sorry no it was another runner in Ron Hills and fluorescent yellow top. He offered me a jellybean, I am not sure how desperate the expression was on my face but he rapidly changed this to “no, it’s o.k. take as many as you like”. He saved the day.

Allegedly the wind was gusting to 60mph (or 80 or more the longer the post race discussions went on) as we reached Bwlch y Groes and the only part of the course that is off-road. Brilliant, downhill, almost like a fell run for a short distance. Then the final trundle around the edge of Llanberis to the finish.

4 hours 45mins + (or can I claim the chip time of 4hour 43 mins +?) and I felt great. We were welcomed home with a space blanket, tea and biscuits. Congratulations also to Sheila Jones (Bro Dysynni) who dashed home in a time of 4 hours 41 mins + (4 hours 39 mins + chip time).

I realise that there are easier ways to earn a T-shirt and slate coaster. This was my third marathon, in a PW and in easily the worst weather conditions …but the most fun. You have to try it.

5. TALES FROM THE LAST CENTURY by Barrie Jackson

PART 1

As many of you will know, I used to be a racing cyclist, indeed it was through cycling that I came into competitive running, so I thought a few words about the cycling scene in the 50’s and 60’s might be of interest.

In this first article, (yes, there could be more!), I will write about cycling clubs and their social and leisure activities, as opposed to racing.

In the 60’s there were at least 25 cycling clubs within a 20 mile radius of Birmingham and I belonged to the medium-sized Walsall Roads Cycling Club. The official Club Room moved between various venues while I was a member including sports halls, scout huts and church halls but the undoubted centre of activity was at the rear of the local cycle shop where, every lunchtime, cyclists from many different clubs would gather and put all the worlds’ problems to right.

Monday lunchtime was usually the preserve of the racing lads who would discuss the previous weekend’s races and dream up all sorts of excuses for their poor performances.

F R Russell Cycles was established in the 1020’s by one of the early members of the W.R.C.C, Fred Russell, and is now run by his grand-daughter after her father, a great track racer, semi-retired some years ago. So the history of the club and the shop are very much intertwined, this was very common throughout the country.

The club was actually formed in 1919, making it one of the oldest surviving clubs in Britain and has an illustrious racing background as well as a very strong cycle-touring tradition.

The backbone of the club is the Sunday Ride, when anything up to 30 riders would assemble at the bottom of Walsall Market at 9.00 or 10.00am according to the time of year, and then ride out to some pre-agreed Pub, usually in a small village 30 or 40 miles away, where sandwiches would be eaten and numerous pints of the local ale would be downed. Most Landlords did not mind you taking your own food as they new only too well that most cycling clubs provided good business, the consequences of which were often to be seen just after closing-time as riders wobbled their way home, or, for the more energetic, to a tearoom at some other location.

These tearooms used to be very common throughout the country and were regularly used by cyclists; many carried the Cyclist Touring Club banner over their doors. Sadly, these establishments seem to have faded away, along with their owners I presume.

In January and February many clubs organised reliability or standard trials. These were rides of up to 100 miles or so and the idea was to complete the course in a certain standard time. The usual standard for 100 miles was 8 hours and you received a certificate for achieving this. W.R.R.C. organised 2 such trials, the first, in January was known as the “100 in 8”. This started in Walsall and went over the Clee Hills into Shropshire, up to Shrewsbury and back down the A5 into Walsall. The other trial was in February and was known as the “Montgomery and Back”. This started at the well-known Hollies Cafe on the A5 near Cannock and went, as the name implies, to the mid-Wales town of Montgomery, and back, a distance of 104 miles. Although these trials were in no way intended to be competitive, in fact any thought of racing was frowned upon by some of the older members of the club; they inevitably developed into flat-out training rides by the racing members who would ride non-stop for the doubtful honour of arriving back first. As there events took place in the depths of winter conditions were sometimes extreme to say the least and I can remember many times having to walk up some of the steeper climbs in Shropshire as the roads were just too dangerous to ride on. We had proper winters in those days!

Later in the year, when the racing season started, the club usually go via the HQ of a local time-trial or massed-start road race if any members were competing. Then the whole club would proceed to the lunch-stop. Incidentally, all the Sunday club-runs were programmed by the committee at the end of the year to take into account all the local races so that the members could get together after the race. These dates were published in the clubs excellent handbook. During the summer months many members would go away for the weekend, usually stopping at Youth Hostels, and tour the surrounding countryside, putting in prodigious mileages while seeing parts of the country not on the usual tourist routes. Cycling is a really wonderful way to see Britain and it is amazing how much of the country can be covered in a week or even a weekend.