Autumn/Winter MUCCC Newsletter

2007

Dear VP,

Welcome to my first newsletter as VP secretary. I suppose I should stick with tradition and start by introducing myself. My name is Helen Wade and I’m in my final year of pharmacy. Some of you may already know me as I was women’s cross-country captain for last year. I apologise that it’s taken me so long to get this letter to you all; I may possibly be the worst VP’s secretary of all time. However, on the bright side, I’m sure that I’ll be suitably punished at Xmas Dinner for my crimes!

If you need to contact me over the year you’d probably be best writing to:

534 A Wilmslow Road,

Withington,

Manchester M20 4BY.

If you need to contact me during the holidays then my home address is:

20 Kelcliffe Avenue,

Guiseley,

Leeds LS20 9EW

Tel: 07761215270

New Committee:

The AGM took place on Saturday 3rd March. For those of you who weren’t in attendance (or have just forgotten), the following were elected:

Position / Name / Email
President / Katy Allan /
Men’s XC Captain / Ben Liu /
Women’s XC Captain / Katherine Fitzpatrick /
Men’s Athletics Captain / Mike Sawrey/Gareth Turner /
Women’s Athletics Captain / Julia Leventon /
Treasurer / Andrew Tongue /
Secretary / Pete Davis /
Social Secretary / Rob Szczepaniak-Sloane /
VP Secretary / Helen Wade /
Relays Organisers / Lisa Ainslie
Josh Hands /

Health & Safety Officer / Charles Crooks /
Freshers’ Rep / Frances Hale /

However, since the AGM Julia has moved to Budapest (along with Matt Bond) to study for a PhD, so the role of women’s athletics captain is currently unfilled. Andy Tongue also had to pull out of his position as treasurer, but thankfully Fran has taken over, who is doing a great job.

The new club constitution was also proposed, but it was decided that this should be accepted at an EGM later on in the year (at the club BBQ, giving everyone time to read through it properly and alter/add any items. This was unanimously accepted.

Below is a summary of events we have attended over the past year.

BUSA XC (03/01/07)

This year BUSA XC took place in Bath on what was a very flat, dry course. It was an incredibly sunny day and surprisingly warm for January.

Women’s results:

Name / Position / Time
Brigit Cooke / 26th / 23:40
Julia Leventon / 42nd / 24:15
Aida Geragusian / 66th / 24:53
Helen Wade / 149th / 27:56
Abby Revill / 163rd / 28:27
Katherine Fitzpatrick / 170th / 28:44
Lisa Ainslie / 209th / 30:22

The women’s team did very well, coming 11th overall. This is quite an improvement on 17th last year. Aida’s performance definitely deserves a mention. She ran amazingly well to say that she was still recovering from a back injury. Her performance is testament to the importance of cross training!

Men’s Long Race:

Name / Position / Time
Mike Sawrey / 46th / 36:56
Craig Cox / 70th / 38:11
Paul Rockliffe / 113th / 40:00
David Cains / 141st / 41:23
Ben Liu / 160th / 42:25
Peter Bains / 205th / 46:39

Men’s B Race:

Name / Position / Time
Adam Perry / 93rd / 27:09
Mike Donovan / 113th / 27:41
Rob Szczepaniak-Sloane / 115th / 27:42
Charles Crooks / 122nd / 27:53
Kevin Brydon / 140th / 28:38
Jonny Goodfellow / 191st / 31:29
Chris Munrow / 195th / 31:46
Tom Arnold / 207th / 33:43
David Griffiths / 209th / 34:01
Kesar Rafiq / 215th / 35:49

The men came 17th in the long race and 26th in the B race.

Hyde Park Relays (10/01/07)

Severe snow storms on the way down to London meant that we had a long journey down. However, it also meant that we got to have a snowball fight at the services! The men’s teams finished in 10th and 25th place, and the women’s in 12th and 25th. Beer racing performances were more impressive with both the men’s and women’s teams coming first. Good performances included Manuel running his first leg in 16:58 (over half a minute faster than any of our current members!). A big thank you to Manuel & Lisa for letting us all stay at their house.

Christie Cup XC/Past vs. Present (03/03/07)

Christie Cup turned into a bit of a washout. As is typical for Manchester it decided to chuck it down just as we marked out the course. I was worried that everyone was going to get lost when my flour arrows started to wash away! With the Dossers again failing to even show up, and Liverpool being unable to scrape together a girl’s team, the women won outright automatically. We decided to run in the men’s race so we’d at least have someone to compete against.

Manchester easily thrashed Liverpool with Dave Cains, Ben Liu, Pete Davis and Gareth Turner all coming in before Liverpool’s first runner. Tom Holden, Darren Talbot, Carl Tipton, Bruce Green and Terry Smith all turned out to run for Alehouse. Tommo gave the present members a run for their money, coming in 2nd after Dave Cains. However, overall the present members won.

Ed Prickett Memorial Relays, Nottingham (17/03/07)

The men’s A team were 24th and the B team were 42nd. Mike Sawrey ran an impressive 10:03 for the A team and with it being St. Patrick’s Day Dave Cains decided to run his second leg wearing a guiness hat.

The women’s A team (Brigit Cooke, Aida Geragusian and Julia Leventon) put in an excellent performance, coming 5th overall, and the B team came 23rd. Brigit ran an excellent time of 11:27. This year the course had been altered slightly and the hill seemed to go on forever!

Isle of Man Easter Athletics Festival

The festival got off to a good start with the women’s team (Helen Wade, Katherine Fitzpatrick, Lisa Blackman and Hazel Amper) and men’s team (Tom Holden, Manuel Da Silva, Gareth Turner and Charles Crooks) both coming 3rd in the 10k in Port Erin. I came 11th woman in 41:33, knocking over 3 minutes off my pb! Katherine Fitzpatrick also ran very well and earned herself a pb and a junior prize.

Beer trials were held on the Friday night but this didn’t appear to hinder the team the next day in the hill race where both A-teams finished in 4th place. The men’s race was won in 20:10 by a familiar face, James Walsh of Doss AC. The pub crawl across the island was definitely a memorable event with Kat Fitzpatrick, Rob SS and me all running the pub crawl in orange women’s underwear as part of our virgin challenges (Rob complete with orange fish-net tights).

The next morning, most of us feeling very much worse for wear, was the 5K in Douglas. However, the men’s team still managed to run well, coming 3rd overall, with good runs from Tommo Holden (15:46), Gareth Turner (16:43) and Manuel Da Silva (16:49). The ladies team didn’t do quite so well, coming 5th.

The weekend then came to a close with the perfect ending; winning the beer race at the party that night.

Training Weekend (07/09/07- 09/09/07)

Five present members and a big group of past members descended on Langsett Youth Hostel in the Peak District for a weekend for lots of running and even more drinking! The Friday night started off well with the girls cooking curry for everyone (and proceeding to make the boys do all of the washing up) and then no hands pudding. The next morning we went for a breakfast run around the nearby reservoir, and then went for a longer run of about 15 miles later on. That evening everyone was ravenous after all the running so we went to the pub for some well earned dinner and of course lots of beer. The evening finished with some of the past members trying to teach us some rather revolting songs!

Thank you to our President, Katie, for organising such a great weekend.

Fresher’s Trials

Freshers Trials took place on the 26th of September and was run along last year's Railway course. For the first time in recent memory a Fresher won the Men's race out-right! A crime that I'm sure the Captain will take full responsibility for in due course! Mike Holden (Tom Holden’s younger brother) clocked a solid 11.51 for first place, barely 28 seconds down on the Course Record. James Whitehouse also beat the first non-Fresher by 11 seconds, clocking 12.22 for second ahead of Charles Crooks, 3rd with 12.33.

Katherine Fitzpatrick recorded a very good time of 13:48 for first in the women's race, only 8 seconds down on Brigit Cooke's Course Record. Helen Wade finished 2nd in 15.18, ahead of first female Fresher, Lucy Winter with 15.22.

Manchester Relays (06/09/07)

The relays were once again held on the new course at Wythenshawe playing fields. The men’s race was won by Birmingham Old Boys, and interestingly Alehouse A beat our present members A team, coming 14th and 17th respectively. Excellent runs from Dave Norman (10:33) and Andy Norman (10:55), as well as present members Gareth Turner (11:02) and Mike Holden (11:21).

The women’s A team also came 17th, with another great run from our women’s captain (13:26). The Alehouse women came in 24th place lead by Aida Geragusian in a speedy 12:18.

Thanks to everyone that helped out on the day, and a special thank you to Kat for all of her hard work organising the race.

Edinburgh Braids Hill (10/11/07)

Arguably the best weekend away in the university year (excluding IOM of course). This year the men’s A team (Gareth Turner, Mike Holden, Charles Crooks and Paul Rockliffe) ran very well, coming 4th overall. Gareth ran very well, coming 5th overall. The women’s A team (Kat Fitzpatrick, Lucy Winter and Helen Wade) came 8th.

More importantly, Alehouse won the beer race in a time of only 26 seconds at the Ceilidh and once again beat the Dossers!

Upcoming Events

·  Birmingham University Relays – 17/11/07

·  Leeds Relays – 01/12/07

·  Christmas Dinner – 08/12/07

·  BUSA Cross-Country (Swansea University) – 02/02/07

·  Ed Prickett Memorial Relays (Nottingham University)

·  Christie Cup XC (Leeds University) – TBC

·  AGM – 08/03/07 (provisional date – still TBC)

·  Isle of Man Easter Athletics Festival – 21/03/07 – 23/03/07

If you would like to attend Xmas Dinner please fill out the form below and send it along with your cheque to Rob a.s.a.p. (by Friday 30th of November at the very latest). Christmas Dinner should start around 7pm but the time and location of the Chunder Mile is still to be confirmed. If you need any more information then you can contact Rob on: 07835164054

Hope to see lots of you there. If not, hope you all have a great Xmas.

P.S. If any of you have internet access and would prefer to receive this newsletter as an electronic copy next time, then please could you let me know via email on It would save club funds as well as being much better for the environment.

MUACCC

CHRISTMAS DINNER

8th December 2007

Rampant Lion Pub

17 Anson Rd, Victoria Park

Manchester

M14 5BZ

Starters:

□  Sweet Potato and Carrot soup (V)

□  Chicken Pate

□  Parma Ham and Melon

Main Courses:

□  Roast Turkey

□  Roast Duck

□  Pan Fried Seabass

□  Leek and Wild Mushroom (V)

Desserts

□  Christmas Pudding

□  Apple Pie

□  Chocolate Pot

□  Ice cream

Two Courses £9.95

Three courses £12.95

Send cheques payable to MUACCC to:

ROB SS

23 Leeshall Crescent, Fallowfield M14 6XZ

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