New extra content newsletter
We have a new updated newsletter this month with extra content and exciting features written by the PAC communication team of Jo Houghton, Michael Connaughton and Tony Ryan. We hope you enjoy it and we start with Pete Tasker's club race report on Stockport Trail Half Marathon.
Stockport Trail Half Marathon
Entering a new race on the calendar is always interesting, as no one knows what to expect. Looking at this, a trial half in Stockport on Sunday 13th Feb. Thoughts going through my mind where - ‘Its nearly Valentines day and the race could go either; chocolates and flowers, or a torturous death!’ (editors note: for those unaware of the 3 potential St Valentines at least 2 where tortured and killed, third is not known but the church accepts St Valentine died a martyr)
So I did enter, assuming a hilly one, as Stockport generally isn't known for being flat. The morning arrived and as I was about to take up taxi duties for Mrs Feingold the heavens opened! As we drove round the M60, the rain kept coming and if anything getting heavier.
We arrived in a school car park to pick up numbers and the rain was coming sideways. ‘Oh the joy’, we thought. Numbers collected and the PAC messenger chat had quickly escalated to complaints about the weather. Quick (for me, long for the ladies, worth noting the queue, not time on the throne) toilet break and a walk through the rain to the start.
Like the Avengers before us, the PAC crew assembled, though under the sole gazebo near the start, not very superhero-like, and there was a strange sense in the air… It appears the club has picked up an unofficial sponsor, with more than 50% of members wearing the exact same jacket! Who knew. (editors note: everyone had some kind of jacket except for Alia just in a base layer and vest and Kelly with a bin liner! Must be made of stronger stuff)
The race was being started in waves due to the thinness of the trail so the speedy crew made off for wave 1. I was in wave 3 alongside Duncan and we waited pensively not knowing what the rain and course had in store for us. A few minutes after the speedies set off our wave crossed the road and then we were off.
Middlewood way is an old railway line, flat and straight, think Outwood trail with slightly less trees and you’re pretty much there. First few miles the rain was strong but the path was firm, the waved start proved to work well and we had people ahead to pick off. Glyn had gone off in wave 2 and I saw he had somehow made himself a brand new friend from Macclesfield, and they were deep in conversation! Poor guy kept speeding up to get away but Glyn wasn't having any of it. After what felt like an age (5 ½ miles or so) we turned off the trail and up a flight of stairs which took us to a water stop and on to the canal towpath.
In the days running up to the race, the organisers said you’d be able to wear road shoes. The canal towpath had different ideas! Puddles and mud everywhere, lovely stuff! This was my favourite part of the run as it felt more traily and I love splashing in puddles. On the canal Glyn and Duncan stayed about 400 metres ahead of me, but I kept them in my sights. As a trio we fared well on the canal, we kept picking off runners (probably those in road shoes and the ones falling over).
At mile 10 we looped off the canal and back on to Middlewood trail running away from the start??? There was a little hairpin and then a 3 mile straight home. Back on more consistent terra firma, I tried to up the tempo and managed to pick off a couple of rogues (Duncan and Glyn), and put in a couple of moist miles (rain not me) and the end was in sight. A little burst at the end and I was home in a time of 1:45:08. With super muddy legs and soaked through skin, I was actually really happy with the result.
A lovely turn out for a day of rubbish weather, and some great times ran. Special mention to Alia on her FIRST EVER HALF marathon race with a time of 1:41:05 and 4th female finisher and Paul Savage finishing 2nd overall. Hopefully this one is on the calendar for next year, sign up for it people (just don't wear road shoes!).
PAC Pub Quiz Night
As we have not an opportunity to get together socially for a while, we thought it would be fun to organise a PAC pub quiz night. So, the club quiz night will be on Friday 22 April at the Prestwich Cricket, Tennis and Bowling Club. Doors open at 7pm for an 8pm quiz start. There will be a mixture of general knowledge, music, sport, picture rounds etc and maximum 6 per team.
The event will have limited numbers due to the size of the bar and so tickets are available on Eventbrite and a charge of £2.00 per head will be collected on the night. All proceeds from the event will go to Bury Hospice.
There will also be a raffle on the evening in aid of Bury Hospice for which we need prizes so please feel free to get in touch with Glyn Williams (glynw1907@gmail.com) or Duncan Shuttleworth, who are organising this event, if you have any items you can donate for the raffle.
The last quiz Duncan arranged was a great night and it's an opportunity for us all to meet the new members in our ever expanding club.
PAC is here, PAC is there, PAC is running everywhere…..
Ever thought of venturing further afield for your races but wasn't sure of how best to approach it? Tony Ryan, a veteran of running across the globe, has given us some tips and his thoughts on running overseas.
PAC members have experienced the pleasures of running in many countries across the world. I imagine a world map of all the places the PAC top has been seen would cover a lot of the globe.
In some cases almost no preparation is necessary. For example, I ran in Kraków on the spur of the moment as I realised they had a parkrun when I got there. With parkrun you don’t even have to register if you don’t want, you can just join in, it’s that simple.
At the other end people go overseas especially for a running event. For this there are probably two main approaches. Firstly, you can go on an organised trip where everything is arranged for you. This is a good option if you can’t get into the race any other way, or you don’t want to do the legwork yourself.
The other main option is to organise your trip yourself. I’ve done this plenty of times and found it’s often much cheaper and I have greater flexibility to do what I want either side of the event. The key issue here is to do thorough research in advance. I find this is all part of the fun as it gets you in the mood. For example, in France you need to be a member of French running club where medical certification is part of the joining process or provide a medical certificate that states you are medically fit to run the event you want to do. These certificates cannot be more than between six and 12 months old depending on the organiser’s requirements. In Italy it was similar until recently and now you can get away with signing a liability waver. Many organisers have useful information on their websites (https://www.sportstoursinternational.co.uk/sports-certificate).
I suppose a third option is the spontaneous one I mentioned at the start, as long as you have your kit with you. There may be an event on where you are on holiday or if you are working overseas. Unexpectedly I managed to do an event in India a few years back, it was only advertised locally. Also, I’ve been on lots of United trips to Europe and managed to fit in a run before hitting the bars in places like Madrid, Stockholm, Vigo, Barcelona, Seville and even Odessa (hell, that was cold!). However, even for these “free-lance runs” as I call them, you need to do a bit of research. I tend plot a route and upload it to my watch, so I don’t end up doing 10km more than I want to by getting lost.
If you are organising to go to an event yourself here are a few basic things I’ve learned, several from my own mistakes!
- Pack everything you think you might need, even if you don’t use it in the end. You may not be able to get your favourite gels or a new pair of twin-skinned socks where you are going. Triple check you have everything. Trust me, you really don’t want to run in your underwear if you have forgotten your running shorts!
- If you are flying take your running gear on board with you. Do you want to go to the other side of the world for an event only to find out your kit didn’t make it when you changed planes?
- Don’t take or buy anything new to use at the event. I saw people hobbling at the Barcelona marathon a few years back who were tempted to buy some flashy new “Barcelona Nike” shoes at the expo the day before….. ouch!
- Finally, make sure your research has been thorough. I know of at least one PAC member who went a very long way for an event only to find out they had got the date wrong!
You never know you could end up the face of the Barcelona Half Marathon like our own Michael Connaughton.
Meet your fellow club members
With more and more new members joining we thought it might be a good time to start to introduce everyone and well what better person to start with than Adrian Calvert our club Chair who you will see out leading runs on Monday and Thursday nights and at most club races as well as the AGM!
Ten questions to Adrian Calvert the club Chair
- How and when did you start running?
- 2014 with the Couch to 5k App when I changed jobs and no longer had time to go to the gym. Then Heaton parkrun which really got me into running with a really supportive community (including lots of PAC members). 268 parkruns completed at 115 events across 7 countries and I’m still parkrunning every week.
- What is your favourite race of all time?
- Race the Train 2021, who else runs a race the day after they got married (apart from Liz obviously!), a recommended way to start your honeymoon (and I beat the train). My second choice would be the Wilmslow Festive 10k where I have my 10km PB!
- Which bit of running kit could you not do without and why?
- My running watch as I do enjoy my running stats and a spreadsheet.
- What’s the most embarrassing or funniest thing you have seen or has happened to you whilst out running or on a race?
- Watching the panic in people’s faces at the “lake” on the Blackpool parkrun course and the way everybody came to a stop – we then had the funny realisation when we got to it that it really was just a small puddle and not a patch on the lakes we have had on the course at Heaton Parkrun.
- What is the hardest run you have ever done and why was it so hard?
- Four Villages Half Marathon in 2018. Everybody was waiting inside in the warm and dry until the very last minute to keep out of the snow, sleet, hail and freezing cold and to top it off I injured my hip part way around!
- Which runner do you most admire and why?
- Mo Farah – the way he is able to run the race needed to win a gold medal, not only having the pace but the real mental toughness.
- If you could do any race in the world that you haven’t already done which would it be?
- The Midnight Sun Run in Iceland
- What do you think about when you are running?
- I enjoy the opportunity to switch off and just enjoy my run, so nothing too important.
- What’s your favourite post run food?
- Sunday lunch, the treat for a good long Sunday run or race.
- And finally, what do you get out of running?
- Visiting new places and fitness but most importantly some great friendships.
Club News
You can keep in touch with what is happening at the club through the Prestwich AC Members Facebook page or the club's Strava page. They are both open to members only.
The next round of the Parkrun handicap started this weekend - results when updated can be found on the members Facebook page and the website.
The next club races are:
- Road - Wilmslow Half Marathon on 20 March
- Off-road - Roddlesworth Roller on 13 March
- Fell - Peter Hartley Liver Fell on 29 March
Some races are booking up fast especially when their entries have been rolled over from prior year's cancelled events so check what's coming up in the club race calendar and get your entries in.
If you have anything you want to put in the newsletter or an article you would like to include about a race or event you have done please contact Jo, Michael or Tony at prestwichacnews@gmail.com.
That's all folks!
Hope you all have a good month running, racing or just getting some quiet time. As always we like to finish with a quote, this time from Desmond Tutu:
"Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world."