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XC Race One Results: Cheltenham (M)

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Birmingham & District XC League Division One; Pittivale Park, Cheltenham

Stand-In Captain Tim Price carries more facial hair with a five-o’clock shadow than the entire Loughborough and Birmingham Uni XC Teams combined. Meanwhile we twice had to stop Rich Drakeley stealing kid’s lunch money and both Joe Read and Dan Ribiero were asked which of the rest of the team were their Dad’s. 

Somehow we have found ourselves in Division One of the B’ham & District XC League. Competing against the likes of the countries’ top sports universities. Aside from such youthful opposition in our division are the likes of minnows such as… Birchfield Harriers, Tipton Harriers, City of Stoke AC, Cheltenham AC and Coventry Godiva. Club’s who regularly make themselves at home on a national stage.

With the going under foot unusually firm the men quickly realised that what the kids lack in pension plans they make up for in quickness. Read more

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An Ultra, A Baker, A Clif 10 Peaks Racer

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Paul Baker recently ran the 56 Mile / 89 Km Clif 10 Peaks Ultra through the beautiful Brecon Beacons. He took time from his recovery to provide us with a fantastic write-up; including a Disney-esque Father, Son moment… A must read for anyone with an adventurous spirit and a little bit of crazy.
Read more

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Weekend Recap: The Maggs-nificent, Running parkrun & The Hills of Kenilworth Half

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Greetings Pop Pickers,

First off here is Dave & Ansel Collins’ 1971 Number 1, the brilliant ‘Double Barrel’.
[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_7Kx2FlFQY” width=”100″ height=”80″] This is to be played in honour of The Maggs-nificent Darren Maggs; for completing his first Ultra on Aug 27th in 11:00:26.  Darren ran the challenging Thirty-Six mile St. Bedas Ultra in impressive fashion for a newbie at the distance.

14192692_699403266864441_7457157636319491032_nHis splits across the 3 checkpoints and finish were an impressive:

2:25:58
5:54:53
9:44:48
11:00:26

Look at him. Smiling away, looking fresh as a daisy!

Kenilworth Half Marathon:

Another sterling K&D turnout for the WRRL’s only Half Marathon, the Kenilworth Half. Read more

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Midland Counties Road Relays – Sat 24th Sept

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MCAA

Midland Counties Road Relays
Saturday 24th September 2016
Sutton Park

The Autumn is now coming and with it brings the Road Relays at Sutton Park.  For those who haven’t done these before there are teams for men running 5.848km and women running 4.315km.  They are run in relay with runners grouped according to ability.  This means the faster runners will be together, but also means any ability can join in and is a great team event.  Knowing your effort helps the group certainly makes you push that bit harder!!

As always, K&D have a great team atmosphere and everyones efforts are rewarded! We need to enter names for the race by 4th September so please let Kathy or Simon know if you would like to join in ASAP.

More information is available at:
Road Relays Website

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Newark Half Marathon 2016: Two Sharps and a Bentley

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Capture

The Eden Hall Spa Newark Half Marathon 2016 takes almost as long to say as it takes a certain Mr. C. Sharp to run it.

Showing good form over the thirteen miles Chris clocked 1:13:14 for fourth place overall in the race. A cracking performance. He averaged 5:35 min/miles.

Only just behind Chris was Simon Bentley in 1:16:04 (chip time). Simon finished 10th overall to cement two top-ten finishes for K&D athletes.

Flick Sharp’s 1:36:48 was a huge improvement on her previous PB of 1:53:40. Just the seventeen minutes! A great summer of running showing in her massive new personal best and 16th place finish in the ladies competition.

Congrats to the three for putting on such a strong green and gold display in Newark.

 

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The Week Ahead – A Note from Kathy

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Hi all
Hope you’ve all been enjoying the sunshine and out running whether at home or on holiday.

Jonathan is away for the next 2 weeks so a brief update and reminder about Monday and Wednesday training.

Monday speed session will meet at 7.30 at the cricket club as usual. We’ll go down the Dorridge park and do a pyramid session with increasing distances. All abilities are welcome.

Wednesday club run for those not doing the WRRL BRAT 5k will be on, with reduced numbers.  There will be run leaders there but if anyone wants to do different paces and you know a route then feel free to take a group with you.

WRRL BRAT 5k is on Wednesday in Bournville starting at 7.45 with registration from 6pm.  Information and the registration form is here:

Brat 5k Entry Form

As lots of people are away at the moment it’s a great opportunity to get a good place and help boost points.  All the K&D teams are doing really well at the moment but because only 7 results count this is when places start to change. Hence it’s a great time to take advantage of fewer runners.

We are working on a new training plan for Wednesday evenings to keep you all focused and maintain the improvements we are seeing.

Have a great week – the weather promises to be lovely!

Kathy
Ladies Team Captain

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Weekend Recap: parkrun, Comrades, London 10000

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Brueton parkrun:

Some great performances on Saturday with a K&D winner in the men’s race and 3 men in the top five!

Recent joinee Gareth Wainwright ran 17:17 for 1st, Darren John was 3rd in 18:18 and Richard Dixon 5th in 18:38.

On the ladies side Amanda O’Leary was 3rd lady home in 20:32.

We also had a number of excellent PB’s: Read more

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Midland Road Relays

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Our intrepid K and D teams raced at the Midland Road Relays on Saturday 2nd April at Sutton Park over a tough multi stage race.

FotorCreated

 

The men raced over a gruelling 12 stages, 32 mile race.  As they have done for the last 3 years, achieved qualification to the National Championships in a couple of weeks.  The team were led out by Chris Sharp (11th on his stage) who is deep into London marathon training and looking extremely strong.  He was supported by Joe Read, Pete Grime and Pat Moss on the longer 5.3 mile stages.  There were some great performances in the following 8 shorter 3.1 mile stages with team captain, Simon Bentley (9th on his stage), bringing the team home on the last stage to finish 21st overall.

The women fielded 2 teams in a 6 stage race over the same gruelling course as the men.  Fastest on the long stages were Monica Green (25th on her stage) and Emma Donnelly and on the shorter stages Jane Hunt (29th on her stage) and Rachel Aston. There was a nail biting finish as the women’s teams battled it out to finish 41st and 42nd overall.

Full results and photos can be found at Race Results

 

 

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One Final Push

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After many months of muddy toil this weekend sees the end of this seasons XC league and it looks set to be a thrilling climax as our men’s team make one last push for promotion to Division 1.

The team currently lie in 3rd place in the league and can secure promotion at Saturday’s race in Gloucester if they finish 3rd or higher on the day.  The last race saw a weakened men’s team finish in 7th so a strong team performance is needed on Saturday.

Anyone who is a member of the club is eligible to race and this weekend, more than ever, the more runners we have the better our chances of promotion.

So, if you’re free, looking for a good run and want to support your club please come along.  If you can please let Captain Si know asap so he can ensure you are registered – although you can also register on the day.

The race is at Blackbridge in Gloucester and starts at 14:30.  The team will be travelling down by convoy leaving the cricket club at 12:30 to ensure they arrive in time to warm up and enjoy much banter!

Please note: If you can in the last race there is a change tothe course as Crypt School have not given permission for the race to cross the school fields.  The course is now 2 short and 3 longer laps.

Parking changing and registration, however, will still be at the school.

Blackbridge Directions and Course Map

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Improve your Running Workshop

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The Alexander Technique for Running Foundation Workshop

Do you want to learn more about how to run better more efficiently and faster and prevent injury then read on this is for you!!

We have an exciting opportunity for you to attend a course on running from a Canadian Running Coach called Malcolm Balk and his colleague Susie Baker, who is an expert in the Alexander technique. Malcolm has written an excellent book called Master the Art of Running. I went on this course held for Physios last year and it’s been the best running course I’ve been on. Full of practical ways to improve your efficiency and prevent injury, when you get it right running feels so easy!! The course is being held over 2 sessions at the club. Initially with Susie on the 9th April then the second session with Malcolm on Wednesday the 11th May. There are only 30 places and these will be offered on first come first serve. The cost is £65 for the 2 sessions so great price. See attached for further information.

If you want to secure your place can you email sarah.connors@talk21.com and then pay £25 deposit to the club via Flick Sharp the treasurer, bank details can be found on the website, or let either of us have a cheque made payable to the club.

 

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