Race Report – Jim Holland
When my alarm went at 5.30am on Sunday morning, I was wondering whether I really wanted to get up and travel to Chester to run the marathon. After picking Steve up on route to Stone, we met Kim, Marian and Mick at the tennis club to travel to the race together.
By the time we arrived in Chester it was clear that the weather would be perfect for the race. We were greeted by the race organiser who I’d last seen at the Paris expo when Bernie and I called in to see if he had any liquid refreshments. At this point there was no sign of his brother Tim Hulse, who we subsequently discovered was catching up on his beauty sleep at home.
Before the start at 9am I said hello to ex bat Michelle Rushton – Fox who was running her first marathon for 5 years, Jason Blount from Newcastle AC and our friend Stu who we met at the Vilnius race in Lithuania.
The marathon began at 9am prompt with a few hundred metres on the race course before climbing up to the city centre for a loop and then out towards Belgrave and Pulford. I’d moved in front of the 3:15 flag carrier as I headed to the half way point in 1:32. A two mile loop here saw us emerge back on the road where we were joined by the metric marathon runners.
It was a pleasant run to the finish on the race course with plenty of support all along the route and lovely sunny day. I finished in 3:08 which was my quickest time in 5 years. http://www.stonemm.co.uk/2015/10/09/chester-marathon-4th-october-2015/ http://www.stonemm.co.uk/2015/10/09/chester-marathon-4th-october-2015/Sparker was next in 3:20 (1st vet 60), Tim 3:24, Mick 3:24 and Kim 3:56. After a shower and beer we set off back to Stone to continue the rehydration in the Royal Exchange.
Steve Parker led the Bats home in Poland, in 3.24 which he improved on at the Chester Marathon to record a time of 3.20 and was 1st M60. He was beaten in by Jim’s best time for about 4 years, 3.08.
This first staging of the Moddershall 5 Mile road race took place on 27 September in perfect weather conditions. Organised by Mick Downes (and other members of SMM assisting) for Moddershall Cricket Club, the race was in aid of Breakthrough Breast Cancer in memory of Mandy Shenton, a former member of the cricket club.
97 brave souls set off at 11:00, cheered on by a small band of supporters who probably (having just driven up Hayes Bank) never expected to see them again, a scene reminiscent of the Accrington Pals marching off cheerily to war-time France. However, return they did! With the men’s race being led in by Craig Pilsbury in 29:59 (unattached – someone sign him up!), Steve Naylor of Michelin AC in second place in 30:56 and Paul Swan of Trentham RC third in 31:13. The ladies were led home by the aptly named Wendy Swift of Staffs Moorlands in 34:10 with Pippa Steele (unattached but soon to return to SMM I am told) second in 37:24 and our own Kirsty Stephenson third in 37:48.
As for me, I puffed along at the back, trying to enjoy the beautiful weather and scenery and wondering why someone had moved Moddershall Oaks a half a mile further on from where I last saw it. However I, like several other SMM members who ran at Moddershall, had competed in the Winsford cross-country the day before and were entitled to feed a bit puffed. So that’s a big cheer for all those who ran on Saturday and a bigger cheer for Mick and the Cricket Club and all those SMM members who turned out to help make this a great little race. Let’s see it on the calendar again next year!
In the very early hours of 11th September, the Bats – Jim, Tim, Tom, Ben, Roger, the Legend, Bernie, Sparker, Mick and Kim assembled outside the bat cave with 4 other good men and true – Rich, Phil, Chris and Lee and set off for what must be the most underwhelming airport in the civilised world, Nottingham East Midlands.
On this trip (2) was replaced by two activities – shooting and go-karting. On Saturday we all trouped off to a shooting range and fired a Glock pistol, a shotgun and an AK47. Safety was paramount and we were all advised where to stand whilst the shooting was in progress – although in Tim “target, what target?” Hulse’s case, the safest place would have been in front of the target. The best performance came from Chris “the legend and 007” Barlow.
On Monday we went off for our second activity: go-karting and again a surprise winner emerged in Roger “out of my way” Taylor. A final beer session followed the highlight of which was the Legend leading the beer hall in a chorus of “happy birthday” to help Tim celebrate his 47th.
This is the third year the race has been held in and around the beautiful historic village of Kimbolton. The race starts and finishes in the grounds of Kimbolton Castle and this year attracted around 600 runners. The weather was too kind for us as average temperature during the race was around 22C.
Whilst waiting for the race to start Andy Ellams from BRJ Run & Tri Club in Huntingdon (club local to Kimbolton) introduced himself and transpired that he lived in Stafford before moving to Huntingdon some 5 years ago and he ran our Flying Fox Marathon last year. We ran together for the latter part of the race and during the run I was overtaken by Richard Davies also of BRJ Run & Tri Club who mentioned that he also ran our Flying Fox Marathon last year and both runners enjoyed the Marathon but not the hills!!
The race was organised by Nice Tri Events with chip timing and the chip was built into the race number. Each race number displayed the Christian name of the competitor. Every finisher received a Wicking Tee Shirt, attractive Medal, Banana and Water. Also at the finish they provided an Instant Result Service for each runner using a keypad to input the race number which produced a printout showing Provisional Results ie Gun Time, Chip Time, Race Position either Male of Female and position in Age Group.
With the Potteries Marathon making a return after 10+ years I decided to make it my debut marathon. When I started running about 3 years ago I had no intention of running a marathon as it seemed such a long way and with a young family I would never fit in the training required.
As we passed Longton Park some fellow Bats were there cheering us along and Mike Keeling taking photos, at least at mile 3 we could still smile. 
My pace had slowed at this point and the legs were beginning to ache but the head was still ok and was still enjoying the challenge as we dropped into Newcastle (was that the first downhill ?), through the town and then a climb up past the Thistleberry, never noticed this as a hill before but at 18/19 miles it appeared hard work. We then got on to part of the Clayton 10k course round Seabridge lane, and at this point I had ran further than ever before and knew I only had a 10k to run (easier said than done).
This race was billed as 16th Bewl 15 mile race incorporating 2nd British Masters Athletics Federation Multi-Terrain Championships. The race was voted 25th best race in 2014 by Runners World, so I decided it was one I had to experience despite it being a round trip of 540 miles from home. Pre- race entry was just under 800 runners a record for this race. A chip timing race.