Roadhoggs Leicester AC

Roadhogg runners

2007-8

Reports by Kim Richardson, Cross Country Captain

Derby Runner League Race 5 - Sinai 2/03/08

Well I have to be pleased that Roadhoggs made good progress in the league this season, with full men's teams in every event except this last one. We had six men and two ladies (well done girls), so just one more guy and we would have been given points. On a bright and dry Sunday morning we looked down on the breweries of Burton-On-Trent. This is the race that starts up a steep climb so it takes you a while to recover from that, then it's a very scenic course with plenty more up an down all the way round including two monster hills that sort out the wheat from the chaff - in the car coming home we agreed it's impossible to run up them, so we were all chaff. There was a long final stretch along an undulating track which was probably the fastest mile on the course, before hurtling back down the hill to the finish. Dave Lod chased Peter all the way before just getting in front in the end. Dale Jenkins and Rob Bedstead also raced each other round, then came Jon Heap and then me. For the girls it was good to see Hannah and Trudy yet again; Hannah ran a blinder and Trudy is proving so reliable for us. If just one or two more of you will join in then we have a ladies team next season as well. Ronnie was there to collect the results for us as he often is; cheers Ron, we do appreciate you being there and telling us how good you are with computers.

RESULTS: 64 Dave Lodwick (V40) 38.57, 67 Peter Sloneczny (V40) 39.05, 88 Dale Jenkins (V40) 40.48, 93 Rob Milstead (V50) 41.13, 116 Jon Heap 42.51, 128 Kim Richardson (V50) 45.14, 153 finished, team unplaced. Women: 13 Hannah Green 41.14, 47 Trudy Sharpe 50.05, 66 finished, team unplaced So at the end of the League this season we finished in the lofty positions of: MEN 8th, LADIES unplaced, and COMBINED 9th, all out of 13 clubs in division 2. Thats our best, thanks everyone, next season I am aiming for European qualification.

Derby Runner League Race 4 - Foremark 17/02/08

Another good day for Roadhoggs mudlarks. It was a bright and cold day and the ground was hard. This is a 2-lap course, with each lap starting around the visitor area with lovely views across the reservoir, then 2 steep hills with a steeper downhill in between, then a long run back along a gravel track. We had 9 men running so some poor bugger ran his best but did not score team points. Still, that's another improvement for the club. Mike Munday was first in, making another welcome appearance and leading for most of the race until he was overhauled into 2nd pace. Mike continues to amaze because no-one sees him train, he just turns up and wins races. Then a great debut run from young Nick Cobley who is looking like a very good prospect for us, chased in by Karl who won the battle of the Attons. Then Dave Lodwick who reckoned that was the fastest he had run in a cross-country, Craig Atton, Dale Jenkins, Chris 'blackbelt' Mann who has made a good recovery from his eye injury, Jon Heap and yours truly. Also a record number of 2 Roadhoggettes ! Hannah Green also made her debut in this league and ran a great 21st followed by Trudy Sharpe who ran well considering she had little time to prepare as I managed to get us so lost on the way there (remember East Midlands Airport, Trudy?). Thanks to everyone who ran; the mens team has climbed another place in the division and the women nearly scored some team points! Just one more lady next time ...

RESULTS: 2 Mike Munday (V40) 31.16, 61 Nick Cobley 36.37, 65 Karl Atton 37.14, 77 Dave Lodwick (V40) 37.51, 97 Craig Atton 38.57, 111 Dale Jenkins (V40) 39.54, 116 Chris Mann (V40) 40.00, 134 Jon Heap 41.22, 164 Kim Richardson (V50) 43.56, 197 finished. Team 5th in dvn 2, overall 7th. Women: 21 Hannah Green 41.14, 51 Trudy Sharpe 46.55, 85 finished.

Derby Runner League Race 3 - Grace Dieu 20/01/08

After all the rain the Grace Dieu course was expected to be wet, and it was soggy and muddy all the way round. It seemed to go on for ever but was I guess between 5 and 5.5 miles. The club's annual dinner the previous evening also didnt help as all of our runners claimed that the beer and wine impaired their performance (any excuse). This is a regular league course but normally 2 laps round a variety of fields and woods, but this time it was a single lap with a long section around a very muddy, rocky and hilly track. In some places it was more like a fell run and a bit dangerous because you had to watch where you were planting your feet with rocks hidden under the deep mud, along with the leading runners coming back down the hillside on the same track you were going up!! Still we had the 8 scorers for the mens team so we are keeping up the much better league performance this season, led in by our newly crowned athlete-of-the year Peter in 54th. We had good middle-order finishers in Dale, Craig and Dave Lodwick, plus Rob Milstead (Swanee: it's not Newstead) in 144th. Behind that came John Stew, Jon Heap on the comeback trail and then me who managed to fall over on the safest section of the course. Another Roadhoggs debutante was Trudy who ran a great 54th in the ladies race ... I hope we will see more of you girls turning out, it would be great if we can start finishing a ladies team as well and finally begin to make our mark in this league.

RESULTS: 54 Peter Sloneczny (MV40) 36.06, 113 Dale Jenkins (MV40) 41.43, 124 Craig Atton 41.53, 135 Dave Lodwick (MV40) 42.27, 144 Rob Milstead (MV50) 43.04, 187 John Stew (MV560) 48.23, 200 Jon Heap 49.33, 209 Kim Richardson (MV50) 51.35, 230 finished. Team 9th (dvn 2), overall 8th. 55 Trudy Sharpe 51.30, 92 finished

   Huncote Hash 30/12/07

This is the annual Christmas calorie burn-off race, about 6.5 miles round all sorts of terrain and obstacles. It is always a friendly and well-supported event with a few local runners in fancy dress; this time some of the men were dressed as pirates but of course Roadhoggs already did that earlier in the month (am I missing out on something here?). The course was as usual wet and muddy but the section around the quarry was firmer than expected which helped. Croft Hill was such a slog, with plenty of jolly spectators to (take the piss) encourage you to the top. Then came the brook which was quite deep this year, and later on you had to literally haul yourself up the sandhills but at least that was near the end. We had 4 runners, including Trudy Sharpe who ran unattached but is soon to join us.

RESULTS 74 Dale Jenkins (MV40) 50.48, 119 John Stew (MV50) 55.24, 148 Kim Richardson (MV50) 58.54, 171 Trudy Sharpe 61.35 207 Finished.

   Derby Runner League Race 2 - Bagworth Heath 2/12/07

The day started wet and windy (reminds me of our Chairman) but I was looking forward to another Roadhoggs team in double figures, not least because I was trying to get out of running this myself as my Achilles was a bit sore again. Well we had 6 before the start so with first 8 to score it would not have made any difference if I ran well or not, so I ran anyway and was ok. The day brightened up during the race, though it was very muddy underfoot and there were plenty of places to fall over. This is a two-and-a-bit lap course with a tough climb up to the top of a ridge in each lap. The number of runners is also up this season, so you have more runners to race against wherever you are down the order. Some of the track was narrow so it was difficult to overtake (or be overtaken) and so you tended to settle into a pace, but it was still all a hard slog. Apart from coming down off the ridge and a long grassy straight near the end of each lap there are no easy sections to get your legs back. Roadhoggs were led in by Mike Munday in 6th place, a great performance considering he hared all 8 primary schools' races on Western Park the day before. Then Peter Sloneczny ran another stormer to finish 27th. Behind that we packed quite well, Dave and Craig must have been chatting because they finished 122nd and 124th (in truth Dave caught Craig just at the end), then Dale Jenkins in 132nd, Chris Peach in 146th, Baz Barrett in 170th and then me. That makes 8!! I wasn't aware that Chris had ran until after the race but it made my brilliant 207th so important. As this was the last league race before Christmas, we enjoyed some mince pies and coffee afterwards. The league is becoming ever more popular and there are more clubs now, split into 2 divisions with Roadhoggs in the 2nd. It was good to see some new cross-country runners in our team, and to finish another full team and earn league points. We must be doing better than ever, no longer stuck to the bottom of the table and we have the incentive to get promoted. We just need some of you girls to turn up now, so we will have to think of something to tempt you. Thanks Guys, I hope we can keep this going.

Results: 6 Mike Munday 31.34, 27 Peter Sloneczny 34.14, 122 Dave Lodwick 39.53, 124 Craig Atton 40.00, 132 Dale Jenkins 40.32, 146 Chris Peach 41.20, 170 Baz Barratt 42.55, 207 Kim Richardson 46.40. Men's Team: 7th (Div 2).

Derby Runner League Race 1 - Fosse Meadows 18/11/07

Report by Dave Lodwick.

Kim is simply not going to believe this! When Kim released that the first Derby Runner race clashed with his nookie weekend, he probably thought he wouldn't be missing much - it is two seasons since we have scored a single point. I'm not sure which he will find the most shocking - the fact that we fielded 13 runners or the fact that one of them was Swanee! Actually, given our Chairman's longstanding dislike of running on anything other than tarmac I'm pretty confident it'll be the latter.

When a spell of cold weather turns wet, you normally expect the temperature to rise a bit. Unfortunately, we all woke to strong wind and cold driving rain - hardly the weather for encouraging our Derby Runner debutants. I had been secretly hoping we might just manage a team, despite regulars Chris Mann and John Heap being injured, but nobody could have expected 13 runners. It was a pleasure to welcome Mike Munday back after a long time out with a very serious injury. The course was a really nice one, with a bit of everything. Much to most people's relief, there were no hills to speak of (just a couple of gentle slopes). The car park was a bit of a challenge, particularly for those with rear wheel drive BMWs, and that was just getting in! Fortunately, there seemed to be plenty of people on hand to push stricken cars.

Mike led us home in 10th and then there was a bit of a gap but we packed superbly. Adrian ran a well-judged race to finish "best of the rest" in 82nd. Karl (90th), now benefiting from training with his second claim club, Belper Harriers, continued to hold sway over brother Craig (108th) with Dave L (112th) not far behind. Peter felt unwell after a mile and so took it steady (127th), just holding off a fast finishing Jerry (128th). Dale (134th) completed the eight with Baz a bit further back in 145th. Despite losing Chris, who pulled up with an injury after a mile, we still hadn't finished. John S came in 211th and Dave S 248th. Both Dave S and Jerry were wearing road shoes so they must have found it particularly tough in the conditions. Sally (74th) was the only lady to swap the duvet for a running vest and hopefully, after she has thawed out, she'll persuade some of the others that this cross-country lark is actually rather fun (provided you don't mind peeing in a hedge)!

So Kim, I can't offer you photographic evidence (too wet for cameras) but if you look at the results you'll definitely see "248 Dave Swan V60" and I'm sure he'll gladly show you his muddy trainers if you still have any lingering doubts!

RESULTS: Men: 10 Mike Munday 32.57, 82 Adrian Stanley 38.34, 90 Karl Atton 38.50, 108 Craig Atton 39.55, 112 Dave Lodwick 40.07, 127 Peter Sloneczny 41.06, 28 Jerry Wilkes 41.08, 134 Dale Jenkins 41.27, 145 Baz Barratt 42.09, 211 John Stew 47.29, 248 Dave Swan 52.53. Ladies: 74 Sally Waterfield 52.09. Men's Team: 7th (Div 2).

Reports from other seasons: 2017-18, 2016-17, 2015-16, 2014-15, 2013-14, 2012-13, 2011-12, 2010-11, 2009-10, 2008-9, 2007-8, 2006-7