2012 Club League Race Report - Race 5: The Grandborough Grinder

The Kenilworth Runners inbox has been flooded with emails since the inaugural ‘Grandborough Grinder’ took place last week: most of them calling for the appointment of a new Club League Race naming committee

The committee’s defence, that the nature of the course ruled out the choice of ‘Grueller’ and there were no viable alternative ‘gr..’ words, seemingly fell on deaf ears, with accusations of a ‘lack of imagination’ and that they should ‘get their priorities right’. The naming committee’s subsequent resignation letter was short on detail, save for a pointed reference to the Club Chairman’s rejection of an expenses claim for the purchase of a thesaurus earlier in the year.

Nominations for the name of the next Club Race, currently going under the working title of the ‘Hay Wood Off Road’ race, are invited.

As for the race itself, one recurring theme of the Club League Race season so far, that all races would feature at least one ford, initially looked under threat, with conditions on arrival looking dry over the whole course.

However, thanks to the reappearance later on in the day of the other recurring theme of the Club Race season so far, some form of ‘dramatic’ weather on race day, some of the later finishers were greeted with ford-like conditions towards the end of their run. As Dave Ramus was seen to turn into the finishing straight, his path to the finish line would have looked clear, and ready for him to put his foot on the gas for his traditional drive for the finish and dip over the line. However, thanks to the biblical amounts of rain that fell in the space of time it took for him to complete the final 200m, his passage across the line was more reminiscent of the Hoff entering the surf for another life-saving escapade in an episode of Baywatch.

As for the results, Richard Miller was a clear winner on the night, his massive improvement of nearly 8% on his target time setting him apart from the rest of the field. Sally Hicks, Pauline Dable and Mark Hall all managed improvements of over 4%, and many people hit form on the night to improve on their target time, including a very welcome returnee: Stef Shillington – welcome back to the Club League, Stef.

However, performance of the day has to go to Gary Dilnot: it was great to see him back and racing, and represents a fantastic effort on his part.

No jokers were played at Race 5: runners have perhaps not yet cottoned on to the fact that playing your joker brings the additional benefit of a guaranteed mention in the Race report.

The combined results for this race and the 2 Castles have seen the mid-season League Tables start to take shape:

Sally Hicks is overall League Leader, with Dave Ramus sitting within striking distance, and yet to play his joker. Dave heads up the B Group, with Glyn Clarke sitting close enough behind to take advantage should Dave not use his joker wisely. Liz Hegan heads up a closely bunched pack in the A Group, with plenty still to play for there, but Richard Steel looks very strongly placed in Group C, his maximum score on the first race seemingly putting him in an unassailable position, with the only question being what his involvement will be in the competition for overall winner.

Thanks as ever to the marshals, whose efforts on the night helped to ensure the safety of all taking part, and made the process of producing results so much easier:

Helen Neal, Adair Swan, Steve Wright, Martin Broomfield, Richard Green, and Arthur Smith.

Once again we were pleased to welcome some Guest runners to a Club League Race – hopefully they liked what they saw and will be tempted to join the club in the near future:

Chris Simkiss: 33.45

Sarah Monahan: 41.55

Dominic Butler: 30.42

Feedback from those there on the day seemed to indicate that this new event was a success. The course seemed to be well received and there was a warm welcome from the villagers and especially from our hosts at the Shoulder of Mutton. The turnout for the race itself was the icing on the cake, given this was a new course and somewhat further afield than most Club Races. Thanks very much for your support.

I’ll be sending a questionnaire out at the end of the Club Race season in which I’ll ask you to indicate which of this year’s races you’d like to see again. Feel free to forward any additional feedback in the meantime.

Race results are here:

Grandborough Grinder Results

The current league tables are here:

Grandborough Grinder League Tables