Ercall Hill Runners 2010

The 2010 EHR League Season.

Way back in January '10, following the "runaway success" of EHR 2009 league, the EHR Committee (name and addresses
on request.. or bribery) decided to 'do it all again'. Results weren't followed up during the year though, due to many
reasons. But that didn't mean it wasn't going on. Oh, no - out there, people were finding new hills to run up - and fall
down; new and more creative ways to injure themselves; and there were competitions to see just how much muddy kit a
washing machine can take - amongst other things.

Before we look at the year in depth, let's remind ourselves of THE RULES. Every good competition has rules - and the EHR
League is no exception, even though it stretches the definition of the word 'good'.
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The Rules:
1. runners gain points for their position in fell races; 2 points for being in the top 1/3rd, 1 pt for being in 2nd 1/3rd and 0
pts thereafter.
2. the amount of height gained in a race will be recorded and added up for a runner as "height difference" (as in
football's "goal difference") . In the event of a draw on points, then HD will be taken into account.
3. "Brian the Snail" points will be awarded on the following basis; 1 x brian point is awarded if time is 150% or more of
winner's time- if time is 200% of winning time then x 2 points awarded. A seperate award may possibly be made for the
highest number of Brian points, but Brian points are there to encourage people to take part.
4. The "total points" for a runner will be (position point(s) + brian point(s) )
5. the league positions will be fixed until July 1st, when promotions and possibly  relegations will take place. You wont
lose your points accumulated by then though (this is a weird quirk of a weird and quirky league)
6. The organisers reserve the right to make other rules and award points as they see fit.
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And so, on to 2010:

January - June:
Although there are such months in the calendar, they are really for the lunatic fringe of the EHR, who would not
understand the principle of winning points, preferring instead to run unfeasibly long distances in sub-zero temperatures
with only sheep for company. No, we intended to take a popular line and conveniently forget about the early months of
the year this time, much to the annoyance of some who had worked hard already during the coldest days. They showed
their chilblains in disgust. One prominent local fellrunner, whilst biting his lower lip in despair at all the wasted effort so
far, described it as "harsh but fair".

Due to last year's popularity, numbers were up and in 2010 there were 2 divisions:
Division 1 
steve - nick - sedge - shell - andydavies - saddler - jean - ant - griffer - spence - jazzyjeff - aj - big daz - ali - staitey - ryan

Divison 2 
stu - beechy - BeesWatkins - Simontoghill - roger roger - hugh -Tom Mc -Johnlittley - lisaw -richthedoc -cliff - sandra-
broseleyrob - johnrickus -Mark Lines -amazinggrace - SueF -unclepete - Cynth - debutante - jon

These were the starters. There would be inevitable dropouts.....
With the minor crisis averted, the first few races get underway in the league. First up was the Wrekin Fell Race and it was a rare chance for new boy Gavin Goodwin to get one over on the Bajster, leaving him for dust on the ercall slopes. Baj gratefully grabbed his point and retired home to lick his wounds a bit.
Come the Wrekin Streak.. and EHR reps were out in force, with the Griffmeister returning to show the league just who is the daddy (..sometimes..) and gavin continuing his brilliant start to the season by grabbing another away win. Baj and new boy Davey battled it out for the bronze with baj getting the nod and the EHR scoring system meaning Davey had to settle for just the one point to help his Div 2 challenge. 
 More points to be had, and a special mention for Dave Edwards, making his debut, and of course the evergreen Naomi ,
also making her EHR debut - and nearly bagging a couple of Brian points (no shame there - got to be in it to win it)
And so to the annual easy points fest of Sheinton, with Baj just stopping off in Wales to grab a nice win, and some sun at
llantysilio. Griffer and Baj were once again featuring, with returning new boy Steve Reid scoring massively, and Ant not
being too far off the pace. Obvioulsy the stiles were to their liking A solid mid-pack effort from Davey , Jazzy and an
excellent effort from Grace brought home some more draw-points... but there was a massive amount of Brian points
given out , due to the excellent winning time.
More races arrived in close order, with Davey venturing out to Wales (Moel Eilio) to gain a point and Baj off to the heat of Lletty and the Intercounties race where he came home with his tail well and truly between his legs but a useful Brian point nonetheless. They came out in force for Caradoc though with Davey and Andy Davies flying down the hill. At the other end Ali and Sue began to pick up some very useful points. It was still all to play for...
...and then the rain came down, in drips, drops, stair rods, tsunamis etc at Cader Idris. It was nothing but character building, with Lou recording a record heart rate of 183 bpm and proving there's life in the old gal yet.
But the weather was much kinder to the EHRs when taking on good old Batch Bash fell race at All Stretton - Dave Coley continued his good form with a stormin' run and we also got Chris Last making his season debut.
The winning time was awesome though, so even though EHRs were well up the field they were still getting Brian points!!
 At the Rodney's Pillar race, Steve Baj popped out quietly while no-one was watching to claim a sneaky couple of points - nice one mate:)
Club Chairman in  "He appears to be going wrong way again" scandal

Sue - helpfully pointing out where the hill is. 		EHR were back in force for the hell - sorry hill - that is Pontesbury Fell Race. The chips and beer flowed as Ali picked up a 1st in category award and of course, the points continued to mount up..
Well, to be honest, we were going to end the league season there, have a bit of a fiddle with the league tables and see what we had got left with. But we hadnt reckoned on Nick Thomas and Andrew Davies going out to race some Horse or other out in Wales over 22 miles and 3000ft of climb. We felt this epic could not go unrewarded so they were awarded massive extra points (..rule #6 applies)

At the end of the Month, the results were examined in depth, and it was found that Steve was literally running away with the 1st division, but intriguingly, there was a pack of Jean, Jeff and Ant all snapping at his heels for the minor European places. In the 2nd Division, Davey was again making a good start, but was all the time being tracked like the wild dangerous animal he is by Susie and Gavin. Due to the enormous amount of drop-outs though over the season (this was expected. Hills are hard, and there are other things to be done, like extreme ironing - oh yes! See opposite..)  the league was combined to make one Mega-Super-Premiership-League for the rest of the year.

EHR Mega-Super-Premiership League Positions, as at 30/6/10:









name
P W L D last race ht diff brian pts tot pts










steve
9 4 1 4 950 13665 1 13
Davey
6 3 0 3 1160 7175 0 9
jean
4 0 2 2 1000 5690 4 6
ant
4 1 2 1 1160 3365 3 6
jazzyjeff
5 0 3 2 1160 6295 4 6
SusieF
5 0 5 0 1160 6850 5 5
ali
5 0 5 0 1160 4175 5 5
cliff
4 0 4 0 1160 3365 4 4
griffer
2 2 0 0 325 1135 0 4
Gavin
2 2 0 0 810 2510 0 4
Dave Edwards
3 0 3 0 1160 2850 3 3
andydavies
3 0 0 3 3000 4690 0 3
Steve Reid
1 1 0 0 325 325 0 2
Chrislast
2 0 2 0 1160 2160 2 2
sedge
2 0 1 1 3000 3325 1 2
Loulou
2 0 2 0 3000 3325 2 2
spence
2 0 2 0 325 1135 2 2
nick
1 0 0 1 3000 3000 0 1
Naomiw
1 0 1 0 810 810 1 1
amazinggrace
1 0 0 1 325 325 0 1
deb
1 0 1 0 325 325 1 1


July to December:
The second half of the EHR Year (aka "the busy half") kicked off with a remarkable performance that wouldn't normally
feature in these pages - namely Mike Sprason's efforts at the Day in The Lakes triathlon. Faced with disaster in 2009,
Mike chose to drop out of the run stage, a rather hilly half-marathon on the side of a fell in the Lake District. But in 2010,
stronger, fitter and faster than before, the man was back.. and this time... it was personal.  Mike recorded an excellent
7hrs 7 mins and an additional and previously unheard of 2 (yes, two) EHR points for his magnificent effort.

Andy Davies deploying the glazed expression to good effect


 Back on Planet Earth, Art Zammit joins the chase for glory with a useful placing in the Bull Hill Fell race, Day 1 of a 3-races-in-3-days event somewhere 'oop north', and the usual suspects gathered for Callow Fell race, these days run on a weekend. What a Sunday morning! (..and afternoon, for some of us..) . Davey closed the gap on the Baj to a mere 3 points....
...The rain came down in buckets at the Stiperstones Fell Race, this year run in an opposite direction to normal due to some erosion prevention work being carried out on the footpath. It didn't stop Davey, Baj and Andy Davies turning out though and it didn't stop the gap at the top reducing EVEN MORE... ooh this is exciting!!
..Steve was quick to spot this threat though and sneaked off to Wales to  find himself, and another point, out at the ras Moel Siabod. Blimey. 2300 ft... and impossible to pronounce....
..Not like "Snowdon", though. That's quite a big hill, with a restaurant on top and a railway to take you there! But I guess
the runners wouldn't be stopping long, as it was too misty and damp. Just long enough to bag a few EHR points - Nick,
Steve and Jean all picking up points - and because the race was won in a mad time, Brian points as well. Double Bubble.
Worthy mention here for Stu who gains a Brian point for 'over and above' supporting. He was on his way to the pub - but
ended up at the summit of Snowdon (or something like that) and so started shouting loudly, which Nick took to be
encouragement of some kind.
Baj stayed in Wales to tackle the Gryn Gallop (ok, so its only just in Wales,  but an international IS an international run) and to take him clear of the 20,000 ft climbed mark for 2010 and on the way towards last year's massive 49,000ft.
The end of the Shropshire Summer Series was enough to tempt out some semi-lapsed EHRs (...though not yet the editor) even though it was pouring down yet again. It was Summer, after all. Jean was even able to win a bottle of wine or two for winning her age category. Made the bruises not hurt so much , I suppose. Ant was also able to overtake people at speed by sliding down the hills on his bottom. Class Act. Ooh.. ouch. Those ferns will get everywhere !!
Three unidentified runners, hoping the helicopter is going to find them soon :)
It was off to Wales yet again for Steve, as he tackled the Ras Y Cnicht, proving you dont have to be able to spell these
places to be able to run up and down them. The points haul wasn't great though as there were 'serious runners' in the
vicinity. And it was wet. And rocky. All valid reasons, I suppose. Free Pint at the finish though - now you can all get a
glimpse into what motivates the Legend...
There was more, always more, as September moved on. Steve went off to find the Source of the Severn. Seems a strange
thing to do- oh, its a race. Oh, ok then!! I'm not sure he found it, but he came back with yet more league points. It was
beginning to look like an unassailable lead, the first lady was Jean... with a narrow lead from Ali and Susie . Ooh this is
exciting...!!!
It's time for one of Al Tye's excellent Fell Running Pictures now, and this one is of Andy Davies crashing through the waves at the Stretton Skyline. This picture captures just what fun running in the hills can be, and at 19 miles long the Skyline is a challenge not to be sniffed at. Our three EHRs, Dave, Steve and Andy all had fabulous runs on the day.
October brought the demands on Cross Country to distract EHRs from the Way of the Hill but performances continued to flood in thick and fast.

At the Breidden Hill race, Andy Davies managed to lead the team home first with an all-too-rare victory over both Steve and Dave, showing that when he is on form he is
a formidable competitor indeed. There will however be no mention of "runners going the wrong way" chaps. As the song goes, "It's not where you start, it's where you finish " . Hee hee. Big-up to Jeff who managed to dangle off the rocks and take time out from his busy schedule as a hill tour guide for just long enough (see right) to clock up over 10,000 ft of climb in the year. Further afield, and just the day before no less, Jean went all the way to Malvern to run in the Worcestershire Beacon Race, which is one of the oldest in the FRA (Fell Runners Assoc) Calendar. She was duly rewarded with another 10,000 ft clocking and an astonishing 3rd place in the league overall!!!
November brought the cold..at the Roaches race, Nick Thomas found he was the only club member there but that didnt stop him from a remarkable 13th place overall out of 200 finishers, and more importantly he ticks off the 10,000 ft mark for the season after ONLY THREE RACES. Awesome...
Back home... and on to the Wrekin for the Wrecker. Nick continued his excellent form with a 7th place overall, the rest
managed to get back in good order with a good haul of points on a cold, cold day while the Editor is allowed to claim his
first points of the year under Rule #6 for standing around in the cold for close on four hours and marshalling and scoring.
See, I knew the effort would pay off in the end.. More honorary points awarded to Andy "Inspecteur Clouseau" Seal for his
mighty effort on the Great Orme. I suppose that's the nearest he's ever going to get to a hill, so its nice to make him feel
part of the team anyway!
And so, the shadows lengthen, and the end of another hilly year draws close. At the Little Stretton Time Trial, the
competitors faced one of the coldest days in the history of the event, but the prospect of a beer in the Stiperstones Inn
was enough to drag them all out anyway. Once again Nick led the group home as part of the winning pair, but everyone
did exceptionally well.
The penultimate race of the year was at the Cardington Cracker and what a cracker that turned out to be - ice & snow
everywhere and conditions very difficult underfoot. But true to form, the EHR massive turned out to collect yet more
hard-fought points.
And Finally..finally...to Mortimer Forest. It's the end of the year. Of course it was muddy and icy and it never seems any
shorter but out of the 8 EHR in attendance, there were still 3 debutants and Jess Harvey, Kevin Bridgewater and the
Legend that is Colin May all recorded some fabulous times.
This leads us to the FINAL 2010 standings:

The Ercall Hill Runners 2010 League Standings:



name
P W L D last race ht diff brian pts tot pts










steve
24 8 1 15 1600 37665 3 34
Davey
14 10 0 4 2600 23925 1 25
nick
7 6 0 1 1600 18400 0 13
andydavies
10 1 0 9 1600 20340 0 11
jazzyjeff
7 0 3 4 2400 10295 6 10
jean
10 0 4 6 1600 14890 2 8
SusieF
7 1 6 0 2600 10950 6 8
ali
7 0 7 0 2500 8275 7 7
ant
5 1 3 1 1600 4965 4 7
cliff
5 0 5 0 1600 4965 5 5
Dave Edwards
4 0 4 0 1600 4450 4 4
Gavin
2 2 0 0 810 2510 0 4
griffer
2 2 0 0 325 1135 0 4
sedge
3 0 1 2 2500 5825 1 3
amazinggrace
2 1 0 1 1500 1825 0 3
Loulou
2 0 2 0 3000 3325 2 2
Mike the sec
1 0 0 0 3000 3000 2 2
Art
2 0 1 1 1600 2450 1 2
Chrislast
2 0 2 0 1160 2160 2 2
ColinMay
1 0 1 0 1600 1600 2 2
Jess
1 1 0 0 1600 1600 0 2
John rickus
1 1 0 0 1500 1500 0 2
spence
2 0 2 0 325 1135 2 2
Steve Reid
1 1 0 0 325 325 0 2
Stu
1 0 1 0 3500 3500 1 1
martinskehan
1 0 1 0 2600 2600 1 1
big daz
1 0 1 0 2600 2600 1 1
KevinBridgewater
1 0 0 1 1600 1600 0 1
Naomiw
1 0 1 0 810 810 1 1
deb
1 0 1 0 325 325 1 1
Inspecteur Clouseau
1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1
Alanj
1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1
unknown camper man
1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1




Ercall Hill Runners Awards 2010:

EHR Winner: Steve Bajic. Bow down before his brilliance.
2nd : Dave Coley. A sprightly effort from the new kid in town.
1st Lady : Jean Turner Didn't let her massive hair get in the way of victory.

The Brian Award - For unstoppable effort in the face of unbeatable odds: Alison Larwood. This is what the
EHR is there for.

The EHR Notable Performance Award: Nick Thomas (Roaches and Mortimer Forest). Awesome

The EHR Notable non-race performance Award: Richard "Saddler" Gilbert for completing the
Bob Graham Round.   Speechlessly Awesome

And so..... to 2011:
The EHR group is an ever changing and evolving collective entity and so for 2011 we shall be known as the Ercall
Stompers. Hopefully we'll have some colours of our own, too, chosen to be as hideous - no - sorry, distinctive as possible.
If you are interested in joining us on a run or getting your own Stompers vest, contact the Stompers Secretary (...or leave a
message pinned to the gate at the bottom of the Wrekin).
Apart from that....see you on a hill somewhere............