Tour Of Telford 2001

Alan and Gareth had this conversation in the bar after training which goes ‘Wouldn’t it be good if we could do a ‘Tour’ of Telford?…’ What’s a ‘Tour’? There are several running events in the UK which would claim to be the equivalent of the Tour de France, the best known being perhaps the Tour of Tameside. The idea is simple – several races on consecutive days, winner is the overall winner. It’s not an original idea, we actually copied ours from one called the Tour of Daresbury, which published their results on the Internet in July. After much enthusiastic conversation we decided to give it a go. But, much had to be sorted out…….where would we run? How would we do it? When would we do it?

Alan worked feverishly with the race wheel, measuring some courses, based around Telford Town Park. He came up with 5 courses, the longest being 5k, the shortest a mere mile. Total mileage nearly 12. Something for everyone! As an after thought we decided to drop one of the Telford courses for the more daunting Wrekin Streak fell race, about 3 miles, which had been cancelled in 2001 due to foot & mouth restrictions. So, we had the course but nothing else. The next step was to decide when, and after much debate the 19^th – 23^rd August seemed to be the best bet. The main problem was trying to get a race on at short notice yet avoiding as many holidays as possible. The next question we asked was ‘marshalling?’ – answer being ‘what marshalling !’ we spent late nights at home wearing out our red pens, colouring up maps of the Town Park.

Originally it was going to be a gang of about 4 or 5 having a laugh, then people stopped laughing, and the word got out, it grew, and grew to over thirty assorted competitors. Gareth went away and

designed a race t-shirt and then amazingly we got sponsorship form a local hire company Quanthire..this was getting out of hand! We priced the event at the ridiculously low price of Ł2.00 for the lot, well, we didn’t know if it would be any good, did we? Running in Secret Because of the short notice, and as another experiment we decided to also run the Tour ‘by proxy’ which meant that as long as people abided by the rules, they could do the event on days to suit them, after all, they had the maps ! This proved to be a big success and a talking point as ‘did they do the whole course’ rumours abounded……..

Lee Aston leads in the Wonderland 5k

Get there early. Walk the course. Lug water bucket to start. Forget cups so go back to car. Bring pens, finish chart, chalk. Mark chalk start line at start. Release two trapped red-faced teenagers from a closed and deserted Wonderland (…….no, honest, it did happen). Mark turn round point if there is one. Have a rest. Wait for runners to turn up. Provide pins, numbers, shoulder to cry on for runners. Line them up at start, tell them about tonight’s course and tomorrows course, any things to look out for etc. Start them then have a few minutes rest (except when you are trying to keep in front of them on the Mile course, on a bike!). Take finishing times. Pass finishing times to Gareth. Clear up and collect any stray t-shirts, keys etc. Produce race report for email ‘Tourists’ . Gareth enters race results and produces results for next day. Retire to bed early!

Day 1

The Quanthire Tour 2001 kicked off today in fine style with 24 runners toeing the line for the Heart of Park 5k. We were blessed with dry though very humid morning and the added bonus of a volleyball competition going on at the Rugby Club (..wahey..) Several of the pre-race favourites were strangely missing but this did not take anything away from the generally serious atmosphere.

All smiles were wiped off the faces as soon as racing began and 23 runners set off down the slope. The 24th, a Mr D Bickerton, turned up some 10 minutes later but determined to complete the course with the aid of a map..

A small group formed at the front and by the time runners crossed under the bridge back to the club, Scott Lewis of the Harriers had established a small but significant gap, which he increased and powered back up the double slope borrowed from the Sting in the Tail course to claim the yellow jersey in an excellent 17.36. Second home was EDS' former international Mike Griffiths, making a return to running after a couple of years and looking good with 18.17. Shortly afterwards, John Fry of TAC won the close tussle with Gareth Bellamy of the WRATS team coming home in 18.34 to Gareth's 18.40. Denise Nel Cureton posted an excellent 19.32 to finish first among the ladies.

Day 2 - the Wrekin streak.

A crowd formed at the bottom of the wrekin and disbelieving onlookers gaped as day 2 of the Tour took shape. The toughest leg of the tour and already there are a few sore legs.......Some people had completed their leg of the Tour slightly earlier, nonetheless a good crowd was there for the main event. The evening was still and had cooled down a little but was still warm enough to work up a sweat! Runners set off on time and the appearance of Jim Plunkett Cole has certainly sharpened up the sharp end. Jim plans to run both legs 1 & 3 tomorrow.

Jim was first back today with a stunning 21.02, followed by an improving Mike Griffiths from EDS who managed to record 21.12. The third back was John Fry , experiencing a return to form (21.37), and fourth back was current Yellow Jersey Scott Lewis with 21.44.....

..........just enough to hang on to first place by 9 SECONDS overall.....

Other excellent performances recorded by EDS' John Bowdler who ran both legs 1 & 2 in 1 day but still pulled a 23:09 out.....Nellie is handily placed as 1st lady in 10th overall following an excellent 23:57...Paul green moves up 4 places on the overall standings!

Tuesday is the sprint stage, will the runners still have anything left???

Day 3 The Stirchley Mile

The self styled 'biggest little race in Shropshire' proved to be a bit hit with the 'Tourists' - faces were reddened and blood tasted as everyone imagined they were an elite miler for the day! Some people said they never knew a mile could be 'so long' and that the end was never coming!

On the day - Honours must go to Jim Plunkett Cole (TooManyNames Harriers) for a storming 4.57 over the course, however he was chased down by the leading pack of Mike Griffiths of the Plaza Plodders (5.01) and Scott Lewis of the Randlay Ramblers (5.04). The amount of sub 6 minute miles was over 50% of the total finishers, making time recording at the end very interesting! Other notable performances; Brad Milburn (West Mercia Blues.com) 5:20 Andy Seal (Villa Harriers) 5:30 Denise Nel Cureton (Small Furry Animals AC) 5:51 ; Lesley West (Shifnal Shufflers) 7:35

And overall - Very little change. The 'on the road' Tour is still being led by Scott Lewis from Mike Griffiths but his lead is now down to 6 SECONDS! Ladies race is being won by Nel Cureton who is now 11th overall. Watch out for Jim Plunkett Cole who doesnt qualify for the 'on the road' tour yet because he is doing the runs in a different order; but by Thursday night he will have caught up. Will it be enough to give him the title???

Day 4 – The Alice in Wonderland 5k

The most gruelling slog of a run you can get. An out & back 5k from Wonderland. Weather good, some sore legs from last night. Most people in good spirits, both Scott and Nel had managed to hold on to their leads following the Mile race.

On the Day - Honours again to Jim Plunkett Cole (TooManyNames Harriers) who put together an exceptional 17.23 to claim top spot. Due to his running the races slightly out of order he has not had a yellow jersey but by the end of the Tour he may find himself the overall winner. Jim was chased down by the other top two in the tour, Scott Lewis and Mike Griffiths who finsihed in 17.40 and 17.43 respectively. Other exceptional times: John Bowdler's 18.47, Andy Seal's 19.13, Colin May's 21.44. Also a PB for Jamie Davies of TAC (18.59)

Overall - As above, Jim is now the title favourite, but Scott opens up the gap between him and Mike to 9 seconds. Otherwise there is very little change to the top 11 positions. Billy Scott from the West Mercia Blues has just entered and done several races which forces him into a good 12th place.

And so to the grand finale....... Day 5.

The 2 lap handicap course so beloved of the Harriers. Very deceiving if you don't know it. Weather warm, lots of water at the finish.

And so it proved to be at the head of the Race as the battle continued between Mike and Scott. Mike Griffiths set off with a vengance, taking advantage of the bottleneck at the gate and opened up a substantial lead, about 6 seconds at the halfway stage. however the first to cross the line was Scott, using every ounce of his race experience to reel Mike in with half a mile to go. Pure Drama.

.......But the real drama was taking place half a mile up the road when Lee Aston and Jim Plunkett Cole did the Heart of Park 5k, Jim knowing that a good result would give him the title no matter what anyone else did. In the end a stunning 17.08 proved to be more than enough. The ladies race was won by Nellie Cureton who returned an excellent 11.27 on the night.......some other stunning performances too, especially worthy of a mention are Kevin Murray(11.15) and Andy Seal(11.06), both of whom have got better as the week has gone on!!

Dave Williams sums it up for all of us !

There’s Always One……

Of course a special mention must go to the Race Organiser who firstly, writes this stuff, and secondly, manfully did the Tour in one day. He’s still suffering!

Afterwards

Much nattering went on at the bar at Stirchley Rec where we wore our special ‘Tour’ T- Shirts to a chip butty supper. Yum, Yum.

Tour 2002?

If you want it……………………it will come…………………