Terry’s Race – 4th November 2018

 by Chris Bowen

Deciding on the date for this year’s Terry’s Race was problematic, what with the GVS Anniversary Race, the British Relays, and the Cross Country fixtures to be avoided. The only option was 4th November but then we discovered that there were two organised running events in the Goyt Valley in the morning. Faced with the thought of over 400 people on the paths in OUR valley we chose to hold Terry’s Race in the afternoon this year.

For anyone who doesn’t know, Terry’s Race is held each year in memory of Terry Lardner. Terry ran with the club until he became ill and sadly died from cancer some years ago now. The race goes past Terry’s tree, a rowan planted in his memory. The Race Winner is awarded the The Terry Lardner Memorial Trophy at the AGM each year. Runners are set off at intervals and you guess your own time before you set off. The person nearest their time is the winner. No watches are allowed! This gives everyone an equal chance to win.

The race starts at the Taxal layby on Long Hill. The route is the same each year but the direction alternates. This year we ran anti-clockwise setting off up the B*tard fields, up onto Taxal Edge passing Terry’s tree, past Windgather Rocks, down The Street and back along the valley.

The sun was breaking through the mist as 19 runners gathered to take part this year. It had been a very misty, damp morning so we were very lucky. Our smart new club tent was put up in case of rain as we had to provide shelter, not for the runners, but for THE CAKES. We usually have cakes at the end of this race but this year our very talented bakers surpassed themselves with an amazing array of cakes. Sweets and fruit added to the banquet that awaited those who ran.

Most runners underestimated their times this year – due I think to the dry conditions underfoot. Sally was 15 minutes under her estimated time! Several other people also had great runs beating their previous PBs.

Eddie Webb, winner of Terry’s Race 2018

I’m pleased to say that new member Eddie was the eventual winner in spite of the dramatic head injury sustained on the GVS anniversary race last weekend. He even identified the very rock that caused the damage but managed to avoid it as he ran past it this time. He was just 20 seconds over his estimated time of 1 hour 8 minutes. Lesley and Kirsty were 1 minute 36 seconds and 1 minute 37 seconds under their estimate so I have designated them joint 2nd so account for discrepancies in my timing and Wayne was 3rd.

Mark W. ran unofficially in the morning and had a very fast time of 1 hour, 1 minute and 55 seconds. If he had run in the afternoon he would also have been 2nd, being just over 1 minute under his estimated time.

I thought we wouldn’t make any impact on the amount of cake we had but I was wrong! Runners tucked in and enjoyed sampling several cakes while waiting for Mary to get back. She had unfortunately twisted her ankle and had to walk back along the valley. Lucas and Tess gallantly stayed with her. We hope your ankle recovers quickly, Mary.

Thank you to Helen P for helping me at the start and finish, to those who put up and took down the tent and, of course, to the bakers!

Chris B

Full results are available in the members area of the web site http://www.goytvalleystriders.org.uk/pages/terry/terry2018.pdf

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.