volunteering

Spent a (mostly) enjoyable day on Wednesday helping with various tasks at the annual Otley 10 mile road race which attracted about 400 runners this year - the most for at least ten years.

Myself and a small team of volunteers began at 10.00am by putting up lots of signs around the race HQ (Otley Cricket Club).  Stuff such as 'car park', 'late entries', 'first aid', etc.  Then we set up the finishing funnel  and marked out the running route around the edge of the cricket pitch before getting organised for the afternoon's task.  Colin Best also drove around the course putting up lots of 'caution runners' signs.

At 4.00pm we reassembled to begin the task given to us this year by West Yorkshire Police.  We had to erect a temporary barrier along Pool Road so that runners had no choice but to use the footpath (not the actual road) for the first 1.3 miles of the race (2.1 km).  As we were doing this Tom Hannah drove around the course putting out the mile markers and one or two other signs.  This has to done fairly late because, in the past, some have been known to go missing.

That took about 90 minutes and afterwards I hurried home for a snack only to realise I had lost my house key.  Shit - I knew where it was - in the grass verge somewhere along Pool Road !!!  I also knew that it would take many hours to search for it properly so I just accepted it was lost for good and was thankful that if it was ever found there was no way it could be traced to my house.

6.20pm - time for the evening shift.  Began by giving out marshals high visibility clothing and explaining where they were expected to be, at what time, and what their duties were.  The latter varies with location of course.  After the race my job was to help Hugh Pearson write down the race numbers of every finisher - strictly in finishing order.  Not easy when two finishers didn't have numbers and a third had the number on her back.

Overall it was an enjoyable way to spend a day.  It is a good exercise for all runners for only then can we truly appreciate the effort that goes into staging even a small road race.  Colin Best has been race director for a few years now and he deserves much credit ... especially organising the 40 + marshals that are needed.  Well done to him.

Apart from all that I managed to fit in a short run of my own early in the morning and some strength training early in the afternoon.  So, a good day all round then.

stuff ...

Yesterday evening Otley AC had one of their monthly handicap races.  This one was 2.9 miles (4.7 km) around woodland to the south of Otley.  With one large hill at about half way.

Having ran 28 miles (45 km) the day before and 6 miles (10km) eleven hours before the handicap I wasn't expecting anything fantastic in terms of time.  In fact, I wouldn't have been surprised if I'd finished last.  Especially with all that mud.

I started with three other runners [Lloyd Best, Simon Toyne and Richard Smith] and they immediately sped off into the distance, as expected.  After about a mile (1.6 km) I realised that I was actually closing quite rapidly on one of them.  Passed Lloyd going up the hill and then closed the gap significantly on Simon and Richard.  Unfortunately they took a slight wrong turn just after 2 miles (3.2 km) and I passed them both at that point and stayed in front.  Shortly afterwards I began overtaking many of the runners who had started before me although I was never overtaken by any faster runner who started behind me.

So, a very good run be me ... and an excellent time too.  19:18 is just one second slower than my best on that course which dates back to June 2007.

This event was followed by a much enjoyed barbecue at Otley Cricket Club where it was good to see and catch up with long standing member Phil Robinson who's still recovering slowly after a horrific cycling accident about 12 months ago.

Also in news ... best wishes to Simon Anderson on this weekend's attempt at a Bob Graham Round.  And then there's the Anglo Celtic Plate 100k in south Wales on Sunday - all the best to those runners (especially the England team, of course).

And finally some sad news for music fans.  Jon Lord - keyboard player with The Artwoods, Deep Purple and Whitesnake - died earlier this week after suffering a pulmonary embolism.  His work with those bands was outstanding (especially with his Hammond organ) but he has also been quite prolific in recent years as a writer of classical music.  BBC Radio 4 aired an obituary this afternoon during which someone mentioned that  Jon Lord was the only person ever to have been #1 in the classical music chart and #1 in the pop music chart.

Otley 10 and Bradford Millennium Way relay

Yesterday was the annual Otley 10 mile race.  Although I'm not the race director any more I still helped out wherever I could in the morning and again in the evening.  Colin Best and Steve Wentling did a great job organising things this year.  Especially as the venue was changed at relatively short notice.  Thanks to Otley Cricket Club for being so accommodating.

It seems though that when the race was held in mid May the weather was a lot better than it is now we stage the race about four weeks later.  Full results can be found via the link on the Otley AC home page.

Those of you who know me will also know that in general I get very few blisters.  Even during 24 hour races I often finish with no more than a single blister.  This morning I acquired one though.  During a 13.5 mile fartlek session.  It's quite painful at the moment but hopefully it'll be OK for the weekend's Bradford Millennium Way Relay where I'm partnering Hugh Pearson on the final stage.