Greg Smith observes and informs us:

Despite it being the old Celtic festival of Imbolc a few days ago, marking the halfway point between the Winter solstice and Spring equinox, it felt decidedly grey and wintry in Heaton Park today…as the pictures below show.

Dave Evans reports:

Given the absence of any club competition since the Dick Maxwell race on 6th December it was intriguing to see who has maintained their fitness and who is still recovering from Christmas festivities ! The virtual 5k we hold in January would have inspired colleagues to do at least one high tempo perambulation so the stage was set for anything.

At least two club members have experienced hot weather in the last 2 months with Tony Bell in New Zealand and Nigel Shaw in Cape Verde. Both deny travelling to these destinations for warm weather training , however, their performance today makes me think otherwise.

From the off in damp conditions the field of 10 surged forward in the direction of Heaton Park and it was no surprise to see 2 figures returning from the halfway point virtually in tandem with Tony seizing the initiative by 50 metres or so. As they passed the 5k point in 33 mins 42 and 33 mins 58 respectively it was obvious that both were keen to outwalk each other. Martin Payne and Roy Gunnett were playing similar games passing the same mark but some 90 seconds later.

Although the weather forecast was relatively poor the rain held off and as the clock showed 64 minutes 30 seconds both Tony and Nigel appeared in that order a straight away from the 10k finish. Who would win the day ? My guess was that the leader would not know just how close his pursuer was and this would give that individual an advantage knowing exactly when to strike . As both entered the final 100 metres the gap was shortening and a final burst of effort gave Nigel a narrow victory.Martin used his longer distance strength to stretch away from Roy in the last 2k and failed by a tad to break the 70 minute barrier.

Four club walkers decided to limit their efforts to one out and back with Ken Connor setting the standard with a comfortable clocking of 33 minutes 42. The handicap result put 3 walkers within 25 seconds of each other and the other 3 10k performers 15 seconds. My thanks to Greg Smith for his photography and Ian Hilditch for marshalling at the critical half distance point.

10k Results

1. Nigel Shaw(33:58)65 mins 49
2. Tony Bell (33:42)65 mins 51
3. Martin Payne(35:35) 70 mins 01
4. Roy Gunnett (35:38) 72 mins 44
5. Glyn Jones (37:52) 75 mins 59
6. Joe Hardy (37:56) 76 mins 38

5k results

1. Ken Connor 33:42
2. Pat Evans 38:12
3. A N Other 43:13
4. Andrea Lennon 47:35

Handicap results

1. Roy Gunnett 63:14
2. Joe Hardy 63:38
3. Glyn Jones 63:39
4. Martin Payne 65:04
5. Nigel Shaw 65:19
6. Tony Bell 65:21

Age-graded results

1. Glyn Jones 82.21%
2. Joe Hardy 80.10%
3. Roy Gunnett 79.08%
4. Pat Evans 78.58%
5. Andrea Lennon 76.50%
6. Nigel Shaw 72.14%
7. Tony Bell 71.37%
8. Martin Payne 69.29%
9. Ken Connor 67.79%

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The January virtual 5k gave all walkers the chance to choose their preferred walking route and the results reflected just how wide ranging the options were . The results were as follows;-

1. Joe Hardy 29:01
2. Greg Smith 30:16
3. Pat Evans 30:23
4. Nigel Shaw 30:47
5. Ken Connor 31:02
6. Andrea Lennon 31:18
7. Tony Bell 31:41
8. Phil McCullagh 33:24
9. Roy Gunnett 33:55
10. Steve Wilde 33:56
11. Martin Payne 35:30

All performances reflect a net time after the handicap has been taken off their actual walking time.

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