Sunday 4-Dec-2011 at 11:30am

This was race 3 in this winter's North West Sunday Cross Country League and is organised by Pensby Runners.  It was at the usual venue in Arrowe Park on the Wirral.  The course was approx 4½ miles according to Chris' GPS.

Many thanks to Liz Whitfield and Steve Martin who stood in the cold recording times and collecting tickets.  Thanks to all of the runners who supported the Club teams.

Mick Charman was taking photos.

Race report from Julian

Can I thank all who ran today as this was a great run by both men’s and ladies teams which resulted in 2nd place for the men and 1st for the ladies.  Extra special thanks today to Caroline for clambering off her sick bed to run in 7th and to Neil Garnett for driving 80 miles to run for our teams.  Can I stress though that I really do appreciate the rest of you running.

Our 8 ladies gave us a strong chance of winning but the 5 non-counting runners really helped in ensuring the last counters for other teams were too high a score.  The two teams in joint 2nd place gave us a good run, so we need to keep up the strength in depth to keep ahead.

The men did not win but this was our best score this season and we were missing three of our top runners (Colin Martin, Neil Crompton and Ian Bamber) who were away or injured.  This shows  that our now two rivals (Liverpool Running Bugs and Liverpool Running Club) can both be beaten, but only if we can get all of the guys there.  We need the backup as well to ensure the last counter of our rivals is position 30.

Thus, guys please come along and help us out however fast you run.  Please use the Saturday training to improve and build the strength.  Remember strength from cross country will help you run faster and stronger when you back to the roads or the fells next year.  Paula Radcliffe, Seb Coe and Mo Farah have all run cross country races at some point to help their training.

The next Sunday League race is at Runcorn Town Park on 15-Jan-2012.  Also, I will be asking which of you want to run in the other cross country races for which we have to pay (e.g. County Championships).

Individual results

Team results for this race

League standings after 3 races

Best 5 of 6 races to count.

Race information

This is race 3 in this winters North West Sunday Cross Country League.  It is at the usual venue at Arrowe Park on the Wirral and is organised by Pensby Runners.

Don't forget - it is a rule that you wear your club vest in this league.

For directions & a map suitable for printing, go to Steve Saunders' web site and follow the link to "X-Country".  (Steve's web site only works properly with Internet Explorer).

Please try to run & support the club teams if you can.  You don't need to register for races in this league, just turn up and run!  Remember, even if you are not a counting runner, you can still push other clubs runners down the finishers list and increase the other club's score, so you do make a difference to the result.  It's free to enter and you get free butties & a cup of tea after!

However it would help if you would let Julian or the Cross Country Secretary know if you are intending to come so that we have a good idea of numbers as we need to ensure that we have a full ladies and men's team.

Directions

The car park & race start/finish is at Arrowe Park on the Wirral.  Nearest postcode is CH49 5LW although this is the same as the pub!

• From M53 J3 take the A552 towards Upton / West Kirby / Heswall / Hospital.
• At traffic lights, turn left onto A551 for Heswall / Thingwall.
• At the second lights turn right into Arrowe Park at Cherry Orchard pub.

Post-race refreshments are about 2 miles away at Pensby Recreation Centre, 406 Pensby Road, Pensby, CH61 9PE.  From the race car park:

• Turn right onto A551, carry on to mini-roundabout.
• Turn right onto B5138 for Pensby and Heswall.
• Pass the Pensby Hotel on the right and the Recreation Centre is on the left before the traffic lights.
• Turn into large car park through gate in white fence.

2010 race on Sunday 5-Dec-2010 at 11:30am

No less than 27 Striders ran (20 men & 7 ladies) on a sunny & surprisingly warm day on the Wirral - the temperature was actually above freezing!  Thanks for your support.

Many thanks to Tracey Crompton for recording the placings, to Les Hewitt for recording the times and to Julian & Les for producing these results.

Well done to the ladies team who continued their dominance of this league, maintaining their record of winning each race of the season.  Once again, Liz Whitfield was first lady with Claire Andrew in second place.

The men again beat Liverpool RC to win their race, with Nick Jones again in first place and Graham Houghton this time in third place.

There is a gallery of photos from the race, taken by Les Hewitt and Mick Charman.

The next (fourth) race of this league is scheduled for 16-Jan-2011 at Runcorn Town Park.

Team results for this race