Weather: A bright, sunny and cold morning
Ground: Generally firm – slippery in places
Some Simple Stats: 137 people took part: 49 Solo and 44 Pairs.
Organiser’s Notes and Comments:
What a difference a year, and a day, makes! Last year was supposed to be my first year of organising this wonderful event, which sadly had to be cancelled due to the Covid lockdown.
When the weather storms hit us on Saturday, I feared the worst and thought I might have to cancel the event again as a safety measure, but when I woke up early Sunday morning I couldn’t have wished for a better day. A cold and frosty morning, but the sun was out thawing the top of the Long Mynd – just enough to make the short tarmac descents a little less treacherous.
Not knowing how many people would enter as a consequence of Covid, I was delighted to hear from our friends at Boulton’s a couple of days prior to the event that the bus was nearly full.
We had a total of 137 entries, including 44 pairs, which I was delighted with.
Sara Willhoit (Mercia) gets first mention on this year’s race report with a fantastic run and time of 1:07:28 which knocked 2 and a half minutes off Polly Gibb’s record which has stood since 2007. A new prize of £50 for breaking the record is yours Sara, and very well deserved. In second place was Mina Jones-Walters with 1:17:39 and in third was Becky Griffiths with 1:31:50
Fastest lady F50 was previous winner (and member of the elite Sub 77 group) Anna Bartlett with a time of 128:56 which is a F50 category record. Fastest F60 was Janet Hill with a time of 159:59 which was also a category best time.
First male, and his first-time taking part in the TT, was Daniel Connolly (Mercia) with an equally impressive run and time of 1:00:45 which takes him straight into the elite Sub 66 group and into the top ten fastest male times of all time, where he joins Tim Davies (fastest ever time of 56:52), Rob Baker, Andrew Davies and Richard Roberts. I hope that you return next year Daniel to challenge the record. In second place was Oliver Perratt with 1: 04:07 and third was Tom Arthur with 1:08:21
Fastest male M40 was Mike Frost with 1:18:09, and closely behind him was M50 John Atyeo with 1:18:55 – a category which was strongly contested by Paul Bowes. Mark Pearson got fastest M60 with a time of 1:26:53 and fastest M70 went to Dave Nichols with 1:59:15
Fastest male pair were brothers Kris and Richard McKenna with a time of 1:11:06 – a great run bearing in mind Kris wasn’t sure he’d be able to run a couple of days ago with a knee injury. Fastest female pair were Mel Price and Deb Millington with 1:29:37 and fastest mixed pair were Oli Cox and Joules Toone with 1:26:54
Spirit of the Time Trial was split this year, with a prize going to Helen Corrin for making the effort to come back to the Shire for the day which meant starting off in the car at 4:30am. Helen is well known to many local fell runners and it was great to have her taking part this year. The other prize went to Amy Aldridge and Graham Adey who had mistakenly thought that the bus brought them back after the race, rather than before it, but instead of not racing they ran back as well. I know some other participants choose to do this, but when it’s not intentional, it showed great commitment – so well done both.
There were a few competitors who took “different” routes – one pair completing just shy of 12 miles and ending up down at Snailbeach before having to take the road back up to Stiperstones. It’s easily done with the various path choices/junctions up on top of the Stiperstones. Ed Beards’ route was equally impressive by all accounts, with other runners seeing him disappearing off into the distance in various different directions! This what makes the TT special, but maybe also why so many people choose to enter as a pair!
Thanks: Many thanks to Jenny Henn, Dave Nichols, Jim Tinnion and Dom Jones for processing the entries in the village hall (3 of them then taking part in the race itself afterwards) and to Dave Clarke and Charlie Leventon for manning the start line – Dave having no sympathy by keeping the runners back in the shade, whilst Charlie basked in the sunshine! A second thank you to Jim for then downloading the dibber times at the finish to give us the results that afternoon and for use of the Mercia dibbers, which helped enormously. A massive thank you also to Sue Johnson and Jan Stuart for stepping in at the last minute to do the finish and for staying on until the bitter end, especially when the weather started to turn for the worse. Thanks to the Stiperstones Inn for fitting us in and to John Sproson for allowing us to use one of the chalets to download the times, and a personal thanks to the WFRA who were extremely helpful with getting my insurance in place very last minute, and to Dave Farrow for helping me complete the Risk Assessment.
The final thanks go to former ROs Phil Clarke and Charlie Leventon, for all the help in making the transition of organising the event so smooth – hopefully we might get to see Phil take part as a runner next year.
Summary Accounts: Income: £655; Expenditure: £281; Reserve £374 (a portion going to improve rights of way access).
And so …. My first time “in charge” and I really couldn’t be happier. Fantastic weather and a great turnout and support made my part in everything very easy and more importantly very enjoyable. I’ve always loved taking part in the TT and am delighted to have taken over such a unique event. It was good to see so many walkers and runners out enjoying themselves and I very much look forward to seeing you all next year (Sunday 27th November) when I might look to close the time window for entry on the day slightly, from 11:15 to 10:30am, in the hope that more people will still be at the finish for the prize giving. In the meantime, I’ll be distributing this year’s prizes via the forthcoming Callow and Cardington Cracker races.
Cheers all; Craig
Craig Henn – E: craighenn@googlemail.com)
The Results
(ranked by time taken)
Pos | Name | Club | Categ | Time |
1st | Daniel Connolly | Mercia | M | 01:00:45 |
2nd | Oliver Perratt | Ludlow Runners | M | 01:04:07 |
3rd | Sara Willhoit | Mercia | F | 01:07:28 |
4th | Tom Arthur | Chorlton Runners Black Sheep | M | 01:08:21 |
5th | Richard McKenna / Kristan McKenna | Shrewsbury AC / Avalanche RC | M-PAIR | 01:11:06 |
6th | Matthew Marston | Mercia | M | 01:11:33 |
7th | Chris Atherton | Ambleside | M | 01:11:40 |
8th | Phillip Wilkinson | Mercia | M | 01:15:48 |
9th | Virgil Barton / Carl Aveyard | Barlick FR / Mercia | M-PAIR | 01:17:09 |
10th | Minna Jones-Walters | Mercia | F | 01:17:39 |
11th | Mike Frost | M40 | 01:18:09 | |
12th | John Atyeo | Mercia | M50 | 01:18:55 |
13th | Paul Bowes | Shrewsbury AC | M50 | 01:19:57 |
14th | Jared Forte / Tom Treasure | Mercia | M-PAIR | 01:23:39 |
15th | Mark Agnew | Mercia | M50 | 01:24:39 |
16th | StJohn Ashworth / Peter Jones | Oswestry Olympians | M-PAIR | 01:25:35 |
17th | Dave Farrow | Mercia | M50 | 01:25:53 |
18th | Jim Tinnion | Mercia | M50 | 01:26:17 |
19th | Mark Pearson | Mercia | M60 | 01:26:53 |
20th | Oli Cox / Jules Toone | Mercia | X-PAIR | 01:26:54 |
21st | Andy Watkins | Mercia | M | 01:27:15 |
22nd | Guy Holloway | Bayston Hill Salad Dodgers | M40 | 01:27:21 |
23rd | Robin Bacon | Mercia | M50 | 01:27:41 |
24th | Anna Bartlett | Shrewsbury AC | F50 | 01:28:56 |
25th | Kevin Jones | Maldwyn Harriers | M40 | 01:29:15 |
26th | Deborah Millington / Mel Price | Mercia | F-PAIR | 01:29:37 |
27th | Mark Bramall / Simon Cranmer | Shropshire Shufflers | M-PAIR | 01:30:21 |
28th | Ryan Griffiths / Philip Thomas | M-PAIR | 01:30:41 | |
29th | Lawrie Jones | Mercia | M60 | 01:30:49 |
30th | David Egglestone | Shropshire Shufflers | M50 | 01:30:57 |
31st | Keith Burgess | M50 | 01:31:25 | |
32nd | Becky Griffiths | F | 01:31:50 | |
33rd | Frank Atherton | M50 | 01:34:55 | |
34th | Andy Reynolds | M | 01:35:38 | |
35th | Eddie Pomfret | M50 | 01:35:53 | |
36th | Eleanor Hartley | F | 01:36:09 | |
37th | Adrian Pickles | WRE | M60 | 01:36:11 |
38th | Steve Atherton | Ambleside | M60 | 01:36:37 |
39th | Giles Carey | Shropshire Shufflers | M | 01:36:41 |
40th | Huw Williams | M50 | 01:37:06 | |
41st | Calvin Wright / Charlie Sandells | Shropshire Shufflers | M-PAIR | 01:37:32 |
42nd | Paul Cadman / Emma Horne | Mercia | X-PAIR | 01:38:44 |
43rd | Mike Bastow / Peter de Boer | M-PAIR | 01:39:04 | |
44th | Martin Green | Maldwyn Harriers | M60 | 01:39:21 |
45th | Dave Hills | Mercia | M50 | 01:39:41 |
46th | Chris Harvey | M40 | 01:39:44 | |
47th | Peter Holmse / Robert Sharam | Whitchurch Whippets | M-PAIR | 01:42:24 |
48th | Jan Jeffreys | F50 | 01:44:20 | |
49th | Nickie Jones | Bridgnorth | F50 | 01:46:13 |
50th | Richard Grindle / Sarah Grindle | – / Shropshire Shufflers | X-PAIR | 01:47:04 |
51st= | Tim Hockley | M60 | 01:47:09 | |
51st= | Nigel Pritchard / Charlie Holland | Shropshire Shufflers | M-PAIR | 01:47:09 |
53rd | Edward Beards | Mercia | M50 | 01:48:06 |
54th | Laura Gale / Alex Snow | F-PAIR | 01:50:07 | |
55th | Tom Cart / Dave Cragg | M-PAIR | 01:50:24 | |
56th | Lindsay Turner / Nina Walmsley | Ludlow Runners / – | F-PAIR | 01:50:35 |
57th | Stephen Riley | Shropshire Shufflers | M40 | 01:51:12 |
58th | Ryan Foulkes / Callum MaGill | M-PAIR | 01:51:36 | |
59th | Steve Bajic | Mercia | M60 | 01:52:00 |
60th | Heather Kieniewicz | Mercia | F | 01:54:20 |
61st | John Williams | Pennine Fell Runners | M60 | 01:58:19 |
62nd | Melanie Bermingham / Charlotte Bermingham | Chase Harriers / Bristol & West | F-PAIR | 01:58:32 |
63rd | Jenny Norton | BRC | F | 01:59:04 |
64th | Dave Nichols | Mercia | M70 | 01:59:15 |
65th | Cheryl Higgins / Sarah Cole | X-PAIR | 01:59:34 | |
66th | Darren Waters / Jennie Waters | Newport | X-PAIR | 01:59:55 |
67th | Janet Hill | Ludlow Runners | F60 | 01:59:59 |
68th | Helen Yates / Victoria Fennell | Lonely Goat | F-PAIR | 02:00:16 |
69th | Ann Perry | F | 02:02:34 | |
70th | Charlotte White / Sam Jones | Mercia | X-PAIR | 02:04:54 |
71st | Maria Spurling | Mercia | F50 | 02:07:49 |
72nd | Henry Pomeroy | M60 | 02:08:17 | |
73rd | Katie Brick / Jenny Henn | F-PAIR | 02:09:22 | |
74th | Amy Aldridge / Graham Adey | Lawley Running Club | X-PAIR | 02:09:45 |
75th | Sally Tongue | F50 | 02:17:21 | |
76th | Sharon Davies / Dianne Spencer | Dolly Mixtures | F-PAIR | 02:19:14 |
77th | Philip Hadland / Michael Hadland | Mercia | M-PAIR | 02:23:03 |
78th | Matthew Foulds / Tuchi Luong | X-PAIR | 02:24:53 | |
79th | Alastair Mitchell / Humphry Dunn | SYTRI | M-PAIR | 02:26:22 |
80th | Katie Mitchell / Beth Thomas | SYTRI / – | F-PAIR | 02:37:27 |
81st | Sarah Clayton / Jennifer Ball | F-PAIR | 02:38:32 | |
82nd | Jack Agnew / Molly Laycock | Mercia | X-PAIR | 02:38:45 |
83rd | Anthony Marston | M50 | 02:40:03 | |
84th | Jayne Atkins / Gail Bywater | Shropshire Shufflers / Shrewsbury RR | F-PAIR | 02:41:14 |
85th | Geoff Sproson | Marches LDWA | M70 | 02:43:52 |
86th | Ed Stuart / Andrew Jones | M-PAIR | 02:48:31 | |
87th | Rachael Bollom / Naomi Watson | – / Mercia | F-PAIR | 03:06:16 |
88th | Phil Chilver / Ursula Chilver | X-PAIR | 03:16:19 | |
89th | Stuart Chetwynd | Mercia | M50 | 03:19:37 |
90th | Owain ap Gruffydd / Helen Corrin | Caernarfon Tourists | X-PAIR | 03:19:50 |
91st | Mallie Newbury / Phil Bamber | X-PAIR | 03:21:29 | |
92nd | Dave Clarke / Alice Clarke | Run Free FR Llangollen | X-PAIR | 03:21:56 |
93rd | Becky Haydock / Steve Cole | – / Mercia | X-PAIR | 03:30:39 |
A full (and up to date) list of all category records and all Sub 66 (male) and Sub 77 (female) category can be seen on the official TT website (www.timetrial.org.uk).
For more information on Fell Running go to the Mercia FR site at www.merciafellrunners.org.uk/
Or visit the Shropshire Fell Running Facebook page: Shropshire Fell Running | Facebook
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