Race Report

Dead Runners society race report

Tour of Tameside, Manchester, 23rd-29th July 1995.

And now for the big event of the summer of 1995, The Tour of Tameside. This is "The Toughest challenge in British Athletics, a double marathon in 6 stages". Well that's what it said on my race singlet. The Tour is organised by marathon great Ron Hill and his company and takes place round the district of Tameside in E.Manchester. We started with an 11 mile road race, then a 6 mile hill race, then a 7 mile road race. After the rest day there is a half-marathon, a 6.3 mile XC race and the Tour finishes with a 9 mile canal race. A total race distance of 52.4 miles. I had run the Tour in 1987 after my first London marathon, I had always meant to do the Tour again someday. When I found out that coach George Parrott was coming back to Manchester with a team from the Buffalo Chips Running Club I decided that this would be the year so I could get to see some of my Sacramento running friends again. Unfortunately my post-Boston injuries meant I started the Tour grossly unfit, it was going to be a week more of survival than racing.

stage 1 - sunday 23rd July 1995. 11 mile run across Tameside, Hyde-Mossley.

Morning all

Tony here in sunny england reporting from the back of the pack in the tour of tameside.

Yesterday morning the tour started and I drove off to Tameside (East Manchester) with my clubmates Bernard and Rob (ObSmall world, on the way there I found out that Rob was at Sheffield Univ the same time as I was and we lived in the same Hall of residence for a year!). The motorways were nice and quiet as it was a sunday morning and we arrived in Hyde in plenty of time. Into Ron Hill's shop to get our race packets, Ron himself was giving out the details, he has number one in this years tour. Then down the road to the Tameside leisure park where stage 1 was to start and to sign in for the first stage.

I met George Parrott and the Buffalo Chips team :-) Great to meet George and Chris again, I also got to meet dead chip Cary Craig. Had a nice chat with the chips. Ex daresbury dead Mike Hoyland was there running for the "enemy" (Warrington RR), they only had 2 runners, we (Spectrum Striders) had 4, 3 needed for a team so there was going to be no striders/WRR team race. The first stage was a point to point race so we all had to load our kit into a van about 20 mins before the start. The Buffalo Chips and Stockport Harriers are "sister clubs" after George and Chris spent a year in england and ran for Stockport so there was a chips/harriers group photo with the local mayor before the start. I did 1/2 mile slow to warm up with Chris before lining up right at the back. With my severe lack of fitness I wasn't going to race it today, just try and get round.

Bang and our 11 mile run across Tameside to Mossley started. Slowly started to work my way through, left leg hurting slightly for the first couple of miles. I was cruising along at 8 minute pace, after a steep little hill about 2.5 miles I saw Dennis from the Buffalo Chips ahead, I had met him in Boston. At 3 miles I caught him and we ran on together chatting away. I felt a bit easier now as we ran along. 5 miles reached in 39.33 and the first drinks stop and the first race casualty, someone was sat on the pavement by the drinks stop looking rather cheesed off with the world. Still felt reasonably good but I knew from my run in 1987 there was a nasty hill to come. By 8 miles we gradually started to climb and I was starting to struggle as my lack of fitness started to show. Ran on with Dennis to the 9 mile drinks stop when I got a few yards lead on him, I eased off to let him catch up but he told me to go on. I was climbing by now but there was a pack of runners ahead and I shifted into racing mode and slowly reeled them in. It was hard work up the hill, 10 miles in 1h19.34 but I was almost at the top by now. The last 3/4 miles was steep downhill to the finish I passed a few more on the way down but lost a couple of places, leg a bit sore
on the descent but I finished relatively comfortably in 1h26.30. Tired on finishing and leg rather sore but not bad considering that was my longest run in 7 weeks. I finished between 10 and 15 minutes behind my clubmates and I was over 10 minutes down on my 1987 time, fortunately its only best 3 out of 4 to count in the team race.

After hanging around for the presentation we eventually got on the bus back to the start and then we drove home.

Tonight the dreaded hill race, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGHHHHHHHH! :-(

If I survive more news tomorrow.

ObCambridge. I've got my grant for my Cambridge studentship :-) :-) 9 weeks to go!

carpe not falling over

--
tony bell A.M.T.Bell@dl.ac.uk
crystallographer and marathon runner (but not necessarily in that order :-))
council for the central laboratory of the research councils
daresbury laboratory, daresbury, warrington, cheshire, UK. WA4 4AD.

One down and five to go, now for the hill race.

stage 2 - monday 24th july 1995. 6 mile hill race

Morning all

Its your race reporter from the back of the pack in the Tour of Tameside here.

Last night was the race I was really dreading, the hill race. Not for the uphill but for the downhill.

Arrived with Bernard and Rob again, signed in and met some of the chips, they were dreading it as well! 1 slow mile out to the start to warm up although this was more out of habit, it was another warm evening. Met up with Mike Hoyland just before the start before heading right to the back. First mile downhill on the road, set off at the back and gradually worked my way through, going fairly fast by the bottom of the road. After a mile as we
went past the finish area I was sad to see Mike step off the road :-( Then we turned the corner and started climbing, there was a really steep bit for 1.5 miles, this was really tough but I passed loads of runners including George, Cary and Dennis from the Chips, they all said "good job" as I came past. About 2.5 miles it got a bit less steep and I was able to recover, we came off the main road at 3 miles and had another mile gradually up hill on a little road, my position had come to some sort of equilibrium by now and I was pretty tired. It was a warm evening and I was getting rather sweaty and there were flies everywhere. 4 miles off the road and onto a rough stony track, still gradually climbing, this was tough and I knew the worst was still to come ;-( 5 miles was at the top of the hill and then the descent began, aaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrgh. The first bit was really steep I could barely walk down and loads of runners almost literally flew by, I was really scared that I might knock someone over as they tried to avoid me. George, Cary and Dennis all zoomed passed me down this bit. Eventually it got slightly less steep and I could just about run, runners still zooming past me. Finally at about 5.5 miles there was a decent path and I was
able to start running properly again so I came in as fast as possible down to the end, I got a couple of places back. Finished the 6 miles in 53.15, last mile took 13.21 :-( Never again! One of my clubmates did the last bit with no shoes on as he had shoe problems on the descent, his feet looked a bit of a mess. Never again, that was really frightening, I'm not a good downhill runner or a good off-road runner so downhill and off road is not really my cup of tea. I likened the last mile to running the Mow Cop killer mile course in reverse off-road!
I saw Mike at the end and his lips were all swollen after being stung by a wasp, ouch! :-( :-( Tired at the end, legs a bit sore, my sore hamstring was painful on the steep uphill. Still there are runners in worse state than me in the tour, I saw one runner before the start with a knee bandage hobbling about as he tried to warm up! Another runner had his arm in a sling, the Tour is not a race for the faint-hearted! I think all of the Chips got down in one
piece. If any of you dead Chips have any messages for George and co I'll pass them on for you.

Tonight its a 7 mile road race, back in my territory again :-) I've survived the worst so I can think about trying to be a bit more competitive.

Stage 1 results. 11 mile run across tameside

1   Bashir Hussein (Stockport)       57.43 (last years winner)
135 Mike Hoyland (Warrington RR)   1h14.09
160 Chris Iwahashi (Buffalo Chips) 1h15.37 (3rd o/35 lady)
192 Ron Hill (Clayton-le-Moors)    1h17.51
229 Cary Craig (Buffalo Chips)     1h20.55
248 George Parrott (Buffalo Chips) 1h22.39
288 Tony Bell (Spectrum Striders) 1h26.31
374 finished

carpe viam

tony...

ps Never Again (or maybe next year :-))

Two down and four to go, back on the road.

Tour of Tameside, Manchester, stage 3 - tuesday 25th july 1995

Afternoon all

Tony here reporting from the middle of the back of the pack of the Tour of Tameside.

Last night it was the 3rd stage of the Tour, the 7 mile road race. It had been another hot day so it was pretty warm when I drove down the familiar motorways with Rob and Bernard, my turn to drive. We arrived in plenty of time, signed in and chatted to some of the runners. Mike Hoyland was there, he'd come to watch and give his clubmate a lift, Mike looked OK but he couldn't run the stage after yesterdays dnf :-(

Eventually it was time to warm up, did a slow mile round the little loop we were to run on before heading out onto the big loop. Lined up at the start line with George, off we went down a short steep hill, followed George round the little loop before starting to work my way through at 1/2 mile. At 1 mile (8.53? a bit long) I passed Dennis from the Chips and started on the long climb up out of Hyde, working my way through quite well but it was tough going up this climb, passed Cary at 1.75 miles, 2 miles reached in 15.31(6.37 last mile). Just after that Dennis caught me up so I hung onto him until a hairpin bend at 2.5 miles when I sneaked ahead and ran hard up to 3 miles 23.06(7.35), it was pretty windy
this high up but at least it kept us cool. pretty tired by now but I kept going hard. The next 2 miles were pretty up and down, passed a few runners but the odd runner was coming past me, 4 miles in 30.37(7.31). I was starting to struggle a bit round here, my legs were really sore on the downhills and it was tough going up. I passed one of the Chips at 5 miles 37.21 (6.44) but Dennis zoomed past me just after that. We finally got back to the main road back into Hyde, I recalled a long fast run in to the finish from 1987 but the course was a bit different then. Picked up the pace and started to reel the runners back, 6 miles in 44.02 (6.41) and I passed Dennis again. Ran in very hard and soon got back on roads I recognised from earlier, back up the hill we ran down at the start then onto
the grass at the sports field to finish. When I saw the clock still said 49.xx at the end I ran in as fast as possible to finish in 49.56 just ahead of Dennis who almost caught me on the line. Rather tired on finishing but very pleased to break 50, that was my pre-race target but at 5 miles I thought I had no chance. Shows what you can do if you don't give up and have a very short last mile (5.54 for last mile :-)). A much better run that other two races prior to this, more my sort of the course than monday!

In 1987 I ran 46.34 for the 7 miles but this was on a slightly easier course with more flat running in the town centre and it was also the first race of the 1987 tour so my legs were a lot better at the start than yesterday!

Today is a rest day in the tour so I did a very slow 3 miler along the canal at lunchtime, legs rather sore at the start but a bit easier after a mile. Tomorrow its the half-marathon, I just want to get round this in one piece and try and save something for the rest of the Tour.

Stage 2 results 6 mile hill race

1 Bashir Hussein (Stockport)     33.49
166 Ron Hill (Clayton-le-Moors)    46.28
244 Cary Craig (Buffalo Chips)     50.42
261 Chris Iwahashi (Buffalo Chips) 51.57
266 George Parrott (Buffalo Chips) 52.11
278 Tony Bell (Spectrum Striders) 53.18
dnf Mike Hoyland (Warrington RR)
368 finished

cumulative results after 2 stages

1 Bashir Hussein (Stockport)     1h31.32
175 Ron Hill (Clayton-le-Moors)    2h04.19
202 Chris Iwahashi (Buffalo Chips) 2h07.34
228 Cary Craig (Buffalo Chips)     2h11.37
255 George Parrott (Buffalo Chips) 2h14.50
285 Tony Bell (Spectrum Striders) 2h19.49

carpe rest days

Three down and three to go, halfway there but very tired.

stage 4 - thursday 27th july 1995. half-marathon.

Morning all

Tony here reporting from the Tour of Tameside.

Last night was the fourth stage, a fairly flat half-marathon round Ashton-under-Lyne. It had been another hot day but fortunately when we arrived it had clouded over a bit and it wasn't quite as hot as we had feared. Said hi to the chips and passed over some email messages. The race finished on a track so I did 2 very slow laps to warm up, that was enough. We all walked slowly over the start, nobody seemed very enthusiastic, everyone was tired and they had 13 miles to run.

Bang and off we went, didn't try to go off too hard, legs a bit sore. Gradually worked my way through for the first mile (7.36) and I caught Dennis from the Chips "oh no not you again :-)". I decided to stay with Dennis for a few miles, I could see Cary just ahead but I didn't want to try and catch her yet. George came past just before 3 miles, we soon repassed him. At 4 miles George came past again and got away, I was tempted to go with him but I wanted to save a bit for later, I'd not run 13 miles for 2 months. We were moving along at 7.20 pace, 5 miles in 35.39 after a short 5th mile (5.59), felt a bit tired but reasonably comfortable. I stayed with Dennis to 6 miles (43.31) then at the drinks station
I grabbed a cup of water and shot off, I was going to race this lap.

There was a little out and back section to go round before we started the second 6 mile lap , I saw Chris exiting this section as I started it, I passed a lot of runners in the next mile. At 7.5 miles I passed George, he tried to hang on to me but he didn't last very long. I was running isolated by now, Cary was the next runner about 100m down the road. This was a tough bit, she was coming back very slowly but she was still working through the field. I ran solo to 9.5 miles when I finally caught the remnants of the pack Cary had
passed, 10 miles in 1h13.57. Very tired by now but passing runners and I finally caught Cary at 11 miles. I tried to pull away but she was still there at 12 miles, I had a fairly desperate last mile trying to get away, I knew she was there as the Buffalo Chips were getting a lot of support this week. As we came onto the track one of the spectators told her to "burn this man off" or something, not if could help it. Extremely tired as we came onto the track but I managed to just about stay ahead to the line.

Finished in 1h35.52 and we had a sweaty hug in the finish funnel, we dragged each other round the last few miles. That really hurt but we were racing, 7.02 pace for the last 3.1 miles. If Cary hadn't been a DRS member I would have let her go in the last couple of miles.

George came in about a minute later and Dennis about 2 minutes after that, I think I'm just about ahead of them on cumulative time now.

Tonight its the 6.3 mile XC race and the race ends tomorrow with the 9 mile canal towpath run. Roll on sunday! :-)

Results of stage 3, 7 mile road race.

1 Bashir Hussain (Stockport)     35.59
135 Chris Iwahashi (Buffalo Chips) 46.38
176 Ron Hill (Clayton-le-Moors)    48.22
205 Tony Bell (Spectrum Striders) 49.56
227 Cary Craig (Buffalo Chips)     50.48
279 George Parrott (Buffalo Chips) 53.53
367 finished

cumulative results after stage 3

1 Bashir Hussain (Stockport)     2h07.31
174 Ron Hill (Clayton-le-Moors)    2h52.41
183 Chris Iwahashi (Buffalo Chips) 2h54.12
226 Cary Craig (Buffalo Chips)     3h02.25
260 George Parrott (Buffalo Chips) 3h08.43
267 Tony Bell (Spectrum Striders) 3h09.45
364 finished

The Chips aren't the only overseas runners in this years Tour. There is a team from the Olympic Sports Club in Berlin who are doing very well in the team race. There is also a 60 year old lady from Detroit and a man from East Bay Striders somewhere near San Francisco.

more news next week of the last 2 days of the Tour. Thanks for all the email messages about the Tour.

bye

tony....

Four down and two to go, there is a faint light at at the end of the tunnel.

stage 5 friday 28th july 1995. 6.3 mile XC race.

Afternoon all

Tony here from hot and merrie englande where we beat the West Indies yesterday in the Manchester Test Match :-) A pretty good weekend.

Oh yes, some other sporting event finished in Manchester this weekend, the Tour of Tameside aka "The Toughest Challenge in British Athletics".

After thursday's half-marathon the results looked like this

1 Bashir Hussain (Stockport)     1h08.52
101 Chris Iwahashi (Buffalo Chips) 1h26.43 3rd lady
155 Ron Hill (Clayton-le-Moors)    1h31.58
199 Tony Bell (Spectrum Striders) 1h35.52
200 Cary Craig (Buffalo Chips)     1h35.54
216 George Parrott (Buffalo Chips) 1h37.37
358 finished

cumulative results after 4 stages

1 Bashir Hussain (Stockport)     3h16.23
150 Chris Iwahashi (Buffalo Chips) 4h20.55 6th lady
162 Ron Hill (Clayton-le-Moors)    4h24.39
212 Cary Craig (Buffalo Chips)     4h38.53
240 Tony Bell (Spectrum Striders) 4h45.37
244 George Parrott (Buffalo Chips) 4h46.10

after 4 stages I had finally got ahead of George, I'd also sneaked ahead of Dennis from the Chips who had been near me for most of the races.

Friday night was the 6.3mile XC race, 3 laps of mostly flat running. The course was supposed to be suitable for spikes so like a fool I wore them, it rained on the way to the race and there was a bit of rain just before the start but it was still hard underfoot.I briefly met manchester univ DRUnK Rob Thomas before the start, did 1/2 mile to warm up, felt a bit tired.

Bang and off we went, almost immediately up a short steep hill and then onto a stony path for about 1/3 mile, this was a bit painful in spikes, Dennis was soon out of sight :-( Felt a bit easier when we reached the grass and started to work my way through. Joe from the Chips was ahead and I closed the gap but I never got onto his shoulder. Mostly flat run on grass and rock hard dirt paths, difficult to pass in places. Just before the end of the lap there were some short steep undulations, not fun. 1st lap in 16.27. Off up the hill and onto
the stony path, ouch ouch ouch, I heard the race announcer say George has just finished lap 1. All week I knew when a Buffalo Chip was about as they got lots of support, after about 1/2 mile of the lap I heard "come on Chips", this must be George I thought. Pushed on harder and nearly caught Joe, I had Chips either side of me. Joe pulled away and towards the end of the lap Mike from the Chips came past. I knew I was going to be close to getting lapped from my time and as I struggled over the undulations I could hear the crowd shouting for Bashir Hussein, the race leader. He didn't quite get me, he turned into the finish straight just before he would have lapped me, we crossed the finish line together in 33.01 (lap 16.34), I had another lap to go. Very tired by now, ouch ouch ouch on the path, I could hear the spectators calling for George. Struggled on to just before 6 miles, on the last grassy bit I could see George was catching me but I was able to speed up on the grass due to my spikes and managed to hold George off over the undulations and got to the finish just ahead of him, finished in 50.01 (last lap 17.00). Dennis finished almost 3 minutes up on me and repassed me in the overall rankings. Not that good a run but at least I could say I was the first person all week to cross the finish line at the same
time as Bashir :-) I saw Bashir after the race and he said he was a bit tired, a comforting thought, he is human after all.

That hurt, my feet were pretty sore but for the first time all week I ran faster than my 1987 time. In 87 I ran 50.20 on this course when due to a lot of rain it was fairly soft in places and I made the right decision to wear spikes.

Stage 5 results

1 Bashir Hussain (Stockport)     33.01
155 Ron Hill (Clayton-le-Moors)    44.57
184 Chris Iwahashi (Buffalo Chips) 46.27
258 Tony Bell (Spectrum Striders) 50.01
259 George Parrott (Buffalo Chips) 50.05
272 Cary Craig (Buffalo Chips)     51.03
352 finished

cumulative results after 5 stages

1 Bashir Hussain (Stockport)     3h49.24
151 Chris Iwahashi (Buffalo Chips) 5h07.22 6th lady
159 Ron Hill (Clayton-le-Moors)    5h09.36
212 Cary Craig (Buffalo Chips)     4h38.53
244 Tony Bell (Spectrum Striders) 5h35.38
245 George Parrott (Buffalo Chips) 5h36.15

At last the final stage......

stage 6 saturday 29th july 1995. 9 mile canal race, Mossley-Hyde.

And so to the last day of the Tour, the 9 mile canal run. I got up reasonably early for a saturday and drove off to sunny Manchester, as I drove through Warrington I saw someone training in an old Tour vest. Arrived at 11.00am and drove round Hyde a few times before I found the car park. At 12.00 there were going to be 2 buses to take us survivors to the start, hung around in the shade until then chatting to other runners. The buses eventually came and we rumbled off through the streets up to Mossley, finish of the first stage. We all went to sign in at a school and hung around chatting, George and I met
a man who had been commuting up from London everyday for the Tour, now there's dedication. It turns out he's on the internet and he's heard of DRS, if you are out there get signed up and join the fun :-)

Eventually it was time to load up the van with the running gear and to try and warm up. It was a very warm day so I didn't need to warm up much, I just jogged for 10 mins to try and loosen my sore legs. We all sang Happy Birthday to one of the race organisers and then Bang off we went for the last time. Hard work up a short steep hill to start and then a steep downhill run to the canal. 1st mile in 6.58, passed George just after that, working my way through. Then off the road and onto some footpaths to the canal, this was harder work. 2 miles in 14.38, passing a few runners but a few were passing me. At about 2.5 miles there was a diversion off the towpath where they were working on widening the
path, up a nasty little hill, this wasn't much fun. By now I realised it wasn't going to be a day for fast running, 3 miles in 25.00, 10.22 last mile! Obviously they forgot to move the mile marker when they put in the diversion. By now I was running with Dave from the Chips, I was passing him on the flat bits but he was passing me on the downhills. The last 3 stages I finished 1 stage up on a Chip, it looked like it could be number 4 here. 4 miles in 31.20 and off the canal and a bit of road through Ashton-under-Lyne, at 4.5 miles down some steps and a sharp left turn brought us back to the towpath, unfortunately I missed the turn and went down a little embankment and just managed to stop before the canal!
Soon got going again and repassed Dave, 5 miles 38.25, around 5.5 miles a very welcome drinks station, then over a bridge and onto the last bit of canal. I knew it was all flat in from here and I was going to make it. 6 miles 46.31 and I was passing runners and I had finally shaken off Dave, 7 miles 54.24 and I passed a couple of runners walking, I told them they should be able to run 2 miles. Going fairly easily by now, it was very warm out there. At 8 miles a spectator cycling along the towpath managed to cycle into the canal, the runner ahead stopped to help her out but the marshals told us to keep running, 8 miles
in 62.11. Felt pretty easy now as the end was in sight, finally came off the canal at 8.75 miles and ran along a back street before the finish at the Town Hall. I was running isolated now so I didn't try and sprint it in, all of us runners got a great reception, over the line in 70.05 and I had made it :-)

Total time 6h45.43, almost 30 mins slower than in 1987 but who cares. I got my finishers medal and lots of drinks, I found some of my clubmates and some Chips and we all congratulated each other. Dave from the Chips finished 25s and 2 places behind me, George came in 2m30s behind me. Dennis beat me by 2 minutes. Rob Thomas was there at the finish to watch us all come in, he says he wants to do it next year.

Cary was the real heroine of the day, she felt sick at the start but she jogged and walked her way round in spite of her illness and eventually finished for the team race.

Found my kitbag and put some clean clothes on before heading back to the town hall for the presentation compelete with free food and drink and a really noisy crowd, a real "end of term" feeling for us survivors of the Tour. Ron Hill and the local mayor presented the prizes. Lots of prizes given out, all the vets age group categories were rewarded, one of my clubmates won the 1st 55-59 age group prize :-) Chris won a lot of prizes, 5th lady (by 1 second from the 6th!), 3rd veteran and 2nd 35-39 age group. Thanks to Cary's heroics the Buffalo Chips ladies team won the lady vets team prize. To cap it all George won a spot prize.

Stage 6 results

1 Bashir Hussain (Stockport)       48.11
110 Chris Iwahashi (Buffalo Chips) 1h02.28 4th lady
151 Ron Hill (Clayton-le-Moors)    1h05.13
214 Tony Bell (Spectrum Striders) 1h10.05
249 George Parrott (Buffalo Chips) 1h12.35
347 Cary Craig (Buffalo Chips)     2h12.00
348 finished

Final Tour results

1 Bashir Hussain (Stockport)         4h37.35 won all 6 stages
2 Tony Okell (Stockport)             4h40.43
3 Nick Peach (Sale)                  4h42.13
7 Klaus Goldammer (OSC Berlin)       4h52.17 1st veteran
19 Rob Taylor (Stockport)             5h07.48 1st vet 45-49
30 Tony Weston (Cleethorpes & Dist)   5h18.19 1st vet 50-54
53 Jackie Newton (Stockport)          5h31.45 1st lady, won all 6 stages
64 Alan Peers (Spectrum Striders)     5h39.27 1st vet 55-59
77 Bernard Riley (Spectrum Striders) 5h46.09 Bernard's 2nd Tour
78 Alec Dunn (Stockport)              5h46.53 1st vet 60-64
92 Kath Drake (Spenborough & Dist)    5h50.31 2nd lady, 1st lady vet 35-39
97 Ian Edge (Warrington Road Runners) 5h53.40 Ian's 4th Tour
115 Rob McHarry (Spectrum Striders)    5h58.54 Rob's tour debut
116 Helen Johnston (Felixstowe RR)     6h00.21 3rd lady
130 Sue Exon (Trafford AC)             6h06.01 4th lady, 1st lady vet 40-44
141 Chris Iwahashi (Buffalo Chips)     6h09.50 5th lady, 2nd lady vet 35-39
159 Ron Hill (Clayton-le-Moors)        6h14.39 3rd vet 55-59
203 Joe Staats (Buffalo Chips)         6h32.51
221 Dennis Scott (Buffalo Chips)       6h41.17
232 Tony Bell (Spectrum Striders)      6h45.43
239 George Parrott (Buffalo Chips)     6h48.50
243 Mike Prizmich (Buffalo Chips)      6h49.46
275 Dave Ragsdale (Buffalo Chips)      7h06.14
286 Liz Airnes (North Fylde)           7h10.57 1st lady vet 45-49
313 Cary Craig (Buffalo Chips)         7h41.22
316 Jenny Tomlinson (Stockport)        7h43.16 1st lady vet 50-54
320 Derek Gill (Bingley Harriers)      7h48.12 1st vet 65-69
337 Chris Swanson (Detroit)            8h21.17 1st lady vet 60-64
340 Mike Grassinger (Buffalo Chips)    8h24.37
345 Paul White (unattached)            8h59.07 1st vet 70-74
346 Linda Prizmich (Buffalo Chips)     9h17.18
348 won the Tour by finishing :-)

Mens team race

1 Stockport Harriers A         64 points
2 Olympic Sports Club Berlin 129 points
3 Sale Harriers               282 points
10 Spectrum Striders          1647 points
18 teams finished

Veterans team race

1 Stockport Harriers vets A   467 points
2 Stockport Harriers vets B 1431 points
3 Wilmslow RC vets           1608 points
11 Buffalo Chips vets         4082 points
15 teams finished

ladies race
1 Stockport Harriers ladies 3379 points
2 Buffalo Chips lady vets 4524 points
3 North Fylde lady vets 5726 points
4 teams finished

After the "end of term" party in the town hall the fun still hadn't ended. I had been invited by George back to Fawlty Towersxxxxxxxxxxxxx the Chips hotel for Stockport Harriers/Buffalo Chips post tour celebration dinner. Stockport had won almost everything except the lady vets team race (won by the Chips) so there was a lot to celebrate. Ron Hill was guest of honour and he gave a speech about his racing adventures in america. One of the Harriers thought I was one of the Chips and asked me what I thought of the weather, I had to explain that I was from slightly less far out west (30 miles) than the Chips :-)

Eventually a great day ended and I had to say goodbye to all my Chips friends :-( :-( :-( It was great to see them again after having such a good time in Boston. Good job Chips! I hope to cross the pond next summer for DRSWCIV and I hope to make a couple of weeks out of the trip and see a bit of USA and Canada, Sacramento is definitely on my list of places to visit.

So now its all over, my legs survived and I reckon I'm in better shape now than I was before the Tour. A few easy days and I hope to be training properly again next week.

The worst moments of the Tour were on day 2 in the hill race at the 1 mile point when I saw Mike drop out and at the 5 mile point when I tried to get down that awful hill. The best part of the Tour apart from the finish was the 2nd half of the half-marathon on day 4, I chased Cary for 3.5 miles before I caught her and then had a very painful last 2 miles to try and get away from her, on that lap I was approaching real racing pace.

This was my first Tour in 8 years, I think I might do it again in 2003 when I become a veteran, or maybe I might do it next year. How about a DRUnK team next year?

Lots of email today from the DRUnKs asking where's the tour report, this was it folks.