Stourbridge Stagger 5/2/06

8 out of 9 B&R runners after a Staggering Sunday morning run

We had probably the best conditions for the Stagger in years with most of the course dry and even the uphill gulley after halfway was runnable rather than the usual muddy slog. There was a much improved turnout from B&R compared with last year and all ten of our starters completed the course. At least two B&R runners were able to report that they had improved upon their recent times for this event by several minutes but some of this may be attributed to the favourable conditions rather than turning their running clock back to fitter times. Ian Keyte was the only B&R runner to break 70 minutes and although Phil Anderson was pleased with his time, he was disappointed that Halesowen’s Steve Millington passed him in the closing stages for the third successive race. Gavin Moorhead moved up from the 10 km distances of the Birmingham XC league and was probably a bit over-cautious early on as he had plenty of running left at the finish. The Bromsgrove Monday night training group arrived in force with Mike Leci and Dave Whipp separated by just over a minute. Most years, Len Quartly’s 84.16 would have made him a strong contender for the Vets 60 category which Roger Beacham won last year. But there were two runners ahead of him and in fact Sphinx’s Graham Patton recorded 68.58 – a time that would have been good enough to win either the Vet 45 or Vet 50 categories. Steve James ran his longest race for a long time having competed in the Gloucester XC League this season and although looking sore in the last 100 m was well inside the first half of the field. Phil Laxton, a relative newcomer to the club looked comfortable as he sprinted for the line less than a minute after Steve. Roger Beacham had a fall on an early downhill section but fortunately landed on his head and so was able to continue and was still inside the first 200 out of 429 finishers.  Selected results are given below and full results are available at the Stourbridge Running Club website (Click here).

As usual a large field of runners had gathered at Mary Stevens Park in Old Swinsford in Stourbridge. The competitors set off round the park and out through the surrounding roads, past the football pitches to the first climb through Redacre Common golf course. There was another climb up the road to Burys Hill pumping station before the route headed into terrific Worcestershire countryside. As usual the hill behind Church Farm was a real test with the runners having to follow the path down to the corner of the field before turning right to head back uphill and having any remaining rhythm broken by the second stile before the top. However after that, the course was fast along the road to Churchill and past the pools. Once Palmers Hill and the Birches were passed, the runners knew that the worst was over and anyone with enough remaining energy started to try to pull away from any nearby runner. The course crossed the railway and an uneven harvested field to meet the road from Hagley. A left turn led up through some houses to a narrow path up towards the pumping station again. Unfortunately the entrance to this path is the one place on the course where the route is not immediately clear and several of the leading runners went wrong including Kenilworth’s Patrick Noonan who had been second and Matt Hawcroft (son of B&R’s Peter Hawcroft). The last mile included two good downhill stretches and retraced the paths across the golf course and alongside the pitches. The very last bit is more direct through the houses and has just 100 m on the grass rather than a lap of the park.

Leading men & category winners

1 Tom Kenderdine (K&S) 59.18

2 Mitch Piddock (Unattached) 63.23

3 Patrick Noonan (Kenilworth) 63.31

V40 John Sanders (Telford) 65.03

V45 Stuart Geggie (Halesowen)

V50 David Daniels (Cobra) 70.39

V60 Graham Patton (Sphinx) 68.58

B&R finishers

17 Ian Keyte 67.50

34 Phil Anderson 71.46

48 Gavin Moorhead 73.38

75 Mike Leci 78.19

90 Dave Whipp 79.40

145 Len Quartly 84.16

180 Steve James 87.02

192 Phil Laxton 87.45

197 Roger Beacham 87.50

Leading women & category winners

1 Clare Grice (Birchfield) 70.30

2 Liz Gould (Halesowen) 71.49

3 Nellie Sanders (Telford) 73.03

V35 Kate Whitfield (S'hull SH) 82.27

V40 Kate Wright (Stratford) 73.32

V45 Jean Turner (Telford) 81.39

The start of the Stagger was preceded by the Breakthrough Breast Cancer 6km ladies only race which started from the park and took in part of the same course. 104 runners finished this event.

Leading finishers of Breakthrough Breast Cancer 6km ladies only race

1 Tessa Parkinson (DASH) 28.38

2 Helen Babbington (Hales.) 30.47

3 Emma Harrison (BC Tri.) 32.40

P. Anderson  14/2/06