Friday 26 December 2014

Summer Series 14

Summer Series

The summer series is a great social event for anyone living in staffordshire and beyond. There are nine races in total and they happen every thursday evening from the the end of May, I think. The races are organised by Staffordshire Moorlands Athletics Club.

Its a great chance to do a short sharp run in the middle of the week and to catch up with follow runners.

As well as competing in the series for a second time, I also organised a race.  In order to be included in the league standings at the end of the series you have to complete 7 out of the 9 races. This is harder than you think. As its demanding to race every week. So my advice is to plan which seven or eight races to do, as I always feel you need a rest in the middle somewhere.





Its a great opportunity for me to continue my banter with other runners from the likes as Craig Jeffery, Jason Burgess, Dean Windsor, Dale Colclough and Frank Murphy as well as many others.

My favourite races in the series are Shutlingsloe, Wetton and the Roaches. Shutlingsloe is my strongest race in the series as it's a simply climb and back down again. I love the roaches as this where I do a lot of my training, and Wetton is just a fantastic course in a beautiful landscape, and the climb up past Wetton Mill is a challenge but offers the best view.

I also designed the t-shirts for this years series.  It was in the form of an Ibex Mountain Goat. One of my favourite animals.

The series was a tough start as I was injury and missed the first races, and I wasn't race fit. The first race I did was Wetton, the toughest out of the series. Lots of rolling hills, I finished 9th in the end. The next race was Oakamoor, a good race in the first few sections but the run in to end is a drag on long the railway line. It does make for flat out sprint finish should you find yourself among other runners.  Buxton was the third race, I enjoyed this one, two loops around the forest that surrounds Solomans Temple. A landmark in the land and overlooks people coming to the town. The next race was the roaches, I managed to finish ninth in this race. The next races was Shutlingsloe and I managed to finish 5th for Team Raidlight, who I represented in the series. I also managed to beat Craig Jeffery for the first time this year. He is top runner and a top guy. Again I have a lot of respect for him, as he knows his stuff and clearly shows it when he races. The last race I did was Rudyard, which is a race around the lake. And its a tough one as its a sprint all the way around. I finished 12th in this one.

Overall I managed to finish 8th, beaten by craig who finished in 6th, Martin Dearden finished in 18th overall.

If you want to find out about the ipstones race here is the race link. http://runningthoughtsdb.blogspot.co.uk/p/races_18.html








View of the ipstones course

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Big head for craig, photo Mick Hall, Craig always beats me on the descents




Wettons Starting field




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