Nopesport Urban League 2009

[Mrs H]

oh thank you Roger this is so exciting - roll on Sheffield (but sadly I fear it's all down hill for me now) roll on next year and bring on the super vets

[Dave]

I fear it's all down hill for me now

you're certainly right there Mrs H as both races in Sheffield have an overall negative climb on the course

[Blanka]

Blanka has missed only the Forres race; only Sarah, with her perfect record to date, could pass her. Third place is still wide open.

Looks like no Sarah on the start list and it's after the closing date so I guess I don't even have to go/finish my course to win the league! Takes the pressure off a bit, and certainly looks like there is a lot more tight competition in the older classes...

[Spookster]

Looks like no Sarah on the start list and it's after the closing date so I guess I don't even have to go/finish my course to win the league!

Late entries are being taken by email, and there are still 11 spare maps on B...

[Mrs H]

We'll all be agog now to see if Sarah turns up - how exciting

[Homer]

and there are still 11 spare maps on B...

So Spookster, are you going to pay me to take one and help in your quest to beat Roger?!!

[Spookster]

So Spookster, are you going to pay me to take one and help in your quest to beat Roger?!!

I was thinking a Bourne/Peel/Chapman/Martland/Ward pack run round the Chase might do the trick, and if you'd like to join in you'd be very welcome! I fear some of us won't be able to out-run Roger though...

[Homer]

...and I fear it might come down to who's least afraid of running in front of the no. 60 bus!

[Blanka]

We'll all be agog now to see if Sarah turns up - how exciting

Ah, but she told me in Cambridge that she's not running in Sheffield so I ought be fairly safe there, unless she decides at last minute that she's keen on the brick trophy!

[Mrs H]

or she could have been lying

[Roger]

I was thinking a Bourne/Peel/Chapman/Martland/Ward pack run round the Chase might do the trick, and if you'd like to join in you'd be very welcome!

Yes, I thought that you might be thinking along those lines. Astonishing foresight from ShUOC though, to have arranged so far in advance to use a format that facilitates this...

[mikey]

We'll all be agog now to see if Sarah turns up - how exciting

Ah, but she told me in Cambridge that she's not running in Sheffield so I ought be fairly safe there, unless she decides at last minute that she's keen on the brick trophy!

No more entries being taken, no EOD and no SR.

Well done Blanka.

[Roger]

The final results from the Sheffield City Chase are now in and the final Urban League standings updated: Men's, Women's

There was carnage in the Chase, with vast numbers of mis-punches. After all the dust had settled (OK, after all the splashes had run back into the puddles), the final roll of honour read:
Women

Code: Select all

Junior Women (W18-)                 races best 4
Elizabeth Parkinson      NOC   W16      5   393
Karen Maxwell            RR    W14      4   379
Amy Kimberley            DVO   W14      5   360


A good result from Karen enabled her to pass Amy, but Elizabeth was well clear.

Code: Select all

Open Women                          races best 4 
Blanka Collis            WAOC  W21      8   375
Kirstin Maxwell          RR    W18      4   339
Jayne Sales              SLOW  W21      4   335


Blanka's tenacity paid off, while Kirstin and Jayne passed Sarah Rollins to take second and third.

Code: Select all

Veteran Women (W40+)                races best 4
Liz Phillips             OD    W45      5   375
Carol Edwards            TVOC  W50      6   369
Helen Parkinson          NOC   W40      7   360

Liz's win took her ahead of Carol; Helen leap-frogged Delia Kingsbury for third in a tightly-contested category.

Code: Select all

Supervet Women (W55+)               races best 4
Liz Godfree              DVO   W60      6   392
Glenys Ferguson          SROC  W55      6   386
Jean Lochhead            EPOC  W60      4   374

Liz's second place consolidated her lead, and Jean's fourth scoring run took her past Susan Findlay-Robinson.
Men

Code: Select all

Junior Men (M18-)                   races best 4
William Parkinson        NOC   M14      6   353   368
Ben Beresford            DVO   M14      4   349   380
Alexander Chepelin       GRAMP M12      3   277   377


Just two successful completions from nine starters! William was one of the mispunchers but held on to win, while Ben checked his codes and moved up to second.

Code: Select all

Open Men                            races best 4
Liam Harrington          LOG   M21      5   352
Andrew Brown             SLOW  M21      4   324
Thomas Honniball         LOG   M21      5   318

Liam already had his name on the trophy (literally), but fell by the wayside on the day along with one-third of the rest of the field. Nopesport's own Brooner moved up to second and Thomas Honniball clung onto third, just 6 points ahead of Ollie O'Brien.

Code: Select all

Veteran Men (M40+)                  races best 4
Martin Ward              SPOOK M40      6   389
Roger Thetford           TVOC  M45      7   388
John Owens               BAOC  M40      4   368

A smooth and impressive win for Martin gave him the title by a point, in the closest of all the categories. Even the individual races were close: the result would have been different if he'd been a second slower in Oxford, or I'd been a second faster in Cambridge, or even if Bill Edwards hadn't popped over from New Zealand to run in London.

Code: Select all

Supervet Men (M55+)                 races best 4
Douglas Henderson        RR    M55      9   383
John Britton             MDOC  M55      6   380
Axel Blomquist           BAOC  M55      4   374


Neither ever-present Doug nor John improved. A win from Axel gave him third, just ahead of defending champion Peter Gorvett (369) and Jonathan Howell (367).

In the year, over 1300 people racked up scores. Last year the series included 1000 runs at the JK, which led to severe scoring anomalies and wasn't included this time. This year's nine events attracted 100+ more entries than the non-JK ten last year. Urban racing is clearly on the up.

And so it ends. The winners received their house-bricks and the applause of their peers, and we kick off for 2010 in Edinburgh (30 January) and Carlisle (6 February).

[Mrs H]

Many thanks Roger for all your hard work on this. It really adds a great deal to the pleasure for me and personally I'm thrilled to have improved my standing from 10th to 7th this year - my last as a vet. I'm looking forward to super vets next year - and even more so to when Wendles and Mrs Awk join me there.

Mr H is incandescent with rage to finish just 4.5 points behind Madmike and has vowed to train hard for the coming season (red wine and cake - is that right Mike?) to put him in his place!

We have already committed to Edinburgh and Carlisle as the only firm dates in the calendar but what we really would like to know as soon as possible is some other urban league dates to look forward to . being able to plot our 2010 campaign might help brighten this awful November weather

[madmike]

Red wine and cake - the only diet for the clinically obese wannabe elite athlete. So a bottle of red and a cake for 2010 higher finisher then?

C U in Edinburgh - just off for a training run