National 12 Stage

[dominion]

Apparently I'm running!! They must be desperate!!!!

[Boy Wonder]

Ha ha ha


Flew over Sutton Park on way back from skiing... it's tiny! No problems there for you!

Watch out for TeamBath... at the back somewhere, but at least we've made it again

[Witton Park]

Good run from Andi today - the only Northern Boy in the Top 10 long legs.

Jonny Taylor Morpeth fastet short - that was a turn up for me - not come across him before today - fantastic effort - 10K PB "only" 31:26 but nailing plenty of "quicker" guys.
I would have thought one to watch this year with that sort of form.

But overall, the North only had 3 in both top 10's, Matt Pierson of Holmfirth being the 3rd one.

I'd be interested if anyone thinks that should be cause for concern.

http://www.race-results.co.uk/results/2009/nat1209.htm

[Roadrunner]

Its shows that people need to train harder, work harder and run harder. I think a full strength Leeds today would not have touched the winners. They looked a good team. Wicks just took the piss out of the field and the course.

We finished 16th. Got a few to come in and one to be cleared from a ban and hopefully we can get up 'in the mix'. Anyone remember who won in 2000? (I happen to have that copy of AW in front of me right now) I am sure we can get back to them days, but have to remember Rome wasn't built in a day.

[longstreet]

Poor results from the North today especially those teams who thought they were 'it' at Stockport. Looks like hard working team managers have been let down by athletes not wanting to travel / injured ? / not well ?. It's never good enough that - no doubt some made the excuse it was too close to the marathon or the peaks. Don't make excuses for them guys - they know who they are and it has become an increasing trend in the last 10 to 15 years.

That's one of the reasons why we can't produce nationally - training hard is key but mental toughness and not being afraid to have a poor run or getting beaten by someone who you usually beat is important. Look at the past when the best were against each other every week. Train much harder, race more and then we might get times similar at Sutton to those in the 70s and 80s.

Finally sticking with your local club and making it better is the way it should be, not moving from club to club just to pick up a medal here and there. Interesting today at Sutton even those clubs who have those sort of athletes in the North couldn't get up there - what does that tell you !! Could be lack of commitment to your club, could be lack of pride or maybe it's more about themselves than the club they joined recently. This doesn't apply en bloc to a team but those committed again know athletes like that and the more of that type you have in your team the more likely that team manager is going to be let down

[Witton Park]

Although I run, I see myself more as an armchair fan when it comes to guys like RR etc - I just love watching them run.
Andi's win in the Northern at Witton a few years ago is still the best XC performance I have seen.

But I look at the lads at BBH and we have a few who are 32 - 34 for 10K who train as a group and then we have a couple who are 30 ish - but they effectively train on their own.

I've thought for sometime that North-West endurance squad getting together say every Tuesday and rotating around the tracks, pulling together the best of the regions endurance athletes, would be ideal.

That way you can get maybe a dozen 30m 10K guys all pushing each other and bouncing ideas of each other weekly.

[TheHeathens]

Although I run, I see myself more as an armchair fan when it comes to guys like RR etc - I just love watching them run.
Andi's win in the Northern at Witton a few years ago is still the best XC performance I have seen.

But I look at the lads at BBH and we have a few who are 32 - 34 for 10K who train as a group and then we have a couple who are 30 ish - but they effectively train on their own.

I've thought for sometime that North-West endurance squad getting together say every Tuesday and rotating around the tracks, pulling together the best of the regions endurance athletes, would be ideal.

That way you can get maybe a dozen 30m 10K guys all pushing each other and bouncing ideas of each other weekly.

Not a bad idea. When we were at Uni in Sheffield, we had a fantastic group of about 10-15 fairly closely matched athletes that used to train together and our times (collectively) dropped like stones.

You had the likes of Andy Norman, Ewen North, and Jason Ward at the front pushing each other and then me and everyone else just behind them.

We used to do the track sessions at Hallamshire on a Tuesday and Thursday as a group, but we also did most of our long runs together as well and not many of them were slower than 6 min miling despite the hills!

Every Wednesday at 2:30pm (No uni due to sport) we religiously used to do a 12 mile run from Ecclesall Rd up to Stannington around Rivelin and back to Ecclesall. I dropped about 35 secs off my 3km PB and 10 secs off my 1500m PB over the space of 5 months, despite not having trained the whole summer before going to Uni.

What I'm trying to say is having training partners close to you is a surefire way of improving your own performance.

[Chaddy the Owl]

Poor results from the North today especially those teams who thought they were 'it' at Stockport. Looks like hard working team managers have been let down by athletes not wanting to travel / injured ? / not well ?. It's never good enough that - no doubt some made the excuse it was too close to the marathon or the peaks. Don't make excuses for them guys - they know who they are and it has become an increasing trend in the last 10 to 15 years.

That's one of the reasons why we can't produce nationally - training hard is key but mental toughness and not being afraid to have a poor run or getting beaten by someone who you usually beat is important. Look at the past when the best were against each other every week. Train much harder, race more and then we might get times similar at Sutton to those in the 70s and 80s.

Finally sticking with your local club and making it better is the way it should be, not moving from club to club just to pick up a medal here and there. Interesting today at Sutton even those clubs who have those sort of athletes in the North couldn't get up there - what does that tell you !! Could be lack of commitment to your club, could be lack of pride or maybe it's more about themselves than the club they joined recently. This doesn't apply en bloc to a team but those committed again know athletes like that and the more of that type you have in your team the more likely that team manager is going to be let down

Another reason why few northern clubs attend; is because of the cost. it costs alot of money to enter a team into the relays, and if your club isnt paying for it plus the cost of petrol, it all adds up. commitment is the key, but you must consider other factors.

[Trossachs?]

Poor results from the North today especially those teams who thought they were 'it' at Stockport. Looks like hard working team managers have been let down by athletes not wanting to travel / injured ? / not well ?. It's never good enough that - no doubt some made the excuse it was too close to the marathon or the peaks. Don't make excuses for them guys - they know who they are and it has become an increasing trend in the last 10 to 15 years.

That's one of the reasons why we can't produce nationally - training hard is key but mental toughness and not being afraid to have a poor run or getting beaten by someone who you usually beat is important. Look at the past when the best were against each other every week. Train much harder, race more and then we might get times similar at Sutton to those in the 70s and 80s.

Finally sticking with your local club and making it better is the way it should be, not moving from club to club just to pick up a medal here and there. Interesting today at Sutton even those clubs who have those sort of athletes in the North couldn't get up there - what does that tell you !! Could be lack of commitment to your club, could be lack of pride or maybe it's more about themselves than the club they joined recently. This doesn't apply en bloc to a team but those committed again know athletes like that and the more of that type you have in your team the more likely that team manager is going to be let down

I take it by North you dont mean Scotland, as Shettlestone had a belter in fourth, and Jethro in there, a true fell runner mixing it with the roadies.

Jason

[Roadrunner]

I take it by North you dont mean Scotland, as Shettlestone had a belter in fourth, and Jethro in there, a true fell runner mixing it with the roadies.

Jason

And the extras who never returned home after the world XC!