Whippets
Wakker Rennen - (Happy running in Dutch)
It was a wonderful end to 2019 in Whippet World. Buoyed by our gold medal success in the Town Athletics Championships in July, we enjoyed a summer of Park Runs and big race training. It all culminated in victory in the District Indoor Athletic Championships in which we represented West Lancashire in the SPAR Games. All the miles covered in running club and weekend runs certainly paid off. We have also been given a lift by the establishment of our track. It allows us to do lots of quality speed work. No wonder we have been literally ‘running away’ from the opposition. I do need to say how great it is to see members of our wider community using this facility. You are very welcome and I hope you get the same pleasure and benefit using the track as we do.
Lots of our younger members have achieved Park Run milestones. Our ‘veteran’ Nikki Schofield has reached her 50 (to go with her thousands of Junior runs and victory in a charity 3k) and Maikls Veliks, Oskars Meinherts, Ronnie Murray, Ryan Watt, Harry Cannon, Deniss Kozevnikovs, Kady Hall, Layla Hall and Nour Kohlief have all achieved 10. There has been a battle amongst our senior runners to get to these milestones first. Recently Miss Beeley, Miss Baxter, Mrs Hall, Mr Schofield and Daniel Schofield have all been showing off in their red 50 T-shirts, whilst I have become smug in the knowledge that I got to 100 first.
For the first time ever, the Whippets competed abroad - in the Amsterdam Running Festival. Five of us ran the Amsterdam Marathon and four ran the TCS 8K. We had a wonderful time in Amsterdam and all loved the challenge and atmosphere of an international event. There were lots of sore legs and missing toe nails following the races, but we soon recovered and thoroughly enjoyed the sights and sounds of Amsterdam. In terms of the race, it was all about taking part…..it didn’t matter who finished first…. I wasn’t really trying anyway….Beeley cheated!!! …. I was told she took a water taxi across the Amstel River to shortcut by 6 miles. But following therapy, I can now acknowledge that we have a sub four hour marathon runner in our club. Take a bow Miss Beeley 3:59:29 – what a woman! For the record, others left in her wake, apart from myself, were Miss Baxter, Mr Millar, Miss Abella, Mrs T, Patrick Taberner, Eleanor Smout and the flying Lewis Shaw.
The final event of the year was a fell run around the beautiful Bolton Abbey. The usual suspects were joined by Miss Blackledge, Miss Alker, Miss Cameron, Nour Kholief, Ruby Grey, Laura Rucca, Callum Kennedy, Breb Millar and Mr Schofield. My legs still ache, but we did have a great day out.
We have a lot to look forward to in 2019 -2020. Park runs, cross-countries, triathlons, city events are all planned. Miss Beeley even wants a weekend away for all our interested runners. We will look into that one. All these dates can be found in our Whippet Calendar, which is on sale for a great value £2 from the school office. It also contains photographs, training advice and motivational quotes.
In the meantime ‘Happy New Running Year.’
Mr T.
If you wish to register for Parkrun please follow the link below.
https://www.parkrun.org.uk/register/form/
