About us

Sandbach Striders was born back in 2003. Since the early days, membership has grown with a firm ethos of the club being not just about running but social activities as well. The club is affiliated to UK AAA and has its own qualified coaches. Many other special events take place on various nights too.

The club meets on Wednesdays at 18:30 and Sundays at 09:00 at Elworth Cricket Club.

Whilst many members compete in races from 5k to Marathons, the emphasis remains purely on keeping people motivated and having fun. Why not scan through our race reports to see what we’ve been up to? Having read them, you’re sure to see why Sandbach Striders has developed the motto of being

"No Ordinary Running Club!"

Thursday 6 June 2013

Race Report: Kentmere 17k Trail Race 01/06/2013



This Race Starts in Staveley in Kentmere and there are three races a 10k trail race, the 17k challenge and the 17k trail race which is the one that I ran.


I drove up with one of my running friends called Fast Dave, yes the name says it all, we set off at 09:00am up the M6 to Staveley in Kentmere we got there for about 12:30pm and went in to register, once we did that we had a walk round taking some pics and soaking up the sun and atmosphere, then it was time to get change into our shorts and watch the challenge event start at 1pm, the drums at the start and the music was great it really got you pumping.then it was time for the toilets which I must say were disgusting due to the volume of people running today, then with a hour to spare I decided id got the munches so I treated myself to a hog roast batch which I regret as I found myself chewing on a pigs tooth ughh and an ice-cream much to the disgust of Fast Dave who was taking this race seriously due to the fact we were racing each other and was warming up and getting in the mood.

We line up among some very athletic runners the drums give off there beat then we are off, as normal people are racing off with no or little chance of sustaining the pace all the way round so Fast Dave and myself ease into it at a nice 6:30 / 7:00 min/mile pace for the first mile which was flattish on road chatting to each other.

Now at this point I am very aware that Dave is very fast on trail and can do a 4 min/mile sprint finish where I am generally good on all types of terrain but a little bit slower so when Dave pulls past me on the first hill I make an effort to overtake him on the hill and keep him behind me if possible or at least to try and pull him out to early so he gets tired.
This seems to work well and in the process we are overtaking lots of people especially Delamere Spartans as we started close to the back, I can now feel myself waking up and the adrenalin starts to kick in so keeping up a good race pace feels ok even in the blistering heat.

Now I had made the decision not to carry any water for speed purposes and use the water stations so the first water station comes and I grab a cup and have a few sips not wasting any time then carry on running again normally I can run 10 – 13 miles happily without needing water but today with the heat I am aware I have about a 4 mile window something to keep an eye on.  We have already ran up some hills but nothing too major but at about mile 6 we hit a monster of a hill that goes up and up I really want to walk, everyone around me is but I know that there is one guy behind me not walking in fact running up this hill very fast to catch me so it’s now I know run up this hill or loose to fast Dave so I run and I don’t stop until the top yes… all the hard runs I have done in the last 6 months are paying off big time… so over different terrain I run over moorland up mountains over walls through mud and down streams that want to snap your ankles then I go pass a marshal who counts me in as number 58 so I think cool keep this up here and going well but the tracks and hills are so exposed and I have no water then I hit the water station and had two of the nicest cups of water I have ever had so needed that, now I have 3 mile to go until the finish… and no sign of Dave go Mat go.

At the end of this race they have added something called the sting, yes can’t be good and there it is one more big steep climb to the top then a fast run down it to the town to the finish so I get to the top then run fast all the way down for about 2 miles to the finish where you run around the field to the finish line someone tried to sprint finish and beat me on the field but no chance a quick burst and iv finished in a time of 1 hour 32 mins for a 11.5 mile course not 17k like it said, position 58th / 177  with good trail runners including Fast Dave I had done it.

I walk pass the finish to get a drink only to see Fast Dave sprinting like a mad man through the finish that was close my goodness one walk one slip he would have had me… job done. 

These are truly great races that the Lakeland Trail People do http://www.lakelandtrails.org

I have ran a couple of them now they are great and would recommend them a medal in the goody bag would be nice for the cost you pay but hey it’s still worth it and there is plenty of choice for all abilities throughout the year.

Mat Simister
 

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