southcheshireharriers

Just checked position on GP races for next year given questions being asked about 4 Villages.

Had following response from Adrian Tiemicke and clearly early days/thinking:

'I am working on it now. The concensus is that people want Alsager dropping (too dangerous), and with Helsby already being nearly full, I am looking at leaving that out too, and having a later start to the GP in 2010, and maybe trying a few different races for a change (Helsby, Alsager & Wilmslow have been in every year so far, and all get full).'

So watch this space as clearly we'll want to include some/all of these races in our own Champs.

Alasdair

The following is the latest email from Adrian,-- note the first race is now April-- and not the Four Villages
"Thanks for your comments regarding the GP.
The concensus of opinion was that you all enjoy the GP and wish it to continue, but that you wanted to try out some different events. That, coupled with the fact that some of the regular events get very full very quickly, has led me to completely revamp the list of races this year. This wasn't straightforward though, as it's tricky to come up with a set of races over a variety of distances throughout the year and spread round the county. However, I have managed to come up with the following. (Note that I don't have confirmed dates for many of them yet, so rather than give a date which my change, I have shown an indicative one)

1) Chester Spring 5 (Wednesday, early April)
2) Whitley 10k (Sunday, late April)
3) Chester 1/2 (Sunday 16th May) http://www.westcheshireac.co.uk/roadracing/halfmarathon
4) Hollins Green 5k (Saturday late may or early june)
5) Warrington RR 10k (thursday late june)
6) Great Warford 10 (sunday mid august)
7) Macclesfield 1/2 (sunday, late september)

Given that there are 7 races, it will be 5 to count for team event, and 4 or the individual event.

Of the 7 races, only the Chester 1/2 marathon is likely to fill up in advance. However, they won't be opening entries until mid-February (I will give you advance warning of the exact date). This should eliminate many of the issues in recent years caused by being unable to enter some of the more popular GP events - particularly the two early half marathons (though the introduction of a transfer facility at these events did help to some extent - but only if you had an entry you could swap with in the first place).

The good news is that the County are again providing cash prizes for both the GP and the handicap - same amounts as 2008 & 2009."

No Air Products this year then?

I think the idea with 10k races is to alternate them between fixtures-- usually Birchwood and another one-- so perhaps 2011 for us

Too many short races again,no good for me. .
Mind you i'm no good at the long ones either! .

You spend to much time on holiday