Paddock Wood Half Marathon The Paddock Wood Half Marathon takes place next Sunday the 12th March. There will be a coach leaving outside the Talacre Centre at 6:50am on the day. Currently the coach is full but keep an eye on the Facebook group in case anybody who has their name down can no longer take part. Regent’s Park 10k The last 10k fixture of this season takes place this Sunday the 5th of March at Regent’s Park. Use this link to take part Track improvement works The City of London Corporation is investing £2 million into the Parliament Hill Athletics Track in 2023 to ensure it remains one of London’s best track and field facilities. The essential works will include resurfacing the track, which, due to extreme weather in the last few years has started to deteriorate. The new surface, a non-porous sandwich system, will ensure the track retains the UK Athletics ‘TrackMark’ accreditation and can be used to host national and international athletics events alongside the regular school and club events. Replacement of the existing floodlights, which were installed in the 1970s, is also part of the investment. The new LED lights will be more energy efficient and switchable which means they can be used at their current strength for competitions a few times per year, and will be dimmed, with less light spillage than the current lights, for the weekly evening track meetings, which is the vast majority of their use. There will be fewer masts and lights, with a higher mounting height and lower wattage, all of which means it will have less light spill and be more environmentally friendly than the existing setup. There will also be improvements made to the high jump area and subject to budget constraints, further minor improvements such as hooks and storage which will improve the experience for those using the facility. The works are scheduled to take place from early June 2023 until the end of September 2023 and the track will be closed while the works take place. There will be investigation work ongoing over the next few weeks and some intermediate works taking place from 10-15 April 2023. If you would like to find out more, you are invited to attend the track on Friday 24 March from 3.30pm to 7pm where there will be an opportunity to speak to experts and see the plans. If you would like further information on this event please contact Jennifer Wood, email jennifer.wood@cityoflondon.gov.uk, 07912 041328 Race Report – Lostock 6 – Kat ‘Re-routing…’ Stella the Sat Nav’s chagrin was palpable as we completed a semi-illegal about turn to make towards the car park of the former Barnstormers pub on the outskirts of Bolton, where runners eagerly assembled for the 40th Anniversary Lostock 6 Miler on Sunday 26 February. Lostock AC promised ‘miles of smiles’, a phrase also found on Nick Johnson’s out of office, and there were both aplenty. A circular course that claims to be one of the UK’s oldest road races, the pre race promo states that it’s - ‘undulating’. (exchanges knowing grimace). Mel the Motivator led us through a warm up, although all motivation came from the sweet aroma of bacon and egg rolls floating across from “Witchy’s butty van”. I almost missed the start after a series of near-unfortunate events (there should be training courses for how to tie a timing chip to your lace) but as we were released by race founder John Smith it was a speedy ascent up the first hill before the road flattened, the runner clusters elongated, and we hit our stride. The course was replete with Northern charm: icy breeze; chunky hills; cheerful signs for ‘Barry’s Barms’, and friendly shouts of ‘g’won lass’ from those who lined the course - a hardy bunch, from hi-viz children to cyclists on the lookout for carrot cake. The marshals were incredibly friendly, but counting appeared not to be their forté. As we hit mile 3, I stuck to my pace, proud that another woman hadn’t yet passed me, but I wasn’t prepared to hear ‘well done, first lady’ (woah!), ‘smashing it, second lady’ (that makes more sense) and ‘here’s the third lady’ (wait, what?!) all shouted at me within 400 metres of solo running. I must be doing something right, though, I thought, and went back to dreaming of my egg bap/barm/roll (sarnie?). Having passed the neat astro of the delightfully named Ladybridge FC just after mile 4, the proverbial hit the fan as we rejoined the main road and were greeted with a reet doom vista - a long slog up Chorley New Road. I’d seen the mile 5 sign on the drive up (via Stella’s original route) so knew that there could only be a mile of this gradual death before things levelled out. At this point, a female runner cruised past me - ‘I’m chasing those men in red up there, see ya!’. How dare she have so much breath.  ‘Huhurghzz’, I responded. Was I now second, third, please not fourth? At the top of the hill, a boy pinged his bike bell triumphantly and, mercifully, the downhill came. A 3.50 final km restored my hopes of a sub 39 for the 6 miles, and I crossed the line in 38.53 as third lady - the first time I’ve ever had to wait for the presentation! Double egg and ketchup sandwich devoured; £20 voucher acquired. I would recommend this race if you fancy ranking highly on power of 10 for an ‘unusual’ distance. All in all, an excellent morning in lovely Lancashire. National Cross Country Championships - Bolesworth Castle, Chester – Juliette The National cross country championships were held for the first time ever at Bolesworth Castle, Chester, and 6 brave chasers (and Liz’s lucky scrunchie) made the trip up (rumoured to be the first chaser contingent at a national XC outside of London?!) It was a great day, and as you do with these things, you have to bring it up in every conversation possible…as a result, below are a series of FAQs that I was asked by friends, family and colleagues: What are you aiming for, position or time? Cross country isn’t really about position or time, it’s you against the course. Though we did have some outstanding performances from the 6 chasers that ventured to Chester. Lauren Longhurst managed to finish in the top 200, whilst Rory Clark finished in the top 450. Excellent performances from the other chasers - Juliette, Andy, Dan and Paul! Was it crowded? Yes! and also no! With 1000 and 2000 people entered for the women’s and men’s races respectively, the start line and bottleneck at the beginning felt crowded. Relative to other cross country races it was, running a cross country race surrounded by so many others was exhilarating. But some mentioned that they often found themselves running alone. Also despite the crowds, I still managed to find myself running next to Barnet & District and Highgate Harriers runners (in addition to clubs like Swindon, Bury and Sheffield!). How long was the course? The women’s course was 8k, though measured long (8.6k). I had multiple conversations after the race saying - “it got to 7k so I sped up, but when my watch hit 8k the finish line was nowhere to be seen!”. The long gradual uphill slog to the finish dragged on, helping the poised photographers on the finish line to capture the exhausted faces. The men’s race came in at approximately 11.6k. Was it muddy? Was it hilly?   The course was not the mud and hills that we know and love, mainly consisting of bleak flat laps of fields, with an occasional hairpin, gradual incline or small patch of mud. My spikes were cleaner than when I started! It suited some more than others, helping Lauren to re-find her love of cross country. What the course lacked in elevation was made up for by the thickly packed cheering crowds! The repetitive twisty course also allowed for the luxury of simultaneously fangirling whilst racing against some of the biggest names in English XC! Did you camp/stay there all weekend? Despite the grounds of Bolesworth Castle resembling Glastonbury 2.0 (did you see the number of surprisingly clean portaloos, we are runners after all?!), the queue time to enter the car park (conversations on the start line included ‘i only arrived 5 minutes ago’, ‘the last mile took me an hour’ and ‘i ditched my car, i hope it doesn’t have a clamp on it when i get back’) and our luxurious addition of a groundsheet and flag (if you know, you know) set up next to our friends at Barnet & District AC, most people opted for the day ticket option… You didn’t do a parkrun before nationals did you? Of course we did! It would be a shame to break a habit that’s treated us so well all season. Although this report isn’t about parkrun, if you’re driving near to the English/Welsh border on a Saturday morning then I thoroughly recommend that you check out the stunning Erddig parkrun! Can we watch it on TV? No, but also yes…some keen people did stream it from youtube/ to their TVs….if you want to catch up you can see race footage here: England Athletics Channel - (https://www.youtube.com/@englandathleticsvids) Mark Hookway Channel - (https://www.youtube.com/@MARKHOOKWAYADL) Calendar Here's whats happening over the next few weeks other than our usual Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday runs. You can find our full calendar on the website. 11/03/2023 Chingford League- Wanstead Flats XC Relays Sign up to run - deadline 2023-03-05 05/03/2023 Mornington Chasers Regents Park 10K 05/03/2023 Mornington Chasers Regent's Park 10k marshalling 12/03/2023 Paddock Wood Half Marathon Run Get a coach if possible (1 of 22 left) 13/03/2023 Committee meeting 07/03/2023 Beginners volunteering week 8 volunteer (1 of 5 left) 26/03/2023 Middx & Herts Masters XC Champs Sign-up to run - deadline 2023-03-15 12/03/2023 Sunday XC League - Fixture 5 - Royston Sign-up to run We are also currently taking names for the following events. 02/04/2023 SEAA - 12 Stage Road Relays Sign-up to express your interest. 02/04/2023 SEAA - 6 Stage Road Relays (Women's team) Sign up if interested Results If you want to upload a photo or your results are missing, log in to our website and update your picture and Power of 10 ID. I note that there's a problem with results appearing in the newsletter. I hope to get it fixed by next week. In the meantime you can see your times on power of 10 Links Send your stories to newsletter@chaser.me.uk. Home Facebook Twitter Strava