The Harriers' week long trip to Bregenz in Austria proved to be a successful one thanks to not only the good weather but some good performances in the Bregenz town centre races.
Top perfomer was Jack Nixon (right) who was a clear winner in the under-13s 1,500 metres in 5 minutes and 1 second.
Liam Turnbull claimed a third place in the under-15s 1,500 metres event and Phil Nixon 6th in the longer 4.2km event.
In the 9km senior event first home for the club was Mike Shaw in 3rd place followed by Frank Riley in 5th, both winning their age categories. There were also prizes for Chris Jackson, Beryl & Eric Normansell and Willy Walker.
In addition to the racing the trip also included a train ride through the Swiss alps on the Glacier Express, a boat crossing of Lake Constance and trip to the picturesque German town of Lindau.
...and in the Balearics
Ruth and Tony Lee all smiles after the Majorcan Marathon
Those who travelled to Blackpool earlier in the year for the marathon/half marathon will know what its like to run in heat, those who made the journey to Majorca now know what its like to run in real Mediterranean heat !!
With the sun still low in the sky for the 9:30am start temperatures edged towards 80°C. A relatively flat course along the crystal clear blue coast either side of Palma with a detour to take in the sights of Palma old town this marvellously organised event tested the endurance of Tony Lee, Ruth Lee and Sean Whewell - the sun continued to rise into the azure sky and the temperatures continued to soar into the 90's to greet the Stockport runners as they crossed the finish line.
Tony ran a great race finishing 39th out of a field of over 2,000 in 3 hours and 10 minutes. Next home for Stockport was Sean, smashing his personal best by 40 minutes finishing in 4.02, just missing out on a sub-4 hour through his inexperience in using his Garmin 301 GPS stopwatch.
Ruth was 50th lady home crossing the line in an equally impressive 4.10. Later in the week Ruth was to beat the Majorcan all comers cocktail drinking record and her name will go down in local folklore.
The Stockport team was completed by 13-year-old Amber Whewell who also fought bravely through the intense heat running her first ever 10km finishing in 49 minutes and 50 seconds.
Jenny on the up
Jenny Knass is following in the footsteps of Jenny Murray in her improving performances in races. Having run her first cross country the day before, finishing 9th, she followed up to complete her first 15 mile race in 1 hour and 41 minutes finishing 5th lady to complete a hard weekend of racing.
The Holmfirth 15 is a hilly course and and was enough to test the most hardy with wind and driving rain.
We also had Vicky Barrett challenging close behind to finish 9th lady in 1.48 and our other lady was Liz Bowden finishing in just over 2 hours.
Jenny Murray who has won this event the last two years was pre-entered before she went to Nairobi and if she had run would have been able to compete for the Yorkshire Championships.
The next event major road event for the squad will be the Stockport 10 were they will be out in force. The challenge will be for Jenny Murray to break the hour barrier and for the ladies to complete wining team prize along with some personal bests.
Other welcoming news is that Kerrie Wood is back running after the birth of her baby. Sally Keigher has rejoined the club having been out with the birth of her children. Sally said she is coming back to form and will be competing at the Stockport 10, so we will be looking at her performance.
With so much talent in the squad it will be an interesting 12 months with strength in depth. As team events goes it will be a challenge for all of them to perform.