Winter Grand Prix - the facts!
The 2009-10 Wallsend Harriers Winter Grand Prix series – with the winner receiving the George Wilkinson Cup - was the thirteenth year in which the competition had been staged, since the inaugural series proposed by club member Steve O’Gara. It was also the second year to use a new ‘3.04m’ course around the Silverlink estate.
In terms of numbers who competed, it equalled the record set last year, with 66 runners competing at least once.
For the ‘stattos’ among us, here are some random facts and figures:
66 runners took part in at least one Grand Prix event.
The scoring system was slightly modified this winter, with only five – rather than six – best scores to count towards the overall title. The winner of each race receives 50 points, second-place gets 49 and so on down to the last finisher.
The top ten places in the final table were:
1 Kevin Payne 216 pts
2 Micky Todd 214
3 Kerry Bentham 208
4 = Ruth Marshall 203
4 = Kath Robertson 203
6 = Dave Moir 202
6 = Elaine Liu 202
8 Emma Osbourn 201
9 Brian Hetherington 200
10 Dan Weatherill 199
Only Tony Maddocks finished every one of the eight races – the second year in a row that Tony has been an ever-present. Kevin Payne, Micky Todd, Kerry Bentham, Ruth Marshall, Dave Moir and Caroline Hasson completed seven of the eight races.
Elaine Liu, Emma Osbourn, Brian Hetherington, Dan Weatherill, Penny Sinclair, Joanne McCullough, David Rowe and Paul Brown completed six of the eight events.
22 Women runners completed at least one race.
The best-supported race was the second of the series in October with 39 finishers. The least well-supported was the New Years Day race with 20 finishers – although it should be noted that this race took place in 4-6 inches of fresh snow and in conditions which made car-driving hazardous!
There were eight different individual winners: Graham Armstrong, Emma Osbourn, Michael Norton, Mick Stringfellow, Lee Morgan, Vicky Hindson, Ryan Hall and Kieran Drape – the last two were both junior members making their debuts in this series.
Mark Fenwick’s 15.54 in Race 1 was the fastest Mens time of the series and a new course record.
Vicky Hindson set a new Womens club record of 19.00 in the January race, only nine seconds slower than the course record set by guest runner Carolyn Dickie in 2008-09.
Kenny McPherson set a new Veteran Mens course record with 16.52 in November, while Emma Walton set a new Veteran Womens record with 20.01 in the final race of the series.
The 5 fastest Men:
M Fenwick 15.54
K McPherson 16.52
S Kelly 17.00
L Morgan 17.09
S Gibbs 17.09
The 5 fastest Women
V Hindson 19.00
E Walton 20.01
E Liu 20.22
C Willis 21.08
C Skeldon 21.11
The narrowest margin of victory was 12 seconds, when Mick Stringfellow beat Kirk Dodds in December. The biggest margin of victory was Emma Osbourn’s 1.53 gap ahead of Sean Kelly in October.
The overall series was decided in the last race when Kevin Payne overturned long-time leader Micky Todd.
There were five ‘Dave’s’ who took part in the series, four called Chris (or Chrys) and three called Mick. The New Years Day race was run in deep snow and the January race was re-scheduled due to adverse weather after a show of hands among members.
Ian MacDougall started every race, and acted as time-keeper in every race.
Thanks to all who took part. The series could not have taken place without your help!
Winter Grand Prix
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