Looking forward to the weekend . .

 . . going back to York . . going back to Hull . .

 . . on Saturday morning I'm going with Di to East Park to take some photos whilst Di runs in Hull parkrun . . just a few photos of the runners, and some of the park too . .

 . . whilst on Sunday,  I'll be close to the windmill at the head of the page . . near Skidby . . for the Ferriby 10 mile road race . . I was there last year, so here are just a few photos I took then . . looking forward to seeing everyone there again this time round . .

. . so the sun didn't shine this year . .

Having suggested last week that the organisers of the Brass Monkey might like to book me because the sun always shines when I go to their race . . it let me down this year!!

 . . I popped across the A64 from Wigginton to Appleton Roebuck on Sunday morning to support friends taking part in this year's Half Marathon . . unfortunately I could have sworn that the course went round the loop at the end in an anti-clockwise direction, so I figured I was going to somewhere around 4 miles . . which would leave me plenty of time to get back to my parents' for an early lunch . . and here's the bunch of friendly marshals who explained that the loop is run in the opposite direction . . and I was somewhere around half way round the course . . and I may be late for lunch!

 . . despite the lack of sunshine, it turned out to be a good day for racing . . and indeed, not a bad day for watching either . . here's the eventual winner . .

 . . this group of runners were racing hard for 7th place . . 

 . . and this lady, in 2nd place at this point, went on to finish first . .

 . . whilst finally, here are just two of the friends who seemed pleased to see me out on the course . .

 . . wonder if the sun will shine next year?

Brass Monkey . .

It's one of Yorkshire's finest running events on Sunday, the Brass Monkey Half Marathon, staged by Knavesmire Harriers of York, with Race HQ in the Grandstand at the famous Knavesmire Racecourse . .

 

I've taken part 2 or 3 times, and enjoyed it, and been along and supported a couple of times, and enjoyed it almost as much . . here I am in 2004, under a clear blue sky, finishing in 1.48-ish . . those were the days!!

Whenever I go to this race it's always sunny. Perhaps the organisers should hire me to be there? Frosty to begin with and possibly slippery in a few places, and ever so cold whilst waiting for the start but of course when you get running you soon warm up and wish you hadn't kept those legs covered!

I took the last 2 photos when I was watching the race in 2009 (okay so there's a little cloud!). They're in the first ½ mile of the Half, when the runners have left the Racecourse and are heading into Bishopthorpe . .

 

In the first photo is Dave M, one of my friends from Leeds parkrun, who won't have ever seen this photo . . and Vikki K and Rick P are in the second photo. I hadn't met Dave and Rick when I took these photos, and didn't know Vikki was taking part, so it was nice to look back and find them in my photos . .

 . . and after this race, I bought my first DLSR camera, and started to take more, and better photos . . and run less too . . and if anybody who's taking part on Sunday should read this - good luck, have a good strong race and enjoy the day . .

Good to be back . .

I enjoyed being back in Bristol at the weekend, catching up with old friends . . and at Sunday's Riverbank Rollick seeing and having a chat with former clubmates from way back . . I really couldn't remember the last time I spoke to some of the Bitton Road Runners who were there, and it's 2 or 3 years since I saw friends from Hogweed Trotters . .

The race seemed to go well - it was good weather for running and reasonable weather (given the month we're in) for photography too, and the rain held off until the last runners had finished . .

The Riverside Rollick is held by Thornbury Running Club, in South Gloucestershire. Starting near St Mary's Church, you leave the town and head west, mostly across country . .

 . . as far as you can go until you reach the Severn Estuary, where you run along the bank for about a mile, heading south and into the prevailing wind, with the two bridges into Wales in the distance and never seeming to get any closer . .

 . . and after a mile or so of windy running, you turn left again and head east, over the hills and the golf course, to the finish in Munday playing fields, where the cruel twist that means the course follows an ice cold stream for a few yards does give the runners the opportunity to clean their running shoes . .

. . and I know all this because having taken part in the Rollick in 2008 I've had first hand experience!

. . Bristol Saturday . . Thornbury Sunday . .

My good friend Jan in Bristol suggested that I might like to take photos at one of the races her club (Thornbury Running Club) stages . . which is why tomorrow I'm driving to Bristol, seeing my old boss for lunch, and staying with old friends in Cotham. On the way down, I'll pop into Thornbury and make sure I know where I'm going on race-day. I used to live nearby so I've already got a pretty good idea, but it's best to make sure if you have the time available . .

At this stage of course, I don't have any photos of the Riverside Rollick to share with you so here are a couple of my favourite photos from the 2005 Bristol Half Marathon . . I love being by the water and so these two shots looking across the harbour to the stream of runners are amongst my favourites, and I just wish I'd had a better camera in those days . .

And finally, I thought it might be nice to close with a photo of Jan, taken in that same race, which until a few moments ago I'd forgotten I'd got, and which Jan may never have seen. Thanks for the tip about the Rollick, Jan, and see you on Sunday :-)

Out with the Old . . In with the New . .

It's taken me a while to wish you a Very Happy New Year but there are still 354 days remaining so hopefully it's not too late!

Changes have taken place here at Whinchat Labs, to my website, that is . . and where last year we looked like this . .

. . the New Year New Look is here . .

 . . and hopefully you can see that the italic typeface has gone, replaced by something bolder and, my glamorous assistant assures me, more professional in appearance . .

 . . also gone are the contrasting colours I'd used for the last 2 years, to be replaced by a series of 5 colours which will be complemented by shades of the same colour . . and on some pages of my site will be rotated on a monthly basis, so it always looks slightly different, even though really, it isn't . .

 . . so new colours, new typeface, new look . . if only it had been that simple!!

. . a Willen Winter Wonderland . .

Happy Boxing/Stephen's Day!! Hope you enjoyed/survived yesterday? I delayed my journey to my parents in York from the 24th, thought I'd give myself a day off and allow the holiday traffic to clear the M1 for me . .

 

I was told that Christmas Dinner would be on the table at 2pm, so I could get up and leave mid-morning or I could rise early, and stop off at parkrun Milton Keynes en route to Yorkshire . .

 . . of course the lure of parkrun was irresistible . . and so shortly before 9am I found myself in the still snow covered car park beside Willen Lake in MK, with 80 or so others, many of whom were to my mind inadequately dressed for the conditions . . they would be the runners then!!

 

Once they'd gone, the few of us that remained shivered, and watched Nig set up the finish area, and waited . . 

and shivered some more as we watched people in shorts running along the far bank of the frozen Lake, before they rounded the final bend, smiled and waved at Ian taking his first race photographs . .

 

. . and slithered and sprinted and slipped and strode along the last 200 metres to the finish line . .

  . . and mostly hung around for a while, stretching and chatting and enjoying the sunshine whilst waiting to see how friends and relatives had done . .

   . . it turned out that Hazel and Kevin had run around at the back of the pack, collecting the signs along the way . . so that once they'd finished . . 

 

 

. . we could all head off to wherever we were going to spend our Christmas Day . .