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Haigh Hall 4 - 11th May 2011
What goes up must come down right?! Well pretty much that is Haigh Hall, apart from they put the registration about a mile away only accessible by Marine Commando’s with maps, Garmin Sky Nav uplinks and a Sherpa with Llama’s!
Wednesday night racings back for the summer season, always good when you work in Manchester and finish at rush hour, needless to say Horton and myself fled the office at bang on Five Pm to avoid repeating last year’s last minute start line arrival fiasco! Collecting Phil from outside Mikes front door, (he was waiting there, he’s not a Hobo and lives in a box outside the door in case you were wondering) and then collecting Adam we headed up the motorway to Destination Wigan!
As mentioned previously Registration is at a nearby site at a rugby ground, this year it was also in a rather small room behind the main bar, the big room being populated by large men entertained by a Steel Band playing rather passable tributes to the Killers, Strokes and oddly enough Phil Collins.
Registered about eight of us brave Swinton lot made the epic journey to the start, every other club jogged past having a warm up but not us! Rebecca tried to get a jog going but even that failed to inspire and as an added bonus while travelling to the start I managed to almost snap my ankle which was nice.
Once at the start it was brilliant to see the wash of Swinton Red, 26 runners in all made the night a brilliant show! One of the best turnouts I’ve ever seen, while everybody milled around I nipped off for a quick “moment” resulting in the second ankle snap of the evening thanks to some hidden bricks, limping off the pain using Mr Hart as a support I watched Mel wandering around with a start sign, rather odd I thought, but hey, perhaps he was going to don the Swinton Mankini Adam owns and do a boxing style start for the Ladies!
Race on and the announcer came forth to explain that they were sorry for the small room at registration as there was a short notice wake for the Rugby club owner who’d died recently, the thought passed my mind that he was not as sorry as the rugby club owner but hey; on we go!
The course is simple enough, it is a mile and three climb upwards to Haigh Hall and then right into a big loop inside the scenic grounds, some lovely sights for the eyes on the way up only slightly ruined by the fat kid shouting “try harder “ at passing woman, one loop quickly becomes two and your done and now comes the good bit, you get to run down the big hill, the trick I’m told is to turn off your brain and lean forward, quite easy for me really, I ploughed down the hill after the guy in white in front but he was a tad quicker than me, he finished a few seconds ahead of me, was a great finishing grid for Swinton, really showed the club colours for the Grand Prix, despite getting massively lost and Carol leaving Steve in the Woods on the return leg we all returned Safe and sound, as races go this one is a great little challenge for new runners and old alike, defiantly one for the calendar next year!
Paul Shier
Wednesday night racings back for the summer season, always good when you work in Manchester and finish at rush hour, needless to say Horton and myself fled the office at bang on Five Pm to avoid repeating last year’s last minute start line arrival fiasco! Collecting Phil from outside Mikes front door, (he was waiting there, he’s not a Hobo and lives in a box outside the door in case you were wondering) and then collecting Adam we headed up the motorway to Destination Wigan!
As mentioned previously Registration is at a nearby site at a rugby ground, this year it was also in a rather small room behind the main bar, the big room being populated by large men entertained by a Steel Band playing rather passable tributes to the Killers, Strokes and oddly enough Phil Collins.
Registered about eight of us brave Swinton lot made the epic journey to the start, every other club jogged past having a warm up but not us! Rebecca tried to get a jog going but even that failed to inspire and as an added bonus while travelling to the start I managed to almost snap my ankle which was nice.
Once at the start it was brilliant to see the wash of Swinton Red, 26 runners in all made the night a brilliant show! One of the best turnouts I’ve ever seen, while everybody milled around I nipped off for a quick “moment” resulting in the second ankle snap of the evening thanks to some hidden bricks, limping off the pain using Mr Hart as a support I watched Mel wandering around with a start sign, rather odd I thought, but hey, perhaps he was going to don the Swinton Mankini Adam owns and do a boxing style start for the Ladies!
Race on and the announcer came forth to explain that they were sorry for the small room at registration as there was a short notice wake for the Rugby club owner who’d died recently, the thought passed my mind that he was not as sorry as the rugby club owner but hey; on we go!
The course is simple enough, it is a mile and three climb upwards to Haigh Hall and then right into a big loop inside the scenic grounds, some lovely sights for the eyes on the way up only slightly ruined by the fat kid shouting “try harder “ at passing woman, one loop quickly becomes two and your done and now comes the good bit, you get to run down the big hill, the trick I’m told is to turn off your brain and lean forward, quite easy for me really, I ploughed down the hill after the guy in white in front but he was a tad quicker than me, he finished a few seconds ahead of me, was a great finishing grid for Swinton, really showed the club colours for the Grand Prix, despite getting massively lost and Carol leaving Steve in the Woods on the return leg we all returned Safe and sound, as races go this one is a great little challenge for new runners and old alike, defiantly one for the calendar next year!
Paul Shier
