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CLUB
TRIP 2005
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2005
Club Trip to Weston-super-Mare The coach departed Birstall at 06:30 prompt
with 31 club members on board. As usual the pre-race, non-alcohol fuelled
banter was rather subdued. The Trip virgins on board the coach, Nick, Marc,
Ian, Liz, Ken and Pete sat silently in anticipation mulling over stories
of past trips that had been told on previous club nights. Colin and Lorna
made their own separate way down to Bratton in Wiltshire, where the legendary
Bobby Brown joined us. Ish also drove down but was to miss the race due
to a puncture. There had been many weeks of talk about the Bratton Hilly
race putting fear into the hearts of the trip virgins. Prior to the race
several of them went to have a look at the first hill only to confirm that
the stories were no exaggeration, it was steep, very steep. The gun went
off at 11:00 and off we went on the course of hell, unfortunately for Gavin
he was spotted coming out of the toilet about 20 seconds after the race
had started, which was something he was to regret. All Birstall runners
finished the race, position and times: 3rd Bobby Brown 44:49 6th Ed Proctor
45:33 8th Neil Wright 45:52 11th Steve Powell 47:17 13th Jim Kersey 48:16
25th Colin Rimmer 50:11 26th Phil Burt 50:21 34th Peter Read 51:43 36th
Marvin Smith 52:14 49th Nick Cutts 53:23 52nd Ian Wilkins 53:53 60th Marc
Bollard 54:47 66th John Starbuck 55:30 69th Steve Cherry 55:40 73rd Ken
Hall 56:50 90th Mick Newton 58:35 99th Rob Williamson 60:42 100th Liz Jones
60:44 103rd Deryk Woods 61:39 107th John Brown 62:51 114th Romans Seja 65:03
120th Chris Cobley 66:27 123rd Rebecca Holmes 66:49 128th Paul Jones 70:28
129th Gavin Lane 70:29 144th Lorna Benson 80:27 145th Kimbra Green 88:50
146th Mandy Meason 88:50 As usual our first four runners took the team prize
and Bobby took the 3rd individual. After the prize presentation it was over
to the local pub where the race was discussed in great detail over several
pints and plates of chips. At times the noise was absolutely deafening.
The bet this year was between Liz and Paul, with only two members putting
their confidence in Paul, one of these being himself. As you can see from
the results Liz beat him by a tidy margin of 9:44 and Ed took the money
with the closest time 0f 10:00 The much improved Rebecca, who uncharacteristically
had not been seen with her pint in her hand since Christmas, beat her previous
time by at least 10 minutes and was awarded Runner of the Day, however she
did not actually receive the trophy because the previous recipient, our
absent minded bank manager had forgot to bring it along. Last time you win
it John. The Chocolate Legs trophy was awarded to an extremely disgruntled
Gavin for missing the start. Chocolate Legs was awarded for the last time
and has now been superseded by a much more hideous trophy aptly named Donkey
of the Day, so beware it could be coming your way. I eventually managed
to get them out of the pub, re-boarded the coach and commenced one of the
longest journeys to Weston in the history of bus driving. It soon became
quite apparent that our driver’s directional knowledge only extended from
Rothley to Wigston, any further afield and he was lost big time. We passed
the legendary White Horse on at least three occasions and at one point I
thought we were on our way to Weymouth. The driver’s exasperation was even
more aggravated by Glen who professed to know the shortest route. However
many cans of Carling and three piss stops later we arrived in Weston.  We
dined at the Captains Cabin restaurant, regrouped back at the hotel and
it was off into town. Sunday breakfast was taken at the hotel where I was
bombarded with excuses as to “why I don’t want to run the handicap race”,
which I responded with threats of fines and expulsion from the club. After
breakfast Ed got on his bike and rode home. The race started, some running
hell for leather and others at a snails pace, the previous days alcohol
intake having no bearing to speed whatsoever. The first three home were
Bobby, Steve and Neil who had apparently had ran at 5:30 pace, but I was
later to discover that they had not completed the entire course. Nick who
got within 10 seconds of his estimated time won the money, and he gallantly
shared it with Liz who was within 15 seconds. Then for many it was back
on the razz. Rebecca returned to the hotel with the most hideous present
for one of her relations, which we immediately seconded, this was the birth
of Donkey of the Day. Bobby departed on foot before lunch, he ran home putting
20 miles in on the Sunday and the remaining 100 miles on Monday. The man
is nuts. Sunday lunch was again taken at the Captains Cabin afterwhich many
of us remained on the veranda where there was much banter ranging many different
subjects, something attributed to alcohol. For the evening several of us
consumed a very tasty Thai meal afterwhich we found a pub with a live band,
bloody good night. Others were reported to be in a karaoke bar and some
even held an all night vigil in some garden or other, don’t know what that
was all about. Monday breakfast was quite well attended with only a couple
of absentees. Then we were on the bus and off to the Hinkley Knight for
lunch. I briefed the driver on the directions and managed to convince him
that via Exeter was not the quickest route, something to do with Glen again
I guess. Lunch was followed by several games of killer pool and we were
back in Birstall by teatime. A very good trip, which was enjoyed by all.
One or two dummies were thrown out of prams on occasions, but what can you
expect from grown men and women. Rob |
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