Week Starting 21st September

TRX Wolves AC Weekly Round Up

A Big Week for the Wolves

What a week for TRX Wolves AC.

We hosted our own Tettenhall 5K on Wednesday evening, then just three days later had five complete teams at the Midland Road Relays at Sutton Park. And apparently, for some Wolves, that still wasn’t enough racing.

Tettenhall 5K

Wednesday saw us host the Tettenhall 5K from St Regis CE Academy, with a brilliant turnout from the local running community and plenty of Wolves racing on home turf.

As this was our first attempt at hosting the event, we made the decision to close entries once we reached 100 runners. We wanted to make sure we could deliver the race properly and, most importantly, safely.

It’s brilliant to be able to say that we could have sold the race out twice over. Now that we’ve successfully hosted our first one and built such a fantastic team of volunteers around it, we’re ready to grow it.

We’re already in talks to host two Tettenhall 5Ks each year, and we’re also close to completing a deal for a new race in Compton incorporating the Field of Dreams.

So this was much more than our first attempt at hosting a race. It was the start of what we hope will become a really exciting TRX Wolves race calendar. 🐺

Jake Brown led us home, finishing 2nd overall in 16:02, with Jamie Hudson 4th in 16:20 and Paul Marson 6th in 16:47. Oliver Jones followed in 17:14, Ben Foster 17:17, Thomas Rowley 18:33, Richard Breakwell 19:10, Rob Cox 19:20, John Bateson 19:29, John Dixon 19:37 and MV45 winner, Will Hodgkiss 19:42, Mal Purchase 20:31 and age group winner, and Mark Judge 21:41.

Our women were right amongst it too, with Ruby Richards finishing 2nd woman overall in 18:58, Lucy Calrow running 19:21 and winning the W35 category, and Hannah Corns finishing in 21:31.

But the biggest thank you goes to everyone who made the race happen, especially our marshals. You gave up your evening, headed out onto the course, kept everyone safe and gave the runners fantastic support. Quite simply, without you there is no race.

Huge thanks too to Stu Whitehouses company Regent Engineering / @floorstak for their support and our brilliant new hi vis jackets, and to Mr Parry and everyone at St Regis CE Academy.

It was also great to have the wider running community involved, with Lawley supporting the chip timing and friends from Tipton Harriers and Wolverhampton & Bilston AC helping out.

From setting up and handing out numbers to marshalling, timing and packing everything away afterwards, it was a genuine team effort.

We’ll be back later in the autumn and winter with more races. Let’s grow them together.

Three Days Later… Sutton Park

By Saturday, attention had turned to the Midland Road Relays at Sutton Park. Championship racing against some of the strongest and most established clubs in the region, on a course that is famously brutal.

And TRX Wolves arrived with five complete teams and 28 runners.

Our Senior Men’s A team of Jake Brown 17:58, Alex Kelly 18:41, Joseph Marples 19:37, Paul Marson 19:00, Steven Newman 19:06 and Alex Blair 19:27 finished 32nd in 1:53:53.

The Senior Men’s B team of Thomas Pryor 19:35, John Dixon 22:20, Serge Guy 23:21, Adam Guy 22:40, Scott Bennett 22:06 and Rob Cox 22:10 finished 67th in 2:12:14.

Our Senior Men’s C team of Andrew Baker 20:29, Darren Robert… 25:29, Morgan Taylor… 22:43, Matt Blair 28:17, Mal Purchase 24:00 and Mark Illidge 24:46 finished 85th in 2:25:46.

Our Masters were superb too. Ben Foster 19:18, Adam Rickhuss 21:17, Matt Richards 21:56, Robert Cartwright 21:18, Richard Breakwell 21:44 and Derrick Milligan 20:43 combined for 13th place in 2:06:18.

And Then We Made a Little History…

Hannah Morris. Maria Calleia. Ellie Kelly. Katie Allcock.

For the first time, TRX Wolves AC fielded a women’s team at the Midland Road Relays.

Hannah opened in 21:16, Maria ran 24:34, Ellie 26:01 and Katie brought the Wolves home in 24:33, finishing 37th in 1:36:26.

Seven months into the life of this club, those four women became our first TRX Wolves women’s relay team.

That matters because we’ve talked from the beginning about growing the women’s side of the club and creating more opportunities to train, race and compete. This week we saw that happening. Ruby Richards, Lucy Calrow and Hannah Corns raced strongly at Tettenhall on Wednesday, followed by Hannah, Maria, Ellie and Katie making club history at Sutton Park on Saturday.

And this is only the beginning for our women’s section.

Putting 28 Wolves into five complete teams at a Midland Championship is something we’re incredibly proud of, particularly for a club only seven months old.

It took some serious work behind the scenes too. We had withdrawals, people carrying injuries and others returning from illness. Our captains and team managers worked incredibly hard to keep every team complete, and members stepped forward when their club needed them.

Then there was the support. People raced, recovered and went straight back onto the course to shout for their teammates. There seemed to be a TRX voice on every corner, and we were still together when the last tent came down.

That’s what club athletics is about. You’re not just running for your own time. You’re running for the person waiting for you in the changeover pen and everyone wearing the same vest.

Five teams. 28 Wolves. Our first women’s relay team. A lot to be proud of.

A huge thank you to our amazing Team Managers: Lynette Illidge and Lynsey Guy for the ladies and Paul Tabor for the mens. And superb work by our captains Alex Kelly and Hannah Morris. 

If you are looking for photos youll get them of Brian Dale Race photos once he has uploaded them: Click me 

And Some of Them Still Weren’t Finished…

Apparently, the Midland Relays weren’t enough for everyone.

Less than 24 hours after making history as part of our first women’s relay team, Katie Allcock was back racing at the Stafford 10K and ran a new PB of 44 minutes.

John Bateson, who somehow always manages to look great in the race photos, also had a fantastic run at Stafford, clocking 41:23 and making it three races in seven days.

And then there’s John Dixon, who just can’t stop racing.

Less than 24 hours after running his relay leg at Sutton Park, John was back on another start line for the Tissington Trail Half Marathon, running a very respectable 1:30 for 13.1 miles. The Sunday race follows the traffic free former railway line from Parsley Hay towards Ashbourne through the Derbyshire Dales. 

Some week. Some legs.

Now, please, somebody make them have a rest!

This Week’s Training

After a huge week of racing, it’s back to work.

Tuesday, Cranmere Avenue

6:50pm, warmed up and ready to go.

We’ll start with 10 minutes tempo, followed by 10 × 600m with a rolling recovery back to the start.

A good solid session to get the legs moving again after the weekend.

Saturday, Our First Cross Country Session

Saturday sees our first cross country session of the season and, best of all, we get to train on our home turf, the course where TRX Wolves will be hosting both the women’s and men’s leagues this season.

I appreciate that cross country isn’t for everyone. BUT, if you’re intending to race the cross country relays or the leagues, I strongly suggest you attend these sessions.

This isn’t simply an additional bit of training because it happens to be on grass. I’ll be coaching cross country technique alongside the fitness work, including how to approach the terrain, hills, changes of pace and the other aspects that will help you race cross country more effectively.

Saturday’s session:

Warmed and ready to go 9.30am Aldersley Stadium - Meet on the field with the football pitches - just past the hockey pitches. 

6 minutes tempo, followed by:

1 min, 2 min, 3 min, 3 min, 2 min, 1 min, 1 min, 2 min, 3 min

All with a 1 minute float between efforts.

That gives us 18 minutes of effort and 8 minutes of float, so 26 minutes of continuous running through the main session.

We’ll then finish with 8 × 15 second hill sprints.

Bring your spikes if you have them. 6mm to 9mm will be absolutely fine. The ground is currently fairly solid, so road shoes will also be fine.

It’s a great opportunity to get some proper cross country work in, work on technique and get to know the course that we’ll later be racing and hosting on.

See you there. 🐺