The inaugural 5K Totley Time Trials
The inaugural 5K Totley Time Trials started in April and concluded at the end August with over 60 Totlies having competed the races. The series is based on 5 routes around the Totley area – all are in the region of 5k total, are out-and-back, are off-road, and all are hilly!
- April – Limb Valley
- May – Totley Trig
- June – Lady Cannings
- July – Gillifield Wood
- August – Burbage Green Lane
The rules are simple. Each of the five summer months from April and August has its own race. Each race has a ‘race day’ on a Friday within that month where runners race together. If you can’t make the race day, you can still run the course at any time within its respective month and submit your time.
There are 2 main competitions – the standard race (first past the post) and the time-bonus race where runners are awarded a bonus based on their finish position. Anyone who misses a race is awarded the time of the slowest runner but without a time bonus.
Firstly, huge thanks to the following:
- Ian Bates with his Excel super-powers producing the race results
- Chris Sugden and Sheffield Engraving for producing such fantastic awards (at a massively subsidised price!)
- Chris Downham of R1SE Urban Spa for providing the spot prizes
- Totley AC for funding the awards and their support of the race series
How have the awards been allocated?
The awards have been allocated according to the following hierarchy:
- Standard race
- Time-bonus race
- Lost Sheep
- Most improved
- Spot prizes (have to have completed all 5 races)
This is to say that if you were to win a prize in the standard race, you would become ineligible for the time-bonus race, lost sheep award, most improved or spot prizes. If you won an award in the time-bonus race, you would become ineligible for the lost sheep, most improved award, or spot prizes, etc.
Full results
You can view the full results including the individual race times here (PDF)
or
Click here to view the results in the form of a spreadsheet (Google Sheets)
Standard race winners
The standard race is based on first-past-the-post system and without a time-bonus (no age cats.) Full standard race results here (PDF) or women standard race results here (PDF) or men’s standard race results here (PDF)
| Standard race | Women’s race | Final time | Men’s race | Final time |
| 1st | Ellie Smith | 01:59:33 | David Frixon | 01:50:13 |
| 2nd | Amy Conlan | 02:15:30 | Andy Pearson | 01:50:57 |
| 3rd | Liz Dally | 02:21:52 | Phil Applegate | 01:53:28 |
| 4th | Liz Carthy | 02:22:31 | Sam Mellor | 01:55:19 |
| 5th | Sarah Brooks | 02:29:06 | Pete Harris | 01:56:13 |
Time-bonus race winners
The time-bonus race allocates a bonus time based on the finish poision to reduce the final time. The bonus became more generous throughout the series starting with 7 seconds x finish position for the first race, and increasing incrementally throughout the series to 35 seconds x finish position in the final race.
This system is designed to ‘level the playing field’ by giving slower runners a better finish time compared to the faster runners. Full time-bonus results for the women’s race here (PDF) or the Men’s time-bonus race here (PDF)
| Time-bonus race | Women’s race | Final time | Mens race | Final time |
| 1st | Lindsay Evens | 01:40:00 | Trevor Fernley | 01:41:22 |
| 2nd | Helen Cain | 01:41:15 | Will Doole | 01:42:46 |
| 3rd | Liz Carthy | 01:42:09 | Ian Bates | 01:43:24 |
| 4th | Rachel Doole | 01:42:17 | Sean D’Souza | 01:44:14 |
| 5th | Jess Gardener | 01:42:38 | Chris Heggs | 01:44:37 |
Lost Sheep award
There were quite a few contenders for the Lost Sheep award, however, none showed more enthusiasm and talent for getting lost than Paul Grayson. When I originally conceived this race series, I decided that all the routes had to be so easy to follow that you couldn’t possibly get lost. However, with hard work and dedication, Paul showed us that it was possible to get lost virtually anywhere, regardless of how straight-forward the route was. His super-power first became apparent in the first race – Limb Valley. Route instructions were simply to follow the path up to the top and come straight back down again. He ended up in grounds of Whirlow Hall. For the Gillifield Wood route I specifically ran the route down with Paul prior to the race to show him where to turn around. This time, whilst attempting the run, Paul turned around at the wrong gate meaning he had to run it again.
Second place in the Lost Sheep category goes to Martin Robbins who, in the true spirit of ‘lost sheep’, dutifully followed Paul off the route in the Limb Valley race and ended up in the grounds of Whirlow Hall. Following Paul up the Gillifield Wood route he and Sean D’Souza were also instructed to turn around at the wrong gate meaning all three had to run it again.
Gillifield Wood also caused problems for several other runners, most notably Trevor Fearnly on race day who, instead of following the main path straight up the hill after the Scout Hut on the way back, turned left and ran into the roughs. According to him, the path eventually fizzled out, but he had made his decision and persevered. When he didn’t arrive back at the finish line, a few of us set off to look for him. As we got a hundred yards up the path, we heard a rustling sound and Trevor suddenly burst from the bushes and sprinted for the finish.
The Lady Cannings route caused navigational issues for several runners such as Pat Goodall, Trevor fearnley, and Liz Dally who mistakenly went straight on after the Ox Stones on the way back and took a different path back through the plantation.
The route to the Totley Trig not only gave us a very tough climb, it also caused quite a few runners problems. Gillian Donohoe and Fee Womesly somehow managed to end up running 6k in stead of 5k, but Clive Waddington really raised the bar for all wannabe lost sheep with his run earning the Lost Sheep third place. For this one, having turned up late and without checking the route, he set off up the hill with a few verbal instructions. Having misheard the instruction to ‘bear left 60 yards left after the gate’, he instead turned off the path after 6 yards and took a very interesting route up to the trig.
3rd place Lost sheep was a very close contest. However, as Trevor Fernley won the men’s Time Bonus race, he became ineligibale for the Lost Sheep award
| Position | Lost sheep award |
| 1st | Paul Grayson |
| 2nd | Martin Robbins |
| 3rd | Clive Waddington |
Most Improved runner
The statistics from the 5 races provided some very interesting results. One of which was the improvement throughout the series between the first race and the final race.
| Position | Runner |
| 1st | Jess Gardener |
| 2nd | Rachel Wall |
| 3rd | Rachel Sever |
Legend of the All-In-One
The All-in-One is a circular off-road route that takes in all the 5 Time Trail routes. At 22.5km and with over 520 metres of ascent, it’s a tough one! The All-in-One was not a timed race, but a challenge alongside the 5K Time Trials. Of the 28 times the 5K TTT competitors ran this route between April and August, one runner completed it three times earning the title ‘Legend of the All-In-One’!
| Legend of the All-In-One | Times completed |
| Des Ryan | 3 |
