March 2012

 

For a complete results
listing view the
Results Index

Featured events this month:

• Midland Counties Women's Road Relays
• Midland Counties Men's Road Relays
• Oulton Park Standard Duathlon
• Age UK 10k
• Water of Life Half-Marathon
• Ecotrail Paris
• Brentwood Half-Marathon
• San Domenico 20
• Solihull Parkrun
• Chedworth Roman Trail 10m Multi-Terrain
• Ashby 20
• Gloucester 20 Miles
• Banbury 15 Miles
• British Duathlon Championships
• Stafford 20 Miles
• Friends of Mick & Phil Half-Marathon
• Silverstone Half-Marathon
• Inter-Counties Ladies Senior Cross-Country
• Barry 40-Mile Track Race
• Thames Path 100 Mile

Midland Counties Women's Road Relays - Sutton Park - 31 March

Ladies 6-stage: 13th team in 2:02:31

	Amanda Deavy		18:03
	Sarah McNaney		21:44
	Alix Critchley		20:05
	Sam Anderson		19:33
	Lyn McDonald		21:42
	Cath Fenn		21:24

Incomplete team

	Liz Pharoah		22:49
	Amy Burdis		22:29
	Lee Hill		27:05

All legs 3 miles

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Midland Counties Men's Road Relays - Sutton Park - 31 March

Masters 6-stage: 9th team in 2:27:29

We’d entered a 6-man team for the Masters relay and a 12-man team for the Open Race of this annual club event. Unfortunately due to the usual pre-race problem of injuries, illnesses, car breakdown and some miscommunication we ended up with one hastily rearranged 6-man Masters team and a 5-man Open team. This didn’t detract from anyone’s performance on the day with everyone giving their all as usual. Thanks to everyone for being so flexible on the day and hopefully it hasn’t put the first timers off from competing in team events like this in the future.

The format for both events is 1 leg of 5.4 miles followed by 2 legs of 3 miles, repeated twice for the 6 stage and 4 times for the 12 stage event - Peter Fellows

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Oulton Park Standard Duathlon - 25 March

			5.4m run	24.3m bike	2.7m run
135	Sam Anderson		36:25	1:05:30	17:50	1st F25-29

I have qualified for the Great Britain Age Group Team to compete at the World Duathlon Championships in France in September.

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Age UK 10k - 25 March

9	Mike Wheeler		39:25
38	Tony Forde		44:53
49	Allan Walsh		46:08

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Water of Life Half-Marathon - 25 March

	Tony Hughes		1:56:01
	Anne Hughes		2:10:52

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Ecotrail Paris - 25 March

This was possibly the most incredible race of my life! Having been injured and unable to train for 3 weeks, I found myself at the start amongst 2000 runners willing to give this one a go. In short, it was too hot, I set off too quick completing the first 14 miles in just under 2 hours, and I blew up completely dehydrated. It took lots of walking with no fluids for nearly 9 miles before I could refuel and get back on track. This was worth it as the course, marshalls, supporters and other competitors made it an amazing experience. This together with my stubborn streak and the prize of finishing half way up the Eiffel tower, it was something that was not going to be ended prematurely.
My next 9.6k came as a big surprise as I felt good again and completed it inunder 50 minutes! :-)  Ok, maybe some of that section was downhill! I managed to continue through the course with a mixture of running and walking, and before I knew it, I was heading into Paris! :-)
Still with 10k to go, I kept my head down thanking support along the way. As I approached the Eiffel tower I could see my brother waiting and a nice crowd welcoming in all the finishers. This bit was surreal and I was amazed at the reception that lined the route to the tower stairs. The support from complete strangers was nothing short of fantastic! :-) Now for the climb.
I would like to say it was easy, but my legs were shot and it took a good 5 minutes to get up to the 1st floor. The red carpet welcome to the finish line did encourage a little run and I was HAPPY!!! Done it once and I'll definitely be back next year. It was quite possibly the best race I have ever ran. Or at least so far :-) Next stop Paris! :-)

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Brentwood Half-Marathon - 25 March

 

 

I set off to the rural delights of leafy Essex for the Brentwood Half Marathon armed with a heavy bag of excuses (dodgy Achilles, hot weather, being distracted by the cast of TOWIE etc.) as to why I was going to fail break the  2 hour mark again. After a good nights sleep, courtesy of the in-laws, I was pleasantly surprised that the predicted "hotter than Madrid" heatwave was not quite that hot, excuse No.1 gone. The Achilles also felt surprisingly ok (thanks to Craig for the massages) so excuse No.2 blown, and lining up on the start not a cliché Essex girl in sight! So with all excuses gone I set about tackling what turned out to be a very good course over nice rural lanes, with a good mixture of hills and flat, and extremely well marshalled with great crowd support. The miles ticked down and, whilst probably sounding like a snorting pig (as I am regularly informed  I sound like whilst running by the aforementioned Mr. McNaney), I felt strong and relaxed. A nice sprint finish saw me cross the line in a new PB of 1hr 56min 36secs.

This was a really well organised and popular race (over 3000 runners) which I would highly recommend to others for the future, although the 2012 result will show for probably the only time ever that I was indeed 1st Northbrooker! (Just like my Mo Farah encounter I won't let the facts get in the way of a good story!) - Sean

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San Domenico 20 - Merthyr Tydfil - 25 March

My first go at a 20-miler.Well chuffed to get under 2h30!

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Solihull Parkrun - 24 March

Tony Hughes

20:02

PB

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Chedworth Roman Trail 10m Multi-Terrain - 18 Match

	Lyn McDonald		1:22:00
	Liz Pharoah		1:34:25

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Ashby 20 - 18 March

213	Clive Horton		2:32:49
437	Allan walsh		2:49:47
491	Stuart Found		2:54:14
493	Mark Dalton		2:54:21
532	Chris Jones		2:57:51
663	Corinna O'connor		3:10;35

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Gloucester 20 Miles - 18 March

37	Pete Fellows		2:19:34
224	Sarah McNaney		2:59:59
257	Claudie Combelas		3:08:45

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Banbury 15 Miles - 18 March

289

Linda Richards

2:36:40

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British Duathlon Championships - 11 March

			10k run	42K bike	5k run
5	Sam Anderson		42:08	1:20:05	20:32

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Stafford 20 Miles - 11 March

400

Tony French

3:55:58

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Friends of Mick & Phil Half-Marathon - 11 March

57	Steve Handy		1:39:25	PB
131	Claudie Combelas		1:58:08
191	Brian Hewetson		2:28:00

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Silverstone Half-Marathon - 11 March

940	Tony Bowe		1:44:21	PB
1571	Gemma Nash		1:51:30	PB
3841	Charlotte Hamil		2:12:06
4396	Donna Mutch		2:18:16
4896	Lee Hill		2:25:18

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Inter-Counties Ladies Senior Cross-Country - Cofton Park - 10 March

89

Amanda Deavy

31:19

representing Warwickshire Ladies

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Barry 40-Mile Track Race - 4 March

Mark Baker - Bronze medal in Welsh Ultra-Distance Championships

I returned to the Barry 40 mile race to try and defend the title I won last year (Welsh mens ultra-distance champion). I knew that there would be much more competition this year, and it would take a much quicker run to get any sort of medal. This was my sixth Barry 40, which is 161 laps around the track. Dave Halford returned for his second attempt at the race.

We stayed overninght in Barry before the race, and hoped that the poor weather on Sunday morning would improve as soon as possible. Luckily, at the start the rain had stopped. However, the high winds and gusts on the back straight were going to be a real challenge. It was not as cold as expected, so I decided to run in shorts rather than tracksters for the first time at this event. I had hoped to stay close to 7 minute mile pace early on, but the fierce wind made this difficult. I settled in about 5th place but a lot of runners were within a lap of each other on the first 10 miles. I eventually lapped Dave at about 11 miles, then again around 22 miles. By now the gusting wind was affecting lots of runners, and the constant battle on the back straight was taking its toll. Eventually, only 60% of the field would finish - one of the the lowest survival rates in the history of the race. I was still moving well, but a bit slower than earlier. I was now regularly lapping Dave, but he was determined to finish.

Eventually, with a mile to go, I realised that I was close to a PB, and at the bell, I tried to run as fast as I could. I was rewarded with a PB by 9 seconds, which surprised the race organiser - he did not expect any PBs in these conditions. I was also in 4th place overall (my highest placing), and won bronze in the Welsh mens ultra-distance championships behind two very good runners. I also won an award for the first mens V45. Dave showed lots of determination to finish in a very good 9th place. My Garmin watch indicated that I had actually covered 41 miles, by passing people and moving to the edge of the track for drinks - very surprising.

This is a fantastic event where everyone is made welcome, and encouraged by their personal lap counter. The biography of every runner in the race programme is worth reading even if you can't run. For anyone moving up from the marathon it is an experience not to be missed. - Mark

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Thames Path 100 Mile - 3 March

I'm still tired, so I'll keep this short. This was a race from Richmond to Oxford taking in 100 miles of scenery along the Thames. There was light rain, hail, a fantastic rainbow, lots of expensive looking houses and luxury yachts, and a well-organised race with 200 willing participants. The early stages of the race featured a lot of tarmac, so wearing trail shoes for this stage took its toll a little, and I soon had a large blister to manage for many miles to come. Running with Trinity Booth, a good friend and an exceptional ultra runner, we adopted a run/walk strategy of 25/5 minutes and we were smashing through the early miles. Surprisingly, this method helped me achieve a 50k PB of 5:21.

We were happily joined by Steve Bottomley at 51 miles to help with pacing and keep us company, and then Corinna O'Connor at 67 miles as they were taking it in turns to encourage and support us on our quest. They were fantastic and helped us through some very low points, especially when it was dark and cold and we were really struggling with the conditions. As the morning approached, the weather started to turn and we were soon feeling the fatigue. It was tough going, and although Steve said the finish was just over a bridge, our humour began to fail when we crossed several bridges! At one point, we stopped on a bridge and said we were not moving until he told us where the real bridge was! lol

We eventually found the finish in 24:44:02, and just before the weather resembled Hell on earth. It was so bad, the organisers decided to abandon the race and collect in all the remaining runners. My heart goes out to those who got so close to finishing, but it was the right decision. A special thankyou goes to Steve and Corinna for their relentless support during the race. Next stop Paris :-)