October 2013

 

For a complete results
listing view the
Results Index

Featured events this month:

• Dublin City Marathon
• Ilmington Winter Threshold 10k
• Stroud Half-Marathon
• Bradford City Run
• Brueton Parkrun
• Snowdonia Marathon
• Great Birmingham Run
• Abingdon Marathon
• Leicester Marathon
• Great Eastern Half-Marathon
• Budapest Marathon
• Daventry 10
• Isle of Wight Marathon
• Chester Marathon
• Midland Cross-Country Relays

Dublin City Marathon - 28 October

2413	Clive Horton		3:32:57
10170	Martin Gavin		4:53:34

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Ilmington Winter Threshold 10k - 27 October

Far from a PB but a very big hill was involved - Spencer

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Stroud Half-Marathon - 27 October

I completed the Stroud Half Marathon on Sunday in 1hr 50mins 20sec. It was far from a PB, but (and here come the excuses) I have hardly run at all over the last few weeks and my arm was still in a home-made brace at the elbow, though not the full sling that I wore previously. I should have done better, but at least I did it.

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Bradford City Run - 27 October

A sneaky attempt to get some Northbrook Road Race Championships points didn't go to plan this weekend. Martin Winch's 17:56 at Solihull Parkrun made things tricky (well done mate, cracking time), and then an evil hilly and windy course in Bradford on Sunday put paid to any hopes of a low 18 min time. Looks like it's back to the drawing board for some more points before the end of the year.

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Brueton Parkrun - 26 October

I ran my best 5k this year at Brueton Park. It probably won't make any difference to the Road Race Champs though.

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Snowdonia Marathon - 26 October

	Tony Bowe		4:34:23
	Chris Jones		5:29:22

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Great Birmingham Run - 20 October

189	Stuart Lumsden		1:25:27
1064	Steve Galvin		1:36:23
2870	Liz Pharoah		1:46:30
3211	Spencer Davies		1:48:07
3222	Andrew Pitt		1:48:09
3951	Claire Owen		1:51:11
4166	Gemma Ross		1:52:05
5510	Helen Corden		1:57:04
8540	Mark Dalton		2:09:24
10459	Joanne Webb		2:09:01
10637	Linda Richards		2:20:03

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Abingdon Marathon - 20 October

Tony Bowe

4:21:31

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Leicester Marathon - 13 October

The enthusiastic and warm support from the volunteers, marshals and residents that turned out saved the day for this race. You can’t blame the organisers for the cold, wet and windy weather  but the  lack of toilets, poor bag storage, and worst chip timing system I have ever seen was down to them. Chips were attached to the back of your number in a plastic bag, like many others mine fell out early on but fortunately I heard it drop and was able to retrieve it. To cap it all the Chip Timing system apparently failed completely at some point which seems to have affected the half-marathon more than the marathon, as they have now managed to produce some results for the marathon although I think these are gun times.
On a more positive note, brilliant debut marathon by Steve finishing just over the magic 3 hour mark - Pete

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Great Eastern Half-Marathon - 13 October

The Great Eastern run is an increasingly popular Half-Marathon around the mean streets of Peterborough. It's not the prettiest course you'll ever run, with most of it being through residential streets, but what it lacks in views it certainly makes up for in terms of organisation and great support. It's also a mostly flat and fast course which means it attracts a good standard of club runner as well as those of us of a more modest ability. This year the conditions were pretty horrible to be honest. The first 5-6 miles into the teeth of a stiff breeze and the occasional torrential downpour, with plenty of lying water to give the feet a good soaking.
Now this was my first proper race after being sat on the injury bench for the last 12 months, and to be honest I hadn't really done enough training recently to warrant a decent time, but I thought I'd give it a bash and see what I could do. Making it that much more interesting was the fact that the strap had snapped on my Garmin a few days previously so I was running my first race 'blind' with no idea what pace I was doing. My first 6 miles or so were pretty strong despite the wind & rain and I felt good with no problems from my gammy Achilles. I passed the clock at halfway showing the rather alarming time of just under 44 mins. There was only one way this was going to go, glory or bust...and somewhere between the 9 and 10 miles markers my body decided to go down the 'bust' route, I tightened up, having to stop to stretch out a couple of times, and gradually slowed down to a rather pedestrian jog/hobble with people swarming past me for the last mile or two. I entered the final turn into the finish with the clock just ticking past the 1hr 30min mark, so frustratingly close to getting my target time of 90mins.
The finish funnel worked like clockwork with a line of people to remove chips, dish out goody bags, water & flapjacks! Perfect, and a lesson for other races to learn from. An excellent goody bag too with a nice Ron Hill technical shirt, and a medal. Good to bump into Steve Mason and John Elliot at the end too.
So all in all a tough but enjoyable run. The Great Eastern is a race I'd totally recommend as it's perfectly organised, is a fast course on closed roads with plenty of PB potential, and has great support. Definitely one for the calendar next year - James

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Budapest Marathon - 13 October

The Budapest Marathon began in the historic Heroes Square on a warm day. I noticed the humidity in the first few miles through the city, and made a note to drink plenty of water as I continued.
Soon I was on the banks of the River Danube, and there was a bit of breeze here. Most of the race was alongside the river, with many switchbacks of direction; I could usually see the leaders or the masses on the other side of the road. There were also four bridge crossings, allowing me to run on both the Buda and Pest banks of the river.
Temperatures were rising in the second half of the race, so it was good to get a bit of shade when I ran onto Margaret Island at about 18 miles. There were a couple of miles of running track laid out on the island loop, and this gave my legs a rest from the harder road surface. After leaving the island, I headed away from the river, and the final few miles were through a park, to the finish, back at Heroes Square.
During the race there was also a relay, so faster runners would appear every few miles. There was also a 30Km race which started during the marathon, which followed the last part of the route.

I was pleased to get to the end, as I was feeling the miles in the legs from all the sightseeing. There’s plenty to see in Budapest, and the marathon was a great start to a week in Europe.

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Daventry 10 - 13 October

Well, a hat-trick of PB's for the Northbrookers that turned out for the Daventry 10 today.  This is the 2nd year for this race so it is still in its infancy but I remember enjoying it last year, hence the drive over to do it again.  This year there were no blue skies though, just a continual torrent of the wet stuff along with a slightly bitter wind which made running conditions very soggy to say the least.  Pleased to say that, although our clothes looked like they hadn't been through the fast spin cycle in the washing machine, our spirit could not be dampened and we set off with a smile on our face and a spring in our step!!
The aim was to start and finish and the three of us certainly did that and managed to PB at the same time.  Not bad going on a course that can only be described as undulating. 
Overall view of race/course:- Well marshalled, plenty of water at half way stage, good facilties at start and finish, and reasonably cheap to to enter (hence there only being a medal at the finish and no T-shirt)
Would I do it again - of course!  Its a relatively small field (about 80 people) which makes it a good, uncrowded race.  Roll on next year!! - Sarah

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Isle of Wight Marathon - 6 October

33

Dave Halford

3:44:57

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Chester Marathon - 6 - October

Just completed the Chester marathon in 3:12:24 in glorious, sunny autumn weather. This is a great race and I'm going to make a point of putting it in my calendar for next year. It's well organised and relatively flat. The only problem is the few hills there are come at 22 miles when you least want them - Richard

Paul Robbins showed amazing determination to complete the Chester Marathon with his arm in a sling, after falling and fracturing a bone a few days before the race.

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Midland Cross-Country Relays - 6 October

A great day out today for Northbrook at the Midland XC Relays, with the weather being as different as it could get from last year. The course was dry(ish) and only just took a spike so trail shoes this year were fine. The memory of TTT 'doing a bambi' are long gone. There were some late re-arrangements to do on the course due to a no-show but we just about managed.

Great to see Mick in a Northbrook vest doing XC again, and to see Rich back from injury running well again, and Tracey, Damian and Robert donning the vest and some XC spikes. The course was two laps totalling a flat 3.8 miles (6km) with representation from many of the regions 'big guns' (Godiva, Tipton, Birchfield, BRAT etc.).
The ladies' team was expertly marshalled by the 'Iron Lady' (Amanda) who had an emergency to deal with early on due to an illness to Liz. Not serious but the right decision was made to pull out after the first lap, get well soon Liz.

The men's 'A' team slowly made their way through the field due to some strength in depth, and it was great to see Martin and me really pushing Mick, and Rich Hodge making a great recovery from a serious back injury. There were some great runs all round with Tracey, Damian and Robert doing their first XC runs for Northbrook and the 'old-hands' also putting in some great times. Special mention has to go to Clare for the very special cake that was provided for the runners.

Once again Northbrook made sure they were loudest supporting team there, cheering on Northbrook and Sphinx runners alike, even staying to the bitter end to give Kevin a rousing welcome at the finish line (unlike last year!) Things are looking good for the first league race, how can you NOT want to be part of this? - John