Featured events this month:
- The Ox Marathon
- Coventry Sprint Triathlon
- Shindig in the Shire
- Wootten Friday 5- East Midlands Grand Prix Race 3
- Riga Half-Marathon, Latvia
- Cotswold Hilly 100
- Sydney Half-Marathon
- Beyond Marathon Apocalypse 50 Trail Race
- Rugby 6 - East Midlands Grand Prix Race 2
- Leeds Half-Marathon
- Stroud Trail Marathon
- Stroud Trail Half-Marathon
- Bosworth Half-Marathon
- Coventry Parkrun
- Silverstone 10k - East Midlands Grand Prix Race 1
- Milton Keynes Marathon
- Milton Keynes Half-Marathon
- Kenilworth May Day 10k
- Sunderland City 10k
- Birmingham 10k
- Thames Path 100
The Ox Marathon - 24 May
| Tony Bowe | 4:15:20 |
Coventry Sprint Triathlon - 24 May
| swim | cycle | run | total | ||||
| Paul Robbins | 7:21 | 39:39 | 24:39 | 1:13:43 | |||
| Darron Handley | 8:01 | 41:27 | 23:16 | 1:15:12 | |||
| Spencer Davies | 12:55 | 44:11 | 25:12 | 1:26:06 | |||
| Robert Dimbleby | 9:32 | 49:33 | 29:30 | 1:30:59 | |||
| Hazel Cann | 9:54 | 50:55 | 30:43 | 1:35:06 |
swim - 400m, bike - 20k, run - 5k
Total time includes transitions
With Darron starting the swim just 30 secs before me in the next lane I knew we'd have a race on our hands. I was pretty sure I'd be out of the pool before him, but couldn't be certain because you just can't tell who anyone is in the pool. I gave it my all on the bike, knowing that Darron wouldn't be far away, but then I really suffered on the first half of the run. Just after turning around on the out and back run route, I saw Darron just a minute or so behind me. I knew then that I had to dig in to get back before him!
Overall, four of us had course pb's, and the feedback from everyone I have spoken to has been good. I have to hand it to Corinna's mate who organised the swim, as it all went "swimmingly", no mean feat I can tell you. The Northbrook posse organising the flow of cars, runners and cyclists in and out of the main gate did a cracking job, as did the rest of the marshalls, although there were two shifty looking ladies hanging around in the transition area (Tracy and Linda!). I'd definitely recommend that you ALL try this tri next year. It's great cross training, and you will be supporting a committed local club - Paul
Shindig in the Shire - 23 May
Half-Marathon
| 26 | Amy Burdis | 2:16:50 |
Full Marathon
| 33 | Joanne Stacey | 6:26:19 |
Two of us from Northbrook went to Shropshire for the Shindig in the Shire
event.
It was a particularly "technical" and "undulating" course
with lovely bluebell woods, spectacular views, and a few menacing cows as
well as a pub at the finish line -Amy
Wootten Friday 5 - East Midlands Grand Prix Race 3 - 22 May
| Pos | Cat | M/F | Cat Pos | |||
| 139 | Jill Pittard | F35 | 34:53 | 14 | 1 (PB) | |
| 169 | Lyn McDonald | F40 | 35:56 | 22 | 5 | |
| 228 | Mick Duggan | M70 | 38:36 | 194 | 1 |
Full results at www.mcs.open.ac.uk/mkac/the_emgp
Riga Half-Marathon, Latvia - 17 May
| 365 | Sarah Booker | 1:36:25 |
Cotswold Hilly 100, 10-Stage Relay - 17 May
Times are not indicative of pace as leg distances vary
Overall times are official race times,
Leg times
are unofficial (as recorded by leg individuals)
Northbrook Ladies A, 2nd placed ladies' team - overall time: 12:45:04
| Leg | |||
| 1 | Rachel Meredith | 1:13:10 | |
| 2 | Amanda Deavy | 1:06:00 | |
| 3 | Sarah McNaney | 1:22:55 | |
| 4 | Lyn McDonald | 1:18:34 | |
| 5 | Jo Brown | 1:06:08 | |
| 6 | Jill Pittard | 1:21:00 | |
| 7 | Kate Jones | 1:24:00 | |
| 8 | Sally Eason | 1:12:44 | |
| 9 | Cath Fenn | 1:18:00 | |
| 10 | Amy Burdis | 1:20:00 |
All did well on their respective legs considering some legs were considerably
longer than 10 miles and some slightly shorter!! (next year can I have one
of the shorter ones as my leg was 10.7 miles on my Garmin!!) - Sarah
Northbrook Mixed Team - total time: 14:16:10
| Leg | |||
| 1 | Claudie Combelas | 1:24:00 | |
| 2 | Paul McGurk | 1:16:00 | |
| 3 | Gemma Ross | 1:34:00 | |
| 4 | Mark Dalton | 1:29:00 | |
| 5 | Kevin Coughlan | 1:18:00 | |
| 6 | Allison Smith | 1:28:00 | |
| 7 | Neil McKinstrie | 1:26:00 | |
| 8 | Bob Adams | 1:14:00 | |
| 9 | Tara Lambert | 1:28:00 | |
| 10 | Sarah Sale | 1:29:00 |
Northbrook Men A, 9th place - total time: 11:56:35
| Leg | ' | ||
| 1 | Terry Moynihan | 1:15:00* | |
| 2 | Damien Dear | 1:11:00 | |
| 3 | Darron Handley | 1:20:00 | |
| 4 | Martin Winch | 1:09:31 | |
| 5 | Martin Winch | 1:11:21 | |
| 6 | Tom Miller | 1:16:02 | |
| 7 | Tony Forde | 1:14:00 | |
| 8 | Richard French | 1:08:40 | |
| 9 | Stu Lumsden | 1:00:00 | |
| 10 | Scott Shepherd | 1:07:10 |
*Terry took a wrong turn, got lost and ended up running 11.25 miles by the time he had reorientated himself with the some guidance from a passing motorist that he flagged down. Terry's wife has suggested that next year his participation in a 'Z' team might be appropriate.
Northbrook Men B - total time: 13:01:20
| Leg | |||
| 1 | Mike Wheeler | 1:21:50 | |
| 2 | Steve Galvin | 1:22:00 | |
| 3 | Steve Handy | 1:21:00 | |
| 4 | Steve Turvey | 1:22:42 | |
| 5 | Pete Fellows | 1:08:30 | |
| 6 | Tommy Dempsey | 1:19:20 | |
| 7 | Paul Robbins | 1:20:50 | |
| 8 | Spencer Davies | 1:15:34 | |
| 9 | Guy Bicknell | 1:13:21 | |
| 10 | Damian Pharoah | 1:16:49 |
Northbrook Men C - total time: 15:14:35
| Leg | |||
| 1 | Jason Brannigan | 1:38:50 | |
| 2 | |||
| 3 | John Gibbons | 1:31:00 | |
| 4 | |||
| 5 | |||
| 6 | Jon Boyd | 1:27:18 | |
| 7a | Jon Boyd | 1:15:40 | |
| 7b | John Smith | ||
| 8 | |||
| 9 | Martin Seeley-Davies | 1:46:21 | |
| 10 | Rob Barry | 1:14:12 |
Jon Boyd and John Smith "shared" Leg 7
Martin got lost and ran 12.8 miles
The hardy devils who managed to stay awake and run or follow the race - still smiling after all the effort.
Sydney Half-Marathon - 17 May
| Andrew Ralph | 1:45 |
It was a very unusual start to any race that I have been to before, as
the start was at 6:45 in the morning. This was due to the city being so
busy that road closures were at a premium and that temperatures can range
from 10 to 30 degrees C. This meant that it was a very early wakeup call
and getting to start line while it was still dark.
There were four groups
set off at intervals and I was in the third group. The first few Km were
downhill and fast which took me through Circular Quay which is where the
Sydney Opera House and Sydney Bridge are located. It was quite a technical
course with lots of 90 degree corners and lots of steep but short uphill
sections and would make great rep sessions. As I had not been able to complete
as much training as I would have liked I took it steadily and enjoyed the
sights. In many places you could see the runners coming back which was encouraging
to watch the leaders and see how far back I was.
The last 4K took me in to the
Royal Botanical Gardens which are very attractive to walk around but I was
just concentrating on finishing in a decent time for my training and managed
1:45, about 2500 out of 13000 runners.It was very well organised
and marshalled with lots water stations, and my very first race in the southern
hemisphere and one that I would recommend and do again.
Beyond Marathon Apocalypse 50 Trail Race - 16 May
| 36 | Amy Burdis | 12:43:03 |
61 finishers, 71 starters
Rugby 6 - East Midlands Grand Prix Race 2 - 13 May
| Pos | Cat | M/F | Cat Pos | |||
| 212 | Mick Duggan | M70 | 45:54 | 187 | 1 | |
| 213 | Charles Jones | M60 | 45:58 | 188 | 7 | |
| 237 | Richard Hands | M40 | 47:16 | 205 | 35 | |
| 306 | Julie Cozens | F50 | 53:35 | 61 | 13 | |
| 350 | Tony French | M70 | 59:21 | 262 | 4 |
Full results at www.mcs.open.ac.uk/mkac/the_emgp
Leeds Half-Marathon - 10 May
| 619 | Tony Forde | 1:38:22 |
Stroud Trail Marathon - 10 May
| 137 | Tony Bowe | 5:56:18 |
Stroud Trail Half-Marathon - 10 May
| 11 | Jo Brown | 1:53:12 | 1st Lady |
Bosworth Half-Marathon - 10 May
| Richard Hodge | 1:29:33 | ||
| Tommy Dempsey | 1:36:55 | ||
| Joe Kelly | 1:37:22 | ||
| Tony Mackness | 1:38:57 | ||
| Craig McNaney | 1:44:53 | ||
| Spencer Davies | 1:46:16 | ||
| Gemma Ross | 1:51:58 | ||
| Claudie Combelas | 1:52:40 | ||
| Martin Gavin | 2:07:49 |
This is a cracking event which I last ran 6 years ago. It's very well
organised and marshalled and achieves everything it should with seemingly
the bare amount of fuss. A few of us turned up to test our mettle on a
lovely course through the countryside, and found a great day for racing
- not overly windy or hot.
The first half of the race is relatively uneventful
and was fairly flat with some long stretches to knock out the miles. As
warned, the second half is the more challenging with miles 8 and 11 where
the lumpy bits were which served to scrub off hard-won speed from the first
half. Even with a two-mile descent to the finish the last part was hard,
but thankfully soon enough the torture was over and a chance to savour
the moment before being handed the seemingly obligatory technical T-shirt,
sports drink and a banana.
Having not raced a HM flat out since Feb '11, personally this was a chance
to (a) get under 90mins and (b) get a marker of where I'm currently at,
and to see how much work there is still to do (the answer is a lot) before
another HM at Kenilworth in the autumn - Rich
Coventry Parkrun - 9 May
| 9 | Mike Wheeler | 18:41 | ||
| 49 | Peter Kirkhope | 21:12 | ||
| 60 | Tony Hughes | 21:40 | ||
| 62 | Spencer Davies | 21:42 | PB | |
| 72 | Corinna O'Connor | 22:04 | PB | |
| 93 | Paul McGurk | 22:35 | ||
| 100 | Clare Rowntree | 22:49 | ||
| 122 | Steve Turvey | 23:16 | ||
| 130 | Stave Handy | 23:30 | ||
| 156 | Sarah McNaney | 24:16 | ||
| 157 | Jo Arden | 24:19 | ||
| 176 | Richard Hands | 24:48 | ||
| 179 | Claudie Combelas | 24:58 | ||
| 186 | Mark Dalton | 25:10 | ||
| 199 | Kevin Coughlan | 25:24 | ||
| 207 | Claire Arden | 25:33 | ||
| 215 | Brian Hewetson | 25:43 | ||
| 224 | Joanne Moyse | 26:04 | ||
| 244 | Liz Pharoah | 26:41 | ||
| 260 | Rich Cawley | 27:04 | ||
| 284 | Linda Richards | 27:48 | ||
| 351 | Joanne Stacey | 29:09 | ||
| 402 | Ros Myers | 30:25 | ||
| 534 | Bernard Blundell | 35:04 | ||
| 538 | Katy Davies | 35:15 | ||
| 539 | Gemma Ross | 35:16 | ||
| 561 | Richard Hodge | 37:31 | ||
| 584 | Damian Pharoah | 42:00 |
PB's are Parkrun PB's
It was Liz Pharoah's 100th Parkrun on Saturday 9 May and quite a few Northbrookers turned out in support.
Silverstone 10k - East Midlands Grand Prix Race 1 - 6 May
| Pos | Cat | M/F | Cat Pos | |||
| 223 | Martin Seeley-Davies | SM | 43:47 | 210 | 115 | |
| 250 | Lyn McDonald | F40 | 44:17 | 17 | 3 | |
| 268 | Jill Pittard | F35 | 44:40 | 18 | 3 | |
| 292 | Tony Mackness | M55 | 45:02 | 269 | 7 | |
| 424 | Mick Duggan | M70 | 48:02 | 380 | 2 | |
| 437 | Charles Jones | M60 | 48:19 | 389 | 10 | |
| 742 | Julie Cozens | F50 | 54:50 | 146 | 13 | |
| 794 | Dave Cooper | M45 | 55:43 | 626 | 85 | |
| 916 | Tony French | M70 | 60:24 | 679 | 4 | |
| 954 | Julie French | SF | 62:14 | 260 | 89 |
Full results at www.mcs.open.ac.uk/mkac/the_emgp
Milton Keynes Marathon - 4 May
| 1109 | Joanne Stacey | 4:38:50 | PB |
Milton Keynes Half-Marathon - 4 May
| 1010 | Linda Richards | 2:08:08 | |
| 1278 | Chris Perkins | 2:18:16 |
Kenilworth May Day 10k - 4 May
| 11 | Mike Wheeler | 43:23 | |
| 44 | Spencer Davies | 51:04 | |
| 61 | Nick Sadler | 53:47 | |
| 126 | Amy Burdis | 74:17 |
Sunderland City 10k - 3 May
| Amy Burdis | 49:29 |
Birmingham 10k - 3 May
| 262 | Peter Kirkhope | 44:53 | |
| 987 | Jonathan Boyd | 51:44 | |
| 1502 | Mark Dalton | 55:15 |
Thames Path 100 - 2 May
| 28 | Tony Bowe | 20:45:14 |
First (& probably) last attempt at a hundred miler - the legs feel like they've had a good hammering with a baseball bat. Can't grumble though, it's been a good few weeks with two marathon PB's and a sub-24 hour 100 miler - tapers are over-rated!