5 star show at Manchester Marathon; PBs galore elsewhere

Manchester Marathon

Since it’s Manchester, if I’d left myself more time I’d have thrown in a bunch of laboured Oasis puns but we’ll just have to Roll With It as we reflect on a magnificent effort from 5 Heathsiders who took on the 26.2 miles and enjoyed some Morning Glory, led home by distance king Tom Aldred as he finished in 5th place, with an incredible time of 2:27:08 (perhaps even more incredible that this wasn’t even a PB!). Also heading north last Sunday was Joe Garrood whose sub-3hr training Masterplan came up trumps as he nailed his target, finishing in a brilliant 2:54:57, and an unnecessarily modest Roger Wagland (pictured with Joe above), who claims: ‘This is the first time I have done well enough to actually send in a result! I got a new PB by 10 minutes and my first ever good for age time for the London Marathon by running 3:17:20. Very happy (at last).’ Also making an appearance in the results were Sif Sumarlidadottir and Simon Hazel. Congrats to all five and looking forward to more emails from Roger in future!

Half Marathons

Lenny Martin ran the Wimbledon Common Half and, in his words, set a slightly frustrating PB, finishing a few agonising seconds outside 90 minutes on the undulating, off road course. Meanwhile, over in Germany Rebecca Bunting sent a postcard from her and Henry Hamilton: ‘we ran the Berlin Half on Sunday, couldn't have asked for better weather, and what a great course - lots to see and plenty of atmosphere. I've barely run ALL YEAR so was ecstatic to get in the mix of a big city (37,000 runners) road race. Henry was happy to have run an even paced race just two weeks before Boston.’

Back closer to home, Greg Bell and a few others ran the Run Fest Half Marathon at Lee Valley: ‘This was a 2-lap flat, fast course run along the tarmac paths and hard trails in and around the picturesque Lee Valley Regional Park at Waltham Cross. Chilly at the 10am start, it soon warmed up by mid-morning. There were 2 water stations which were passed twice and where jelly-babies were also available! I managed to knock almost a minute off my previous PB at the Welwyn Half two weeks ago, which was nice... Sarah Swan (making the first of two appearence in this week's report) was over 20 minutes faster, and came in as 1st W40 and 3rd Female overall! Another good pre-London test to be considered for next year". Also with them was Maryam Khosravi, who finished in 1:34:19, and Ash Arbha who was either either a victim of a clerical error, ran a spectacularly slow 10k in 1:38:54, or entered the wrong race but ran the half marathon anyway!

Herne Hill Open Meet, a couple of 5ks, a 5m and 10ks

Looking at the weekend’s shorter distance races, first up was the monthly Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5k at Hyde Park, where Pete Bakewell finished in a very impressive 17:15 while I had a frankly underwhelming run, finishing in 18:34. Isobel Rae was a few seconds further back and Michael Abrahams came home in 21:08. The following day, Ula Cartwright-Finch was 1st lady down at the Sri Chinmoy Battersea Park 10k, setting a new PB in the process, while Phil Hogg finished not far behind. Later that day, 11 Heathsiders made up around 10% of the strong field at the Victoria Park 5 Mile race. Gavin Evans gives the lowdown: ‘Ed Samuel had a blinder, completing it in 27:11, putting him in 13th place in a highly competitive field – an impressive tuneup for his Shakespeare Marathon next month. He was followed by Pete Northall in 28:18, Matt Cockerill in a PB time of 29:30 and Jonathan Litchfield in a PB time of 29:47. Sarah Swan was the first female veteran in a time of 30:53 – her first of two races at the weekend.’

However, perhaps the highlight of the weekend came down at Herne Hill Harriers’ open track meet, as 13 year old Ruairi McGonagle, recently featured on the site, continued his meteoric rise by posting an incredible 4:34.28 in the 1500m. Oliver O’Conner also PB’d in a later heat while over 5000m Andrew Brooker was also among the PB crowd as he smashed below 15:30 for the first time. Richard Macauley and James Woolridge also posted find times to records SBs. The following day saw the return of the Regent's Park Summer 10k Series (although since there's a winter version, they never really go anywhere) and yet more PBs as Doug Rendle was 14th finisher with an impressive 37:36 and David Fallon was 3 places further back with another PB time of 38:11. Carl Heap completed the trio of Heathsiders, finishing as the 2nd V60.

Last but not least, news from abroad as coach Jacob Howe bagged 15th spot at the Dunbar 10k in scenic Scotland, while across the PondJim Connell took part in the Daffodil Dash 5k in Atlanta, Georgia. His nippy time of 19:55 was enough to bag both 4th spot overall and the Vets Champion trophy. Definitely something to declare at customs on the way home!

Parkruns

The usual decent spread of locations from the well travelled Heathside massive, though only Dan Johns was first to the finish this week. Full results here: http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017&eventdate=2017-04-01

Results

Last Friday of the Month 5k, Fri March 31st
 

14th Pete Bakewell 17:14
38th Gareth Marshall 18:3443rd Isobel Rae 18:49115th Michael Abrahams 21:08

Sri Chinmoy 10k, Battersea Park, Sat April 1st

22nd Ula Cartwright-Finch 38:52
27th Phil Hogg 39:31

Herne Hill Harriers Open Meet, Sat April 1st

1500m

4th Ruairi McGonanagle 4:34.28 (Heat 2)6th Oliver O’Conner 5:09.48 (Heat 5)

5000m

6th Andrew Brooker 15:27.0414th Richard Macauley 15:58.8920th James Woolridge 16:09.74
 

Victoria  Park 5m, Saturday April 1 (104 finishers)

13. Ed Samuel – 27:11
23. Pete Northall – 28:1830. Matt Cockerill – 29:3032. Jonathan Litchfield – 29:4736. Gavin Evans – 30:07 (3rd V50)40. Paul Tonkinson – 30:45. Sarah Swan – 30:53 (1st female veteran)52. Leigh James – 33:0153. Tom Bedwell – 33:0456. Mark George – 33:3190. Gaby Johnson – 39:53 

Lee Valley Half, Sunday April 2 (383 finishers)

27th Sarah Swan – 1:27:44 (1st female V40, 3rd woman)
48th Maryam Khosravi – 1:34:19142 Greg Bell – 1:48:50

Manchester Marathon, Sun April 2nd

5th Tom Aldred 2:27:08
206th Joe Garrood 2:54:571066th Roger Wagland 3:17:202256th Sif Sumarlidadottir 3:37:102341st Simon Hazel 3:38:11

Wimbledon Common Half, Sun April 2nd

15th Lenny Martin 1:30:03

Berlin Half Marathon, Sun April 2nd

Rebecca Bunting 1:29:51Henry Hamilton 1:30:46

Regents Park Summer Series 10k, Sun April 2nd

14th Doug Rendall 37:3617th David Fallon 38:1182nd Carl Heap 44:06

Dunbar 10k, East Lothian, Sun April 2nd

15th Jacob Howe 39:24

Daffodil Dash 5k, Atlanta, Sun April 2nd

4th Jim Connell 19:55