A 'Barnestorming' performance in Harlow and a nail-biting finish in Kingsmeadow

The highlights this week include an impressive performance from Andy Barnes (3rd place, 57:58, PB) and a welcome comeback from Steve Woolf in the Harlow 10, an exciting update on the club championships, a dramatic finish in Kingsmeadow, not to mention a few half marathons and even an aquathlon in Lea Valley.

Harlow 10

“Ten Heathsiders took part in the Harlow 10 on Sunday – a race that has this year replaced the Cabbage Patch 10 (not being run this year because of the Rugby World Cup). The course is undulating and partly off-road, so not nearly as quick as the Cabbage Patch, but it was a fairly scenic course and exceptionally well marshalled.  The weather was near-perfect – cool with a light breeze. 

The first club member home, by a long way, was the rapidly-improving Andy Barnes, who put in a PB of 57:58 and picked up the medal for third place. He was followed by Alan Whatmouth (1:01:26), Mario Cadete (1:03:58), me (1:04:24 – a 13-year PW), Jonathan Litchfield (1:05:25 (PB).  Our first woman home (and our only woman home) was Jessica Vinluan who put in a PB of 1:18:38. We were the second men’s team – missing out on the team cup by a solitary point to Ealing Eagles.

The event was also notable because Steve Woolf made an inspirational comeback, having been side-lined for 2 years with illness and injury.  Welcome back Steve!  The conditions suited him, as he comments (slightly more positively than Gavin):  “Excellent running conditions (cool, bright weather with a gentle breeze) over a mixture or roads, paths and gravel tracks through some pleasantly gently undulating country scenery.”

Club championships

The results from Harlow have very interesting implications for the club road race championships.  Andy has consolidated his lead, now having 178 points.   He just needs a further 9 points in order to achieve more points any other man has achieved in this championship, at least since 2012.  The previous record (since 2012) is held by Julian Ferraro, who won with 186 points in 2013.  

There are also fascinating developments in the second and third positions.  Rob is still in second place with 152 points but Gavin is potentially creeping up on Rob and could well overtake him, unless Rob stays focused and races as best he can in the remaining races.  Many things are at stake for Rob, as he probably does not want to relive the agony of 2014, when Gavin beat him into second place in the championship by just 2 points…

In the women’s race, things are less dramatic than the men’s race, at least for now….  Jessica was the only woman scoring in the race, putting her into joint 11th place.  However, just 10 points separate the leader (Sarah Illingworth) and the 7th place and with two more races to come, the situation could change rapidly. 

With the cross-country season almost upon us, things could hardly get more exciting than this…

Track races 

There was a fantastic race to the finish in Kingsmeadow between Ed Samuel and Dan Madams.

Ed reports: “On Wednesday 2nd, myself and Dan Madams ventured south of the river for the Veterans Athletic Club (VAC) 10'000m champs at Kingsmeadow track in Kingston. A perfect evening for 25 laps of the track resulted in a great race. The pace was well judged, resulting in a burn up on the last lap where Dan came out on top in the Heathside duel.”  Dan finished in 34:43.0 and Ed finished just 9 10ths of a second later in 34:43.9.

Meanwhile Pete Crockford and Mike Abrahams ran well in the Woodford Open last Tuesday, finishing in 5:04.70 (1500m) and 11:36.17 (3000m) respectively.

Regents Park 10K

Three Heathsiders (Doug Rendle, Caroline White and Tony Chin) ran in the Regents Park 10K on Sunday and Caroline came first in her age category. 

Sadly, there was a tragic twist to the race.  Caroline reports: “3 of us did the last of the summer Regents Park series of 10ks. Perfect conditions - apart from sadly a young guy collapsed coming over the finish line with cardiac arrest.  Very luckily there were some doctors and nurses who just happened to be on hand and gave him the necessary treatment until the ambulance arrived.”

We hope that the young runner makes a good recovery.

Half Marathons 

Dan went to Chippenham on Sunday and remains positive.  He reports: “I ran a slightly laboured 1:25 at the Chippenham Half. Still, any one you can walk away from's a good one.”

 Philip Hogg and Rob Shulman also ran a half marathon in Maidenhead, where Phil shaved off 40 seconds off his PB (1:25:21) and Rob finished in 1:22:32.  Philip comments that it was a “nice race – flat, fast and sunny”.

Prize for the most exotic race of the week goes to Henry Hamilton Gould who ran the Istrian wine run in Croatia, coming 17th in 1:39:57 in the half marathon.  Congratulations are due as he was also the first British runner (out of two).  This is a serious racing event (first runner finished in 1:18), which goes past wine cellars and provides the opportunity to taste the wines of Istrian winemakers along the route. Runners are invited to disguise themselves with a mask and there’s also a prize for the best mask.  For those seeking an early autumn marathon, there’s also a full marathon option and you can even enter as a relay team. 

Aquathlons

Sue Eedle performed well in Lee Valley, reporting: “I'd like to report that I won 2nd place Female 50+ in the Lee Valley 2015 Aquathlon Series at Lee Valley White Water Centre on Tuesday.  For those who haven't tried this event, it’s a series of five monthly races, it's a very enjoyable open water swim + parkland run (short or longer distance options), quite competitive -- a couple of the tri clubs turn out in force -- but also friendly and suitable for beginners.  I only did two out of the five races, and chose the shorter distance for my debut season, but next year I think I'll be braver!”

Parkruns 

Many Heathsiders were out park-running this week-end, with lots of first-place finishes, e.g. Andrew Brooker (15:41) in Hackney Marshes, Ryan McCrickerd (18:12) in Hampstead Heath, Tom Fancett (00:17:20) in Highbury Fields, Rebecca Bunting (19:25) in Gladstone, Stuart Meicklejohn (17:58) in Oakhill Park.

RESULTS

Woodford Open, Tuesday 1st Sept

1500m race 2

6th  Pete Crockford   (V55)   5:04.70

3000m

13th  Mike Abrahams  (V55)   11:36.17

Veterans Athletic Club (VAC) 10'000m champs, Kingsmeadow track in Kingston. Wednesday 2nd September 2015

2   Dan Madams 34'43.0 (V40)
3  Ed Samuel 34'43.9 (V35)

Regents Park 10k, Sunday 6th September, 2015.

18th Doug Rendle 39.20

140 Caroline White 46.14 (10th woman, 1st LV55)

207 Tony Chin 47.36

Harlow 10, Sunday 10th September, 2015

3rd Andy Barnes – 57:58 (PB)

12th Allan Whatmouth – 1:01:58

22nd Mario Cadete – 1:03:58

24th Gavin Evans – 1:04:24 (3rd V 50)

29th Jonathan Litchfield – 1:05:25 (PB)

32nd Gareth Marshall – 1:06:37

76th Robert Bowler – 1:15:18

94th Alun Nash – 1:18:38

98th Jessica Vinluan – 1:18:38 (PB)

168th Steve Woolf – 1:32:52

208 finishers 

Chippenham Half Marathon, 6 September

39 Dan McKeown 1:25:02

Maidenhead Half Marathon, 6th September 2015

61 Rob Shulman 01:22:32.

83 Philip Hogg 01:25:21 (PB by 40 secs)

Istrian wine run, Croatia, Sunday 6th September 2015

17 Henry Hamilton Gould 1:39:42

Lea Valley 2015 Aquathlon Series, Lee Valley White Water Centre,  Tuesday 1st September 2015

250M swim, 3km run

5th F  Sue Eedle (2nd FV50)

Swim: 8:01

Run: 17:03

Overall: 25:04

Parkruns:

http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017&eventdate=2015-09-05