Aldred & Bunting sizzle in London Marathon heat
The weekend was dominated by the heat of the London Marathon for our men and women, and the Mini-Marathon for our juniors. Tom Aldred took 20th place out of more than 40,000 competitors in a time of 2:29:18 and Rebecca Bunting was the 21st woman in 2:58:12 – leading our women’s team to first place (unconfirmed). The best of several outstanding runs in the Mini Marathon belonged to Jem O’Flaherty who came second in the under-17 event, followed by Liam Garrett, who came fourth. The day earlier our juniors took part in the Middlesex Young Athletes League at Parliament Hill and came third out of 10 teams.
Virgin Money London Marathon, London, Sunday April 22 2018
This year’s London Marathon was run under the most punishing conditions ever, with the temperature gauge nudging the 24C mark and no cloud cover. A grand total of 70 of our runners (23 women and 47 men) started out and 66 made it to the end (22 women and 44 men) – and our women’s team might just have taken top place (we’ll know for sure soon).
For many it was a case of: “Four months of peak training in the rain, cold and snow – and now this!” – a feeling rubbed deeper when the next day turned out to be cool and cloudy. Several best-laid plans went wildly awry and some of our lot went through hell to make it to the end. Jack Hardy, on his marathon debut, was doubled over with stomach cramps but pressed on to the finish line. Sara Black ended up in on a stretcher with sunstroke and dehydration after crossing the line in 3:24, despite having gulped down the water at every drinks’ station. Nilesh Goswami seized up at the 18-mille mark with agonising cramp – and had to hobble the last eight (but was still in the gym the next day – ready for his yoga session). Meanwhile, Francois Barou, who jogged the race to help a friend around, volunteered in the medical tent as a translator for the French runners who were having troubles. Hopefully next year they will take climate change into account and hold this thing two weeks earlier….
First by a very long way to take the inaugural George Stewart trophy for the winning Heathside man was Tom Aldred, who gritted his teeth through pain and exhaustion to come 20th in the open race with a time of 2:29:18 – four minutes shy of his PB but given the conditions it’s surely among his best runs ever.
Our first woman was Rebecca Bunting who started fast and maintained the pace, arriving in 2:58:12 – just 56 seconds shy of her PB – to take the George Stewart trophy for the first Heathside woman, taking 21st place in the open race.
Among the men the next three were Tom Livermore (whose much-cheered progress, in Tom Aldred’s wake, prompted a spectator to ask, ‘Are all your best runners called Tom?”). He arrived in 2:44:50 – just over two minutes shy of his PB. Keith Burrows was next in 2:49:18 and then Andy Barnes in 2:49:23, followed by Juan Carlos Casal Perez in 2:50:43, Charlie Ogilvie in a PB of 2:51:07, new member Marco Serena in 2:51:26 and Sion Lewis in a PB of 2:51:58. It was wonderful to see Mario Cadete back from the United States in his Heathside vest, running an impressive 2:54:43.
The two men with the most even splits were next. Ed Adams ran 2:58:40, having gone through the halfway mark a 1:28:38. “It was tough, but one of my best races to date,” he said. “Sometimes it’s not about the time you do, but how you execute your plan and that was what Sunday was about.”. Even closer was Chris Huff in 2:59:40. He went through the half in 1:24:53, meaning he did negative splits – remarkable given the brutal conditions.
Our second woman was Josie Hinton in a heart-breaking time of 3:00:00. Looking at the clock she thought she had “no chance at all” of making the three-hour cut-off, only to realise later that a final 20m sprint would have taken her under. Still it was a highly impressive run – just 28 seconds off her PB (which she got six months ago in Yorkshire). Third was Catrin Tyler who finished in 3:05:17 – just nine seconds off her PB. She was followed by Olivia Desborough, who did an eight-minute PB in 3.11:37 and Celine Murray who finished in 3:13:17 – just eight months after having her first baby. Our sixth woman was Annabel Litchfield in 3:16:04 followed by Bethany Grace Scott who was in wonderful sub-3 shape but fell victim to that unforgiving sun, finishing in 3:19.05.
It’s three to score, which means that Rebecca, Josie and Catrin take the first-place honours (still to be confirmed).
The Heathside woman with the best-paced race was Louisa Pointon who finished in 3:27:16, taking more than five minutes off her PB. She did her first half in 1:43:11. However, Lou might be challenged for this honour by Ms David Hellard, the 3:15 marker who seems to have made a stand for gender fluidity or wishful thinking or hitting the wrong key - by running as a woman. Her/his time was 3:14:24 after a halfway of 1:37:18. “I was a pacer, so not sure my performance counts towards the stats as not racing,” he said. “As for the 151st female - I'll take it!”
A big-up belongs to Pete Crockford, who broke the club’s V60 record on his 60th birthday, running an evenly paced marathon in 3:33:11 – despite his training having been disrupted by illness.
Among the many heroically impressive performances on Sunday was the debut baptism of fire and brimstone for Hannah Stanforth who completed it 3:31:31 – faster than her predicted time.
And it was good to see former Heathside cross-country winner Clare Rees (Miller) in the field – now in an Aldershot vest. She finished in 3:04:11. Another some time Heathsider (2nd claim) is Gordon Pearce who finished in an excellent 2:43:49, running in a Thames Hare & Hounds vest. Their names are listed in the results below even though they didn’t run for us this time.
Virgin Money London Mini-Marathon Borough Challenge, Sunday April 22 2018 (5km)
Thirty of our juniors were selected by their boroughs to take part in this highly competitive three-mile event along the Mall and past the London Marathon finishing line.
Jem O’Flaherty continued his rich run of form, coming second out of 149 under-17 finishers in a time of 15:06. Just two seconds and two places behind him was his Heathside friend and rival Liam Garrett, who has also had a highly impressive season
The best of our under-15 boys was Jake Evans who came 13th out of 176 finishers in 16:48 and was the first Hackney boy.
Spike Blake put in a fast start and kept up the pace, coming ninth out of 179 in 17:43 in the under-13 race, and he was the first Haringey boy. Thirteen seconds behind him in 14th place was Jack Davis-Black. A special mention to Arthur Reed, who ran his heart out in the Sunday heat and collapsed just before the finishing line – but he recovered quickly and no doubt will have another go next year.
The best of the girls was Nell Swinhoe who followed in her mum’s footsteps (a schoolgirl Sarah Swan took part in the first mini marathon in 1986). Nell was the first Haringey under-15 girl home and came 17th out of 170 in a time of 18:58. Rose Garrett (23rd in 19:21) and Mimi Blake (29th in 19:34) were next for Heathside. All seven of our under-15 girls finished in the top third - a fine tribute to Kabir Kemp's coaching.
Meg Naylor and Lily McKay were the first of our under-17s in 45th and 46th places (out of 128) in times of 20:37 and 20:40.
Lorna Dumbleton was the first of our under-13 girls, finishing in 50th place (out of 184) in a time of 20:42.
Middlesex Young Athletes League, Parliament Hill, May 21
Our junior athletes excelled at Parliament Hill on Saturday, coming third out of 10 Middlesex teams, despite having several of our middle distance runners resting for the next day’s Mini Marathon (or just doing jumps and throws), and no under-17 women competing. Rachel Weston's under-11s did exceptionally well, taking first place among both the girls and the boys.
It’s hard to pick out the stars among the 40 who took part, but look out for under-11 boy Adam Nkosi who won the 75m race and the long jump and helped the 4x100m relay team to victory.
Here’s Ruth Miller’s report: “Third team overall, so a really great performance from our young team, especially as we were missing so many of your middle distance runners. It was a very enjoyable day with some great and gutsy performances. I must say the technical coaching they get from Rachel, Russell , Emmanuel, Zac and Nathan really shows (with Kabirs middle distance stars shining in the Mini marathon the following day.)
“Special mention to all the relay teams who showed real team spirit and waited around until the end– especially to our u 11 boys and girls who both won convincingly Thanks to Jonathan and Suzette for leading our officials team.”
Blackpool Marathon, Blackpool, Sunday April 22 2018.
Cannily avoiding the London sunshine, Joe Pennington ran the Blackpool marathon where it was overcast with light rain. He had a good run, finishing 25th in a PB time of 3:02:40.
Parkruns
It was good to see former Heathsider star, and Commonwealth steeplechaser, Adam Kirk-Smith running and winning in Finsbury Park (in a time of 15:47). Heathside’s Leigh James was the women’s winner in Finsbury Park in a time of 20:09. The only other Heathsider to win was Jessica Vinluan in Highbury Fields. Her time was 21:43, which suggests her plantar fasciitis must be well on the mend. A total of 46 Heathsiders participated in 16 parkruns on Saturday. Here are their results:
Results
Virgin Money London Marathon, London, April 22 2018
1. Tom Aldred - 2:29:18 (20th overall) (George Stewart trophy winner)
2. Tom Livermore -2:44:50
3. Keith Burrows – 2:49:18
4. Andy Barnes – 2:49.23
5. Juan Carlos Casal Perez – 2:50:43
6. Charlie Ogilvie – 2:51:07 (PB)
7. Marco Serena – 2:51:26
8. Sion Lewis – 2:51:58 (PB)
9. Mario Cadete – 2:54:43
10. Danny O'Reilly - 2:56:18.
11. Rebecca Bunting – 2:58:12 (21st woman) (George Stewart trophy winner)
12. Edward Adams -2:58:56
13. Chris Uff – 2:59:40
14. Josie Hinton – 3:00:00
15. Daniel Johns – 3:01:53
16. Michael Tant – 3:02:43
17. Catrin Tyler – 3:05:17
18. Matt Cockerill – 3:09:11
19. Ash Abrha – 3:11:20
20. Olivia Desborough – 3:11:37 (PB)
21. Celine Murray – 3:13:14
22. Natan Doron – 3:13:26 (PB)
23. David Hellard – 3:14:24 (3:15 pacerr)
24. Steve Armstong – 3:15:25
25. Annabel Litchfield - 3:16:04
26. Jake Spencer – 3:18:00
27. Jim Connell – 3:18:32
28. Bethany Scott – 3:19:05
29. Tony Shearer – 3:19:48
30. Sara Black – 3:24:51
31. Pete Bakewell – 3:26:54
32. Louisa Pointon – 3:27:16 (PB)
33. Luke Wynn – 3:27:54
34. Ian Parry – 3:28:11
35. Tatyana Potiyenko – 3:30:34
36. Hannah Stanforth – 3:31:31 (debut)
37. Pete Crockford – 3:33:11 (V60 club record)
38. Sif Sumarlidattir – 3:36:30
39. Jonathan Powell – 3:42:09
40. Amy Crankshaw-Luyendijk – 3:43:56
41. Ruth Aitken – 3:44:24
42. Alex O’Connor – 3:44:51
43. Satu Hietanen – 3:46:24
44. Simon de Deney – 3:47:40
45. Lea Michaels – 3:48:42
46. Jack Hardy – 3:49:44
47. Ian Anderson – 3:51:10
48. Nick Dodd 3:51:16
49. Mark Jefford – 3:54:05
50. Andrew Prystawsky – 3:54:32
51. Stuart Roberts – 3:58:39
52. Rob Shulman – 4:02:58 (first long run in months)
53. Natalie Shoham – 4:07:28
54. Simon Reeve – 4:12:28
55. Caroline White 4:13:10
56. Alan Smith – 4:13:50
57. Marie-Claire Gallagher – 4:22:59
58. Nilesh Goswami – 4:58:42
59. Shan Leung – 4:49:37
60. Kate Leftley – 4:52:35
61. Francois Barou – 4:07:23 (helped a friend around)
62. Alun Nash – 4:54:13
63. Claire Sliwerski – 4:56:38
64. Kate Cwynarski – 5:05:08
65. Diana Smith – 5:30:59
66. Imran Ahmed – 5:31:53
Philip McDermott – DNF (half at 1:46:31)
Tom Hosking – DNF (half at 1:59:45)
Alice Hosking – DNF (10k in 50:46)
Sentil Thangavelu – DNF (15k in 2:02:18)
Also:
Gordon Pearce – 2:43:49 (2nd claim Heathsider – now with Thames Hare & Hounds)
Clare Rees (Miller) – 3:04:11 (now with Aldershot)
Virgin Money London Mini-Marathon Borough Challenge, Sunday April 22 2018 (3m)
Boys under-17 (149 finishers)
2nd Jem O’Flaherty – 15:06 (1st Haringey)
4th Liam Garrett – 15:08
51st Ken Boulton – 17:07
139th Kit Naylor – 21:27 (U15 running as U17)
Boys under-15 (176 finishers)
13th Jake Evans – 16:48
15th Thomas Archer – 16:54
46th Ruairi Mcgonagle - 17:46
97th Stanley Brown – 18:59
146th Leon Hanson – 21:27
Boys under-13 (179 finishers)
9th Spike Blake – 17:43 (first Haringey)
14th Jack Davis-Black – 17:56
54th Stan Hason – 19:01
56th Ivor Joslin – 19:08
DNF Arthur Reed
Girls under-17 (128 finishers)
45th Meg Naylor – 20:37
46th Lily McKay – 20:40
68th Ella Conlon – 21:31 (U15 running as U17)
101st Phoebe Crockford – 23:57
109th Anna McAllister – 24:32
Girls under-15 (170 finishers)
17th Nell Swinhoe – 18:58 (1st Haringey)
23rd Rose Garrett – 19:21
29th Mimi Blake – 19:34
34th Evelyn Dumbleton – 19:57
39th Mia Manttan – 20:03
53rd Matilda Heath – 20:39
114th Martina Curcio – 22:57
Girls under-13 (184 finishers)
50th Lorna Dumbleton – 20:42
104th Hattie Munday – 22:31
117th Ruby Walls – 22:40
159th Fabienne Weston – 24:15
161st Lucy Corkin – 24:17
Middlesex Young Athletes League, Parliament Hill, May 21
London Heathside – third out 10 teams with 739 points
Under-11 girls (1st out of 10 teams)
75m
Selma Lawrence A 3rd 12.54
Martha Jolly B 1st 11.98
Ella Burridge NS 11.78
Leila England NS 12.50
800m
Elkie Baker A 3rd 3:06.11
Selma Lawrence B 2nd 3:16.46
Martha Jolly NS 3:15.35
Leila England NS 3.34.51
Long Jump
Avery Harris A 4th 3.16m
Selma Lawrence B 3rd 2.74m
Martha Jolly NS 3.22m
Vortex
Elkie Baker A 5th 15.24m
Ella Burridge B 3rd 12.55
Jasmine Nkosi NS 9.48m
4 x 100m
1st London Heathside – 64.96 (1st by nearly 10 seconds!)
Under-13 girls (2nd out of 9 teams)
100m
Layla Tempesta A 1st 14.7
Danae Odeogberin B 3rd 15.43
1500m
Issie Watkins A 3rd 5:48.11
Kiara Corkin B 2nd 6:01.31
Lucy Corkin NS 6:40.47
70m hurdles
Hattie Munday A 3rd 14.38
Megahn Crill B 2nd 16.65
High Jump
Issy Watkins A 2nd 1.23m
Hattie Munday B 1st 1.20m
Shot Putt
Layla Tempesta A 7th 4.15m
Danae Odeogberin B 4th 3.28m
Discus
Amara Odeogberin A 4th 5.63m
Under-15 girls (3rd out of 10)
100m
Elyse Duncan B 6th 15.5
200m
Olivia Salagubaite A 2nd 27.49
Elyse Duncan B 6th 32.16
75m hurdles
Erin Heritage A 5th 16.89
Lorna Dumbleton B 2nd 17.27
Long Jump
Matilda Heath A 7th 3.86
Nell Swinhoe – B 3rd 3.76
Lorna Dumbleton NS 3.76m
Shot putt
Fabienne Weston A 6th 4.71m
Javelin
Fabienne Weston A 3rd 15.33m
Hammer
Erin Heritage A 3rd 18.86m
Fabienne Weston B 2nd 12.26
4 x 100m
6th London Heathside – 61.02
Under-11 boys (1st out of 10)
75m
Adam Nkosi A 1st 11.14
Matthias Schinkel B 2nd 12.23
Nico Cote NS 11.97
800m
Benji Bediako A 2nd 2:41.67
Mattias Schinkel B 3rd 3:06.92
Nico Cote NS 3.14.12
Long Junp
Benjy Bediako A 2nd 3.58m
Adam Nkosi B 1st 3.43m
Vortex
Benjy Bediako A 4th 26.16m
Nico Cote B 5th 18.31m
4 x 100m
1st London Heathside – 62.72
Under-13 boys (4th out of 10)
100m
Daniel Robb A 5th 15.06
Rufus Tansey (result not recorded)
Henry Pulham-Vorbeck B 2nd 13.74
Constantine England NS 14.79
800m
Gregory Sweet A 7th 3:01.68
Thomas Schinkel B 3rd 2.45.74
Constantine England NS 2:52.48
75m hurdles
Henry Pulham-Vorbeck A 2nd 16.34
High jump
Daniel Robb A 2nd 1.2m
4 x 100m
2nd London Heathside – 60.66
Under-15 boys (5th out of 10)
100m
Gabriel Griffith A 5th 13.99
Amos Shanmai NS 14.9
200m
Nana Alowua A 5th 26.17
800m
Lucas Maher A 5th 2:23.50
Shot putt
Lucas Maher A 4th 6.31m
Arthur Reed B 2nd 3.69m
4 x 100m
2nd London Heathside – 52:02
Under-17 men (2nd)
100m
Benjamin Folorin A 4th 12.46
Vionne Allen B 4th 13.58
200m
Benjamin Florin A 3rd 26.11
800m
Sid Diamond A 2nd 2:16.00
Long jump
Vionne Allen A ? 3.81m
Benjamin Folorin B 1st 3.61m
Blackpool marathon, Blackpool, April 22 2018
25. Joe Pennington 3:02:40