Antwerp marathon, Bracknell and Plymouth half marathons and Thames Towpath 10

A quietish weekend for racing, but it was obviously a case of quality over quantity, as there were some excellent performances in the Antwerp Marathon from Joe McKeown, Plymouth Half from Jim Connell, in the Bracknell Half from Jesper Lycke, from the handful of Heathsiders who managed to enter the Thames Towpath 10 before it filled up.

Joe had a brilliant run on sunday at Antwerp finishing 158th out of 1909, despite an inauspicious start..... here's his report: I was one of 41,000 runners in Antwerp on Sunday, although most people were there for the 10 miler or kiddies fun run, which took place on the same day.My pre-race preparation went to blazes, after an alarm malfunction left me with half an hour to make the start line. I arrived with 12 minutes to spare. In spite of this mishap, the race was great fun. I was very pleased with my run and the post race drinking was particularly good.

Seven Heathsiders travelled to south west London to take part in the fifth of our Club Championship races - the Thames Towpath 10. Sandra reported back: After a drizzly start to the morning the skies cleared as we got ourselves in place in the starting pens and weather continued to improve throughout the run so good race conditions with only a couple of windy spots. As usual couldn't fault the race organisation and marshalling although could have done with a few more portaloos. No wonder this is such a popular race.

Jesper ran a PB at Bracknell in 1.41.26 - on target for a good time in his marathon in a couple of weeks in Copenhagen, and Jim Connell had a great run in the Plymouth Half, coming in 48th in 1.25, just missing his PB time.

Twenty-three Heathsiders made appearances at 12 different parkruns with Tom Aldred coming first at Finsbury Park and Andrew Brooker first at Walthamstow.

And lastly a few reminders of forthcoming events/dates for your diaries:

  • The Highgate Woods Spring/Summer off road training sessions start on Tuesday 6th May, catering for all abilities.The group starts from Hornsey YMCA at 7.30 as usual, heading up through Queens Wood, reaching the cricket pitch in Highgate Woods at approx 7.50 for the session. Road runs continue for those that prefer that option

  • Crouch End 10K takes place on Sunday 18th May - STILL PLACES AVAILABLE - enter here: http://www.enter4.co.uk/nlymca/home

  • The Ickenham 5 on 8th June is the next Club championship race and is filling up fast, so book your place now http://www.ickenham5.co.uk/

  • The Annual Club Handicap takes place on Tuesday 15th July
     

Results roundup
Antwerp Marathon, Netherlands 27/04/14158th Joe McKeown 3.07.48  
Plymouth Half Marathon 27/04/1448th Jim Connell 1.25.29

Bracknell Half Marathon 27/04/14183rd Jesper Lycke 1.41.26

Thames Towpath 10 27.04.1422nd 1:07:23 Will Whitaker (PB)  
41st 1:09:35 Chris Hewertson (PB) 
107th 1:16:58 Robert Bowler  
129th 1:18:46 Tim Sander  
153rd 1:20:23 Sandra Buckton  
221st 1:24:01 Martin Hill  
261st 1:27:05 Di Gardiner  
Parkruns 26.04.14

Brighton & Hove parkrun9th  Mark DERRY  00:19:09

Finsbury parkrun1st  Tom ALDRED  00:16:14
5th  Gareth MARSHALL  00:18:50
11th  Dominic JACKSON  00:19:13
20th  Kris MILOVSOROV  00:19:44
40th  Carl HEAP  00:20:59
90th  Rebecca SWEET  00:23:51
99th  Sarah ILLINGWORTH 00:24:16
124th  James PARKER  00:25:28

Highbury Fields parkrun4th  Tom FANCETT  00:18:33
12th  Thomas GRIFFITHS 00:19:25
57th  Ben CLARKE-JANSSEN 00:23:01

Royal Tunbridge Wells parkrun19th  Gyorgy CSATLOS  00:20:30

Oak Hill parkrun38th  Michiko THOMAS  00:24:03
40th  Claire SLIWERSKI 00:24:10

Whitstable parkrun41st  Julie KHAN  00:24:19

Winchester parkrun16th  Tim MARSHALL  00:19:45

Ally Pally parkrun34th  Simon BAILEY  00:25:37
41st  Andrew Simon CONWAY 00:26:41

Gladstone parkrun19th  Stuart AMBLIN  00:21:38

Walthamstow parkrun1st  Andrew OSAMU BROOKER 00:17:07

Southwark parkrun4th  James LYNCH  00:18:54

Longrun Meadow parkrun37th  Gavin PARISH  00:22:34

Caroline WhiteComment