Bank holiday track, road, tri and fell report

A bit of everything this week - a track meet, road races, triathlons (sprint to long course). Most remarkably of all, Jacob "track" Howe and Angela went totally off road and did the gruelling Grasmere Guides Race, a fell race not for the faint hearted. 

Watford Open, 26 August 2015

Pete Crockford squeezed out another season’s best on a perfect still coolish evening, and was not alone as others’ PB’d and SB’d too, with excellent runs from Adam, Miles and James:

200m race 2

5th David Spencer (V65) 28:21  

1500m race 3

1st  Adam Bessadi  ((U15)  4:54.89 PB

3rd  Pete Crockford  (V55)  5:01:86 SB

race 6

14th  Rebecca Bunting     4:55.55

race 7

1st Miles Claderazzo  (U17)  4:35.86

race 8

7th  Ben Wolfe             4:32.29    PB

3000m  race 1

1st  James Wooldridge   (U20)   9:09.14  PB

18th  Jacob Phillips        (U20)  10:06.20

26th  Leigh James                    11:04.26  SB

Grasmere Senior Guides Race, 1.6M (886ft), 30/8/15

87 Jacob Howe 21:20

136 Angela Howe 25:28

Jacob reports: for a bit of a change and to fire ourselves up for the cross country season we took part in the short, sharp and brutal Senior Guides Race at Grasmere -- nearly 300m ascent in less than a mile, then back down again.  We'll never grumble about the hill at Ally Pally again* (and I can't remember the last time I ached this much after a race), but we're now ready for Claybury.

* this isn't true

Ilkeston RC Double or Quits (5/10 miles)

Dan opted for just the one 5-mile lap. He reports that, pausing only to give him a venomous look, Joe went round for the second lap and improved on last year's time by two minutes.

5 miles (Quit)

4. Dan McKeown 30:47

10 Miles (Double)

7. Joe McKeown 1:05:27

Guernsey Marathon

On Sunday Henry Hamilton-Gould took part in the Guernsey marathon as part of a 2 person team relay with friend Georgina. He reports: "We agreed I'd run the first half before handing over the chip for her to complete the 2nd half. Guernsey is a beautiful channel island just 31 miles west of the Normandy coast. The run circumnavigated the coastline past ancient forts along stunning coastal paths starting & finishing in the capital St. Peter Port. With clear blue skies & a gentle breeze the conditions were perfect & despite a hilly start (a 300ft ascent in the first mile) I was delighted to reach 13.1m in 90:23.
Still waiting on our official time over the full distance but looks like we were the 2nd mixed team in 3hrs20mins.
Friendly, scenic, well organised, & just a 35 minute flight from London, I strongly recommend marathoners put this in their diary for next year!"

Ironman Sweden Saturday 15th August 

Simon Bailey completed his first Ironmanin Kalmar Sweden on Saturday. He reports: "Choppy sea swim, a windy bike in parts and a steady run to get in under my 14hr target. No mechanicals and amazing support not just in Kalmar but all over the Swedish countryside. The IM finish chute is an great experience. Like winning the race even though I was 5hr plus behind the winner. Definitely recommend the race."

13:58:41 (Swim 1:23:47; Bike 7:25:11; Run 4:53:16)

258 of 305 finishers in Men’s 45-49 age group

Hertfordshire Triathlon

Alison Harrow and Rachel Newstead took off to the Hertfordshire Tri – Alison for the Sprint distance, Rachel for the Standard distance.

They report that it was a lovely course near Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield: the swim took place within pretty Stanbrough Lake (a bit smelly though), then an undulating bike course around the mostly pretty local country roads, then a lovely undulating run course around pretty grasslands.

Alison reports a few mishaps including swimming off-course a few times due to frequently steaming -up goggles; forgetting my elastic number band, and so fumbling for pins and swapping race numbers (resulting in my T2 time being the 2nd longest in the field); bike chain coming off 3 times during the bike course (resulting in losing approx. 5 mins). Other than that, she reports a great run and finished feeling race-happy, with plenty of enthusiasm left to cheer on Rachel during her 10k run.

Rachel says that she wasn't as speedy as usual on the run as her energy levels were low, having forgotten to bring any gels for the race, but was boosted by Alison's cheering.

Alison Harrow 16th woman, total time 1:50:28.50

SWIM 0:17:12.60/ T1 0:04:38.05/ BIKE 1:01:54.55/ T2 0:01:17.55/ RUN 0:25:25.75 

Rachel Newstead 6th woman 2:44:34:35

SWIM 0:31:33.75 / T1 0:01:36.80/ BIKE 1:28:55.35/ T2 0:01:18.60/ RUN 0:41:09.85 

Parkruns

First places for Andrew Brooker, Leigh James, Leo Burningham and Joanna Brown. Full results here:

http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017&eventdate=2015-08-29