Bunting takes the double
The road running weekend belongs to Rebecca Bunting who pulled off an impressive double: winning the Richmond Parkrun and then following that up the next morning to take home a cabbage and cash as the ninth woman overall (and first Heathsider) in the Cabbage Patch 10.
And in the cross-country in Claybury there were several excellent performances but three stood out for special attention: Liam Garrett was the second 13-year-old boy (out of 72); Sarah Swinhoe was the 8th woman and first vet (out of 152) and Tom Aldred was the 12th man (out of 371). Full report to follow.
Cabbage Patch
The morning started with a torrential downpour but by the time the starter gun was fired the skies had cleared – lots of puddles and mud but no rain or wind. Almost all of our top runners had taken one for the team by turning up for the Met League in Claybury the day before, and for most, one race per weekend is quite enough, thank you, but a few brave souls doubled up and still managed PBs (Howard Gold and Cathy Jeremiah take a bow).
First home was the long, lean, newish club member Samuel Thompson who came 50th out of 1,597 finishers in a PB time of 59:29. One of Samuel’s previous clubs was called Awkwardly Tall Runners and his long, relaxed strides kept in first place among the 34-strong Heathside contingent throughout the race. Over a minute behind him in 60:36 was Gavin Evans who was more than six minutes behind the V50 winner in what was an astonishing race for old men. The first V60 was the Welshman Martin Rees in a world record of 55:02 (but then again, he ran a 50-minute 10-miler at the age of 50). And, by the way, Rees wasn’t the only 60-plus to go under the hour.
Anyway, among the Heathsiders, next came the Group of Three – Howard Gold, who ran a remarkable race considering he’d gone all-out in Claybury the previous afternoon, Rob Shulman and Jonathan Hopkin.
Our first woman, and eighth runner home was Rebecca Bunting in 64:48, the day after her Parkrun heroics in Richmond. She was the ninth woman out of 687 who finished the race, meaning she walked off with fine-looking cabbage and an even finer-looking £20. Cathy Jeremiah was our second woman in a PB time of 1:07:46 – the day after running hard and fast in Claybury. Caroline White, returning from injury after six weeks of no running, was the third V55 in a time of 1:19:21.
One complaint against the Cabbage Patch: why can’t they get the last two miles right? Mile 9 is 0.9 and mile 10 is nearly 1.2m. But it's like that every year. Oh well....
Heathside 2 The Hour 0
Dan reports he was one of two doughty Heathsiders at 'Beat the Hour' in Hyde Park on Sunday. He described it as a “a ten-mile race against the clock, enlivened by pretty unevenly spaced mile markers and a torrential downpour right before the start”.
Dan continues: “Chris Jones tore it right up, sizing up the pace in the first mile, then breaking away and finishing second overall in 57:46. Chris has only recently joined the club but he's clearly in useful shape. I got a really generous reception for being last runner to beat the hour after a leg-draining burst from 500m out - my official gun time is recorded as 59:59.” What Dan modestly failed to mention was that he too had bust a gut at Claybury the previous afternoon, where he came 80th out of 371.
Birmingham Half
Steve Monaghan was the first of our four men who completed the Bupa Birmingham Half on Sunday, coming 87th in 1:21:09. Behind him were James Lynch, Henry Hamilton and Andrew Rigby.
Amsterdam and Yorkshire
Late newsflash: two of our men, Trevor Wilson and Phil Hogg picked up good times in the Amsterdam Marathon. Phil reports: "Trevor, 3:07:17, ran like a metronome - practically even splits - and a PB I believe. I ran too fast in the first half and slowed down too much at the end - sigh. 3:09:40, which was a minute behind my PB. Mark George ran 1:31 in the half. Poor Elspeth was injured so she didn't start, but she's on the mend. We had perfect running conditions yet again, and a good time was had by all." We would expect no less in Amsterdam, Phil.
Meanwhile Andrew Prystawsky just missed breaking the four hour mark at the Plusnet Yorkshire Marathon - finishing in 4:00:34.
Lungbuster
John Driscoll, who is getting into gear with his run-cycle-run thing, did the Oxfordshire 'Lungbuster' Duathlon in Banbury yesterday (“named after the 14pct Swains Lane-esque climb that has to be done halfway around the bike course)”, coming 28th overall (12th V40) in 1:49:15. This one was an 8km run, followed by a 30km cycle and then a 5km run.
“I was relatively quicker than Richmond as I a) ran faster b) cycled faster and c) didn't fall off bike in T2 this time.”
Battersea Park
Family commitments kept Dan away from the cross-country on Saturday, but instead he raced at 8am - the Sri Chinmoy 10k at Battersea Park, cruising in at 34:22, giving him third place.
Devil's Duathlon
One we missed last week: Agi Palanki and Claire Sliwerski entered the Devil's Duathlon (a first for both of them) in Buller's Lands Farm in Mortimer, both doing the sprint distance (5k run, 20k cycle, 5k run). Agi finished in 1:32:19 and Claire in 1:38:26. Both of them going faster on the second run.
Parkruns
Our runners picked up four first places in Parkruns on Saturday. Fastest of the bunch was Alex Galloway in 17:49, giving him first place out of 31 in Brockenhurst. Liam Proudlock was first out of 16 in 17:59 in Pymmes while Max Robertson was first out of 153 in 18:26 in Hampstead Heath. And at Richmond Park, Rebecca Bunting was the first woman and 17th overall, out of 263, 19:53.
Weekend Results
Cabbage Patch 10 mile, Sunday October 20 (1597 finishers)
(results in brackets refer to Cabbage Patch’s age-related rating)
1. 50th – 59.29 Samuel Thompson (75.09)
2. 67th – 1:00:36 Gavin Evans (83.75) (2nd V50)
3. 73rd – 1:01:06 Howard Gold (76.84) (pb)
4. 75th – 1:01:14 Rob Shulman (79.01)]
5. 78th – 1:01:20 Jonathan Hopkin (78.26)
6. 90th - 1:02.12 Steve Armstrong (73.87)
7. 118th – 1:03:56 Dominic Jackson (76.85)
8. 133rd – 1:04:48 Rebecca Bunting (76.2) (9th woman) (pb)
9. 189th 1:07:46 Cathy Jeremiah (72.87) (pb)
10. 200th 1:08.01 Elinor East (72.6)
11. 234th 1:09.45 Claire Jellema (70.8)
12. 241st 1:10:00 Will Whitaker (63.81)
13. 281st 1:11:18 James Felstead (67.32)
14. 360th 1:13:19 Marco Maserati (69.22)
15. 371st 1:13:34 Karen Levene (70.28)
16. 378th 1:13:54 Celine Murray (66.82)
17. 398th 1:14:42 Robert Bowler (67.38) (pb)
18. 464th 1:16:22 Paul Silverman (61.93)
19. 564th 1:18:55 Ian Whisson (65.38)
20. 576th 1:19:10 Sarah Guy (62.37)
21. 584th 1:19:21 Caroline White (74.6) (3rd V55)
22. 625th 1:20:26 Barbara Tomaszczyk (70.78)
23. 751st 1:23:24 Megan Stewart (59.57)
24. 799th 1:24:24 Jesper Lycke (54.82)
25. 816th 1:24:51 Sarah Illingworth (61.95)
26. 858th 1:25:33 Agi Palanki (58.08)
27. 931st 1:27:43 Claire Silwerski (56.3)
28. 983rd 1:28:48 Emma Bloomfield (62.93)
29. 1043rd 1:30:30 Steve Woolf (62.06)
30. 1064th 1:31:06 Julie Radcliffe (60.79)
31. 1152nd 1:33:20 Alice Lighton (52.91)
32. 1305th 1:38:48 Carolina Graterol (55.06)
33. 1479th 1:47:15 Kerry Hastings (52.09)
34. 1502nd 1:49.35 Esther Pierce (47.18)
Bupa Birmingham Half Marathon (Sunday October 21)
1. 87th Steve Monaghan – 1:21:09
2. 594th James Lynch – 1:31:56
3. 1331st Henry Hamilton – 1:35:28
4. 4468th Andrew Rigby – 1:53:21
Beat the Hour 10 mile (Sunday, October 21, Hyde Park)
2 Chris Jones 57:41
15 Dan McKeown 59:53
Amsterdam Marathon, Sunday October 21.
3:07:17 Trevor Wilson
3:09:40 Phil Hogg
Amsterdam Half M1:31 Mark George
Plusnet Yorkshire Marathon, Sunday October 21
937th Andrew Prystawksy - 4:00:34
Sri Chinmoy 10k, Battersea Park, Saturday October 20
3rd. Dan Madams - 34:22
Oxfordshire Lungbuster Duathlon, Sunday October 21, Banbury
28th John Driscoll – 1:49:15 (8km run 1 – 28.14; 30km cycle – 1.30; 5km run 2 – 18.23) (12th V40)
Devil's Duathlon, Sunday October 13 (sprint distance)
Agi Palanki - 1:32:19 (25:29; 41:27; 25:23)
Claire Sliwerski - 1:38:26 (27:00; 45:08; 26:18)
| Results for Ally Pally parkrun ( 80 participants) |
| 4 Matt FASSNIDGE 00:20:03 |
| 6 Paul MERCER 00:20:48 |
| 9 Ed BURR 00:21:03 |
| 46 Lyn EVANS 00:27:27 |
| Results for Brockenhurst parkrun (31 participants) |
| 1 Alex GALLOWAY 00:17:49 |
| Results for Finsbury parkrun ( 140 participants) |
| 12 Costi STAVRIANAKIS 00:20:13 |
| 56 Ben CLARKE-JANSSEN 00:24:12 |
| 59 James PARKER 00:24:17 |
| Results for Hampstead Heath parkrun (153 participants) |
| 1 Max ROBERTSON 00:18:26 |
| 52 Rick BAKER 00:25:14 |
| Results for Pymmes parkrun ( 16 participants) |
| 1 Liam PROUDLOCK 00:17:59 |
| Results for Richmond Park parkrun (263 participants) |
| 17 Rebecca BUNTING 00:19:53 (1st woman) |