Captain Kelly wins Victoria Park 10k

About 80 of our intrepid runners braved Arctic weather conditions to race this weekend. Sunday saw Captain Kelly Thorneycroft home as the first woman in the Victoria Park 10, and Captain Jake Spencer’s third overall in a PB time, while at the Fred Hughes 10 miler Andy Barnes showed a return to form with a solid 15th place out 758. And one we missed from last Sunday: Mike Stocks came second in the Gloucester 50k in a time of 3:12:33 (which was 11 minutes faster than his winning time from 2017).

Fred Hughes 10 mile, Hertfordshire, Sunday January 21

Andy Barnes led 15 Heathsiders through the persistent snow to take 15th place in a time of 59:15 – 82 seconds shy of his PB, but a clear sign of a return to form after a long injury break. He was followed among the Heathside men by Andy Prystawkky and Liam Hazelton. The first Heathside woman, and third Heathsider, was Sara Black who was also the second V35 in 1:09:15. The second Heathside woman was Monica Newton and the third, Liz Drake. And the sprightly Nick Dodd was the sixth Heathsider and the fourth V60 in 1:12.32.

Victoria Park 10k, Sunday January 21

Running through the snow Chris Hartley-style (vest-only, no gloves) Captain Jake Spencer came third in a new PB of 37:04- and he can blame those four pesky seconds, and then some, on those bone-freezing conditions. He was followed by Captain Kelly Thorneycroft who was the first woman in 38:15. Also impressive was Olivia Desborough who followed a winning Parkrun on Saturday with a fourth place here – in a PB time of 40:29. The fourth Heathsider was V50 Marianne Gibson in 50:50.

Gloucester 50k, marathon and half-marathon, Sunday January 14

Mike Stocks showed once again he is king of Heathside's growing band of ultra-distance runners, lopping eleven minutes off his PB to come second in a time of 3:12:33. Next up for Mike is a hundred miler. Meanwhile, in the marathon, Rob Shulman was the fourth V50 in 3:07:53, despite a severe lack of training (by his standards) caused by a persistent knee injury. His aim was to qualify in the right pen for this year’s Comrades Marathon (87km) – job done! In the half-marathon Leigh James was the fourth woman and 15th overall in 1:27:16.

Morning Chasers Regent’s Park 10k, January 7

Another we missed was Joe McKeown’s eighth place in the Regent’s Park 10k in a PB time of 37:44 – a good tune-up for his February marathon.

Parkruns

Sixty Heathsiders ran in 19 Parkruns on Saturday, with four first places – two for our women and two for our men. Rich Macaulay won impressively in Grovelands in 16:52 and Ed Samuel won in Oak Hill in 18:40. Olivia Desborough was the first woman in Highbury Fields in 19:44 and Eilidh Wagstaff was the first woman in Ally Pally in 20:26. Also worth highlighting is the return of new mum Celine Murray who came second in Walthamstow in 23:18. Here are the full Heathside Parkrun results:

Heathside results

Fred Hughes 10 mile, Hertfordshire, Sunday January 21 (758 finishers)

15th Andy Barnes – 59:35

85th Andy Prystawsky – 1:06:26

128th Sara Black – 1:09.15 (2nd V35W)

132nd Liam Hazelton – 1:09:30

168th Monica Newton – 1:11:40

178th Nick Dodd – 1:12:32 (4th V60)

192nd Liz Drake 1:13.32.

213rd Louisa Pointon – 1:14:30

231st James Felstead – 1:16:29

263rd Guillaume Pichois – 1:18:23

275th Daniel Wrapson – 1:18:55

276th James Nichols – 1:18:55

336th Nilesh Goswani – 1:21:51

546th Rachel Scott Halls – 1:34:10

600th Laura Boothman – 1:38:05

Victoria Park 10k, Sunday January 21 (210 finishers)

3rd Jake Spencer – 37:04 (PB)

7th Kelly Thorneycroft – 38:15 (1st W)

14th Olivia Desborough – 40:29 (4th W; PB)

112th Marianne Gibson – 50:50

Morning Chasers Regent’s Park 10k, January 7

7th Joe Mckeown – 37:44 (PB)