Centurion Thames Path 100 Mile; MK Half Marathon; Best of the Rest
Now the Spring fascination with 26.2 miles is over for another year, Heathsiders were busy making tracks at a variety of other distances during the past week, from the regular 10ks around the capital to a 100 mile race out to Oxford and the not often repeated 7.76 miles round a lake in the Peak District.
Lenny Martin kicks off with how he managed the epic Centurian Thames Path 100 on 5th and 6th May, an epic point to point race starting in Richmond and following the Thames up to the centre of Oxford and which saw only 182 finish from a starting field of 313:
“There were two Heathsiders racing the Centurion Thames Path 100 on Saturday (and Sunday). Top billing has to go to Keith Burrows, who came 4th overall in a spectacular time of 18 hours 8 mins.
My race was far less successful, getting hit hard by the daytime temperatures on Saturday, by the time I reached the half-way mark I was already an hour behind my target times, and with the nighttime sections still to come. Hitting some lengthy sections of fog over the night, reducing visibility to near zero, my pace slowed to an almost literal crawl, until about the 90 mile mark when I realised my quads, calves and feet were completely shot, and I could run no more. I did manage to keep putting one foot in front of the other, but all concepts of racing were abandoned as I walked in the last 10-12 miles to get home in 22 hours 23 mins, a long way outside my target time, but in hard conditions (the race had a record 42% DNF rate this year) and in my debut over the distance, a result I am sure I will come to be proud of.”
Elsewhere in the Thames Valley (sort of), Lyn Evans was taking on a slightly less insane distance at the Milton Keynes Half Marathon (7th May). Here’s her round-up:
“Louise Cripps and I competed in the Milton Keynes Half Marathon on Bank Holiday Monday in brutally high temperatures but we both managed to survive and completed the course. I was totally shocked to come first in my age category (V65) as I was initially disappointed in my time. The extreme heat was debilitating but we both have learned you have to make allowances for this and not usually to expect a PB"
Meanwhile, the day before saw Jonathan Shipley tackling an odd distance in the Peaks, where he came 5th out of 407 finishers at the Carsington 7+ (7.76 miles to be exact) at they took in a lap of Carsington Water.
Best of the rest:
At the other end of the scale from Lenny and co’s ultra-marathon, Tom Bedwell grabbed a PB in the Ealing Mile (May 5th) finishing in 5:38. Elsewhere, 10ks were the flavour of the week, starting at our spiritual home of Finsbury Park as Roger Braybrooks finished 2nd in the Chase the Sun event with a great time of 37:36. Over the weekend there was a magnificent seven of Heathsiders taking on the May edition of the monthly Regents Park 10k Series (May 6th) and while first home was Chris Vincent in a time of 40:50, Lily Woolcock took the honours of being the first female finisher in a great time of 42:50. Chris Jarvis was sandwiched a minute between them. Meanwhile, the day before, Oishik Banerji was the sole representative at the Queen Elizabeth Park 10k series over in Stratford, crossing the line a couple of minutes inside an hour.
Parkruns:
First finishes this week were all about the ladies as Claire Briggs (Brockwell Park), Jennifer Wing (Ally Pally), Amy Cook (Burgess) and Rebecca Bunting (Worthing) all crossed the line ahead of the rest. Full results here: http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017&eventdate=2018-05-05
Results:
Ealing Mile, Fri 4th May
8th Tom Bedwell 5:38
Queen Elizabeth Park 10k, Sat 5th May
185th Oishik Banerji 57:38
Regents Park Summer Series 10k, Sun 6th
41st Chris Vincent 40:50
48th Chris Jarvis 41:39
56th Lily Woolcock 42:50 (1st lady)
90th Emily Reichert 45:37
99th Carl Heap 46:09
112th Anthony Chin 46:56
300th Marianne Gibson 54:55
Centurion Thames Path 100, Sat 5th and Sun 6th
4th - Keith Burrows - 18:08:15
45th - Leonard Martin - 22:23:52
MK Marathon Weekend Half Marathon, Milton Keynes, Mon 7th
1777th Lyn Evans 2:23.12 (1st VF65)
2457th Louise Cripps 2:41.11
Carsington 7+, Carsington Water, Sun 6th
5th Jonathan Shipley 51:50