Chalk and Wheeze at Tring, Gender politics (kinda) in Hatfield, Half-Marathons galore and lots, lots more...
Caroline White, in the photo above and one of our 18 LHers up at Tring, reports: "Eighteen Heathsiders ventured north of the M25 on Sunday to take part in the ever popular Ridgeway Run in Tring (this year it sold out well before race day). This is a beautiful, but "challenging", 15k trail race over bridleways and footpaths. Thanks to the warm September we've had, the route was almost completely dry, which made conditions about as easy as possible given the terrain. After about 5 or so miles of slow steep uphill climbing we burst out of the woods to be welcomed by a stunning view right across the Chilterns. This was followed by a fast hazardous descent, one more killer hill and then it was downhill all the way, via lethal footpaths riddled with roots, rabbit holes and awkward twists and turns back to the flat again, and then to the finish at the clubhouse. Esa Valtanen led the group home in a very speedy 1.02 (17th), with Jonathan Litchfield (18th) hot on his heels and Nick and Marco not far behind. First timer Liz was Heathside's first lady home, finishing in an excellent 1.14. It was a great morning out!" Laura Boothman adds: "It was awesome - wide views, trails through the trees. Exemplary marshalling. Perfect day."
A group of 3 Heathsiders (Mario Cadete, Sion Lewis and Paul Beale) joined just under 16,000 other runners in Hyde Park for the Royal Parks Foundation Half. Mario reports: "It was a perfect day for running and I ran a new PB, by almost two minutes,and finished 15th overall. Following closely behind me were Sion Lewis, in 36th place, and Paul Beale, in 63rd - Paul's run was even more impressive due to him running the Cologne marathon last week!"
Gang of Four James Lynch, Daniel Jackson, Thomas Griffiths and Craig Sparkes took part in the Vitality Oxford Half. Nick De Sausmarez was down in Sussex for a Half in Chichester. Paul Tonkinson was up in York for the Yorkshire Marathon and says: "I'm a new member of Heathside, joined in the summer in an attempt to improve my marathon time. Been doing as many Tuesday/long intervals sessions as possible. Well it worked! Took 6 mins off my PB for a time of 3.03.58 - a lovely course, great atmosphere. Felt quite peaceful after London!"
Earlier in the week, last Wednesday to be precise, Rebecca Bunting ventured up to the industrial wastelands and swanky eateries (sic) of Hatfield and flew round a 5km course in under 18 minutes, The results show her as 3rd Female - possibly a dubious placing, as the 2nd Female is named Jeremy. Now I know our modern society is, quite rightly, attempting to move from a simplistic binary-gender identity classification to a non-binary multidimensional gender-spectrum wotsits, but still...So our Ms B. will be shown as 2nd F, and if Jeremy doesn't like it, she'll just have to lump it...
Be that as it may, Rebecca reports: "A fast and flat, but scenically-challenged course on A-roads around a Business Park and a KFC. This was the 3rd race in a series of three on Wednesday evenings in September and October. Really well organised and friendly, with lots of Hertfordshire club runners about. I went out far too fast, but managed to hang in there and got my sub-18 that I'd been aiming for. If you're after 'fast and flat', then head to Hatfield!"
Matthew Cockerill was over in the "barren lava fields" of Kona, Hawaii for the IRONMAN World Championship. He writes: "I qualified for this last September at the Ironman Wales. Pretty tough conditions for a Yorkshire lad, but final time of 10.38 avoided disgrace. I finished 851th of 2315 total, 120th of 285 in my M45-49 age-group, 7th of the 16 Brits. The Kona run is pretty hardcore with the heat, humidity and hills. I never imagined being so happy to go under 4 hours on a marathon! (my final split was 03:50:28). Hope to come back for more punishment in future, but probably not for a few years!"
Anthony Vallance-Owen was in Munich for that city's Marathon
In Parkruns, Kelly Thorneycroft marked her return from a year off through injury (Achilles tendonitis and plantar fasciitis) with a brilliant 18.24 at Hackney Marshes, nabbing 1st F, as did Sue Rust at Highbury Fields, and Rebecca Bunting at Oak Hill - where she was just 2 secs behind the 1st M. Tom Aldred took 1st at Guildford, as did David Kirk at Ally Pally, Tom Livermore at Finsbury Park, and Adam Kirk-Smith at Wanstead, in a roadrunner/beep-beep time of 15:34 - setting a new Parkrun PB.
RACE RESULTS
Hatfield 5k Midweek Series (5th October)
25 Rebecca Bunting 17.50 (2nd F - see above!)
192 finishers
IRONMAN World Championship (Hawaii, 8th October)
851 Matthew Cockerill 10:38:18 (Swim: 1:02:36, Bike: 5:34:23, Run: 3:50:28)
2,315 finishers
Herts 10K (Harpenden, 9th October)
137 Nigel Tonks 43:51
1,626 finishers
The Ridgeway Run 15km (Tring, 9th October)
17 Esa Valtanen 1:02:00
18 Jonathan Litchfield 1:02:41
22 Nick Haward 1:02:52
84 Marco Maserati 1:11:15
120 Elizabeth Drake 1:14:20
138 Nick Dodd 1:15:34
201 Amy Luyendijk 1:19:35
227 Nilesh Goswami 1:20:38
236 Caroline White 1:21:02
246 Jessica Vinluan 1:21:52
247 Chloe Alder 1:21:53
276 Paul Silverman 1:22:59
296 Andy Conway 1:25:14
421 Louise Cripps 1:34:25
484 Jill Gundry 1:41:28
485 Laura Boothman 1:41:27
486 Jane Stephens 1:41:28
487 Lyn Evans 1:41:28
553 finishers
Royal Parks Foundation Half (Hyde Park, 9th October)
15 Mario Cadete 1:17:55
36 Sion Lewis 1:20:14
63 Paul Beale 1:21:50
15,980 finishers
Vitality Oxford Half (9th October)
47 James Lynch 1:19:57
147 Daniel jackson 1:25:09
460 Thomas Griffiths 1:32:15
698 Craig Sparkes 1:36:39
7,643 finishers
Plusnet Yorkshire Marathon (York, 9th October)
116 Paul Tonkinson 3:03:58
3,826 finishers
Chichester Half (9th October)
99 Nick De Sausmarez 1:41:40
748 finishers
Munich Marathon (Germany, 9th October)
536 Anthony Vallance-Owen 3:19:15
3,888 finishers
PARKRUN results for Saturday 8th October can be found here