Duathlons, triathlons, half and full marathons and Youth Middlesex YA relays

Too hot, too cold, too dry, too wet, too long, too short, too flat, too hilly, too tired, too – ok,ok so that was just me this week! And then there were the Invictus Games to put of it into some kind of perspective. But Heathsiders were out and about all over the place, not just in the UK (which it still is for now at the time of writing, which is on Independence Referendum night – so who knows come the morning…) but also abroad, participating in runs in Eire, Estonia, France, Italy and Poland. Maybe the club should change its name to “London Heathside International AC”! Apologies to all for the lateness of this week’s report.

Parkruns (Saturday 13.9.2014)
Congratulations to Luke Wynne, 1st finisher in the Hampstead Heath PR with a PB of 18m05s, and Monika Newton 1st female finisher Gdynia (POL). Fastest Heathsider was Andrew Brooker with a lightning 16m43s in Nonsuch.
All LH Parkrun results can be found here.

London Duathlon (Richmond Park, Sunday 14.9.2014)
Chris has done both Sprint and Classic distances there before and this year signed up for the Ultra. Taking a cue from Sandra's half ironman last week, he completely stonked it, coming in 10 minutes ahead of target, 22nd overall and top 3 in his age category. For John, last year's maiden duathlon was memorable for a bike ride that was so slow that Martin asked if I'd stopped for a coffee en route, and ended with a 'forgot to declip and toppled sideways' moment on T2. But thanks in no small part to half a dozen or so Heathsiders who've been very generous with their time and tips, much cycling has been done since and he was able to improve in the 44km bike leg by around 12 minutes. Jesper's first stab at Duathlons was completed in 2:43:16 and his thought was 'I wasn't sure what to expect. I was happy with my ride and transitions, but I would like to have run a bit faster.' He hasn't said anything about hobbling since...:
Classic (10km Run, 44km Bike, 5km Run):
John Driscoll  - 02:30:25 - 65th 
Jesper Lycke - 02:43:16 - 207th  (921 finishers)
Ultra (20km Run, 77km Bike, 10km Run): 
Chris Hewertson - 05:08:37 - 22nd (85 finishers)
Anyone interested in taking part in next year’s event visit http://londonduathlon.com/

Dunmow Triathlon (Essex, 14.9.2014)
Two Heathsiders completed the slightly modified Sprint race (400m pool swim + short trot to T1, 23K bike, 5K run). According to Brian, it was a "tough little thing" due to the undulating bike and run routes. You would think Essex was flat... Unfortunately, Brian's chip didn't work and Luka competed under a female friend's name, consequently finishing as first lady aka “Michelle”! (And the worrying thing for Luke - possibly - is that no-one seemed to notice...). There were 190 finishers.
37th  Brian Boyle 1:18:20 (9:16 [7:20 @ 400m] / 0:56 / 44:16 / 0:26 / 23:23)
46th  Luka Melon 1:20:35 (7:15 [5:13 @ 400m] / 0:33 / 46:53 / 0:55 / 24:56)

Anglian Water Triathlon (St. Neots, Cambridgeshire 14.9.2014)
On a glorious Sunday morning Elspeth and Marco were all set for the off. They had carefully picked this race for its nice location and also because, at 38.5k, the bike leg was a bit shorter than the standard 40k. Then, just two weeks prior to the event, the organisers had to change the venue for safety reasons! This brought the bike leg up to 45k and shortened the run to 9k! Allegedly, the swim must have been a bit short too, judging by the times (however Elspeth is optimistic this is not the case!). On the upside it was a nice and fresh river, with 2 laps swimming, both down and upstream.They both swam well and came out of the water in good shape, only to suffer abuse from the usual, (annoying) fast cyclists on the bike leg! Marco completed the race in 29th position out of 166. Elspeth exercised good judgement, but unfortunately had to pull out after approximately 6k into the run to avoid further injury to her right leg.
Marco Luna: 2:26:07 (Swim: 19:16 - T1: 2:08 - Bike: 1:26:24 - T2:1:01 - Run: 37:18)
Elspeth Storrar: DNF (Swim: 28:34 - T1: 1:56 - Bike: 1:35:54 - T2:1:15)

Youths - Middlesex YA Relays (Minet Park, 14.9.2014)
Despite a disappointing turn out in some age groups, the LH athletes who participated had a fun and competitive start to their winter season. Apart from the under-11’s, all age-groups ran teams of 3x3000metres around the undulating Minet Cycle Circuit. The stand-out performance was Rose Garrett’s bronze medal in the U11 girls’ 1500m road race, and the excellent turnout of the U15 girls With Phoebe Crockford, fastest LH girls leg in 12.47, and Liam Garrett, fastest LH boys leg in 10.33

Under 11 Girls  1 lap approx 1500m    
1 Mayyan Radus  SBH  5.36  
3 Rose Garrett   L.Heathside 5.56  
10 Eline Maret   ESM  7.19
  
Under 13 Girls  2 laps approx 3000m    
1 Sasha Fear   Highgate 11.56 35.44 
 Dorothy Brock    12.22  
 Ellie Gilmore     11.26      
 Incomplete Teams          
 Missy Macdonald  L.Heathside 16.19
       
Under 15 Girls  2 laps approx 3000m      
1 Kosana Weir   TVH  11.09 33.14 
 Alice Harray     11.18  
 India Weir     10.47 
5 Meg Naylor   L.Heathside 13.07 38.52 
 Lily McKay     12.58  
 Phoebe Crockford    12.47  
7 Jessica Matthew  L.Heathside 14.50 43.11 
 Louise Gilbert     14.18  
 Rachel Finke     14.03  
8 Leah Kelly   ESM  15.00 43.16 
 Elsa Stocking     15.01  
 Cameron Thomas    13.15  
 Incomplete teams     
 Tilly Sutherland-Young SBH  14.49  
 Kayla Michel     13.00  
 Matilda Ferrand  TVH  12.38  
 Naomi Conlon  L.Heathside 14.33  
 Ageta Kyrnski  Harrow 14.33
  
Under 15 Boys  2 laps approx 3000m   
1st James Young   Trent Park 9.54 31.22 
 Tom Mills     11.13  
 William McArdle    10.15  
7th Antanas Weston  L.Heathside 12.02 33.57 
 Jem      11.22  
 Liam Garrett     10.33 

Under 17 Men   2 laps approx 3000m
1Thomas McArdle  Trent Park 9.46 30.41 
 Joseph Young    10.09  
 Raul Simmons-Perez   10.46  
5 Myles Calderazzo  L.Heathside 10.36 32.09 
 William Griffiths    10.49  
 Jacob Phillips    10.44  
6th Eliot Stewart   ESM  12.55 33.00 
 Charlie Sillett     10.25  
 Mukhtar Farah   9.40 

Bacchus Half-Marathon (Surrey 14.9.2014)
Henry Hamilton and Shelly Fennell completed this race. Henry states it is definitely the toughest half marathon he’s ever run - it's a cross-country race with significant uphill climbs over the Surrey North Downs. On the plus side, it has a stunning setting, with the Start & Finish in a vineyard! This mainly fancy-dress race offers incredible views along with wine stops and a much needed massage & hogroast at the end! Friendly and very well organised, it was worth the blisters that Henry is suffering with now!
Henry Hamilton:  44th 1:44:58  (Senior Men - Age-grade: 56.83)
Shelly Fennell: 374th   2:28:46  (Vet Ladies 45-54 -  Age-grade: 50.20)

30th Marathon du Medoc (France 13.9.2014)
The theme was the “Carnivals of the World” and it really was the most fantastic carnival. Ninety percent of participants were in fancy dress and we had free reign on the Chateaux of Bordeaux (hic!) In the blazing heat and with all the distracting entertainment, Sarah did not achieve a time PB - but thinks it was definitely a “PB” for the most fun had whilst running a marathon! PS. No alcohol was consumed by Sarah (allegedly!) whilst writing her report...
Sarah Illingworth: 2562nd  05:23:13  (V1F) (10196 finishers)

Tallinn Marathon (Estonia 14.9.2014)
A very scenic and mostly flat course along the Baltic - with a bit of the Old Town thrown in, cobbles and all!
Rebecca Bunting: 124th (7th Female) 3:09:44  (2145 finishers)

Athlone Flatline Half-Marathon (Eire 13.9.2014)
Leigh James 52nd  1:23:34 (missing out on a PB by a mere 9s and being involved in a 3-way sprint finish to the line!
Patrick Waldron 73rd  1:27:03
Claire Morrisey 217th 1:39:52 
(825 finishers)
Leigh writes: I need to adopt a Colin Jackson style dip!

Marcialonga Running 25.6km (Italy 7.9.2014)
This is one of a series of 3 races comprising a 70km cross-country skiing race in January, a 80km/135km cycling race in June and this run. This was Greg’s 3rd go at the run (the last being 4 year’s ago; he’s also completed the skiing race several times, though not since 2005!). It takes place in Val di fassa in the Italian Dolomites near the border with Austria. Although up in the mountains, the profile of the first 21km is flat, if not slightly downhill overall – but then there’s a sharp uphill for 3 of the last 4+km, a punishing finish!
Greg was disappointed with his time, being some 6 minutes slower than in 2010. Some of this could be put down to the heat (it was 26oC plus), but mostly this was due to a lack of race preparation and distance training - so not so surprising really!
1st LIMO Kiprop (KEN)  01:17:58 M 18/29 M
1059th BELL Gregory   02:27:06 M 55/59 M
1423 finishers