The 5th Chingford League on Saturday had a good turnout of Heathsiders and Seyfu won the 5 mile race, and Rory Willis won the U11s 1 mile race. On Sunday, the first of the Rob Jackson Trophy races, the Watford Half, took place with some terrific results, and two podium places for our women – Rebecca Bunting coming first woman overall and Annabel Arnold third woman. Rebecca Marshall decided not to let her marathon training from last year go to waste and took part in a gruelling 30 miler in very grizzly weather. Cian O’Donnell set a new senior mens Club record while finishing 4th in the 200m final at the South of England Indoor Championships.

Rebecca and Annabel on the podium at Watford

WATFORD HALF, Watford, 06.02.22

Gavin sent in the following report on the Watford Half, which took place on Sunday: “Rebecca Bunting was the first woman in the wet, windy and hilly Watford Half Marathon in a time of 1:21:23, taking the £300 prize. Heathside’s Annabel Arnold took the third place on the podium in 1:23:46. She was also the first woman in the 20-34 category.

Meanwhile, Paul Beale was the first V50 in an excellent 1:19:47 and Gavin Evans, the first V60 in 1:27:26.By 10.30, when the race started, the rain had stopped but the ground was soggy with three huge ‘puddles’ including one that was an ankle-deep mini-lake so those Vapor Fly magic shoes were wet and muddy by the end and the runners were further slowed by swirling winds and, of course, those famous Watford hills. Yet all 20 Heathsiders finished well within the two-hour mark and 11 of us were inside the 1:30 mark.

Andy Barnes and Conor Brown were the first of our lot home, both on 1:15:44, in eighth and ninth place. Next was Luke Parker in 1:19:09 followed by Paul Beale and Rebecca Bunting, who had the rare experience of running a race without earphones in. She was followed by Nicholas Arrive in 1:22:22 and then Annabel Arnold 3rd woman, and a minute ahead of the fourth woman. The rest of the Heathside top ten arrived in quick succession - Gavin Evans, Joe Clemoes (1:27:40), who was still weakened by a stomach bug that hit him earlier in the week, and Kwasi Agyei-Owuso in 1:27:42. The third Heathside woman was Sara Black and also the third woman in the 45-54 age group in 1:33:13.”

RESULTS

8th Andrew BARNES 1:15:44

9th Conor BROWN 1:15:44

22nd Luke PARKER 1:19:00

27th Paul BEALE (V50) 1.19.47 (1st V50)

33rd Rebecca BUNTING 1:21:23 (1st female)

42nd Nicolas ARRIVE 1:22:22

54th Annabel ARNOLD 1:23:46 (1st 20-34 and 3rd female)

92nd Gavin EVANS (V60) 1:27:26 (1st 60-69)

98th Joseph CLEMOES 1:27:40

100th Kwasi AGYEI-OWUSU 1:27:42

121st Liam HAZELTON 1:29:32

140th Dominic JACKSON 1:32:02

161st Sara BLACK (V45) 1:33:13 (3rd 45-54 and 11th female)

202nd Constantinos STAVRIANAKIS 1:35:50

218th Neil THOMAS 1:37:12

239th Matthew CARTLEDGE 1:38:23

342nd Deng AKOL 1:44:03

404th Phoebe BRIGHT 1:46:54

435th Chris MAGIEREK 1:48:16

497th Andy DAWSON 1:50:31

CHINGFORD LEAGUE 5#, Victoria Park, 5 miles, and 1 mile 5.2.22

Pete Crockford sent in this report for the Chingford League race: “There was quite a nasty wind, but compensated for by bright winter sunshine, the park bursting all over with sporting activity and training sessions looking like a Lowry painting. Despite arriving by bike with less than 15mins to go, Seyfu won at a canter, by over a minute, and seemed disappointed not to have had better competition. A fine debut by Ryan who is still awaiting his club vest – welcome aboard! Lee was more sure-footed this week on the tarmac, and had a good race, Mark and Marco were both pretty content with their times, whilst Sue and I reflected on the return to the tyranny of the watch, after the freedom of XC.”

In the Chingford League U11s race Rory Willis made it 5 wins from 6 races with a win in the last race finishing 3 seconds ahead of Woodford’s Eric Frith over the mile long course. In this race he had the company of fellow Heathsider Seb McNeely who came in 15th place.

Rory Willis (24) and Seb McNeely (97) in the Chingford League U11s race

RESULTS

5 mile race
1st Seyfu Jamaal 24:56
50th Ben Williams 29:34
95th Mark Jefford (V50) 31:44
97th Ryan McCarthy 31:47
119th Lee Connor (V50) 32:40
159th Pete Crockford (V60) 34:04
176th Eilidh Wagstaff 34:39
184th Jessica Vinluan (VW40) 35:02
254th Marco Maserati (V60) 37:55
324th Sue Eedle (VW60) 40:35

Under 11s 1 mile race

1st Rory Willis 6:49
15th Seb McNeely 7:40

61 runners

PENDLE WAY IN A DAY 2022 (30 mile ultra), Barrowford, 06.02.22

The intrepid Rebecca Marshall sent in this report from the Ultra she took part in on Sunday in conditions little short of horrendous: “Last month's muddy Horsenden Hill cross country race had served as a taste as what was about to head my way on the Pendle Way In A Day Winter Ultra.

Described as 'a fully waymarked trail challenge event in the gritty yet beautiful trails and moorlands of the South Pennines', the course follows a 45 mile circular route passing by the famous 'lairs' of the Pendle Witches and sites featured in the novels of the Bronte Sisters. I opted for the shorter 30 mile race.

The Witches had well and truly cast a spell on the weather that day as there was sleeting rain, hail and winds from start to finish. After battling through storm on the wild and windy moors in the first 20K I was desperately hoping for a Heathcliff to come and save me.

A shot of whiskey and hotdog at checkpoint 3 gave me enough fuel to tackle the Pendle Hill climb and descent and the strength to battle against the 45mph winds at the trig point. After miles of boggy famers fields I was relieved to make it back to the finish line, a minor miracle considering I was self- navigating with a set of instructions referencing buildings which don't exist on either Google or OS maps.

I was rewarded with a local beer and sew-on patch and was very happy to finish 11th female and overall 25th out of the 74 runners who actually started the race (14 DNF's). It's a really well organised trail event with beautiful scenery, I was just unlucky with the weather that day.”

RESULT

25th Rebecca Marshall 7.47.58

SEAA Southern Senior/U20 Indoor Championships

Jeffery Chu and Cian O’Donnell were our only competitors at the Southern Indoor Championships. While Jeffrey didn’t progress beyond the heats Cian set a new PB of 7s just 0.1s outside the club record. In the 200m he progressed to the final finishing 4th but setting a new Club Senior Mens Record of 22.30s.

Southern Indoor Championships, Lee Valley, 5-6.2.22

60m

H7 5th Jeffrey Chu 7.37

H9 3rd Cian O’Donnell 7.00 PB q

SF4 3rd Cian O’Donnell 7.01

200m

H4 1st Cian O’Donnell 22.61Q

SF 2 2nd Cian O’Donnell 22.33 Q

Final 4th Cian O’Donnell 22.30 New SM Club Record

Park Run

Parkrun results can be found here and congratulations for first places go to: James Wooldrige at Finsbury Park, Beth Hawling at Hackney Marshes, Olivia Desborough at Highbury Fields and Christopher Gracie at Ally Pally.

Compiled by Caroline White, with contributions from Simon Baker, Rebecca Marshall, Pete Crockford and Gavin Evans

First place for Rebecca at Watford Half and Seyfu and Rory in the Chingford League

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Cover image rights - Lenny Martin

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