From 100m to 100km, track to bog, local to abroad

From 100m to 100k, track to bog, local London races to Irish adventures, 1st place finishes to survival, this report covers it all. You can’t not be inspired …

The Isle of Wight is as good a place to start as any, but also a worthy one as it was the site of Tom's win in the half marathon there, which he described as essentially a 13.1 mile version of Kabir's famous rollercoaster session. “A bracing dip in the sea afterwards helped with the recovery, as did a pint of the local Ale of Wight”, he added. The man knows how to run, the man knows how to recover.

Closer to home a small group of Heathsiders turned out for the Burnham Beeches half, with Gavin Parish reporting:

“A small Heathside turn-out for this regular fixture on the Road Champs calendar, the weather was perfect (for a change!). No 30 degree heat to contend with this year, grey skies and a light breeze made for ideal running conditions, with strong performances from Cathy and Dominic, and the rain kindly held out until after the race was over. A look at the results suggests the men narrowly missed out on a first place team prize - maybe next year!”

The Southern Athletics League may have finished, but that doesn’t mean the track & field season is over and many of our club members competed in their chosen disciplines at a range of fixtures over the past week, the most high level probably being the U15/U17 Champs, where we had a few youngsters representing Heathside and Peter Onuba came closest to a podium finish, with fourth place in the shot put.

And then we have a couple of endurance events, taking in the Stour Valley Path 100km Ultra Run and Gaelforce West, an adventure race on the west coast of Ireland (pictured). Julia did the SVP and gave an account of it that struck me as befitting of traditional English nature writing, so I give you a few words from her to be inspired:

“I raced the SVP100, a 100km trail ultra marathon on the Stour Valley Path, from Newmarket, Suffolk, to Manningtree, Essex, with around 1000m of climbing. There was some navigation involved and a few wrong turns meant that I ended up running 104km, but it was a stunningly beautiful race through fields and woods … We ran through deep woods, through ploughed fields, through fields of hay up to our waists, through fields of onions with half the bulbs sticking out and a sweet onion smell permeating the air, through fields of turnips with waist-high green leaves and the occasional big turnip to trip over. We had to climb up over stiles, squeeze through kissing gates, jump over puddles, cross railroad tracks and a horse race track. We ran through fields of horses, fields of cattle, fields of sheep. We ran through countless identical church yards and graveyards and up through soaring trails overlooking valleys. It was absolutely immense. I loved it, I loved it, I loved it. ”

And now over to Ireland, where Katherine Vinnicombe, Jane Higgins and I joined once-again Dublin resident Claire Morrissey for Gaelforce West, with Jane reporting on what is an adventure race of awesome scenery in west Ireland.

“The race started early (6.30am) on the beach with a 12k coastal trail run, followed by a short kayak across the bay and a plod through the bog to pick up bikes. From there it was a 35kish mostly road cycle to the foot of Ireland’s holy mountain, Croagh Patrick. After a foggy drizzly ascent and descent of the hill, it was back on the bike again for a few more kilometres, mainly off road this time, and then a short run to the finish.

Claire and Sue set off half an hour apart in separate waves but still managed to duke it out to a close finish with Sue coming 7th lady in 5.07.29 and Claire close behind in 8th, 5.08.28. Jane came next in 6.06.07 and Katherine (injured so unable to run) came home in 9.09.08. Special mention goes to Claire’s super speedy (suicidal?) descent of the mountain in a mere 18 minutes, and to Brian Boyle’s role as bike transport/support team. The race comes highly recommended for spectacular scenery, horrid hills and guaranteed stiff legs afterwards.”

Gaelforce West wasn’t the only Irish race featuring Heathsiders this summer, and in fact was really just a sideshow to a husband and wife Boyle battle over a wee 5k road race … results below, and Caroline’s summary on a beer mat in the photo.

And now, without further ado, the results:

Naomh Conaill C.L.G. 5k Road Race, Glenties, Co. Donegal, Ireland, 13/08/2014
20:48 Caroline Boyle
21:32 Brian Boyle

Civil Service Masters & Open Events Championships, Watford, 13/08
2000m Steeplechase
3rd Tony Killilea 7:32.94

Isle of Wight Half Marathon, 17/08
1st Tom Aldred 69:46

Burnham Beeches Half Marathon, 17/08
31 Dominic Jackson 86:24 (2nd 50-59 category)
47 Cathy Jeremiah 87:55 (6th lady; 4th 18-39 category)
144 Gavin Parish 1:40:32
192 Jesper Lycke 1:44:24
239 Robert Bowler 1:48:44

Stour Valley Path 100km Ultra Run
3rd Ryan McCrickerd 10:48:50, 7min25s behind 2nd
37th Julia Kelk 13:23:25 (5th woman)
126 finishers

Newham Athletics Network Open Series, 17 Aug 14
100m
Heat 2
7th 11.21 Jordan Glaze (U20)
Heat 7
1st 11.94 David Ayre

400m
8th 83.61 Helene Kehoe (V50)

South of England AA U15/U17 Championships, Crystal Palace, 16-17/08

800m U17M heat 1
7th 2:12.98 Myles Calderazzo (PB)
800m U17W heat 1
6 2:26.90 Lauren Gee U17

High Jump U17M
10th 1.75 Nickson Costa (PB)

Triple Jump U17M
5 13.14 Nickson Costa (PB)

Shot Put 4k U15M
4 11.82 Peter Onuba

Gaelforce West, Westport, Ireland 16/08
191st Sue Rust: 05:07:29 (7th woman)
199th Claire Morrissey: 05:08:28 (8th woman)
639th Jane Higgins 06:06:07
1306th Katherine Vinnicombe 09:09:08

(Believe us when we say that the breakdown of the times is heaven for statos, and fertile ground for a healthy debate about who conquered Gaelforce best!)

Watford Open Graded Meeting, 13 Aug 14
800m
Race 15
1 2:03.74 Richard Macaulay

The consolidated report for Heathside parkrun results from 16 August: http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017