Hackney Half, Watford Wednesday and a bluffer's guide to tri

Webster wins Hackney Half

Right at the top of this week's report is the second running of the Hackney Half Marathon. No one contributed much of an account of this so it's down to me, although I'm definitely not going to go for the usual lazy stereotype of "Hackney = hipsters, blah, blah, blah".

Anyway, Katy Webster won the event just two weeks after her scorching 2:43 at the London Marathon and, judging by her time of 1:17, I think it's safe to assume that she didn't stop at too many coffee nooks and artisan neckwear pop-ups on her way round. Huge congratulations to Katy, who's in sparkling form, and commiserations to the pile of worn-out treadmills in her garage.

Quickest Heathsider round the course was Tom Livermore, a shade outside his PB. We had a hatful of other runners and Ali Harrow reports her best half marathon time in 11 years, so definitely another 'well done' in order there.

Watford Wednesday

The Watford Opens are now upon us, although we only had three competitors out on Wednesday: David in the 100, and Rich and Pete in the 1500. All three recorded season's bests (see results below), although I daresay all will be looking to go faster over the next few weeks.

Battersea Self Abuse Transcendence and Sutton 10k

There was a great thudding of hooves at Battersea Park on Monday night as Rich Macaulay and Ben Wolfe went head-to-head at the Self Transcendence 5k. Both scored good times (16:55 and 17:46 respectively) and Pete Crockford came in a fairly safe distance behind them, once the ground had stopped shaking, for his best 5k finish in seven years (18:44).

Meanwhile, Andrew Brooker flew to 5th place in the Sutton Runners 10k.

Multisport corner

The inaugural Heathside Triathlon Championships are almost upon us - get the fixtures in your diary.

For those of you who are still a bit fuzzy on what a triathlon actually us, I've prepared this remarkably lucid graphic:

You're welcome. Anyway, there's also an early season tri to report as Sandra and Gabi took on the Redricks slightly-longer-but-not-much-than-a-Sprint Triathlon (bike was 25k; run was 5.5k).

Sandra reports thus: "This was the first of three events being organised at Redricks over summer. As the final event in September forms part of the Heathside triathlon championship series, it was a good opportunity to check out the course and get prepared.

"A swim to bike transition covering 400m over gravel required careful logistical planning and 3 pairs of shoes! The bike ride was a lovely undulating route through country villages and the run was along the River Stort. We finished 2nd and 4th women overall in the Sprint event. A nice low-key event, with a cafe and outdoor BBQ."

Finally, speedy young whippersnappers at parkrun

There were some eye-catching results from our younger runners at this weekend's parkruns: William Griffiths (JM 15-17) was first finisher at Ally Pally in 19:08 (not even a PB and not the first time he's finished first), and Liam Garrett (JM 11-14) was second at Oak Hill in a remarkable 17:52 (not a PB either) with Rose Garrett (JW 11-14) second female finisher in 21:22 (PB).

One more exciting recent development for younger runners (and parents who, for some unspecified reason, want ten minutes to themselves on a Sunday morning) is Highbury Fields junior parkrun, which is already a big favourite with some Heathsiders, judging by our roll of honour.

Results

Hackney Half Marathon

15 Tom Livermore 1:15:15

28 Katy Webster 1:17:38 (Female winner)

30 Roger Braybrooks 1:17:58

32 Andy Barnes 1:18:01

45 Ryan Mccrickerd 1:19:38

157 James Connell 1:25:23

204 Edward Coughlan 1:26:17

233 Mario Cadete 1:27:13

258 Alan Smith 1:27:36

363 Daniel Johns 1:29:06

382 Celine Murray 1:29:18

694 Henry Hamilton 1:33:42

1040 Andrew Hudson 1:37:18

1158 Max Mastro 1:38:21

1922 Ruth Aitken 1:43:19

2525 Madeleine Minson 1:46:31

3533 Rebecca Sweet 1:51:53

3046 Benjamin Jenks 1:49:24

4117 Shelly Fennell 1:54:22

4420 Alison Harrow 1:55:36

5466 Ann Woulfe 1:59:53

7328 Victoria Phillips 2:10:23

Watford Graded Open 7/5/2015

100m SX 1

1 David Spencer 14.45 SB

1500 SX 2

3 Pete Crockford 5:11.87 SB

1500 SX 8

16 Richard Macaulay 4:50.56 SB

Battersea Self Transcendence 5k
19 Richard Macaulay     16:55 31 Ben Wolfe            17:4652 Pete Crockford V55   18:44 

Sutton Runners 10k
5 Andrew Brooker 35:12 

Redricks TriSprint distancePosNameSwimT1BikeT2RunOverall2Sandra Buckton16:184:1749:3400:5025:331:36:324Gabi Johnson15:354:3551:2200:4928:581:41:19

Scour this week's parkrun results, including a super-fast time at Finsbury Park from Tom, and Rich Macaulay's third appearance in this week's roundup.