Headline News(tead) as Rachel wins Orion 15

A varied weekend of running from Heathsiders with another clutch of half-marathons including Andy Barnes’ 2nd place at Hampton Court, more glory for the women as Rachel Newstead had a fantastic run and finished as first lady at the Orion 15, both men and women fielded full teams at the Southern Road Relays in the grey (metaphorical and literal) of Milton Keynes, some solid 5k times at Hyde Park and the usual parkrunning. Also special mention to the youngsters who took part in the final Northwest London Young Athletes’ League meeting at Wormwood Scrubs, where William Griffiths was 4th home in the u17s race and Jacob Phillips also ran strongly. Liam Garrett also came in 4th in the u15s event, while the all conquering Ruairi McGonagle took 1st place once again in the u11s. Thanks to Jacob Phillips for the team photo above.

Here are the reports:

Orion 15, Epping Forest

A decent turnout at the famously gruelling event this weekend, over to Caroline White for more details: ‘Seven Heathsiders took part in the gruelling Orion 15 on Saturday morning in Epping Forest - that is 15 long cross country miles very undulating (mostly in an uphill direction) and a fair amount of it in deep mud. Six Heathsiders started at the regular start time of 10 am, Chip Grim however was delayed by 35 minutes on the North circular, but didn't abandon all hope, and manfully plunged into the fray when he finally arrived, had a lonely first hour before he managed to catch up and pass some of the back runners. Its a tough course, but great fun, along the scenic trails of Epping forest, with a loop at the end allowing some of us to see the front runners on the home stretch (about 4 miles ahead of us). All pain is forgotten at the end when greeted with glasses of Bucks Fizz. There are plenty of hot showers too, bacon sarnies and steaming mugs of tea. Despite the testing conditions Rachel Newstead breezed through in a time of 1.49 coming in first woman, just behind Steve Armstrong who was first Heathsider home, and just ahead of Carl Heap who in a time of 1.56 was first MV60. I can't recommend this event more highly -  it's a great race on a beautiful course, hosted by the very friendly Orion Harriers’.

SEAA Road Relay Championships, Milton Keynes

Plenty of rain and what seemed like gale force winds at times at the Southern road relays (we had to be offered shelter by Highgate in their gazebo, although that looked like it might take off at one point and many of the route markers got blown over, leading to Serpentine A having their hopes torpedoed when one of their runners got hideously lost) but some good performances inspite of this, although it looks like there’s room for improvement on my changeover technique after having it described as one of the most lethargic things Dan McKeown’s ever seen on a running track. Jacob sums things up for us here: ‘Well done to everyone who braved some pretty awful weather to run in the South of England 6/12 stage relays. Brilliant to have two teams about for both men and women. The  Women's A-team finished 10th, the Men's A-team came home in 26th (but 23rd A-team which means an invite to the Nationals), while the Women's B-team were 30th (4th B-team) and the Men's B-team were 38th (8th B-team). Good running in trying conditions, and especially well done to Cas Wright, Ben Wolfe and Edward Adams, making their club debuts and Tom Aldred, Cathy Jeremiah and Rebecca Piggott who ran particularly good legs. Also kudos goes to Colette Monahan and Tony Killilea for picking holes in my team selection’.

Hampton Court Palace Half Marathon

Andy Barnes dropped us a line after finishing a brilliant 2nd at the Hampton Court Half on Sunday: ‘A combination of the dreadful weather and 9am start (the morning the clocks changed) meant that just getting to the start line was the hardest part of the race. I wasn't expecting to see any Heathsiders so was pleasantly surprised to bump into (as well as Henry VIII) Stuart Meiklejohn at the start. Stuart finished 10th and unbelievably, given the fairly hostile conditions and gravel paths, ran a PB in 81.56. I was a very lonely 2nd - in 76.09. Not really a competitive one but some good support and an historic setting made it an enjoyable run’.

A quick look through the results showed that a few more Heathsiders had braved the elements, with Elinor East (finishing at 14th lady), Daniel Wrapson, Richard Clay and Jessica Vinluan also completing the course.

Serpentine Last Friday of the Month, Hyde Park

Four Heathsiders made their way down to the ever popular monthly event and in something approaching perfect running conditions, Jacob ran a strong sub-18 time while Cathy secured yet another podium finish (though only metaphorically this time) and we both ended up posting PBs. Alun Nash was also there but doesn’t appear in the results so either he’s been robbed of a time, was running as someone else or I’ve just blown his cover and possibly got him in trouble.

Parkruns, Saturday 28th March

Four Heathsiders were first finishers across London this week as John Driscoll finally took the honours on Hampstead Heath at the 28th attempt, Richard Macauley and Adam Kirk-Smith warmed up for Sunday’s relays by romping home at Grovelands and Walthamstow respectively and Rebecca Bunting was back to retake her almost customary first place at Oak Hill. See all the other parkrun results this week here: http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017&eventdate=2015-03-28

And a bonus report from last week…

British Duathlon Championships, Clumber Park, Worksop, Saturday 21st March

The results for this one came in too late last time round so here’s John Driscoll reporting: ‘I had my third duathlon in three weeks last weekend up near Nottingham at Clumber Park which 'double hatted' as the National Championship and a British Team qualifier for the 2016 European Duathlon Championships. Weather was dry but windy and despite the best efforts of a speed bump that sent half my gels flying, punctures and the dreaded DQ list were avoided and I finished in the 3rd qualifying slot for next year's British Team. It's been 18 months since buying a road bike and much thanks goes to at least a dozen Heathsiders who've offered everything from mechanical assistance and technical advice right through to accompanying me on numerous Sportifs and sojourns into the countryside.  Cheers all.

North West London Young Athletes' League, Wormwood Scrubs, Saturday 28th March

It was the final meeting of the season for the North West London Youth Athletics League and it took place at Wormwood Scrubs on Saturday 28th March 2015. As ever the London Heathside youngsters were out in force. We had one outright race winner - and all the junior teams finished in the top five club positions. A great effort by all. In the U11 Girls 1200m race, Rose Garrett ran a super race to finish a very close third (by only a second) with a time of 4.57. With A Walker in 10th place and F Weston in 23rd place, the girls team came a gallant third overall.
In the U11 Boys 2K race Ruari McGonagle was (unsurprisingly) the winner for London Heathside beating the field of 51 runners in a remarkable 7.03. With K. Jeremiah in 17th, Oliver O Connor in 27th, Samuel Harris in 34th and E Munday in 45th place, the boys team finished in 4th overall. In the U15 Girls 2800m race, Phoebe Crockford was the first Heathsider finishing in 12th place with a time of 11.38. With P Adugna in 21st place and N Conlon in 23rd place, the U15 girls team finished 5th overall. 13 year old Liam Garrett finished an impressive 4th in the U15 Boys 4K race with a time of 14.14. With J O Flaherty in 13th, A Weston in 14th and L Gray in 18th, the boys team came 3rd overall. In the U17 Girls race Heathsiders C Dunnett and G Weston came 4th and 5th respectively. Finally, the U17 Men raced over 4700m and all Heathsiders finished in the top 10. A grand finish by W Griffiths in 4th with a time of 17.22, followed by J Phillips in 7th, M Calderazzo in 10th and O. Aiyar-Majeed in 12th place.These great efforts meant the team finished in 3rd place overall. (Elliot R.)

Boys’ results:

Under 17s:

4th William Griffiths 17:22

7th Jacob Phillips 18:03

10th Myles Calderazzo 18:47

12th Omar Aiyar-Majeed 16:14

Under 15s:

4th Liam Garrett 14:14

13th Jem O’Flaherty 15:12

14th Antanas Weston 15:13

19th Luke Gray 16:01

Under 13s:

34th Zac Paul 13:23

Under 11s:

1st Ruairi McGonagle 7:03

17th K Jeremiah 8:02

27th Olivia O’Connor 8:23

34th S Harris 8:43

45th Etienne Munday 9:35

Girls’ results:

Under 17s:

6th Genevieve Weston 17:48

Under 15s:

12th Phoebe Crockford 11:38

21st P Adugna 13:02

23rd Naomi Conlon 13:25

Under 11s:

3rd Rose Garrett 4:57

10th A Walker 5:17

23rd Fabienne Weston 6:13

Senior Results 

SEAA Road Relay Championships, Milton Keynes, Sunday 29th March

Women’s results, 5.053km (37 complete teams finished)

10th, Heathside ‘A’, 2:00:00

1st leg Rebecca Piggott 18:39

2nd leg Leigh James 20:09

3rd leg Cathy Jeremiah 18:58

4th leg Jane Higgins 21:10

5th leg Dorcas Wright 20:33

6th leg Angela Howe 20:31

30th (4th ‘B’ team), Heathside ‘B’, 2:14:16

1st leg Colette Monahan 20:56

2nd leg Caroline Boyle 23:21

3rd leg Elizabeth Beard 22:05
4th leg Noelle O’Regan 22:32
5th leg Alice Lighton 22:52

6th leg Jane Higgins again! (running as Sue Rust) 22:30

Men’s results, 7.664km (long leg), 5.053km (short leg) (39 complete teams finished)

26th, Heathside ‘A’, 4:30:58

1st leg Tom Aldred 24:31

2nd leg Jacob Howe 18:33

3rd leg Matt Collins 28:10

4th leg James Wooldridge 17:48

5th leg Jonathan Hopkin 29:32

6th leg Ben Wolfe 18:31

7th leg Tom Livermore 27:27

8th leg Tom Fancett 17:25

9th leg Andrew Brooker 26:54

10th leg Edward Garrett 18:17

11th leg Adam Kirk-Smith 26:09

12th leg Richard Macauley 17:41

38th (8th ‘B’ team), Heathside ‘B’, 4:57:58

1st leg Joe McKeown 30:37

2nd leg Paul Lemmon 19:50

3rd leg Edward Adams 31:06

4th leg John Flahive 19:40

5th leg Andrew Dunderdale 30:18

6th leg James Lynch 18:33

7th leg Not Sam Thompson 31:24

8th leg Steve Armstrong 18:52

9th leg Gareth Marshall 30:04

10th leg Alex Macauley 20:24

11th leg Tony Killilea 29:12

12th leg Dan McKeown 17:58

Berliner Halbmarathon, 29th March (14,812 finishers)

1426th Phillip Freeman Bentley - 1:31:34

Colchester Half Marathon, 29th March (1,923 finishers)

48th Paul Brown 1:27:12

Hampton Court Palace Half Marathon, 29th March (2,465 finishers)

2nd Andy Barnes 76:09

10th Stuart Meiklejohn 81:53

126th Elinor East 1:35:18 (14th lady)

257th Daniel Wrapson 1:41:14

540th Richard Clay 1:50:14

1395th Jessica Vinluan 2:10:10

Kingston Half Marathon, 29th March (279 finishers)

24th Patrick Waldron 1:28:48 (looks like 1st V45)

Surrey Spitfire 20, Dunsfold Aerodrome, 29th March

118th Monika Newton 2:24:15 (12th lady)

Orion 15, Epping Forest, Saturday 28th March

23rd  Steve Armstrong   1.46.18

37th  Rachel Newstead   1.49.36 (1st woman)

53rd  Carl Heap   1.56.51 (1st MV60)

184th  Caroline White  1.19.49 (1st V55)

190th  Brian Boyle   1.20.47

266th  Moniker Thaler  1.45.47

Chip Grim - apologies Chip, haven’t been able to find your time

Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5k, Hyde Park, Friday 27th March (269 finishers)

19th Jacob Howe 17:43

26th Gareth Marshall 18:14

37th Cathy Jeremiah 18:28

British Duathlon Championships, Clumber Park, Worksop, Saturday 21st March (436 finishers)

67th John Driscoll 2:09:34 (10km run 38:00, T1 1:13, 40km bike 1:09:42, T2 1:16, 5km run 19:25)