Heathside delivers at sunny SEAA road relays
On a sun-kissed weekend four Heathside teams delivered accomplished performances at the star-studded Southern road relays, the Fleet Half produced several PBs, several of our YAs ran in the English Schools XC and there were also promising results at the county indoor track & field champs.
One of the more prestigious events in the athletics racing calendar, the regional road relays, took place across the UK this weekend, with the Southerns version in Milton Keynes on Sunday including appearances from the likes of Olympians Steph Twell and Chris Thompson, and the talented teenager Jess Judd, who was warming up on the infield while a few of us Heathsiders played catch.
Thanks to Coach Jacob’s persistent rallying and organising efforts (see the concentration in the photo), and the acquiescence of those of you who stepped up fairly late in the day to boost numbers, Heathside fielded two women’s and two men’s teams – 12 women in total and 24 men. But we didn’t just turn up in good numbers – our women’s A team finished 8th out of 30 complete teams, and our men’s A team 18th out of 38, with the B teams coming in 26th and 36th, respectively. I believe both A-team performances surpassed Jacob’s targets, leaving him with a warm fuzzy feeling for his efforts, although that could have been the sun. We also earned ourselves invitations to the National Road Relays, so stay tuned for more news on that. New Heathside member Ni’ia, from New Zealand via Australia and a bit more travelling, ran the first and fastest leg for the Heathside women’s A team, and George and Brent the fastest long (8km) and short (5.05km) legs for the men’s A team. Hats off to the marathoners who went on crazy long warm-downs after their legs to tick off the all-important long run. Folk were tired.
Also encouraging this weekend are the performances mainly of our young athletes at the Middlesex Indoor Track & Field Champs at Lee Valley, where coach Nathan Cyrus in particular had several athletes competing. The long jump results stand out in my mind, with three of our lads in the top 5.
Elsewhere we had five Heathsiders represented in the English Schools Cross-Country Championship, several PBs were achieved in the Fleet Half, others ran 15 mile-plus races in Surrey, Dave and Clare tackled 10m high walls and barbwire crawls (they didn't literally tackle those though ...), Alex did a sprint duathlon ... and there's probably more to report. It seems to have been a particularly successful weekend on the parkrun front, with PBs (course-specific) I think for Dom Jackson, John Driscoll, Andrew Dunderdale, Stuart Meiklejohn and Jane Higgins, and a happy birthday 16:14 and win for Tom Aldred.
Results for the above and more below:
English Schools XC Championship, Donnington Park, 15/03
Senior Boys
167 James Wooldridge 27:01 (U17)
314 finishers
Inter Boys
194 Johnny Naylor 21:45 (U17)
326 finishers
Senior Girls
141 Rachel Seckl 17:54 (U17)
158 Lily Beckford 18:02 (U17)
321 finishers
Inter Girls
77 Lucy Carter 14:11 (U17)
336 finishers
Middlesex Indoor Championships, Lee Valley, 15-16/03
60m
4 Jordan Glaze 7.15 (U20)
Heat 1, 3rd in 7.17s
U17 heat 3
4 Darnell Plummer 7.66s
U17 s3
6 Darnell Plummer 7.6s (PB)
U15
6 Caspar Schulze 9.35s (PB)
U20 women
7 Djanira Costa 8.1s
Heat 1 8.06 (SB)
200m
Senior men
3 Jeffrey Rice 25.12 (SB)
U17 men
4 Darnell Plummer 24.78 (SB)
200m U20 women
4 Djanira Costa 27.15
60m Hurdles
1 Djanira Costa 9.26s
High Jump
3 Nickson Costa 1.70m
4 Henry Damon 1.70m
Pole Vault Senior men
1 Pierre Bourguignon-Pitet 4.05m
Long Jump U17 Men
1 Darnell Plummer 5.84
3 Henry Damon 5.67
5 Nickson Costa 5.56
Long Jump U15 men
4 Caspar Schulze 3.88
Shot Put U20 men
4 Izaiah Turner 10.38
Fleet Half, 16/02
37 Adam Mitchell 78:14 (PB)
48 Ed Garrett 79:08 (PB)
64 Phil Bentley 81:49
154 Phil Hogg 87:44
258 Brian Boyle 91:38 (PB)
2445 finishers
Surrey Spitfire 20, Cranleigh, 16/03
89 Patrick Waldon 2:28:16
143 Henry Hamilton 2:35:37
491 Agi Palanki 3:10:31
492 Claire Sliwerski 3:10:31
507 Eleanor Jones 3:12:25
Cranleigh 21/Cranleigh 15
96 Emerson Paul 2:41:53 (21 miles)
107 Monika Thaler 2:21:08 (15 miles)
Rock Solid Race, Exeter
12km assault course part of the British Assault Course League
6 David Hellard 1:03:47
20 (1st woman) Clare Miller 1:14:25
See here for a video roundup of the race.
Action Duchenne Love Run – Finsbury Park, 15/02/2014
23 Bridgit Napleton 43:26 (1st woman)
(old result but a win!)
Oulton Park Spring Duathlon
Run 4.3km/Cycle 21.6km/Run 4.3km
44 Alex Galloway 15:09/38:23/15:30 plus transitions for total time of 1:11:10
Parkruns
Parkrun are now sending results via a club-specific link, so we may just be referring you to that from now on. Here it is. Alex and Ant ran the parkruns in the coolest-sounding (maybe that's stretching it a bit) places this weekend, Arrow Valley, and Little Stoke.
SEAA 6 and 12 Stage Road Relays, Milton Keynes, 16/03
Women’s 6 Stage Relay
Heathside A team 8th of 30 complete teams
1 Ni’ia Hothersall 18:26
2 Catherine Jeremiah 19:16
3 Sue Rust 18:37
4 Bridgit Napleton 20:16
5 Angela Howe 20:34
6 Gina Heiss 20:17
Total time 1:57:26
Heathside women’s B team: 26th
1 Louisa Pointon 21:52
2 Jane Higgins 21:33
3 Charlotte McCrossin 23:29
4 Eilidhh Wagstaff 21:58
5 Sarah Illingworth 24:33
6 Gabi Johnson 24:57
Total time 2:18:22
Men’s 12 Stage Relay
Heathside A team: 18th team out of 38 complete teams
(odd legs 8km, even legs 5.05km)
1 George Stewart 26:23
2 Chris Burn 17:49 (note the blistering handover to Mark, as pictured)
3 Mark Anderson 27:34
4 Stuart Meiklejohn 17:56
5 Dan McKeown 26:55
6 Chris Hartley 17:37
7 Dan Madams 27:11
8 Andrew Brooker 17:38
9 Ed Samuel 27:13
10 Chris Jones 17:28
11 Adam Kirk-Smith 27:01
12 Brent Atkins 17:02
Total time 4:27:47
Heathside Men’s B team: 36th
1 Tom Stephenson 28:53
2 Jacob Howe 19:01
3 Joe McKeown 30:43
4 Mark Bailey 19:56
5 Gavin Evans 29:30
6 Asa Cusack 18:21
7 Sam Thompson 29:38
8 Kris Milovsorov 20:17
9 Mike Bironneay 30:26
10 Paul McCrossin 20:38
11 Tony Killilea 28:22
12 John Flahive 18:00
Total time 4:53:45