Heathside Juniors take gold in Wormwood Scrubs
Lots of speedy running from our lot, but it’s our juniors who take top honours this week. A shout-out for 10-year-old Hattie Munday who ran all the Met Leagues and all the Northwest London junior leagues, taking the medal for coming fifth overall in the NWYL. In the same event at Wormwood Scrubs Ruari McGonagle won his u13 race and the league gold medal as did Jem O’Flaherty in the u17 division – leading his three-man team to take the honours.
Meanwhile the Garrett siblings, Liam and Rose, both qualified for the Mini Marathon by running in the Barnet Council’s qualifying event (the Oakhill Parkrun), with 16-year-old Liam winning in an eye-watering time of 16.30.
Several of our members raced in 10K events at the weekend, with Kelly Thorneycroft taking pride of place with her first place PB in the Mornington Chasers 1st Sunday of the Month 10k at Regent’s Park with a time of 37:17. Also worth highlighting is Richard Macaulay’s seventh place in the Self-Transcendence Mad March 10k in Battersea Park. He put in a PB of 34:27 – not bad for an 800m specialist. Seven of our members ran in three half marathons over the weekend. The best of the bunch was Michael Heaney’s 1:17:00 in Cambridge on Sunday.
Northwest Young Athletes Cross Country League, Sat March 4
A wonderful end-of-season cross country performance from our juniors – a tribute not only to the young athletes but also to their coaches including Russel and Rachel Weston, Ruth Miller and Kabir Kemp. The results are still not up on Power of 10 (so hopefully a full report is still to come), but Ruth sent this preliminary report:
‘Ruairi McGonagle added u13 boys NWYAL X country league overall champion to his Met league victory and amazing National position. Jem o'Flaherty also became U17 overall champion as did the U 17 men's team. (with Liam Garrett, Antanas Weston).Hattie Munday u11 girls overall 5th place medal, Rose Garrett u13 girls overall 5th place medal and Phoebe Crockford won an overall U 17 place medal. Hattie Munday was fifth overall in the u11s, and she has only just turned 10. She ran all of the NWYLs and also ran all of the Met Leagues.’
Mornington Chasers 1st Sunday of the Month 10k, Sun March 5
Our Kelly T put her cross-country form to fine road running effect, storming into first place in a PB of 37:17. Also impressive was Sebastian Harrison, who came 24th in 37:38.They were followed by Tony Chin and Greg Bell. Here’s Greg’s report:
'The early morning heavy rain had eased down to an occasional light drizzle by the 9am start, and the sun even made a showing before the end. A woeful lack of toilets (only three cubicles for "unisex" use for nearly 400 runners) meant a long queue. Luckily it was only a short dash to the line and I was able to squeeze in near the back of the bunch. I got a 5-year 10km PB, and my Garmin watch also informed me that I did an "all-time" 5km PB (well, I've had a Garmin for 3+ years...), so maybe the weekly Thursday afternoon hill sessions I've been doing in Ally Pally with fellow Heathsider Marco Maserati are having an effect.’
Results
19th Kelly Thorneycroft 37:17 1st F
24th Sebastian Harrison 37:38
174th Anthony Chin 49:50
192nd Greg Bell 50:19
Self-Transcendence Mad March 10k, Battersea Park, Sat March 4
Big Richard Macaulay is showing wonderful form, which augers very well for his sub-2 800 meter plans on the track this season. He hauled himself around the park, with his usual sprint finish, in 34:27 – a PB. Phil Hogg came 33rd in 39:03 and Jennifer Wing was the third Heathsider and first Heathside woman in a time of 43.30 – also a PB. She was followed by Noelle O’Regan in 45:06 – not bad for a 200-meter sprinter.
Results
7th Richard Macaulay – 34:27 (PB)
33rd Philip Hogg – 39:03
48th Jennifer Wing – 43:30 (PB)
69th Noelle O’Regan – 45:06
Frank Harmer Memorial 10k Herne Hill, Sun March 5; Ealing Mile, Fri March 3
Tom Bedwell put in two shifts in over the weekend. First he ran the Ealing Mile, coming 6th in a PB time of 5:33. Two days later he ran in the Frank Harmer Memorial 10k, coming 24th in a time of 44:27, putting him in 24th place.
Ealing mile result
6th Tom Bedwell – 0:53::33 (PB)
Frank Harmer 10k result
24th Tom Bedwell – 44:27 (PB)
Cambridge Half, Sunday March 5
Michael Heaney ran an impressive PB of 1:17:00, putting him in 35th place. Hannah Standforth also ran a PB, hers in 1:37:12. Here’s Laurence Arnold’s report:
‘A wet & windy start tempered to a damp half marathon around the Cambridgeshire countryside. Despite the awful bag drop arrangements (25min & 45 min to drop off and collect) the organisation was pretty good as the 9,000-strong field set off from our caged pens. Four Heathsiders represented the club with a good bit of acknowledgment from the crowd. None more so than the group around the 12km mark, wearing their Heathside woolly hats. The cheers were most appreciated. The course is mainly flat through fields but gets interesting after it circuits back around into Cambridge for a spell more akin to chariots of fire zigzagging through the cobbled streets. For club camaraderie, I met Jason Bredhauer for the first time around 500m into the race and we stayed together for around 15km when he ran off into the distance reaching for that 90min pacer with a target on his back. Michael Heaney put in an impressive 1:17 flat and Hannah Stanforth made significant gains from her previous with a 1:37.12 PB. A worthwhile Sunday morning overall.’
Results
01:17:00 Michael Heaney
01:30:09 Jason Bredhauer
01:33:26 Laurence Arnold
01:37:12 Hannah Stanforth
Leith Hill Half, Sunday March 5
Peter Ward ran a time of 1:43:20. Here’s his report:
‘It's an out-and-back course from Dorking to Leith Hill. The first half is all uphill - the second half is not all downhill. 1613ft total ascent. Epic mud, puddles and a hailstorm last two miles - my shoes are still drying. Third time I've done this race and it's a cracker. Despite atrocious conditions, I finished 5 minutes faster than 2016. One to sign up for next year Heathsiders if you love a good trail race.’
Result (225 finishers)
22nd Peter Ward – 1:43:20
Milton Keynes Festival of Running Half Marathon and 20-mile, Sun March 5
Mark George and Yvette Ralston ran the half – in times of 1:36:55 and 1:50:42 – while Dan McKeown ran the 20 miles in 2:35:58. Dan reports that the well-watered event ‘featured a rather hilarious flooded underpass at two miles.’
Results
Half Marathon
128 Mark George 1:36:55
353 Yvette Ralston 1:50:42
20 mile
144 Dan McKeown 2:35:58
Riverside 20m, Fulham March 5.
Nick de Sausmarez, Richard Peachment and Satu Hietane ran in this event and all arrived home within five minutes of each other. Here’s Nick report:
‘Three intrepid Heathsiders found themselves faced with early Sunday morning alarm calls to make the Riverside 20 start line on Sunday 5th March just next to Fulham Football Ground. The morning began with epic, as described by one Heathsider 'insurmountable' queues for the public toilets. Obviously not a good start; it's a local friendly race run by Clapham Chasers which has obviously got big without recognising the need to provide basic facilities.
‘Moving on, it's a great run with pacers at times between 7.00 and 10.00 (if you choose to follow them) and cheerful marshals. In this year's race we started off in freezing, sleeting rain and finished bathed in bright sunlight. The race is an out and back from Putney Bridge to Petersham meadows in Richmond and back taking in such sights as Kew Gardens and Hammersmith Bridge. It's an interesting alternative marathon preparation to the Finchley 20 and its repeat viewings of West Ruislip station.
‘Times are yet to be officially certified but Richard Peachment ran it in about 2 hours 35 and
Satu and Nick nipped in in under 2 hours 40.’
Parkruns
There were a number of impressive Parkrun performances on Saturday, but the one worth highlighting features two of our leading juniors, Liam and Rose Garrett, who used it to qualify for the Mini Marathon team. Here the report of their proud dad, Edward Garrett:
‘Barnet Council requires that everyone have a qualification from the Oakhill Parkrun to be considered for the Mini Marathon team. So Liam and Rose Garrett laced it up on Saturday morning, skipping the last youth cross country match to do a parkrun instead. What a difference a year makes! They both shattered their PBs, with Liam running a blistering 16:30 to win the race, and Rose finishing as the second female in 19:56. It looks like they both secured qualification.’
In all, 49 of our runners took part in 15 Parkruns. Best of the rest included Olivier Le Polain’s 16:33 in Andenham (he broke his own course record). Ula Cartwright-Finch won in Ormeau in 19:05, Dan Johns won in Peckham Rye in 17:19. In Finsbury Park we scored a double with both Andrew Brooker and Sarah Swan winning although neither brought their barcodes. Andrew’s time was 16:31 and Sarah’s was 19:25.
Here are the full Heathside results: http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017&eventdate=2017-03-04