Heathside women triumph in Manchester Marathon

Heathside’s Spring marathon season kicked off on Sunday with an exceptional performance by our women in Manchester – a brace of PBs from Rebecca Bunting (2:41:47), Josie Hinton (2:50:02) and Catrin Tyler (2:52:10) that might have given us the first women’s team place (watch this space). There was also a big PB for our first man James Hurrell (2:32:13) and a wonderful marathon debut from Christopher Gracie (2:39:16). Five of our runners also completed the Paris Marathon, George Gurney did an outstanding PB of 70:21 in the Reading Half and Jose Sabroso Oliete ran 1:17:49 in the Barcelona Half.

Manchester Marathon, Sunday April 3

Rebecca Bunting smashed her PB by five minutes shortly after her 39th birthday, running her way to a possible GB 50-mile place in a time of 2:41:47. She went through the 10k mark in 37:04 and the half in 1:19:52. She has now decided to ditch plans for ultras and to focus on flat road marathons, with London in her sights.

The first Heathsider home in a race run under perfect conditions (cold, clear with a gentle breeze) was James Hurrell who took more than two minutes off his PB running an outstanding time of 2:32:13. He went through 10k in 35:31 and the half in 1:14:56. He was followed by Christopher Gracie in what, according to Power of 10, was his first marathon in a time of 2:39:16 (36:21 for 10k; 1:16:52 for the half).

Our second woman was Josie Hinton who ran a PB of nearly four minutes, finishing in 2:50:02. She ran a commendably even race, going through 10k in 39:52 and the half in 1:24:34. She was followed by V50 Paul Beale who broke his PB by more than four minutes in 2:50:02. Joe Pennington shattered his PB by more than eight minutes, running 2:52:09 Our third woman was (relatively) recent mother, Catrin Tyler in a 69-second PB of 2:52:10.

Next was James Barnard in 2:53:23. The ninth Heathsider home (and the ninth under 2:55) was Tony Shearer in a three-minute PB of 2:54:58. Danny Olive ran 3:06:58, followed by Gavin Evans, a 15-year PW in 3:08.27. Incidentally, the first V60 was 62-year-old former Irish international (he ran in the 1992 Olympics) Tommy Hughes in 2:30:05 – three seconds off his V60 PB. He also beat the winning V45, V50 and V55 runners.

Phil Hogg ran 3:11:44, Deng Akol, coming back from injury (and starting too fast) ran 3:24:30. Our final four were Glen Taylor in 3:47:04, Daisy Whitchurch in 3:58:29, Alexander Tsingtotos in 4:02:33 (the day after doing a 23-minute Parkrun) and Phoebe Bright in 4:06:29.

Results: (13,866 finishers; 14,175 starters)

64th James Hurrell – 2:32:13 (PB)

193rd Christopher Gracie – 2:39:16 (debut)

48th (in elite group 2) Rebecca Bunting – 2:41:47 (PB)

534th Josie Hinton – 2:50:02 (PB; 6th woman, 3rd V35 out of 604)

546th Paul Beale – 2:50:17 (PB; 18th V50 out of 928)

618th Joe Pennington – 2:52:09 (PB)

619th Catrin Tyler – 2:52:10 (PB; 14th woman, 5th V35 out of 604)

678th James Barnard  2:53::23

781st Tony Shearer – 2:54:58

1653rd Danny Olive – 3:06:58

1753 Gavin Evans – 3:08:27 (9th V60 out of 191)

1965th Phil Hogg – 3:11:44

2955th Deng Akol – 3:24:30

5261st Glen Taylor – 3:47:04

6766 Daisy Whitchurch – 3:58:29

7267th Alexander Tsingtotos – 4:02:23

7600th Phoebe Bright – 4:06:29

Paris Marathon

At least five of our runners crossed the channel to run in Paris. Kwasi Agyei-Owuso was the first home in 3:02:29 – a PB of nearly nine minutes. His next marathon should take him under the three-hour mark. Two seconds behind him was Gary Reapy, running an outstanding debut marathon time of 3:02:31.

Jim Connell was the third Heathsider in 3:19:32 followed by Maura Bellio who ran a nine minute PB of 3:20:18. Joe Starkey was the fifth Heathsider in a promising marathon debut time of 3:21:29.

Results

1879th Kwasi Agyei-Owuso – 3:02:29 (PB)

1882nd Gary Reapy :3:02:31 (debut)

4310th Jim Connell – 3:19:32

4443rd Maura Bellio – 3:20:19 (PB)

4675th Joe Starkey – 3:21`:29 (debut)

Reading Half, Sunday April 3

George Gurney ran an eye-popping 70:21 in the Reading Half on Sunday, putting him in 14th place in a highly competitive field. It was a PB of 49 seconds.

Results

14th. George Gurney - 70:21 (PB)

Barcelona Half, Sunday April 3

Jose Abroso Oliete ran a fast time of 1:17:49 (just a minute off his PB) for this half in preparation for the Edinburgh Marathon in three weeks time. He described it as a ‘nice, flat’ course but said the early (8.30am) start discouraged the crowds from turning out.

Result

Jose Sabroso Oliete – 1:17:49

Parkruns

Sixty Heathsiders took part in 27 Parkruns on Saturday. There were first places for Melvin Lewis in Grovelands (18:06, Jonny Forsyth in Sherwood Pines (18:20) and Tanya Addison in 23:02) in Ally Pally. Full club results are here: https://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017&eventdate=2022-04-02

Report by Gavin Evans with thanks to Jose Sabroso Oliete and Rebecca Bunting.