Inter-counties match, club records and race-walking etiquette

It was a great weekend for Heathside in the Southern Athletics League, with victory in Luton leaving the club in with a shout of a second successive promotion. There was plenty going on elsewhere though, with intercounties track and field, another club record for AKS and the final fixture of the Vets League in Hemel Hempstead.

Track and Field

In the British Milers Club Solihull Grand Prix, Adam Kirk-Smith took another bite out of the club steeplechase record and his own PB. Battling in a high-quality field, he came home in 9:08 (earlier this summer, his 9:33 at the SAL was a club record, lest we forget). We had a doughty handful of Heathsiders also involved in the Southern Inter-Counties match, helping Middlesex to a glorious victory in Basingstoke, with Izaiah's appearance in all four throwing events particularly worth a doff of the cap.

In other track and field news, the Vets League reached its conclusion in Hemel Hempstead on Monday. The evening began inoccuously with both Litchfields putting in a shift in the 2k race walk and being cautioned by the marshals for their troubles. Apparently there are two rules to walking - as well as not getting caught running, there's something about leg straightening / extension. Thankfully, neither of our strollers collected any further black marks and were spared the ignominy of a DQ. Heathside could only manage fourth place on the evening. Thanks to Zac for all the organisation through the season.

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Road races

There was a large group of Heathsiders out in Battersea Park for the latest instalment of the Sri Chinmoy 5k, with Simon Brown leading the team home in 17:25. The main race was for V60 bragging rights with Mike Abrahams (2nd) edging out Carl Heap (3rd) by a handful of seconds.

Closer to home, the Race the Neighbours 10k gave the good folk of north London the chance to wreak athletic vengeance on one another for years of unreturned tools and pettifogging planning permission objections. Rob Shulman was first Heathside amid the rancorous rabble, coming 3rd overall. On the ladies side, Rebecca Bunting was first lady home for the second year in a row and 6th finisher overall.

Elsewhere

  • Dave Hellard® won Rat Race's 'Man vs Lakes' obstacle marathon, highlights of which included a lead tractor, thick ferns, a rope swing off a huge crane, and 'quite a few cheeky hills', to say nothing of the opportunity to see Hellard striding to victory in his OCR unitard. His time of 3:55 and change was nearly half an hour better than second place.

  • Luka Melon also tasted golden success in the London Open Water Swim Champs at Surrey Quays. In his own words: "This was an ASA rules event, so no wetsuits were allowed. I swam in the 3000m race and finished in 48:26. While I was the only one competing in the 3000m M30-39 age group, I did get a gold medal; among the 8 men and 11 women I managed to beat a thirty-something lady and a fifteen year old girl, but maybe being Champion sounds better."

  • Sue Eedle was also making waves at the Lee Valley Aquathlon. Despite being last lady out of the water, she posted the fastest 3k run time to finish a respectable mid-division, 6th of 12.

  • Wednesday night warrior Laurence Arnold was another damp Heathsider: "It was a damp start and finish of the Hever Castle 70.3 triathlon on Sunday with a swim out on the lake and back in the river. The cycle was windy, wet and hilly. Nothing though compared to steep muddy gradients out on the running course, twice. There was lots of cheering for Heathside over the loudspeaker and from the knowledgeable marshals which made me happy I'd changed into my vest for the run."

  • This week's parkrun results involve a lot of Heathsiders stopping to tie their shoelaces with a wary eye on their handicap mark for next week's club race.


Results

Southern Counties Senior Inter County Match, Basingstoke

800m B
4 Charles Hardy 2:05.79 

1500m
3 Adam Kirk-Smith 4:04.21 

5000m
6 Andrew Brooker 15:51.26 

3000m Steeplechase
1 Adam Kirk-Smith 9:49.66 

HJ SW
7 Stephanie Kleynhans 1.50 

LJ SM
3 Emmanuel Nwaobodo 6.52 

LJ
2 Stephanie Kleynhans 5.54 

TJ
7 Emmanuel Nwaobodo 12.42 

Shot
10 Izaiah Turner 10.43 

Discus
11 Izaiah Turner 31.51 

Hammer
8 Izaiah Turner 30.06 

Javelin
12 Izaiah Turner 26.05 


BMC Grand Prix, Solihull
4  Adam Kirk-Smith 9:08.65 (new club record)


Sri Chinmoy 5K Race, Battersea Park
12 Simon Brown 17:25
17 Simon Dunderdale 17:33
30 Ed Adams 18:21
40 Cas Wright 18:54
49 Pete Crockford 19:14
78 Mike Abrahams 20:46 (2nd V60)
81 Carl Heap 20:54 (3rd V60)
101 Rebecca Sweet 22:39

Race the Neighbours 10k
3 Rob Shulman 40:55
6 Rebecca Bunting 41:24
41 Paul McCrossin 49:02
92 Valeria Rodriguez 54:26
115 Sam Ratcliffe 55:56
146 Tara Tapper 58:28

Man vs Lakes (42k OCR)
1 David Hellard 3:55:03

Hever Castle 'Gauntlet' Tri (Half-Iron Distance)
29 Laurence Arnold 6:04:50

London Open Water Swimming Competition
3k (30-39)
1 Luka Melon 48:26.38

Lee Valley Aquathlon (250m swim, 3k run)
6 Sue Eedle 24:16
(8:53 swim, 15:23 run)

Vets League, Hemel Hempstead

VW35 2k Walk
4 J Vinluan 17:03.5

VW50 200m
3 H Kehoe 31.4

VW35 Hammer
4 H Kehoe 13.79

VW50 Discus
2 H Kehoe 16.24

V35 2k Walk
4 J Litchfield 14:29.8

V35 800m
3 D McKeown 2:15.3

V40 800m
1 E Garrett 2:06.2

V50 800m
4 R Shulman 2:44.5
NS J Connell 2:43.9

V35 200m
4 D McKeown 27.7

V40 200m
3 E Garrett 25.7

V50 200m
6 R Shulman 33.7

V60 200m
2 A Essex 29.1

V40 3000m
2 J Litchfield 10:27:0

LJ V60
1 A Essex 4.16

HJ V35
5 D McKeown 1.35

HJ V50
3 A Essex 1.30

4 x 200 relay
1 Heathside (Essex, Litchfield, McKeown, Garrett) 1:51.4

3000m Non-scoring
D McKeown 10:14.5
R Shulman 11:14.5
J Connell 11:18.6
J Vinluan 12:33.9

London HeathsideComment