InterCounties, Surrey Half & a couple of Ultras

Inter-Counties Cross Country Loughborough

The Intercounties Cross Country champs were held in muddy conditions at Loughborough, and our juniors representing Middlesex put in good performances, notably top 50 placings in the Under 17 race from Jem O'Flaherty and Liam Garrett 

Regarding Jem’s season, as our Dear Leader puts it: "Probably one of the best cross-country seasons any London Heathside member has had since its inception." having also finished 15th in the Southerns, 18th in the Nationals, and also won the Mini Marathon trials at FP last weekend

Results:- ( based on who i can identify as Heathsiders )

Under 17 men

13th Jem O'Flaherty                      21.47

48th  Liam Garrett                         22.43  

Under 15 girls

129th  Mimi Blake                       21.48

191st  Rose Garrett                    22.43 

Under 15 boys

99th     Jake Evans                      20.02

Under 13 boys

60th     Spike Blake                     13.48

Surrey Half Marathon, Woking  11/3/18

from our local reporter Claire Sliwerski ; 

“10 Heathsiders made the journey to the land Paul Weller and The War of the Worlds on Sunday for the 5th edition of the Surrey Half Marathon.  As only distance runners do we welcomed the overcast and cool conditions at the start although the sun did break through at times.  I was glad to finally be able to run this course as not only is it my home town but one of the water stations is actually outside my parents house...This is definitely a PB course, on closed roads which are either flat or gently undulating... Decent support from the locals ...               

Some amazing times from the team including a 5th pace from our own Speedy Gonzalez Tom Aldred only a 90 seconds or so behind the winner one Scott Overall.  Also a top 50 finish for Luke Wynne and a Elinor East who did a rare half marathon without a bit of a swim and a cycle beforehand came in 28th lady with Claire Briggs just outside the top 50 as 51st lady and the ever reliable Dave Hellard doing his thing as the pacer for 1hr 30.”

Full results below ( chip times ) 3,439 finishers

5th Tom Aldred 70.10

41st Luke Wynne 79.09

157th Jake Spencer  85.59

162nd Andrew Prystawsky 86.14

263rd David Hellard 89.33 

364th Elinor East 94.44 (28th lady)

518th Claire Briggs 97.42 (51st lady)

657th James Nicholls 1.40.37 PB

678th Marie-Claire Gallagher 1.41.00

2123rd Claire Sliwerski 2.03.09

Dartford Half Marathon, 11/3/18

Tanya writes :  “. No other heathsiders unfortunately - very hilly terrain, I do not recommend it in the future!”  -     presumably not recommended for PB attempts

102th Tanya Potiyenko 1.38.30 ( 7th woman )             

Milton Keynes Half Marathon 11/3/18

52nd Tom Ashby 87.41

174th Louisa Pointon 98.08 

Bedford Autodrome Sprint Duathlon 11/3/18

Sunday 11 March saw Gabi Johnson and Karina Kaufman competing at the Bedford Autodrome Sprint  Duathlon (Run 5K/bike 20k/run 2.5k) where they both successfully qualified for the World Duathlon Sprint Championships which will be held in Denmark in July.  Karina also managed to clock the fastest female overall on the bike leg in what was a very competitive field. 

15th Karina Kaufman 1 hr 04min (20:03/32:12/11:12) 4th in AG

63rd Gabi Johnson    1 hr 14 min (22:31/35:29/13:36)  8th in AG

Amersham Ultra  50K 10/3/18

Lenny Martin unfortunately had to DNF with an injury after 30k of this race, but Heathside was well represented by Keith Burrows, who finished 2nd overall (and 1st man)

Keith writes :  “Not surprisingly due to the recent weather the trail sections were more like a XC race than a spring ultra.  Having said that it is a nice route winding around the Chiltern's and if anyone wants to do a good local "short" ultra this is ideal”. 

Keith Burrows   2nd          4.07.42

Moving onto last weekend, most of Sunday's races were cancelled, but a few Heathsiders did manage to beat the elements and put in good performances in diverse locations

English Schools Cross Country Championships, Leeds , 17/3/18

Junior girls 3.1k: Rose Garrett 166th 12:58, Mia Manttan 168th 12:59

Junior boys: 4.1k Ruairi Mcgonagle , 84th 15:34

Intermediate girls: 3.8k Mimi Blake 158th 15:58, Eleanor Playfoot-Orme 209th 16:18

Senior boys: 6.8k Jem O'Flaherty 15th 23:32, Liam Garrett 69th 24:51

Endurancelife CTS Sussex Trail Marathon  17/3/18

Rob Shulman completed this very challenging trail event in extreme weather conditions, wearing 4 layers of tops and fuelled up to the hilt with ibuprofen . With over 4000 ft of ascent, and running into gale force winds at sub zero temperatures in the eastern section of the South Downs National Park.

24th Rob Shulman   4 hr.27.49    2nd V50,  129 finishers. The winning time was 3.39.

Windsor & Eton Half Marathon, Dorney Lake   17/3/18

Matthew Cockerill  and  Kim Butler were able to find a race. Matthew writes

“Given the tough conditions (windy and freezing) pretty pleased with the result even if not quite a PB. And more to the point, at least I got a race in after Bath was cancelled. Lucky I didn’t enter Reading!”

Kim also participated and did run a PB, by 37sec

3rd Matthew Cockerill          1.21.28      ( only 21 sec behind the winner )

96th Kim Butler                   1.47.40      ( PB )

Utrecht Half Marathon,  18/3/18

Bas Vlaming competed in the Utrecht Half marathon, despite the similarly cold weather and was slightly disappointed with his time though conditions played a part. He writes :

“I can't say it was a very pleasant experience. I suppose the route is nice enough on a warm day (nothing extraordinary though, and a few more water stations would be welcome), but far less so on a freezing day like Sunday, and the wind made things a lot worse on the exposed miles halfway through. Not much support along the course either, and I don't blame them for staying inside...
Time to get some more miles and speedwork in when spring arrives.”

543th      Bas Vlaming       1.45.22     

European Masters Indoor Athletics Championships , Madrid   20/3/18

M65 400m

6th Adrian Essex  71.63   ( 63.58  in heat to qualify for final  - )

Apparently Adrian was going well in the final until “ 10 metres from the line, lying third, extreme fatigue set in and I completely lost the use of my legs.” 

great effort overall ! - he competes in the Pentathlon on Friday

Parkruns

Last Saturday’s  parkruns were less affected by the weather, Heathsiders  participated in 13 of these and there were 1st place finishes for William Griffiths at Ally Pally, Chiara Borg at Oak Hill, and Caroline Boyle at Mullingar

http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017

Mark GeorgeComment