Jefford and Kaufmann head Heathside team in final 2021 Sunday League

Highlights of this sparse Christmas week report include solid runs for Mark Jefford and Karina Kaufmann in the final Sunday League cross-country race of the year in Stevenage, some nifty indoor sprinting by super-vets Helene Kehoe and Adrian Day in Eltham, a third place in a Florida half marathon for Sara Black and a starter-pack five-miler at Battersea for Paul Mercer and Gavin Evans. Meanwhile, 63 of our runners took part in Parkruns on Saturday with wins for four of our women - Beth Hawling, Brogan Wallace, Katherine Vinnicombe and U17 Issy Watkins.

Sunday League, Race 4, Stevenage (5 miles), Sunday December 19

Fifteen of our runners – eight men and seven women - took part in the fourth leg of the Sunday League in Stevenage, over five muddy miles. V55 Mark Jefford was the first Heathsider home in 32:07 followed by V50s Phil Hogg and Lee Connor. Behind them was our first woman Karina Kaufmann in 35:02, followed by Sandra Buckton and Rebecca Marshall. Among our runners was V75 Bob Gould who beat 32 younger runners to finish in 50:57 – the day after completing a Parkrun in Hampstead.

Results (421 runners)

65th Mark Jefford (V55) 32:07

76th Philip Hogg (V50) 32:42

107th Lee Connor (V50) 33:35

147th Karina Kaufmann (VW40) 35:32

163rd Fabio Espirito Santo 36:33

170th Sandra Buckton (VW50) 36:42

228th Marco Maserati (V60) 38:58

239th Nick Dodd (V65) 39:19

265th Rebecca Marshall (VW45) 40:19

267th Simon Marks (V45) 40:21

269th Joanne Irwin (VW50) 40:31

271st Emilia Vynnycky (VW50) 40:39

279th Ruth Miller (VW60) 41:06

312th Sue Eedle (VW60) 43:22

389th Bob Gould (V75) 50:57

Sutcliffe Indoors 60s, Eltham, Sunday December 19

Super-vets Adrian Day and Helene Kehoe both put in season’s bests in this 60m indoor event, V60 Adrian running 9.42 to come fifth in his second event and V55 Helene running 9.45 in her opening run.

Results

60m SM

1.10 6th Adrian Day (V60) 10.37

2.11 5th Adrian Day (V60) 9.42 SB

60m SW

1.7 5th Helene Kehoe (VW55) 9.45 SB

2.7 4th Helene Kehoe (VW55) 9.57

Sarastota West Coast Half Marathon, Florida, Sunday December 19

Sara Black was the third woman and first V45 in this event. Here is her report:

‘48 hours after arriving in the Sunshine State I ran the Sarasota, West Coast Half Marathon.  The venue was Nathan Benderson Park which is home to a rowing lake where US rowing trials and international competitions take place as well as triathlons and running events.  An early 7 am start with temperatures hitting 72 and humidity near 80 percent.  Not the most exciting of routes but friendly participants and a well organised event.  Happy and pleasantly surprised with my time of  1:28:14,  I won a pair of headphones - woop woop! ‘

Result

3rd W Sara Black - 1:28:14 (1st V45)

Friday Under the Lights, Christmas 5-miles, Battersea Park, Friday December 17

Neither Paul Mercer nor Gavin Evans were in mint shape for this evening five-miller at Battersea Park, but both have Spring marathons and took the race as a starter-pack for the year to come. Paul went off quickly but had to slow down and came in at 31:13. Gavin, who forgot to start his watch in time, ran ‘blind’, starting slowly and finishing slowly, for a PW of 32:02. Most of the rest of the field of 103 runners were rather niftier. Mahamed Mahamed of Southampton pipped Liam Dee by four seconds in a time of 23:20, the pair taking the top two spots in the year’s rankings over the distance, and among the woman Lucy Reid pipped Nicole Taylor by four seconds in 26:26 – also the top two in the UK rankings. The slowest runner in the field finished in 33:02.

Results

97th Paul Mercer 31:13 (V45)

99th Gavin Evans 32:02 (1st V60)

Parkruns

A total of 63 Heathsiders competed in 22 Parkruns on Saturday with first places for Beth Hawling in Mile End (17:22), Brogan Wallace in Finsbury Park (19:11), U17 junior Issy Watkins in Ally Pally (19:58) and Katherine Vinnicombe in Hackney Marshes (21:48). There were also impressive second places for Julia Bijl in Burgess (17:37) and Harry Kleiman in Highbury Fields (17:15) while another junior, Hattie Munday came third in Ally Pally (20:56). Here are the consolidated Heathside results: https://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017&eventdate=2021-12-18

Report by Gavin Evans with thanks to Simon Baker and Sara Black.