Men and ladies teams triumph at mile relays
Bit of a bumper report this week, partly due to a communications breakdown at Race Report HQ, so without further ado here’s a recap on two loads of hot mile action, adult and youth club records, some incredibly quick road racing PBs and a triumph at the Hillingdon duathlon:
Sri Chinmoy Mile Relay, Battersea Park, Mon 25th July
Records fell and there was almost a clean sweep of the honours from the sizable Heathside contingent, taking part in the first of two quickfire Road Racing Champs events at a ridiculously pollen infested Battersea Park that had people hacking and wheezing away post race a la Dot Cotton with a chest infection. That didn’t stop us taking the prize fruit though (melons and mangos for the winners, rather than medals) as both the first men’s and women’s teams were made up of Heathsiders - Andy Brooker, Charles Hardy and Adam Kirk-Smith correctly named themselves ‘Heathside A’ and romped home almost 50 seconds quicker than the next team in a fantastic time of 13:37 (Andrew looked chuffed to bits at that, judging by the photos) while by my reckoning, Adam took another club record with his individual time. Meanwhile Rebeccas Piggott and Bunting were backed up by a strong run from Leigh James to take the women’s title and Rebecca Piggott is the new holder of the ladies road record. Two more teams went under 15 minutes (McKeowns Joe and Dan and Kimon Doulis ran as ‘Heathside Snaps’; and Andy Barnes, Alan Whatmough and Jacob Howe as ‘Barnesy’s Army’). There were plenty more great runs and PBs elsewhere of course, while Ula Cartwright-Finch, Jennifer Wing and Tony Killilea (Power of 3) are also worth a mention as they finished as the 3rd mixed team. Consensus in the pub afterwards suggested that this was a worthy addition to the Rob Jackson races, so maybe we’ve got time to be creative before next year and we can come up with some more varied team names than ‘London Heathside’, ‘Heathside’ and the faintly aggressive ‘LONDON HEATHSIDE’.
Great Yorkshire Run, Harrogate, Sun 24th July
Dan McKeown travelled to North Yorks and came back with a flat cap, some Parkin and a very impressive top 10 finish for his efforts, with a season’s best time.
Golden Stag Mile, Allianz Arena, Weds 20th July
Another good number made their way to this one and there was more success over this iconic distance as Rebecca Bunting took the ladies club record for a track mile in a time of 5:27.18 while Stuart Meiklejohn was quickest on the night, going agonisingly close to breaking the 5 minute barrier in 5:00.69. Joe McKeown had a great run to pick up a PB of 5:09.68 while Jonathan Litchfield, Jim Connell, Rob Shulman and Gavin Parish also helped themselves to PBs as well.
Cambridge Harriers Open, Eltham, Weds 20th July
Just the one result from Eltham - which is nowhere near Cambridge, last time I checked - and Rich Macauley ran a season’s best in the 800m (2:01:33).
Southern Counties U17 Inter-County Meet, Bromley, Sun 17th July
A number of fantastic runs here today, as four young Heathsiders represented Middlesex. Coach Jacob has more: 'There were three new club records as Luke Gray (800m), Liam Garrett (3000m) and Jem (1500SC) gave amazing performances, breaking some really good records set back in 2001 and 2002. With Liam in his first year in the age group he might well continue to rewrite these records.' Anna McAllister also took part and came 6th in the High Jump. Great stuff all round and the future looks promising.
Hillingdon Triathlon and Duathlon, Sun 17th July
Sandra Buckton got in touch to report on some bike/swim/run action: ‘Hillingdon has an odd-format with the bike and run legs being switched around from the usual order and the duathlon being run-bike only. It's a friendly, low-key but well organised event, and rivals Crouch End 10k for the best after-race donuts! This year the bike course had to be altered at the last minute due to an accident and road closure, making it a bit more technical and less favourable to time trial bikes. However this didn't stop Jesper Lycke winning the Duathlon. In the triathlon, Sandra Buckton picked up the women's Vets prize on a roll-down, whilst Nick De Sausmarez finished shortly afterwards, completing the Heathside Triumvirate. This was the last event in the Heathside Duathlon champs, and the 2nd event in the triathlon champs. The final triathlon event is Herts Tri, at Stanborough on 29th August.
Youth Development U13/U15 League, Mile End, Sat 16th July
A good turnout of Heathside’s youngsters at this one and there appears to be a couple of junior club records from Sanaa Neunie and Bill Steel but at the time of writing the results have been pulled from Power of 10 and seem to be subject to further confirmation so we’ll keep an eye out for these.
The Great Team Relay, Stratford, Thurs 14th July
Heartlessly omitted from last week’s report, Heathsiders Tim Marshall and Laura Boothman ran with Mel Edwards (Dulwich) and Chris Macdonald (non affil) at the Great Team Relay run round the site of the Olympic Park. Laura mailed in a few words on the event (I’m calling evens odds on Tim being responsible for the punning name): ‘Racing as 'Worst Pace Scenario' representing Arthritis Research UK, this awesome foursome brought the baton round 4 x 5 km plus handover in a time of 1:28:19 to claim 2nd mixed team and 28th team overall in a field of 457. Not bad at all versus the corporate giants and Uni pros. Highlights of the evening: racing on the Olympic track; the Macdonald-Marshall handover; prairie-style planting at 2 km (Laura) and post-race embrace from athletics legend Brendan Foster (lucky Mel).
Standard Charter Great City Race, Thurs 14th July
Another podium finish to report for Andrew Brooker, as he smashed his 5k road PB to finish third in 15:38. Coach Jacob finished just outside his seasons best while marathon man Jim Connell also pulled a great PB out the bag as he clocked in at 19:36. Apologies if there were more of you running but it’s not listed by club so I may have missed you.
Parkruns, Sat 23rd July
First finishes this week for Rebecca Bunting and, er, me. Full results here: http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017&eventdate=2016-07-23
Results
Sri Chinmoy Mile Relay, Battersea Park
1 13:37 'London Heathside A'
(Andrew Brooker 4:31, Charles Hardy 4:40, Adam Kirk-Smith 4:26)
7 14:51 'Heathside Snaps'
(Daniel McKeown 4:48, Kimon Doulis 4:52, Joseph McKeown 5:11)
10 14:58 'Barnesy's Army'
(Andy Barnes 4:52 Al Whatmough 4:47 Jacob Howe 5:19)
11 15:09 'LONDON HEATHSIDE'
(Chris Shipley 5:04 Mario Cadete 5:01 Stuart Meiklejohn 5:04)
31 16:21 'Bridge Plank Superwoman'
(Rebecca Piggott 5:11 Leigh James 5:45 Rebecca Bunting 5:25)
36 16:33 'Heathside'
(Jake Spencer 5:21 Jesper Lycke 6:02 Gareth Marshall 5:10)
44 16:56 'Power of Three'
(Ula Cartwright-Finch 5:30 Jennifer Wing 6:10 Tony Killilea 5:16) 3rd Mixed team
49 17:10 'London Heathside'
(Celine Murray 5:21 Rosa Serafini 5:35 Esti Guijarro 6:14)
53 17:23 'Running rascals'
(Mark Jefford 5:22 Alun Nash 5:56 Gavin Parish 6:05)
73 18:04 'Heathside Hotrods'
(Nick Dodd 6:25 Liam Hazleton 5:46 Nilesh Gowami 5:53)
89 19:22 'Heathside V45 ladies'
(Satu Hietanen 6:32 Madeleine Minson 6:43 Emilia Vynnycky 6:07)
Great Yorkshire Run, Harrogate
9th Dan McKeown, 36:46
Golden Stag Mile, Barnet
Stuart Mieklejohn 5:00.69
Joe McKeown 5:09.68
Jonathan Litchfield 5:19.13
Rebecca Bunting 5:27.18
Rob Shulman 5:43.75
Gavin Parish 6:05.85
Cambridge Harriers Open, Eltham
Richard Macauley 2:01.33
Southern Counties U17 Match, Bromley
4th (B race) 800m (U17) Luke Gray 2:00.97
5th (A race) 3000m (U17) Liam Garrett 9:29.44
3rd (B) 1500mSC (U17) Jem O'Flaherty 4:47.22
6th (A) HJ (U17) Anna McAllister 1.5
Hillingdon Tri and Duathlon
Duathlon - 6k / 25k
Jesper Lyke - run: 40:28; bike: 48:53; total: 01:29:21
Triathlon - 750m / 6k / 25k
Sandra Buckton - swim: 13:41; run: 31:07; bike: 57:03: total: 1:41:51
Nick De Sausmarez - swim: 18:49; run: 33:54; bike:1:03:54; total: 1:56:37
Standard Charter Great City Race
3rd Andrew Brooker 15:38
110th Jacob Howe 17:53
303rd Jim Connell 19:36