Heathside storm San Sebastian
San Sebastian Marathon, Spain - Sunday 24th November
Four Heathsiders made their way to the culinary capital of Spain this weekend, in search of Pintxos and PBs - for the 42nd Edition of Zurich Maratón Internacional San Sebastián. San Sebastián has a reputation for being wet and wild at this time of year and you could see why on Saturday with ‘blustery’ conditions threatening to make Sunday hard work.
In the end, there would be no opportunity to blame the weather for a poor performance, with the Marathon Gods taking mercy on the 7,000 runners with near perfect conditions - 11ºC and a gentle sea breeze. Andy Barnes, Francois Barou, Chris Holmes and Jonathan Powell all set off on the 2 lap course, which weaves its way around the flattest (+/-6m) parts of the city - which just so happen to be some of the most scenic.
Chris looked to be going well, but sadly only managed one lap before making the wise decision to drop out due to a hamstring problem. Evidently the first lap didn’t take much of a toll on Andy and Francois who both recorded negative splits - each of them making up 25 and 157(!) places in the second half to finish in 2:39:12 (38th) and 3:03:08 (PB) (412th) respectively. Jonathan came in soon after, not far off his best, in 3:09:35 (494th overall, 212th V40).
As usual, Kenya and Ethiopia dominated the elite race with Cheboi Collins Kipkorir winning for the men in 2:11:56. This wasn’t so in the women’s race however with Susana Cunha of Portugal victorious in 2:36:08.
Francois’ blistering second half means qualification for Boston Marathon 2021 - for which I’m told we already have a ‘massive Heathside crew’ taking part (and presumably meaning another much needed Heathside WhatsApp group). Age group qualification times for 2021 are already up on the BAA website for anyone who’s interested and looking for a target.
Fraternity / Sorority XC Race, Trent Park
23rd November
A small but perfectly formed team of Heathside Warriors braved the tough testing conditions at this annual fixture held in Trent Park, and they delivered yet more honours for us.
Seyfu, straight off the back of his strong victory at Parliament Hill last week, came in a superb second overall.
In the ladies race, Evanelista was equally remarkable, also taking second overall.
The Mens and Womens' teams would also take home fantastic bronzes.
MENS RESULTS
7.8KXC SW
2 25:28 Seyfu Jamaal U20 M
6 27:37 Roger Maidment V45 M
20 29:06 Francesco Melloni SEN M
29 29:41 Matthew Field SEN M
65 4 31:11 John Flahive V50 M
73 31:25 Rajiv Ratan SEN M
84 31:48 Unnamed Unnamed SEN M
89 31:58 J.Doe J.Doe SEN M
112 12 33:20 Robert Shulman V50 M
199 38:25 Daniel Wrapson SEN M
212 38 39:27 Michael Hickey V55 M
213 39 39:36 Nuno Oterd V50 M
220 44 40:35 Russell Weston V55 M
247 44:26 Alun Nash V55 M
WOMEN'S RESULTS
7.8KXC SW
2 31:52 Evangelista Divetain SEN
7 33:08 Millie Barnes SEN
14 34.59 Tatyana Potiyenes
63 7 40:46 Caroline White V60
65 41:04 Kimberli Butler SEN
87 20 43:58 Marianne Gibson V50
NWLL 3# Match Report and Results
A large contingent of juniors took part in the third instalment of this season's NWLL at Trent Park. Conditions were challenging with thick mud adding an extra challenge to the rough ground. The Team secured wins in U17W and U15B age groups with 4 other teams placing 4th. Individually Mimi Blake (U17W) made it 3 victories from 3, Hattie Munday (U13G) and Oliver O'Connor(U17M) secured 2nd places with Mia Rosen (U13G) and Jack Davis Black (U15B) 3rd with 7 other top 10 places.
The U11 race saw our largest contingent yet this season with four debutantes. Ben Redland was first home despite struggling with a cold and tight hamstring, Eden Brown produced his best result finishing 8th. Connor and Charles Roberts both made their club debuts finishing 31st and 36th while sister Caitlin, also making her debut, was the first girl home in a superb 15th place with Elkie Baker 19th, Lettice Grundy also in her first race was 23rd and Erowyn Brown and Mia Westgate completed the runners both with solid runs to ensure both teams finished in 4th place.
The U13's were more mixed with Tynan Parker the only U13 Boy producing a great run to finish in 6th place. The girls race saw Hattie Munday produce her best place of the season in 2nd with Mia Rosen close behind in 3rd. Amara Odeogberin and Libby Judd Hawkes in 31st and 32nd place completed the scoring and 4th place for the team. Selma Lawrence completed her first race as an U13 with J Roberts making her debut for the club, both good runs considering the conditions.
The U15 Boys go from strength to strength this year and must be favourites for the County Title in January. Here we had 4 finishers in the top 10 to easily win the team competition with Jack Davis Black first home in 3rd followed in quick order by Spike Blake, Michael Smith and Lucas Maher. Stan Hasson was not far behind in 12th and then a further group with Avery Dietrich, Fred Beale and Arthur Reed completing our runners. In the girls race Anne Pritchard ran well to finish 16th with Maia Hampton Phillips in 21st and Fabienne Weston completing the team.
We had 4 runners in the U17 races, Mimi Blake again ran strongly to secure her third successive win in the NWLL and is now almost certain of the individual league title, Mia Manttan as always provided superb support to finish 4th and the Team win, in the men's race Oliver O'Connor continued his fine form this season with 2nd place with Sam Ingram completing our quartet in 15th place.
Thanks to Ruth and Russell for managing on the day. The next and last club XC race of the year is the Met League at Uxbridge Saturday 7th December, with its infamous river crossing.
NWLL 3#
Trent Park
23rd November 2019
U11 Boys (2,000m, 53 runners)
1st A Seddon (Dacorum) 6:56
4th Ben Redland 7:12
8th Eden Brown 7:31
31st Connor Roberts 8:23
36th Charles Roberts 8:34
1st Cookham 41 pts
4th London Heathside 73 pts
U11 Girls (2,000m, 45 runners)
1st O Insley (Cookham) 7:42
15th Caitlin Roberts 8:23
19th Elkie Baker 8:28
23rd Lettice Grundy 8:43
30th Erowyn Brown 9:12
34th Mia Westgate 9:38
1st Cookham 31 pts
4th London Heathside 81 pts
U13 Boys (3,000m, 42 runners)
1st Z Jones (SBH) 10:39
6th Tynan Parker 11:21
1st SBH 49 pts
8th London Heathside 108 pts
U13 Girls (3,000m, 53 runners)
1st A Svlhalkova (TVH) 11:22
2nd Hattie Munday 11:47
3rd Mia Rosen 11:53
31st Amara Odeogberin 13:43
32nd Libby Judd Hawkes 13:43
46th Selma Lawrence 16:27
49th J Wilson 16:51
1st TVH 22 pts
4th London Heathside 54 pts
U15 Boys (4,000m, 43 runners)
1st F McGrath (Cookham) 14:05
3rd Jack Davis Black 14:27
5th Spike Blake 14:31
6th Michael Smith 14:35
9th Lucas Maher 15:21
12th Stan Hasson 15:33
24th Avery Dietrich 16:24
26th Fred Beale 16:36
29th Arthur Reed 16:48
1st London Heathside 23pts
5th London Heathside B 70 pts
U15 Girls (4,000m, 43 runners)
1st S Whitlum (Dacorum) 16:03
16th Anne Pritchard 17:36
21st Maia Hampton Phillips 18:07
39th Fabienne Weston 20:42
1st Dacorum 30 pts
7th London Heathside 110 pts
U17 Men (5,000m 25 runners)
1st S Burnell (Dacorum) 18:12
2nd Oliver O'Connor 18:21
15th Sam Ingram 20:58
1st Dacorum 18 pts
4th London Heathside 60 pts
U17 Women (5,000m, 11 runners)
1st Mimi Blake 20:35
4th Mia Manttan 23:52
1st London Heathside 29 pts
Liverpool Cross Challenge XC
Sefton Park
23rd November 2019
U17 Men (143 runners)
7th Thomas Archer 18:43
U20 Men (129 runners)
24th Jem O'Flaherty 22:13
In Parkruns, Heathside Ladies Rebecca, Olivia, Amy and Sandra took victories at their races.
https://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017&eventdate=2019-11-23
Thank you to Simon, Andy and Caroline for helping me put this week's report together.