Piggott picks up Middlesex title amid Heathside gold rush
Middlesex 10k Championships
Heathsiders headed en masse to Victoria Park for the latest instalment of the club road racing championships, with Tom Aldred leading the way in 32 minutes. The most celebrated result of the day though was Rebecca Piggott blistering her way to a 38-minute finish and collecting the county gold - a truly impressive return from injury problems.
Our men's team of Tom, Charles and Kimon narrowly mised out on a podium place, but there was plenty else to celebrate:
Our women's team are county champs - well done to Rebecca, Bethany and Leigh!
Bethany was 2nd Middlesex lady, Sue is County W35 champ, Emilia is W45 champ and Caroline is W55 champ, signaling unprecedented dominance for Heathside in the world of ladies' distance running in the county of Middlesex.
Our male masters teams picked up third spot (M40) and first place (M50) Chris Hartley is county M50 champ and Pete Crockford took the M50 county bronze.
Elsewhere
A decent set of results in the Northwest London Young Athletes XC League left coach Ruth in bullish mood: "Good start to the season with some good performances and despite 'back to school flu' keeping some of our regulars away, we still managed to complete teams in most age groups. It s all up from here," she shouted at a gaggle of bemused reporters.
We had three runners in action at Serpentine's Last Friday of the Month 5k, with Andy Owen fastest of the bunch in a shade over 20 minutes.
Henry Hamilton-Gould returned to the Cheltenham Half Marathon: "Having run it last year I knew what to expect - a well organised scenic course with a field of 4,000 runners that finishes with a two-mile loop around the racecourse. With little training the last couple of months this was always going to be a bit of a slog but I enjoyed keeping a steady pace and despite a torrential downpour at the beginning I was happy to finish in 95 minutes."
Meanwhile, road racing supremo Sam Thompson was delighted to have actually taken part in a race: "I ran my first 'proper' road running race in over two years due to a combination of career-threatening injuries and messing about on bicycles. Come to think of it, probably my first road race since becoming Heathside's Head of Road Racing. The race was the Abbots Langley Graham Taylor Tough Ten, this year named in memory after the former Watford and England manager who used to give out the medals and prizes (he awarded me a rucksack when I came 3rd in 2011). The 10k course was tough, with a particularly nastily placed hill at the 8km mark. Although a fairly low-key local event, the crowd support was excellent and I came in 6th with a time of 38:45."
Conway preps for the Ridgeway
Andrew Conway took on the Moor Park 10k, starting from the exclusive Merchant Taylor’s School in Northwood, that hosted a Met League fixture some years ago. The course takes in the Moor Park estate, which Andrew likens to Holly Lodge as
a. it’s hideously steep
b. you need to be minted to live there.
"When I signed up for this run I thought that a 3pm 10K the day after a parkrun would be good preparation for next weekend's Ridgeway. On the day of course, I was worried about whether my legs would cope.
"I thought about starting slowly, but I wondered whether the previous year's innocence and naivety led to a half decent time in 2016.
"You start with two and a half laps of the playing fields and we had covered getting on for 2K as we left the school and entered the Moor Park Estate. This is a huge, private - check those barriers! - set of roads with hundreds of very large houses served by Merchant Taylor's Prep School. It also boasts an on-estate golf course and a Grade I-Listed Palladian 17th-century mansion, which serves as the golf clubhouse.
"(After the run a local told me that her car emits a burning smell when she attempts to drive up it from a standing start - it’s THAT steep.)
"I was relatively quick round the course but not stupid, saving myself for the 150m flat before the final turn and the 50m finish, passing a group of six or so runners before nearly collapsing over the line, receiving a medal, a banana, a bottle of water, and an offer of oxygen.
"I was two minutes down on last year, but then again I did do that 5K the day before. I'll be good for that Ridgeway: see you there."
Results
Middlesex 10k 1 Oct 2017
4 Tom Aldred 32:19
24 Charles Hardy 34:13
25 Kimon Doulis 34:18
29 Simon Dunderdale 34:24
33 Juan Carlos Casal Perez 34:46
39 Richard Macaulay 35:13
44 Pete Northall 35:35
51 Sion Lewis 35:57
52 Joe Garrood 36:03
57 Luke Wynne 36:32
61 Chris Hartley 36:43 (1st V50)
77 Michael Cockings 37:32
81 Steve Monaghan 37:37
86 Rebecca Piggott 37:52 (Middlesex ladies champion)
89 Jonathan Litchfield 38:01
90 Paul Kelland 38:03
96 Matt Collins 38:17
102 Alan Smith 38:31
110 Joseph Cvlemoes 38:54
112 Bethany Scott 38:54 (2nd Middlesex lady)
122 Paul Tonkinson 39:27
123 Pete Crockford 39:31
126 Michael Tant 39:35
127 Jacob Howe 39:36
132 Philip Hogg 39:50
139 Gavin Evans 40:20
141 Leigh James 40:33
142 Trevor Wilson 40:38
145 Eilidh Wagstaff 40:46
146 Jonathan Shipley 40:47
152 Thomas Godec 41:03
153 Sue Rust 41:10 (1st W35)
160 Mark George 42:11
173 Roger Wagland 43:13
175 Richard Peachment 43:27
190 Satu Hietanen 44:32
191 Emilia Vynnycky 44:34 (1st W45)
197 Neil Thomas 44:58
199 Nick Dodd 45:17
209 Yvette Ralston 45:55
217 Tammela Platt 46:46
218 Tom Hosking 46:48
221 Ian Whisson 47:06
228 Caroline White 47:52 (1st W55)
230 Alun Nash 48:05
232 Nilesh Goswami 48:10
235 Jessica Vinluan 48:17
252 Sarah Duke 50:36
255 Sue Eedle 51:09
257 Sarah Illingworth 51:20
North West Young Athletes League Cross Country
Boys Under 11 2000 metres
7 B. Bediako 7.39
33 L. Espitia 8.51
41 N. Naylor 9.37
Boys Under 13 3000 metres
7 S. Blake 11.03
14 L. Maher 11.38
21 E. Tucker 12.01
38 M. Deasy 12.34
Boys Under 15 4000 metres
19 O. O'Connor 14.27
31 L. Selwyn 15.27
36 L. Hanson 16.12
Men Under 17 4700 metres
2 L. Garrett 14.21
Girls Under 11 2000 metres
6 H. Munday 6.04
16 A. Challis 6.34
40 S. Lawrence 7.32
46 L. Espitia 10.09
Girls Under 13 2000 metres
7 L. Dumbleton 7.27
39 F. Weston 9.21
Girls Under 15 3000 metres
4 R. Garrett 11.28
6 E. Dumbleton 11.38
23 M. Curcio 13.41
Under 17 Women 4000 metres
6 M. Naylor 15.24
8 E. Conlon 15.48
10 L. McKay 16.09
17 P. Crockford 17.53
Last Friday of the Month 5k, 29 Sep
62 Andy Owen 20:14
82 Michael Abrahams 21:09
150 Alun Nash 24:09
Cheltenham Half Marathon
211 Henry Hamilton-Gould 1:35:49
Moor Park 10k
142 Andrew Conway 52:23
Tonbridge Half Marathon
13 Dan McKeown 1:21:46
Abbots Langley Graham Taylor Tough 10k
6 Sam Thompson 38:45