Piggott Victorious in Sorority Cup, Men 2nd in Fraternity; YAL Cross Country; Cordoba Half Marathon

Fraternity/Sorority Cup, Trent Park, Saturday 25th November

A healthy turnout of Heathsiders took part in the annual race which sees men and women run side by side. There was success for the Men’s team as they picked up 2nd spot thanks to great running from Richard Macauley who was first home in 8th place, backed up by Esa Valtanen (13th) and Jonathan Litchfield (2nd in his age category and 17th overall). Despite the Women initially being awarded Bronze medals in the team competition before someone at Barnet belatedly found a working calculator (I still maintain we should only accept their first answer) any disappointment shouldn’t overshadow Rebecca Piggott’s fantastic run which saw her finish as 1st woman, almost 30 seconds ahead of her nearest challenger, and in 8th place overall, a mere second behind Jonathan. Elsewhere, Jessica Vinluan snuck in to the top 20 places for the women, Chris Hartley took 1st place in his age group while Joe McKeown also ran well.

NW London Young Athletics League, Trent Park, Saturday 25th November

Strong performances once more from the young Heathsiders who ran ahead of the Fraternity/Sorority Cup meeting later on. Of particular note was Spike Blake who had a great run to finish 1st in the U13 Boys race and his older sister Mimi almost matched his feat by coming 2nd in the U15 Girls category, while Hattie Munday finished 3rd in U11 Girls. Over in the U15 Boys race there was a close run thing between Thomas Archer and Ruairi McGonagle as they finished 3 seconds apart in 5th and 6th respectively and there were good performances from Meg Naylor and Lily McKay in the U17 Girls.

Self Transcendence 10k, Battersea Park, Sunday 26th November

Two great runs here from both Heathsiders who popped South of the River and both came back with PBs: Luke Wynne’s time of 36:10 was enough for 16th place while Sebastien Harrison was only a smidge further back in 36:43, taking almost a full minute of his previous best.

Cordoba Half Marathon, Sunday 26th November

Heathsiders were well represented in sunny Spain last weekend as they took part in races at either end of the country. Cordoba saw the bigger turnout and Caroline White has los detalles:

“Eleven Heathsiders went on tour at the weekend to the beautiful and historic city of Córdoba, which nestles in the mountains in southern Spain, to take place in the half marathon there. It hadn’t looked good pre-race – three of the group were nursing “majorish” injuries and two had forgotten to actually enter and hadn’t got places.  Amazingly in the end everyone ran apart from Louisa (who hadn’t managed to get a place but was also injured, so perhaps it was all for the best and she was a brilliant supporter!!). Liam who had been wavering on whether to run at all and suffering suspected shin splints, pulled it out of the bag and was first Heathsider home, breezing over the finish line in 1.29.48 -  delighted to have achieved a PB. Laurence and Richard close behind were neck and neck and the jury is out on their exact times, and positions as chip times and gun times for some runners were the same, (although none of us actually started on the start line) and for some at least a minute different ……. (if you have a few hours to spare Richard would love to discuss this with you). Satu led the women home in 1.38.25 closely followed by Emilia and Liz. Marco bravely decided to run despite calf pain from the start and finished in a very respectable time considering. Results for all are given below – both chip and gun times (you can take your pick).

Cordoba is a truly stunning city dominated by the Moorish style mosque La Mezquita – and the weather was warm and sunny on race day. It was a pretty, flat course circling and looping through the city, with plenty of water stops and a very supportive crowd. Finishers received sandwiches, beer, fruit, water, a medal, shorts and a t-shirt and towel! A highly recommended race, everyone enjoyed it, the atmosphere was great and the refuelling afterwards was particularly easy. This sounds as if I work for the Cordoba tourist board, but it really was a great race destination.”

San Sebastian Marathon, Sunday 26/11

A superb run from Spain's own Juan Carlos Casal Perez who finished inside the top 25 with an amazing time of 2:37.03. Elsewhere, Chris Holmes sneaked inside the top 200 with what I'm told was a debut marathon, making his comfortably sub 3 hour time even more impressive. Jonathan Powell completed the trio, finishing in 3:17.06 in his best time of the year.

Parkruns

A trio of ladies managed first finishes last week: Rebecca Bunting at Harlow, Leigh James in Porthcawl and Olivia Desborough at Highbury Fields. Full results:

http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017&eventdate=2017-11-25

Results in full:

Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5k, Hyde Park, Friday 24/11

44 Alex Sweet 18:50
89 Jennifer Wing 20:15
146 Alun Nash 22:31
167 Gabi Johnson 23:22

Fraternity Cup, Trent Park, Saturday 25/11

8 Richard Macauley 28:37
13 Esa Valtanen 29:24
17 Jonathan Litchfield 29:40
18 Andy Barnes 29:49
20 Chris Hartley 30:12
24 Joe McKeown 30:30
29 Antanas Weston 30:47
36 Unknown Runner 31:15
40 Lee Connor 31:30
45 Alex O’Connor 31:58
55 Rob Shulman 33:21
70 Tony Killilea 34:34
85 Carl Heap 36:05
101 Julian Costley 39:34
102 Russell Weston 39:36

Sorority Cup

1 Rebecca Piggott 29:41
20 Jessica Vinluan 38:10
33 Kim Butler 41:38
36 Heather Marshall 42:15
41 Claire Sliverski 44:06
42 Marianne Gibson 44:13
45 Laura Boothman 46:12

Self Transcendence 10k, Battersea Park, Sunday 26/11

16 Luke Wynne 36:10
22 Sebastien Harrison 36:43

Cordoba Medio Maraton, Spain, Sunday 26/11

901 Liam Hazleton 1:29.48
1433 Laurence Russell 1:33.52
1362 Richard Peachment 1:34.07
1928 Satu Hietenen 1:38.25
2267 Emilia Vynnycky 1:40.32
2465 Liz Drake 1:41.56
2827 Daniel Wrapson 1:43.20
3188 Nilesh Goswami 1:45.42
3968 Caroline White 1:50.38 (3rd in age category)
6187 Marco Maserati 2:08.51     

San Sebastian Medio Maraton, Spain, Sunday 26/11

23 Juan Carlos Casal Perez 2:37.03
196 Chris Holmes 2:52.20
880 Jonathan Powell 3:17.06