Regents Park 10k, MK Marathon and postcards from the Sahara
First off, there were plenty of Heathsiders out at the Regents Park 10k (race one of the six-race summer series). Adam put in an outstanding three laps of the park (plus one lap of most the field) to secure first place, as ace reporter Greg Bell describes:
"Spectators, runners and the camels at nearby London Zoo, looked on in awe as Adam Kirk-Smith powered through the pack (he lapped me between the 5-6km markers), finishing ahead of his nearest rival by over a minute and a half.
"Carl Heap followed as the 2nd V60, and the rest of us did our best, ignoring the mocking calls as we ran past the brightly-plumaged inhabitants of the Parrot House."
We also had numbers out in Milton Keynes for the Marathon and the Half. In the full distance, Andrew Shreeve dipped inside three hours and Pete Bakewell pipped Luke W home as second Heathsider by no more than 13 seconds, so that's another exciting addition to the 'club rivalries' list. Michael Tant and Edyta were our others over the 26 miles.
Meanwhile, Rob Bowler was less than 100% delighted with the half: "Under-trained, watch malfunction, windy conditions, twisty course. A running disaster. Good thing is, there is another race next week." An admirably stoic sentiment, if not a tremendously sensible one.
A well-attended, if slightly windswept Last Friday 5k saw outstanding PBs for Rebecca and Jonathan, plus a very welcome return to action for Steve Monaghan.
In track and field, we had plenty of runners at the Youth Development League and the Herne Hill Harriers open. The pick of results from the latter appears to be Rose Garrett (U13) placing fourth in a mile race where most of her competitors were senior women.
Finally some big news - call off the search party and cancel the state funeral - a sandy postcard has just landed on the Heathside race reports doormat from Dave Hellard, who apparently survived the Marathon des Sables. Not only that, but I'm even prepared to concede that he did rather well (albeit through teeth as gritted as Hellard's running socks).
Dave's day-by-day diary reports it thus:
Like the Heathside club training weekend - Sandy Balls. Paced well and was happy enough.
Fell apart - bonked, not sure if I went off too fast or just lack of food caught up with me, I had to walk the majority of the last 10k, there were tears of frustration, was soul destroying knowing that these were the easy days and I had such little food to try and recover for the 52-mile long day 4.
Paced sensibly, was learning how to run on dunes or sand or sandy tracks with different styles, felt much better.
Long day. I wanted to finish first Brit and top 20 overall and ideally to secure it today. I started very slowly, a main rival attacking early up a large jebel, but I stayed slow and gradually picked up throughout the day. Was the run of my life, banging out 7-8 minute miles over the final third. I finished in 9.49, giving me a 45 minute lead over the second brit and a bit more over 20th - kerpow.
Marathon. I took it easy, knowing that if I didn't blow up I'd hit my goals, then I got paranoid that I was way down the field and for the second half ran like a lunatic.
"Overall 17th out of 1300 or so and 1st Brit - yippee. it's an amazing race, so beautiful and unique, but a crazy commitment in terms of training, so only consider it if you're hoping for a divorce or a bad performance review at work. I was racing to raise money for Street Child, who educate street children in Sierra Leone and help rehabilitate those orphaned by the ebola crisis - an amazing charity, all donations are greatly appreciated. "
Results
Milton Keynes Marathon23 Andrew Shreeve 2:59:07
61 Pete Bakewell 03:10:0263 Luke Wynne 03:10:15476 Michael Tant 03:49:33934 Edyta Szot 04:16:21
Milton Keynes Half
199 Rob Bowler 1:42:48
Regents Park 10k
1st Adam Kirk-Smith 00:33:26
65th Carl Heap 00:42:59 (1st V60 )
178th Anthony Chaimowitz 00:48:01
272nd Alun Nash 00:52:28
289th Greg Bell 00:52:39
312th Katherine Creaney 00:52:53
Last Friday 5k
13 Simon Brown17:38
20 Jacob Howe17:48
25 Rebecca Piggott18:06
30 Jonathan Litchfield 18:16
38 Steve Monaghan 18:30
95 Leo Cador Pemberton 20:34
Herne Hill Harriers Open
LJ U17M
2 Caspar Schulze 5.23
3 ISAAC TIBBETT5.05
LJ U13W
3 Rose Garrett 3.82
100m
R2 HeleneKehoe 15.09
400m
D4 HeleneKehoe 76.92
Mile
D4 RoseGarrett 6:06.80
5000
A4 AndrewBrooker 16:07
Youth Development League
75 U13W A
2 Kyerah Scott PB 10.48
75 U13W B
2 Lauren Knight PB 11.5
75 U13W ns1
2 Sanaa Neunie PB 11.05
100 U13M A
4 Etienne Munday PB 14.7
100 U13M B
5 Ruairi McGonagle PB 14.86
150 U13W A
2 Kyerah Scott PB 21.11
150 U13W B
2 Rose Garrett PB 22.55
200 U15M A
6 Harry Johnson PB 27.3
200 U13M A
7 Arthur Reed PB 33.59
200 U13M B
7 Kit Naylor PB 34.28
200 U15W A
7 Aaliyah Lakeman SB 30.9