Relays of varying length

The latest outing in the Rob Jackson Road Race Championships was the Sri Chinmoy Mile Relays in Battersea Park, wherein teams of three rack up a trio of miles apiece in the search for fruit. (Being all about self transcendence, the organisers give you healthful foods as a prize, instead of materialistic trinkets.)

An all-male threesome of Stu MJ, Dan Johns and Simon Dunderdale had a peach of a run (ha!) coming second overall to scoop their share of nature's bounty and -more importantly - club bragging rights.

The youth team competition was a head-to-head between Heathside's girls and boys teams, and it was ladies first as the girls (Mimi, Nell and Rose) overtook their younger counterparts and held on for the win.

Further down the field, Heathside's 'We've Brought Our Own Fruit' V60 team were first in their age category, and Heathside Veggies overtook Heathside Sunday Girls (who are probably all also veggies) in a tight final leg.

Full results are below, along with my own unofficial nominations for best and worst team names, and a bit of a headache for our Head of Road Racing, Sam, as to how to allocate Rob Jackson points with Heathside's precocious youngsters in the mix.

24 hours of muddy mayhem in darkest Derbyshire*

(*possibly Staffordshire)

A rather different relay, the 24h Continental Thunder Run, is a bit of a difficult one to report on as, even having taken part, I had very little idea what was going on, and despite taking Monday off, I'm still behind on my sleep. As far as I can follow, there were solo entrants, pair entrants, small teams (3-5 members) and large teams (6-8 members), trying to slog out as many 10k laps of the hilly woodland course as they could in the 24-hour time limit. There was no thunder, but plenty of blunder as the persistent rain turned the course into a mucky mess.

A distinctly Heathside-flavoured 'Team Banana' (usual supporters' cowbells supplemented by large inflatable bananas) finished fourth in the large mixed team event, churning out 31 increasingly brown laps within the time limit. The team of eight included present club members Sue Rust, Dave Hellard and me, and legendary Heathside rabblers Claire Morrissey and team captain Ant Hall. As an uncharacteristically stern captain Ant was hell-bent on a top ten finish, this meant an ear-to-ear grin for him and a stay of execution for the rest of us.

There were also a few Heathsiders to spot freelancing with other teams. Joe Garrood's appetisingly-named 'Fat Rascals' team pounded out 25 laps to finish ninth in the men's team event. (Joe was the fastest cake in his team's kitchen, completing his five-lap share of the mileage in 3 hours, 52 minutes.) Elsewhere in the large mixed team event, Simon Hazel contributed 30k to 'AdventRunning Four', who compiled 24 laps (35th team), and Tom Ashby clocked four laps in 3 hours 10 for the not-so-appetising 'Tough Butter' (12th team, 27 laps).

Sweary Sarah seventh in Snowdonia

Model citizen Sarah Swan took on another gruelling distance event in the Scott Snowdonia Marathon and even she found it a bit of a grind, as demonstrated in the rather colourful account that Gavin forwarded to Heathside HQ:

"Shoot me if I ever mention doing the Snowdon marathon again. It was 27 miles of uphill and downhill hell (with some lovely miles somewhere). I actually told some poor chap that I didn’t give a              when he kindly told me I was the seventh woman.

"I was not prepared for the rocks and boggy marshes. It really was a bit extreme and in the uphill walk and scramble to the summit (no running for anyone here), I almost lost the will to live. Beachy Head is a frolic among the        daisies in comparison. I feel slightly satisfied and 100 years older."

It's unclear whether Sarah got any kind of cash prize for first V45, although it would probably have all gone in the swear jar if she had.

Bas Vlaming submitted a rather more picturesque account of the half marathon (there's a lesson in there somewhere), in which he praises the beautiful views, good organisation and marshalling.

He also mentions a good run from Charles Redfearn and describes Sarah as 'breezing' to her category victory in the full distance, so either he was running with headphones or sound doesn't travel well in the Welsh mountains.

Rush hour in the City

Closer to home, Heathside provided volunteers for the Standard Chartered Great City 5k on Monday evening which was at least appreciated by competitors if somewhat less so than by harrassed city commuters finding their path to the tube station blocked by several thousand runners.

We also had a few Heathsiders taking part. Rachel Scott Halls gives the following account: "I joined Heathside after hearing about it at this race last year, and whilst I was forced into a race vest from my workplace, I was running with the Heathside spirit.  My erratic attendance at Martin's Wednesday night sessions has paid off as I got a PB of 00:24:53, an improvement of 1 minute 52 seconds on last year.  There was some great marshalling from Heathsiders along the way - I spotted some familiar faces dealing well with a ridiculously crowded course and some not-too-happy city chaps wanting to get home."

Elsewhere

• There were more miles in Battersea, albeit on the track, in the SOAR mile event, where Kelly T got a PB of 5:14

• And, blow me, more from Battersea: Matt Colins led home three Heathsiders in Saturday's Self Transcendence 10k

• Apologies to anyone who took part in the Herne Hill Harriers Open - their full set of results isn't up yet

• And finally (finally!) check out this week's parkrun results, be you so inclined.

Results

Sri Chinmoy Mile Relays, Battersea Park, 24 July

2 Worst Pace Scenario 14:59
Stuart Meiklejohn 5:06
Daniel Johns 4:57
Simon Dunderdale 4:56

14 London Heathside: Andy, Kimon, Pete (Worst team name) 15:58
Andy Barnes 5:02
Pete Bakewell 5:02
Kimon Doulis 5:54

41 London Heathside U13 Girls (1st youth team) 17:07
Mimi Blake 5:41
Nell Swinhoe 5:53
Rose Garrett 5:33

44 London Heathside U13 Boys (2nd youth team) 17:14
Stan Hasson 5:40
Max Deasy 5:59
Spike Blake 5:35

58 Wednesday Wanderers 17:56
Mark George 5:49
Nick de Sausmarez 6:13
Stuart Amblin 5:54

63 Heathside Veggies 18:08
Nilesh Goswami 6:18
Richard Peachment 6:21
Liam Hazleton 5:29

65 Heathside 10am Sunday Girls (3rd ladies' team) 18:18
Elizabeth Drake 6:03
Louisa Pointon 6:07
Satu Hietanen 6:08

68 We've Brought Our Own Fruit (Best name, 1st V60) 18:25
Michael Abrahams 6:06
Carl Heap 6:16
Nick Dodd 6:03

77 Wednesday night ladies 19:34
Catherine Doherty 6:24
Jackie Wastell 6:43
Hannah Stanforth 6:27

Others
Tony Killilea 5:19 (Ordnance Survey)
Doug Rendle 5:21 (The Good, the Bad and the Stretchered Away)

24h Conti Thunder Run 2017, Catton Hall Park, Derbyshire
Individual results by distance and time:

RunnerDistance(Time)Joe Garrood50 km(3:52:41)David Hellard40 km(2:45:00)Daniel McKeown40 km(2:55:31)Anthony Hall40 km(2:59:23)Tom Ashby40 km(3:10:30)Claire Morrissey40km(3:39:22)Sue Rust30 km(2:33:00)Simon Hazel30 km(2:37:24)

Scott Snowdonia Trail Marathon, 23 July 2017

Marathon
41 Sarah Swan 05:03:14 (1st VW45)

Half Marathon
124 Charles Redfearn 02:52:33
173 Bas Vlaming 03:01:33

Self Transcendence 10K, Battersea Park 22 Jul 17
24 Matt Collins 38:29
26 Edward Adams 38:59
79 Rebecca Sweet 50:13

SOAR mile, Battersea, 21 July

Mile SX 1
11 Kimberli Butler 06:59.7

Mile SX 2
18 Jessica Vinluan 06:22.5

Mile SX 4
20 Michael Abrahams 06:01.2

Mile SX 6
8 Tony Killilea 05:13.7 SB
10 Kelly Thorneycroft 05:14.8 PB
14 Jonathan Litchfield 05:20.8

Standard Chartered Great City 5k, Monday 24 July

2313 Rachel Scott Halls 00:24:53
2206 Rebecca Marshall 00:24:40