Road relays, Berlin marathon and several half marathons

The report this week includes the SEAA Road Relays, Crystal Palace, speedy performances in Berlin, half marathons in Barns Green, Ealing, Texel and elsewhere and an aquathon in Willesden.

SEAA Road Relays, Crystal Palace

The SEAA road relays in Crystal Palace were the highlight of the week, with 10 Heathsiders participating.  Samuel Thompson sent the following report:  

“On Sunday we had three teams compete at the SEAA Road Relays in Crystal Palace. Initial trepidation about venturing south of the river was soon assuaged by the blissful late summer sunshine and the excitement of representing the club at the South of England's premier Road Relay championship.

The courses were advertised as 4.5km for the Women (4 legs) and 6km for the Men (4 legs for V40s and 6 legs for Seniors). However, not for the first time (see also Gravesend 2016), the courses were significantly short - by about 1km. On the course there was a hill resembling a ski slope which the Women did once and the Men twice but the rest was generally flowing and it was a nice touch to start/finish in the stadium with use of the stands & facilities for spectators.

The event was of a very high standard but our teams performed admirably. Rebecca 'I'm not race fit' Piggott stormed back from a long injury layoff to run the fastest leg for our Women's team, who finished a very credible 38th of 81 teams. The Senior Men's team came 79th of 90 full team, despite a cracking first leg from Simon Dunderdale and a super anchor leg from Kris Milovsorov, who claims his dad once won this event despite running each leg himself. The V40 Men were spearheaded by Dan Johns, coming 13th out of 29 complete teams.

This was a great event to be a part of and one which deserves a higher priority on the club's racing calendar. With separate Vets categories we could be very competitive with our strongest teams out so look out for the announcements next year as at this time of year there aren't many clashes with other big events. Thanks again to everyone who took part and contributed to a super day out!”

Berlin marathon

Four  Heathsiders ran in the Berlin marathon last Sunday.  Speedy Sergio Gonzalez Manzaneque was the first Heathsider (2:48:07), followed by Paul Beale, who just nudged under the 3 hour mark (2:59:55), Monika Newton (3:17:16) and Simon Hazel, who just missed the four hour mark.  The official website reported difficult conditions, with “99% humidity” (i.e. heavy rain), but interestingly, none of the Heathsiders commented on this.  Monika reported that it was not her best time but she really enjoyed it.

Half marathons

Barns Green: Philip Hogg escaped from London on Sunday to run in the half marathon in Barns Green, south of London (between Horsham and Gatwick).  Despite being disappointed with his time (a solid 1:26:47), he appears to have enjoyed it, commenting: “the half marathon has a village fete vibe with cakes and tea at the end. Scenery is amazing although there are  undulating smallish hills the entire route.  Recommended if you want a nice day out and have a car. Lovely pub which is just as well as I got stuck there while waiting for roads to clear and get a taxi.”

Texel: Heathside’s representative in Holland, Bas Vlaming, headed home to Texel to squeeze in one final half marathon before heading to the Chicago marathon in a fortnight. He does a great job of selling the race, reporting: “As in the last couple of years, it was quite a pleasant sunny day, good crowds, and the route was very familiar but nice as always. I took it pretty easy and very comfortably wrapped up the race in 1.52.22 (330th). Now I can really start tapering :)”

Windsor Great Park half marathon: Seven Heathsiders visited Windsor for the Great Park half marathon last Sunday.  Joseph Clemoes led the way, finishing in 1:28:34, with all the others finishing in under 1:45.  Joseph very kindly sent in the following write-up: 'The sun shone brightly over Windsor making for a really pretty setting in the great park for the Run Windsor half marathon. It was tough going at times on a hilly course of one short lap and one long lap (with all the steeper inclines and declines). Spectators were in great voice across the course, especially on the aptly named long walk, which really lived up to its name on the dead straight final mile.'  

Ealing half marathon:  Five Heathsiders stayed in London last Sunday to do the Ealing half marathon. Michael Cockings was the first Heathsider, finishing quickly in 1:22:49, followed by Louisa Pointon (1:38:15), with Nick de Sausmarez and the others following soon after.  The course was so difficult that extracting coherent comments about it was not straightforward.  Nick could find only 4 words (mostly of one syllable), describing it as: “hot, hilly, hard work”.  Further questioning revealed that the hills were as challenging as Fitzroy and Primrose Hill, which perhaps says it all…

Oradea City Running Day

There are some belated results from the week-end before last from Romania, where Nicu Diaconu ran the 5k in the Oradea City Running Day, which he won in 18:12 (apparently, the course was 300m over distance).  Interestingly, he ran with two numbers pinned to his racing vest, sparking speculation that it was due to his importance.

Multi-events

Sue Eedle hesitated to send the following report about her aquathon event, before thinking the better of it: “At the risk of yet again lowering the tone of the Heathside weekly race report, I had an enjoyable and moderately successful outing (1'22" off my previous time) at another niche aquathon with the right idea about post-race goodies:”  For the record, Sue came third (well done Sue!) and the post-race goodie was a beer bottle, which looked full in the photo…

Parkruns

Many took to parkruns this week-end.  Congratulations for first place finishes go to Andrew Prystawski (Holkham, 19:05), Chiara Bork (Ellenbrook Fields, 20:32), Ursula Wilson (Orange, 22:38).

Results

SEAA Road Relays, Crystal Palace, Sunday 24th September 2017

Senior Women:

38th - 59:14 (81 teams) - Approx 3.5km

Rebecca Piggott: 13:35

Sarah Swinhoe: 14:26

Sarah Duke: 17:13

Katie Sandford: 14:00

Senior Men:

79th - 1:54:13 (90 teams) - Approx 5km

Simon Dunderdale: 16:45

John McKnight: 21:08

Joe Garrood: 17:45

Samuel Thompson: 19:17

Gavin Evans: 19:48

Kris Milovsorov: 19:25

Veteran (V40) Men:

13th - 1:13:47 (29 teams) - Approx 5km

Dan Johns: 17:29

Paul Tonkinson: 19:41

Matt Collins: 18:26
Jonathan Litchfield: 18:10

Berlin marathon, Sunday 24th September 2017

633      Sergio Gonzalez Manzaneque                       2:48:07

1665    Paul Beale       2:59:55

286      » Newton, Monika (GBR)       3:17:16

14674  Simon Hazel   4:00:31

Ealing half marathon, Sunday 24th September 2017

47        Micheal Cockings       1:22:49

489      Louisa Pointon                        1:38:15

679      Nick de Sausmarez    1:41:10

802      Tom Bedwell               1:42:53

1746    Eleanor Jones             1:56:45

Barns Green half marathon, Sunday 24th September 2017

43        Philip Hogg                  1:26:47

Windsor Park half marathon, Sunday 24th September 2017

48  Joseph Clemoes   1:28:34

59  Paul Mercer                      1:29:36

81  Jason Bredhauer  1:31:42

104  Marcus Tillotson  1:33:52

277 Rondo Selwyn     1:39:19

437  Conor Forbes      1:43:10

454  Daniel Wrapson  1:44:46'

Milton Keynes half marathon, , Sunday 24th September 2017

391  Emma Gregory               2:33:40

Robin Hood half marathon, , Sunday 24th September 2017

391      Tom Haworth              1:37:14

Oradea City Running Day, Rumania, Sunday 16th September

1   Nicu Diaconu                     18:12 

Willesden aquathon, weekend of the 23rd September 2017

4  Sue Eedle (3rd F)    35:43

Parkruns:

http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017&eventdate=2017-09-23