Scenic half marathons and marathons in Texel, Loch Ness, Berlin and elsewhere

The highlights this week include 10Ks in and  around London, half marathons in Ealing, Cheltenham, Winchester and Texel, marathons in Berlin and Loch Ness, as well as an open-water swimming event.

10KM

Jessica Vinluan and Chloe Adler had an enjoyable day in Finsbury Park on Sunday, making the most of free places offered by Islington Council for the Women’s Running 10K.  Jessica ran well, finishing 5th (47:16) and Chloe finished soon after in 13th place (49:31). 

Meanwhile, Andy Conway was the sole representative at the Stewarts Law Moor Park 10K, a charity event in Rickmansworth in aid of a Macmillan Cancer centre.  Andy ran well on a very hilly course (49:27) and was clearly impressed by his surroundings “…big houses, a very grand golf club, and, just for good measure, Merchant Taylor's Preparatory School (formerly Northwood Prep). Sort of like a self-contained Holly Lodge Estate but with more swimming pools.”  His Facebook post provides further details, which for brevity have been omitted.

Half marathons

Five Heathsiders (Rob Shulman, Alan Smith, Sif Sumarlidadottir, Nick de Sausmarez and Daniel Wrapson) ran in the Ealing half marathon last Sunday. Rob had a great run, just nudging under 1:25 by one second and coming second V50, followed soon by Alan (1:25:18).  Nick, Dan and Sif followed 15 minutes later, coming within a minute of each other (1:39:15, 1:39:19 and 1:40:03 respectively).  Nick’s time was particularly impressive, given that he had run the Richmond marathon last Sunday, whilst Sif showed great promise, smashing her PB by 7 minutes in her 3rd half marathon.  She graciously credits the club for her achievements, saying “The Heathside club runs and hills around here must have paid off!”

Jack Farley and Jason Bredhauer ran well in the Winchester half marathon, where Jack came 4th overall and 1st senior male (1:19:18.6), and Jack finished in 1:30:46.1.

Nick Hayward and Henry Hamilton-Gould travelled to Cheltenham to run in its half marathon. The traffic problems made local news, as around 300 runners (10% of runners) ended up starting over half an hour late. Nick and Henry appeared unaffected by this disruption, finishing in 1:25:10 and 1:28:43 respectively.

Bas Vlaming went home last week-end to run in a half marathon  in Texel, an island in North Holland.   It’s unclear whether Bas is employed by the Dutch tourism board, but his description of the half marathon is certainly one which might give ideas for a future trip for Heathside’s newly-formed globetrotting tour group: 

“…it's a beautiful race, starting from a ferry, making its way through picturesque villages, over dunes and through heaths, meadows and forests. On a slightly less positive note, the many narrow paths mean it can get a bit congested, and worse, there's over a mile of beach which at high tide (like this weekend) is a nightmare to slog through. Not a race with much PB potential. Also, it was a gorgeous weekend, sunny and with temperatures in the high twenties - great for the spectators, not so good for me. Still, despite the heat and not managing to hold on to the kind of pace I was aiming for, for about 17k I had a great time running through very familiar and pretty countryside surroundings…”

Despite suffering in the last 4K,  Bas finished in a respectable 1:52.41 and vowed to return next year.  We wait to see whether a large Heathside contingent comes too….

Marathons

Jake Spencer and Lea Michaels followed in the footsteps of the great Kenenisa Bekele in the Berlin marathon last Sunday, coming over an hour later than him, with Jake finishing in 3:11:10 and Lea finishing in spectacular form to achieve a PB in 3:26:08.  Lea was overjoyed with her result, but had to delay her celebrations until she recovered from her post-marathon food-poisoning.  We wish her a speedy recovery.  .

Finally, Rachel Newstead ran well in the Loch Ness marathon, finishing fourth in a great time of 3:09:45 and was so fast that she failed to see any monsters.  Whilst woefully observing that it’s not a PB course due to the hills, she does a decent job of selling the race, commenting on “fantastic views of the Scottish Highlands and the Loch”.

24/09/16 Swim Serpentine / 25/09/16 British Open Water Swimming Championships

For anyone wishing to improve their open water swimming skills, Luka’s report from the Serpentine in Hyde Park is particularly timely:

 “As you are probably aware, the organisers of the London Marathon staged the first ever Swim Serpentine on Saturday 24 September hoping it will become a recurring annual festival of swimming.  About 4000 people took part of this mass open water swimming event swimming one lap (1.6 km / 1 mile) of the Serpentine in wet suits.

As part of the Swim Serpentine festival of swimming, on Sunday 25th, they hosted the British Open Water Swimming Championships for different age groups, masters, elites and para elite swimmers ranging from 13 to 72 years of age. About 400 people in total took part of the Sunday swim which was held under FINA rules meaning it was done without wetsuits (skins) in 17.2C water. Elites swam three laps (5 km / 3 miles); youth (17-24 years) and masters did two laps (3.3 km / 2 miles) and the youngest (13-16 years) and para elite swimmers did one lap.”

Luka enjoyed the event and was delighted with his performance, coming 5th in the M35-39 Masters age group in 0:46:53.

Park runs

Many Heathsiders were parkrunning this week.  Tom was one of very few Heathsiders to have run in a parkrun in Denmark, at the Fælledparken.  Congratulations for first place finishes go  to Tom Aldred (Highbury Fields in 15:42),  Dan McKeown (Crystal Palace in 18:07), David Kirk (Ally Pally in 18:43), Sarah Swan (running unattached in Ally Pally in 20:39) and Rebecca Bunting (Dulwich Park in 18:09).

Results

Women's running 10K, Finsbury Park, Sunday 25th September 2016                         

Position           Name              Time   

5          Jessica Vinluan           00:47:16

13        Chloe Adler                 00:49:31

Stewart's Law Moor Park 10K

Position           Name              Time   

108      Andrew Conway         00:49:27         

Ealing half marathon, Sunday 25th September, 2016

Position           Name              Time   

86        Rob Shulman              01:24:59          (2nd V50)

90        Alan SMITH                01:25:18         

691      Nick De Sausmarez   01:39:15         

788      Daniel Wrapson          01:39:19         

675      Sif Sumarlidadottir      01:40:03         

Cheltenham half marathon, Sunday 25th September 2016

Position           Name                          Time   

50        Nick Haward                           01:25:10         

88        Henry Hamilton-Gould            01:28:43         

Winchester half marathon, Sunday 25th September 2016

Position           Name              Time

4          Jack FARLEY             01:19:19         

44        Jason BREDHAUER  01:31:05         

Texel half marathon, The Netherlands, 25th September 2016

Position           Name  Time   

56        Bas Vlaming    01:52:43         

Berlin marathon, Sunday 25th September 2016

Position           Name  Time   

2621    Jake Spencer 03:11:10

423      Lea Michaels   03:26:08 (PB)

Loch Ness marathon, Sunday 25th September 2016

Position           Name  Time   

70        Rachel Newstead       03:09:45 (4th F)          

25/09/16 British Open Water Swimming Championships

5th (Masters M35-39) Luka Melon  0:46:53

Parkruns

http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017&eventdate=2016-09-24