Scorching Aldred lights up gloomy Easter weekend

At the overcast (read: minging) World Half Marathon Championships in Cardiff, Tom Aldred sizzled through the wind and rain to finish 8th overall in a patch over 67 minutes. We should stress that this was 8th in the "mass race", and that Tom wasn't dishing it out to the national champions of Kenya, Eritrea et al. He was, however, dishing it out to around 12,000 other competitors, among whose number we also had local(ish) talent Leigh and Elinor, and Jonathan and Jessica, who both secured PBs.

As for Tom, the qualifying standard to be considered for this year's British team was 65 minutes. Could be one for the future?

IAAF/Cardiff University World Half Marathon Championships, Cardiff 2016

8 Tom Aldred 1:07:02
478 Jonathan Litchfield 1:24:23
517 Leigh James 1:25:20
1188 Elinor East 1:32:55
3559 Jessica Vinluan Litchfield 1:44:36

The Tough 15km (Greenwich Park, Saturday 26th March)

6th                Philip Hogg                      1:01:28 (3rd V40)

91 finishers

Self Transcendence 50km Ultra Race (incorporating British and Scottish 50k Champs) (Perth, Sunday 27th March)

Jacob reports: “At some point at the end of last year somebody decided it would be a good idea to run an ultra race!  So, on Sunday we were lined up in a windy Perth for the Self Transcendence 50km, made up 21 laps of North Inch Park. 

Having got the taper right, we were both feeling rather too good on the day, ticking off 13 laps to 20 miles, minutes ahead of schedule, whilst the wind was accompanied by alternating bright sunshine and freezing rain.  With the 50k (and simultaneous 100k) runners spread around the loop there was plenty of company, if no one to actually run with.  Past the 20 mile point, it got progressively tougher towards the marathon mark, then whilst Angela cruised home to the Finish, I had to dig in for the last three laps as my legs suggested they'd run quite far enough, thank you.

Angela was delighted to have a completed a full training block through to a race for the first time in a number of years and was rewarded with third in the race giving her the bronze medal in the British Champs, and the gold medal in the Scottish Champs (with the vets gold as a bonus), in her ultra debut.

15th             Jacob Howe                     3:46:02

20th             Angela Howe                   3:59:05 (3rd woman)

69 finishers

Helmsley 10km (Yorkshire, Sunday 27th march)

8th                Dan McKeown                  38:02

323 finishers

Mali Kraški Half-Marathon  (Sežana SLO, Sunday 27th March)

Celine writes: “I was in Slovenia for Easter so managed to sneak in the Mali Kraski half marathon in Sezana. It was a lovely course through country roads that crossed into Italy in parts and we were lucky enough to have a dry cool conditions unlike the folks at home this Easter!. I'm happy to say that it went really well and I was first lady home in a time of 1.24.47 (a new PB) ... Hooray!". [Greg's Note: The race website gives Men’s and Women’s results separately, but Celine’s time was 32nd overall in a field of 962 finishers]

The Nice Work London Easter 10km (Regent’s Park, Monday 28th March)

15th              Philip Hogg                      39:56

78th              Alun Nash                        52:16

272 finishers

Burnham Joggers Beaconsfield 5 Mile Trail Run (Monday 28th March)

Gavin Parish reports: “I was (I think!) the sole Heathsider at this race today. Conditions were apparently ideal last week - but then the rains came, leaving behind large puddles and making a long section of the course very muddy and slippery underfoot. I was pleased to finish 37th out of 407 in a time of 35:20”

River Thames Spring Half Marathon (Walton-on-Thames, Monday 28th March)

Henry writes: “Waking up to Storm Katie - gale force winds & driving rain - wasn't ideal running conditions, but I made it to Walton-on-Thames for the not-so-bright & way too early 8.30am start. It was hard to appreciate the beauty of the river and the surroundings, as along with 400 other runners, our eyes were fixed on the ankle deep puddles that we jumped & skipped around, slipping & sliding through the churned up mud & fallen tree debris that lined the route! In the end it was a relief to reach the finish line in one piece. I'd recommend this run - flat, scenic & potentially very fast...but without the presence of Katie!”

40th              Henry Hamilton-Gould       1:33:51

410 finishers

ATW Easter Hillingdon Half-Marathon (Monday 28th March)

Gavin Evans reports: “The Hillingdon Half was intended to be the perfect pace-tester for the London Marathon, but it turned out to be anything but. The first problem was Katie. She’s the storm that blew everything down - including my garden fence! - and she had her way with us on Sunday morning. We started at 9am when it was still raining, with huge gusts from Katie’s ample lungs, sending debris this way and that. She was occasionally friendly, but mostly not! An hour after we finished, she gave up and the sky turned blue.

Then there was the course. For some reason (they explained afterwards, but the explanation made little sense), they re-routed the course, making it 13.42m (21.5km), which is 500 meters too long!. The gently undulating race was advertised as fast, but really it would have been slow even without the wind and the re-routing - full of pesky twists and turns, and wrong turns for some; and because it was two laps and also overlapped with a 10k race, there were plenty of slower runners blocking our way at bottlenecks, and the traffic felt menacing.

Anyway, enough moaning. Stuart Meiklejohn was the first Heathsider home in ninth place out of 311 finishers. His time of 1:23:56 was not to his liking, but he could knock off at least four minutes, perhaps more, with a smoother course of the right distance – especially since he lost a few seconds on being sent the wrong way by a marshal. I was next, in 14th place, followed by Paul Mercer in 15th and Nick Haward in 17th. Dominic Jackson was next in 22nd place, followed by Carl Heap in 88th place.

We were the second men’s team home. I was the first V50 and Dominic the second; Paul was the second V40 and Nick the third and Carl was the second V60.”

9th               Stuart Meiklejohn              1:23.56

14th             Gavin Evans                     1:25.54 (1st V50)

15th             Paul Mercer                      1:26.05 (2nd V40)

17th             Nick Haward                     1:26.32 (3rd V40)

22nd            Dominic Jackson               1:29.15 (2nd V50)

88th             Carl Heap                         1:43.40 (2nd V60)

311 finishers

PARKRUN: The Easter weekend saw Heathsiders flung far and wide taking part in many Parkruns throughout the counties of England (such as Hants, Lancs, Lincs, Wilts, and properly-written-out ones like Bristol, Kent, Norfolk and Yorkshire) as well as some in Wales and N.Ireland. In addition Henry Hamilton-Gould and Rebecca Bunting made an appearance at the 9th Paris Parkrun, coming in 3rd & 4th positions (Rebecca achieving 1st female). All LH Parkrun results for Easter Saturday can be found at: “http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017&eventdate=2016-03-26”

Skye Kelly ran in the Highbury Fields Junior Park Run on Sunday: “http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017&eventdate=2016-03-27”