Southern Athletics league, Greater Manchester Marathon, aquathlons and parkruns

After the excitement of the London Marathon last weekend was a quieter weekend for Heathsiders, the main events being the first Southern Athletics League fixture of the year, the Greater Manchester marathon, as well as the usual scattering of parkruns.  Paul and Stephanie (half way through her pregnancy) were at the Willesden aquathlon, where Paul tried to swim backstroke (being his fastest stroke) and was told to revert to front crawl half way through.  (Paul do see the Heathside triathlon section about swim training if you like!).  I also need to add a late London marathon result which was over looked last week, apologies to Rob Watts who finished in 5.01.40. 

Runners in the Manchester marathon tell me the conditions were good and the crowd support was plentiful, with ample Heathside support (thanks Tom, I think).  Chris Burns reports that it was his first road marathon so congratulations to him on a fine time of 2hr56min.  Stuart and Sarah both achieved PB’s, and I believe it was Alice’s debut marathon, so well done all. 

We also had David Hellard completing his third event for his Streetchild sponsorship challenge.  (full details here).  While most London marathoners were still recovering David was competing in an adventure race.  This race involved trail running, bike riding and kayaking.  Unfortunately on the bike he suffered from mechanical failure (a pedal fell off) and was unable to complete the ride. More successfully he finished the night run in a close second place, despite getting lost and running an additional kilometre.  Unfortunately due to the pedal issue he was forced to miss the second day’s ride, so finished second from last overall.  Stick to marathons, I think, Dave, far simpler. 

There were also some good parkruns, with Tom’s first place at South Manchester the pick of the bunch. 

From Adrian Essex we have a report on the Southern Athletics league, Uxbridge,

Our mixed track and field team spent a day of sunshine, hailstones and showers in Uxbridge, taking on Hillingdon, Barnet and St Alban's in a competitive match in the Southern Athletics League. We came 2nd overall, a pleasing result for a team with a high proportion of under 17s and under 20s, reflecting the club's emphasis on young athlete development. Highlights of the results include Israel Nworgu's first places in both the 110 and 400m hurdles, Reg Stasaitas's wins in high and triple jump, backed up by a fine all round team performance. This puts us 6th in the league table.

Special mentions are also due to Rob O'Grady for taking a day off training and competition to act as an official for the afternoon, to Rob Summerson for his role as timekeeper and Ivor Wiggett who was starter throughout the afternoon in the variable weather. These roles are crucial to our continued success in this league. If you can help out in future weeks please contact the club volunteer co-ordinator Tom Aldred (tomaldred@hotmail.com). Thanks also to all those athletes who help out with officiating when not competing.

Around 30 athletes travelled either on the bus or independently, enabling us not only to cover the great majority of events, but to stage a mini-meet of our own with at least three non-scoring 100m races made up almost entirely of Heathside athletes (men and women) and a 200m non-scoring race exclusively of Heathside athletes. Many non-scorers took part in other races/field events, adding to a fine afternoon of camaraderie and team spirit.

We took maximum points in the men's 400m hurdles, long jump, pole vault, discus and the triple jump.

Full results can be found on here.

A few more special mentions:

•Yasmine Kadio - who volunteered for and achieved a respectable triple jump performance

•June Hyams and Ruth who had a bash at the high jump when our two front liners were injured

•The ladies 4 x 100m relay team for a hard fought win

•U17 Lily Beckford who beat three seniors in the 400m

And finally, don't forget the next fixture at Wormwood Scrubs run to this timetable starting at noon. A particularly warm welcome will be afforded to anyone who can clear barriers, especially ladies for the hurdles and steeplechase. Let Team Manager Russell Weston (russell@terminex.co.uk) know of your availability

28/4/13 Greater Manchester Marathon
103rd Chris Burn 2hr56min38sec
506th Stuart Meikljohn 3hr17min07sec PB
2664th Alice Loughney 3hr57min6sec
5504th Sarah Illingworth 4hr09min07sec PB

28/4/13 Willesden Aquathlon (400m swim, 5k run)Paul Lemmon 29min15sec
Stephanie Robson 31min51 sec

29/4/13 Southern Counties Vets league match 1500m, Kingston
Paul Lemmon 5min10.9sec

Parkrun round-up
Ally Pally parkrun
3 Rob SHULMAN  19min13sec 
13 Miranda YAU  22min46sec  1st woman
28 Louise BREUER  24min57sec
36 Caroline ESSEX  26min21sec 

Finsbury parkrun
8 James PICKETT 18min56sec
17 Dominic JACKSON 20min05sec 
18 Brian BOYLE 20min11sec
35 Carl Andrew HEAP 21min08sec
93 Gabrielle JOHNSON 24min22sec
145 C ZACHARIDES 28min59sec

Gladstone parkrun
25 Georgie KENNEDY 22min31sec 

Hackney Marshes parkrun
19 Philip Thomas BENTLEY 23min06 sec

 Hampstead Heath parkrun
5 John DRISCOLL 18min58 sec
13 Laurence ARNOLD 20min10 sec
25 Andrew SULSTON 22min46 sec
35 Andrew Simon CONWAY 23min43 sec
53 Bob GOULD 25min31sec 
67 Tim NAGY 26min40sec

Oak Hill parkrun 
5 Nick DE SAUSMAREZ 20min30sec

Pymmes parkrun
7 Marco MASERATI 21min18sec
15 Claire SLIWERSKI 24min47sec

South Manchester parkrun
1 Tom ALDRED 16min59 sec