The Happy Wanderers…
Heathside’s Parkrun Tourism Dept. visited runs at Barnsley, Warrington, Walsall, Market Harborough, Holkham, Glasgow and Edinburgh; Olivier Le Polain kept up his unbeaten record at Aldenham recording his 5th 1st placing in a time of 16:45.
Nick Dodd and Sion Lewis both ran in the BBC Running Club’s 10km in Regent’s Park last Thursday, with Sion clinching the bronze medal (if it had been an Olympic event - but it wasn’t, so he didn’t get one…) and Nick in 56th, left to dream of a better shot at a medal in Tokyo, sorry I mean Hackney, for, as he writes: “I wanted to get some 10km practice in before the Middlesex 10k at Victoria Park in a couple of weeks, having done a lot of 5k races this summer. Unfortunately, it seemed to be about 5k too far for me! Finished in 44:52 - a long way outside my PB”
Laura Boothman was up in the Yorkshire Dales by the River Wharfe where she ran in the Burnsall Classic 10 Mile road race. She writes: “For the uninitiated (ie. most people!), this is one of several races that form part of BURNSALL FEAST SPORTS, a Yorkshire village sporting event that can trace its origins back to Elizabethan times, and possibly even older. The other main component is the Classic Fell race, made infamous by Ernest Dalzell in 1910 whose record time stood for 67 years, and was described in the classic fell running book ‘Feet in the Clouds’. Anyhow, my run was 10 miles of the finest Dales hills, albeit in wet and windy, but quite mild, conditions. Highlights for me: a brief flat stretch at mile 6 (the aptly named Lauradale Lane!); my Mum supplying me with jellybabies from the Farmhouse porch at mile 7 (I shall be forwarding this info. to WADA in due course - ed.); and the descent from Thorpe (meaning ‘hidden village’ in Viking) after a brutal climbat mile 8. I finished in around 1h33m. And Yorkshire’s medal haul at the Olympics put them in around 18th place, ahead of Kenya!”
Elinor East competed in the Cotswold Classic Middle-distance Triathlon, where she finished in 5h02m, 6th Female and 3rd in her age-category, and reports: “A great race in the beautiful Cotswolds- lake swim, rolling country bike route, albeit incredibly windy, and a scenic trail run around the lakes. I shouldn't have hung out in transition for so long, as I might have broken the 5 hour barrier!!!”
Rebecca Bunting was over in Estonia and took part in the Tartu half on Saturday, coincidentally the same day Estonia marked the 25th Aniiversary of its official Declaration of Independence from the former USSR. 16th place overall, she came in as 3rd Female. She reports: “I ran in the Tartu half marathon in Southern Estonia on Saturday. It was a lovely rural loop including some woodland, and I saw a mink and a few cranes (the bird variety) along the way. A beautiful hot day, I rolled in 3rd woman and won a lettuce, some black bread, 50 Euros and some ice cream. Brilliant stuff!” (where the hell did this trend start for races to dish out fresh fruit & veg as prizes??!)
Louise Atkin, Chris Burn and Philip Hogg were in Zermatt to run in the Matterhorn Ultraks 46k ultra (though, according to the website, it was actually 48km, involving ascents totalling 3600m and described there thus: “A magical track! With a concentration of wild space and high mountains, an ideal course requiring one to combine speed and technique, without fearing the climb of 3100m to Gornergrat, offering a panoramic view of the ever present Matterhorn”). Philip's Facebook post describes it thus: "Much steeper ascents ("speed" walking mostly in my case) then some terrifying (for me at least) descents & a traverse along a ledge - in one place with some mean looking sheep looking like they want to butt me off the edge into the abyss - and crazy mountain runners belting past on the downhills, even tho' the path is barely wide enough for one person. Altitude was also an issue as it makes you feel a bit queezy. The hardest part is also at the end when most tired. Otherwise it was brilliant, & I am very relieved to be down in one piece..."
Luka Melon, meanwhile, was over in Croatia, where he swam in the 37th Pula Stoja-Valsalina 1800m open-water marathon and reports: “I first swam and won this 27 years ago at the age of twelve! So I like to return to it every summer if I can. The race has become very popular over the last few years and attracts a very strong field of open water swimmers not only from Croatia, but also Italy, Slovenia and this year even Russia. In a very strong field I came 27th out of 261 competitors and managed a podium (3rd) place in the M30-39 age group in 0:26:03. For comparison, the fastest in the M30-39 was ninth in last year's World Masters open water championships in his age group and he didn't win overall today. Needless to say, I am delighted with my time and result!”
There was also the SAL meeting at Colchester (team pic above), where London Heathside were competing against Division 2 (East) rivals Colchester & Tendring, Havering, and Ipswich. A full report will be posted separately - meanwhile the results can be seen by clicking here
LATE NEWS:
Jacob Howe reports: "Adam Kirk-Smith made his international debut on Wednesday (17th August), running for Northern Ireland in the 2000m steeplechase at the inaugural Manchester International. Finishing 4th in a strong field he kept up his weekly club record setting with a time of 05:44.10, also a PB. A good warm up for the SAL!"
RESULTS (Where available, chip times and chip positions are used…)
Thursday 18 August: BBC Running Club Summer 10km (Regent’s Park)
3 Sion Lewis 36:31
56 Nick Dodd 44:51
214 finishers
Saturday 20 August: Burnsall 10 Mile Road Race (Yorkshire Dales)
76 Laura Boothman 1:33:16
84 finishers
Saturday 20 August: Tartu Half-Marathon (Estonia)
16 (3rd F) Rebecca Bunting 1:28:44
136 finishers
Saturday 20 August: Matterhorn Ultraks Trail 46K (Zermatt, Switzerland)
33 Chris Burn 6:11:10
158 (21 F) Louise Atkin 7:37:11
250 Philip Hogg 8:43:34
Sunday 21 August: 37th Pula Open-Water marathon (Croatia)
27 (3rd M30-39) Luka Melon 26:03
261 finishers
Sunday 21 August: Cotswold Classic Mid-Dist. Triathlon (Ashton Keynes, Glos.)
96 (6th F) Elinor East 5:02:03 (Swim 1.9k: 0:35:49/ Bike 90k: 2:41:15/Run 21k: 1:40:09)
612 finishers
Parkrun: For Saturday's results click here