Club records broken at Lee Valley and Battersea Park, Milton Keynes marathon “reimagined” and triathlons resurface
It was almost back to normal on the racing front this weekend, and from the looks of things lockdown doesn’t seem to have been too detrimental to Heathsiders fitness, keenness and speed. On Saturday the juniors had their first races since lockdown, at Lee Valley, with some impressive results, and on Sunday there was some great racing from the U17s and over. Julia Bijl smashed the club road race 10K record in Battersea Park, Gavin and Rachel took part in the ”reimagined” marathon” at Milton Keynes, Zac held his third open meeting in Finsbury Park which was very well attended and produced some fine results. And Jo and Sara bravely took part in the Bournemouth triathlon. Read all about it here!
LICC/UKA Club Connect and Hurdles Meeting, and Open Meeting, Lee Valley 5th and 6th Sept 2020
Simon reported back: “The London Heathside juniors got their first taste of action on Saturday taking part in the LICC/UKA Club Connect & Hurdles Meeting at Lee Valley. Organised by Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers teams took part from across London and the South East, providing the strongest competition possible and a step up from the MYAL we normally compete in. They didn’t disappoint with two club records broken and 3rd place for the U13 Girls 4x100m relay team (check out the video below). Imani Quamina in her first year as an U15 and first race over the larger hurdles broke the previous Club record set by Tenesha Norwood in 2002. The relays were structured with heats and then A and B finals to give all the teams 2 races. The U15 Boys team of Jarvis, Trey, Montana and Ciaran finished 5th in both heat and B Final. The U15 Girl team of Ella Mai, Clara, Larissa and Imani were 6th in their heat and 5th in the B Final. The U13 Girls team of Fleur, Ella, Suraya and Maddie broke the club record in the heat finishing 2nd behind Shaftesbury. In the final the team finished third behind Shaftesbury and Woodford. Well done to all who took part especially given the limited training available. Thanks to coaches Mary, Israel and Ruth and Paul for assisting.
Sunday saw a more conventional open meeting for the U17’s and above, with 10 Heathsiders taking part. Thomas Archer again produced the standout performance with the 7th fastest 800m by a U17M this year 1.55.51 which also smashed Luke Gray and Jem O’Flaherty’s previous mark by almost 5 sec. Cian O’Donnell who has joined the club from City of Glasgow produced the fastest 100m time on the day 10.86s a new PB for him as previous times were wind assisted. Elsewhere Lily Woolcock recorded a new PB and the fastest 800m by a Heathside Women this year.”
Results:-
LICC/UKA Club Connect & Hurdles Meeting, Lee Valley, 5th September 2020
U15 Girls 75mH
R5 3rd Imani Quamina (U15G) 12.96 PB New Club Record AAA Grade 4
U15 Boys 4x100m
B Final 5th London Heathside U15B (Burgh, Corlis, Dennis, Webb) 51.50
H2 5th London Heathside U15B (Burgh, Corlis, Dennis, Webb) 52.62
U15 Girls 4x100m
B Final 5th London Heathside U15G (Hanncock, Leustean, Wilson, Quamina) 56.43
H2 6th London Heathside U15G (Hanncock, Leustean, Wilson, Quamina) 56.42
U13 Girls 4x100m
A Final 3rd London Heathside U13G (Eltringham, Burridge, Frost, Paitoo) 55.19
H2 2nd London Heathside U13G (Eltringham, Burridge, Frost, Paitoo) 54.68 New Club Record (By 3.5 sec)
LICC Meeting, Lee Valley, 6th September 2020
100m
H2 1st Cian McDonnell 10.86 PB
H6 1st Inigo Woodham-Smith 12.54
400m
H8 5th Noelle O’Regan 64.15
800m
H2 3rd Thomas Archer (U17M) 1:55.51 PB New Club Record AAA Grade 1
H5 5th William Ross 2:03.45
H11 2nd Lily Woolcock 2:22.78 PB
H11 3rd Tony Killilea (V55) 2:24.08
H11 7th Jennifer Wing 2:31.46
3000m
H1 2nd Jem O’Flaherty (U23) 8:46.37
H2 3rd George Gurney 9:21.71
Discus Throw
22nd Joel Hawes 29.38m
RunThrough 5Km/10km, Battersea Park, 6th September 2020
Jacob Howe reports "Our overall club records are all pretty good, and don't get broken very often, so a big round of applause to Julia Bijl for breaking the overall 10km road race club record at the Run Through 10Km at Battersea Park over the weekend, winning the women's race running 33:34 to take 19s off Katy Webster's previous best. Also good to see Philip Hogg back racing after an extended break." Philip reports that the race was very well organised ticking every Covid-19 box to get racing starting again. They also have a number of races planned over the next few months.
Results
10km Race
1st M Dickinson (Clapham Chasers) 30:48
32nd Julia Bijl 35:34 (1st Women) PB New Club Record
81st Philip Hogg (V50) 40:06 (2nd V50)
Covid-19 Finsbury Park Athletics Series, Finsbury Park, 7th September 2020
Simon reported back on this: “Zac held his third Open Meeting at Finsbury Park on monday night which also included a number of Junior Championship Races and efforts to be used for the Middlesex Virtual Junior Races. Some great performances all round in not the easiest conditions with a cross wind.
A highlight on an evening of so many great runs was Magdelines Paitoo's 200m run which broke the club's U13G record and was a top 10 UK ranking performance. All the U13 and U15 girls ran under 31 sec demonstrating their efforts in training over the summer. Leon Searle also set a PB in the Mens A race.
The 1500m saw a host of U11's and U13's with Eric Beale taking a whacking 26 sec off his PB winning the boys race in 5:05 sec, Kiara Corkin also improved her PB by over 30s coming home 1st in the girls race. The U11 races were won by Freddie Burridge and Pheobe Willhoft-King. In the three later 1500m Jack Davis Black could not quite kick hard enough to win while Lily Woolcock held off a stunning run by Lyra MacDonald from VPH&TH to win the 2nd race. This was Lyra's first track race and her time of 5:05 was the 6th fastest by an U13 this year, a young athlete to look out for in the future. The last 1500m turned into a great race with James Woolridge just pipped on the line.
The 3,000m races saw Seyfu dominate from the start to win in 8:41 while the 2nd race saw Simon Nicolls finish first just ahead of Tynan Parker.
Some of the races counted as club championships so congratulations to all the medalists.
Thank you to for Zac for all his efforts getting these meetings to happen and all the volunteers and Officials who offered their time. “
Results
200m
Race 1
1st Magdelines Paitoo (U13G) London Heathside 27.7 AAA Grade 1
2nd Ella Burridge (U13G) London Heathside 28.7 AAA Grade 2
3rd Suraya Frost (U13G) London Heathside 29.0 AAA Grade 3
4th Fleur Eltringham (U13G) London Heathside 30.2 AAA Grade 4
5th Angel Azubuike (U13G) London Heathside 30.9
Race 2
1st Imani Quamina (U15G) London Heathside 28.0 AAA Grade 4
2nd Leila Tempesta (U15G) London Heathside 28.8
3rd Larissa Wilson (U15G) London Heathside 28.9
4th Amara Odeogberin (U15G) London Heathside 29.7
5th Ella Mai Hancock (U15G) London Heathside 30.5
Race 3
1st David Fallon London Heathside 27.5
2nd Tony Killilea (V55) London Heathside 27.8
4th Helene Kehoe (V50) London Heathside 31.0
Race 4
1st Trey Corlis (U15B) London Heathside 24.8 AAA Grade 3
2nd Etienne Munday (U17M) London Heathside 25.4
3rd Frankie Frost (U20M) London Heathside 26.1
4th Ciaran Webb (U15B) London Heathside 26.8
6th Montana Dennis (U13B) London Heathside 28.2 AAA Grade 4
Race 5
1st Leon Seale (U20M) London Heathside 22.4 AAA Grade 3
3rd Asha Osei London Heathside 23.4
4th Joshua Ndionyemma (U20M) London Heathside 24.6
1500m
Race 1
2nd Jack Davis-Black (U17M) London Heathside 4:32.9
3rd Janak Subberwal (U17M) London Heathside 4:47.2
Race 2
1st Lily Woolcock London Heathside 5:05.6
5th Jennifer Wing London Heathside 5:30.5
Race 3
2nd James Wooldridge London Heathside 4:11.3
Race A
1st Eric Beale (U13B) London Heathside 5:05.2 AAA Grade 4
2nd Benjy Bediako (U13B) London Heathside 5:18.9
3rd Greg Berrisford-Sweet (U15B) London Heathside 5:35.9
4th Thomas Conley (U13B) London Heathside 5:49.7
5th Josh Yarwood (U13B) London Heathside 6:00.5
6th Freddie Burridge (U11B) London Heathside 6 :13.1
7th Rory Wills (U11B) London Heathside 6:21.6
8th Sebastian McNeely (U11B) London Heathside 6:26.0
9th Samuel Tarullo (U11B) London Heathside 7:09.9
Race B
1st Kiara Corkin (U13G) London Heathside 5:29.7 AAA Grade 4
2nd Lena Westgate (U13G) London Heathside 5:58.3
3rd Pheobe Willhoft-King (U11G) London Heathside 6 :15.3
4th Violet Lyons (U11G) London Heathside 6:28.6
5th Charlotte Beale (U11G) London Heathside 6:31.5
6th Lettice Grundy (U13G) London Heathside 6:33.1
7th Maya Westgate (U11G) London Heathside 6:33.3
8th Tamara Pushpananthan (U11G) London Heathside 6:50.8
9th Maia Leustean (U11G) London Heathside 7:12.3
10th Lucy Ryan (U11G) London Heathside 7:19.8
3000
Race 1
1st Seyfu Jamaal (U23M) London Heathside 8:41.9
2nd Oliver O'Connor (U17M) London Heathside 9:36.6 AAA Grade 4
4th Jonny Forsyth (V40M) London Heathside 9:44.1
5th Alex Galloway London Heathside 9:45.5
Race 2
1st Simon Nichols (V50M) London Heathside 10:50.6
2nd Tynan Parker (U15B) London Heathside 10:57.7
3rd Danny Olive (V40M) London Heathside 11:06.6
4th Rafi Brodkin (U17M) London Heathside 11:15.6
6th Ruby Walls (U15G) London Heathside 11:26.7 PB New Club Record AAA Grade 4
9th Clara Leustean (U15G) London Heathside 12:07.6
Milton Keynes ‘Reimagined’ Marathon, Sunday September 6
Gavin sent in this report: “I entered the MK Marathon nearly a year ago because it was the official English Masters’ qualifier. But Covid-19 got in the way and it was postponed by four months. Then, inevitably, we were informed it was not going to be a normal marathon (so no longer a Masters’ qualifier) but instead we were given the option of running it ‘virtual’ (ie. 26.2 miles anywhere we liked) or ‘reimagined’.
The ‘reimagined’ option meant doing the actual course with the help of a special app that you’d press at the start and would tell you the way and you’d press at the end. You were given a two-week window for running it.
Oh, and although there were signs along the way, there were no marshals and no water stops, so you had to take your own water as well as your phone and headphones.
Gavin and Rachel before the Milton Keynes “reimagined” marathon
I decided to go ahead with it as a training run (determined to do no faster than 3:30) so that I could lose no training days for the Dorney Lake Marathon on October 4 (which is real rather than reimagined). Rachel Tranter decided to do go ahead and to treat it like the real thing.
So, on a warm but not too warm Sunday Rachel and I (ably supported by her very patient husband, Nick), set off for a 10.30 start along with a few hundred other runners The two-lap course was a lot more scenic than the old MK Marathon course, taking us around a lake, a river and through the countryside, with lots of twists and turns along the way.
It all worked fine, provided you had an Apple phone, which worked perfectly for Rachel who cruised in comfortably at about 4:15.
With Android phones, like mine, it went all wonky. In the first half it kept on informing me to go right about half a minute after I’d turned left or announcing there would be a left turn in 100 yards when the intended turn was 10 yards away. Then when I was finishing the first half it told me I was finishing the race, and it sulked for the second half, refusing to talk to me at all, so that I had to ask other runners the way.
Anyway, it was all in a day’s running, and at 26.2 I hit the mark precisely at 3:29.10 (but still had another mile to go before the end because of the wrong turns).
All-in-all, it was a good idea from the organisers, but, really, they should have tested their app on both Apple and Androids before the event.”
Bournemouth Triathlon, Bournemouth, 6th September 2020
Sara Black sent in this report: Jo Irwin and I entered the Bournemouth triathlon as a warm up to the Challenge Mallorca 70.3 triathlon in October. Covid being Covid put paid to our race in Mallorca but we decided to do the Bournemouth triathlon anyway.
Jo and Sara at Bournemouth triathlon
Race or no race, any excuse for a girly trip away!
Car packed up, bikes racked, it was our Thelma and Louise moment! We arrived and went straight to the beach for our private coached swim session to get used to the sea, having trained in the West Reservoir for the past few weeks.
To sum up, the rest of the day was "an emotional roller coaster". I received news that a close family member had taken ill and was in a coma on a life support machine (not Covid related). Jo was a fantastic rock and supported me. One minute we were checking out, the next we were staying.... My family said to stay and see how things go, which is what we did.
After a rather restless night we got ready, fearing a cold start. Thankfully, transition was literally a 2 minute walk from our hotel - I'm all for an easy life! We set up and headed for the swim, I was first off, Jo was slightly later on as the swim was a staggered start to ensure social distancing. We both had a great swim, it wasn't as cold as we feared, the waves weren't too big, things were going well....or so we thought. From the swim we had to run/walk/crawl up the "Bournemouth ZigZag". Apparently, this famous zigzag that takes a few minutes to walk up was part of the race and included in our swim time. It was a damn long wiggly climb.... I did attempt to run it, unfortunately Jo was stuck behind some bloke walking his bike up!
The bike was challenging, strong winds, heavy traffic on an A road (it was like cycling along the M25), missing turns, a chain coming off and a phone call updating me on the patient made for a disappointing bike leg. The run leg is where things came alive for me and I felt really good overtaking people and finishing strong. I kept an eye out for Jo and saw her as I was coming into the finish. It was very busy along the promenade where the run took place, Jo was adding extra distance to avoid bumping into and breathing on passerbys.
All in all we performed well. However, one thing is for sure, triathlons come and go but friendships are forever!
Results
Sara Black 2.30.51 (3rd in 45-49 age group)
Jo Irwin 2.59,29 (5th in 50-54 age group)
Compiled by Caroline, with as always most of the credit (and huge thanks) going to Simon for sourcing many of the races, pulling all the results together and writing many of the reports. Also thanks to Gavin, Phil, Sara, Jacob and to Lenny