Youth success at Middlesex Relays; Great North Run; Highgate Open Meeting

While it wasn't a massively busy week by the Heathside often busy and far flung standards, there was a full bingo card of running events over the past few days which included success for the youngsters at the Middlesex Road Relays to one of Europe's biggest half marathons, a track meet, a trail race, a triathlon and parkrunning. If there's a type of run going on somewhere, chances are a Heathsider's doing it. So without further ado, time for the weekly run down:

Great North Run, Sunday 11th September

Sarah Illingworth returned from a trip to the North East to report on ‘near perfect conditions’, which must have been a bit of a worry, since Geordies never seem to need much of an excuse to get their kit off. Anyway, she continues: ‘it was a little hot and the Red Arrows, 50 bands on the run route and enthusiastic crowds helped us on our way. The sea is always a very welcoming sight, indicating that the work is almost done. Staying in Hexham, I was lucky enough to be transported there and back with the Tynedale Harriers and won the prize for fastest female...on the bus’.

Steven Betts also dropped us a line to say how hot it was on the day but also that he was delighted to find himself finishing a full 40 seconds ahead of Farah. Turns out it was Mrs Farah, not the quadruple Olympic champion Mo, but I reckon it still counts. James Dark was first Heathsider home in 1:38:12 and Frances Powrie completed the competing quartet.

Middlesex Relays, Hayes, Sunday September

More encouraging news from Heathside’s youth wing at the newly put together Middlesex Relays event, as there was success from Max Deasy in the U11 race and another winning performance from the U17 men as Jem O’Flaherty (with the quickest time of any runner on the day), Luke Gray and anchor Liam Garrett finished over 10 seconds clear of their closest rivals - their mugshots are at the top of the page (thanks to Zac for the picture). Elsewhere Rose Garrett, Lorna Dumbleton and Matilda Heath finished 3rd in the U13 girls race and there were strong performances from a host of others. Word back from the event was that ‘our youngsters love relays’, so hopefully there’s more to come.

In the adult version on the same day, an intrepid trio of Andy Barnes, Steve Armstrong and Jonathan Litchfield said it was an enjoyable event but I can’t find the results anywhere so I’m not sure exactly how they got on. I suppose I could have asked them, but hindsight is not the delayed race reporter’s friend.

Armada Trail Run, Devon, Sunday 11th September

Henry Hamilton reports back from an ‘Armada’ run and, rather than getting wrecked off the North Atlantic coast, sounds like he had a much better time in Devon, coming in 30th out of 208 runners: ‘Over 200 club runners from around Devon descended on Newnham Park near Plymouth last Sunday for this annual 7.5ish mile race up and over hills through dense woodland and deep rivers (knee deep!). It had a parkrun feel to it with friendly marshals and supporters around the course and a cake and a coffee to greet you at the end. Loved it!’

Highgate Harriers Open Meeting, Parliament Hill, Thursday 8th September

A decent Heathside turnout for the Autumn version of the two annual Highgate track meets (it'll be an absolute treat when we can host our own), mercifully without the gale-force conditions that met everyone earlier in the year. Competing in a full range of events from 100m to the 5000m, there was a standout performance from young Ruairi McGonagle, who took a whopping 10 seconds off his previous best 1500m time to finish in 4:48, while Ula Cartwright-Finch and David Fallon also did very well to PB in their respective 400m heats. Over the longer distance, some optimistic/foolhardy* time predictions from Jonathan Litchfield and I saw us dragged kicking and screaming into the A race where we both got a bit cut adrift from the pack, while the more sensible/savvy* (*delete as appropriate) Steve Armstrong ended up in the B Race and enjoyed a real ding-dong battle with a West 4 Harrier which led to him posting the quickest Heathside time of the night. Following him home, Leigh James and Collette Monahan both had great runs that resulted in PBs, while Michael Abraham ran a season’s best.

Woburner Triathlon, Woburn Abbey, Saturday 10th September

Sion Lewis got in on the multi-spot action last weekend as he took on his first half ironman at a miserable sounding Woburn Abbey: ‘Persistent rain and bad roads contributed to three punctures and necessitated a wheel swap on course from a good Samaritan (who was quitting himself after 4 punctures). Net result was a slow ride to go along with an even slower swim. Fortunately Heathside training then kicked in and I finished with a 1:29 half marathon to finish 18th’.

Parkruns, Saturday 10th September

The locations may vary on a Saturday morning (this week saw Heathsiders in Bodmin, Westmeath and re-enacting some kind of Wars of the Roses in Skipton and Lancaster) but some things remain the same: a first finish for Rebecca Bunting! Joining her this week were Dan Johns, Alex Galloway and we’ll give Rich Macauley a nod too as got the exact same time as the first finisher at Highbury. Full results from the weekly 5k action here: http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017&eventdate=2016-09-10

Full results:

Great North Run

1877th James Dark 1:38.12
5186th Steven Betts 1:48.547401st Sarah Illingworth 1:53.4526088th Frances Powrie 2:27.50

Middlesex Relays, Hayes

U17 Men
1st 29:46 - Jem O’Flaherty 9:23; Luke Gray 10:29; Liam Garrett 9:54Unclosed team - Antanas Weston 10:47; Kenneth Boulton 11:04

U17 Women
7th 38:23 - Phoebe Crockford 13:09; Meg Naylor 12:20; Lily McKay 12:54

U15 Men
8th 35:08 - Rocco Lofinmakin-Dutta 11:49; Jake Evans 11:22; Rayan Bessadi 11:57

U15 Women
Unclosed team - Evelyn Dumbleton 13:18; Ella Conlon 13:13

U13 Men
Unclosed team - KitNaylor12:28; ArthurReed 12.38

U13 Women
3rd 38:29 - Rose Garrett 11:48; Lorna Dumbleton 13:08; Matilda Heath 13:33

U11 Boys
1st 5:29 Max Deasy

Armada Trail Run

30th Henry Hamilton 56:35

Woburner Triathlon

18th Sion Lewis – 1.9km swim 42:29; 90km bike 3:29.32; 21km run 1:29.43; Total time 5:48.07

Highgate Harriers Open Meeting

100m – Heat 1
3rd Israel Nworgu 12.44

100m – Heat 2
2nd Michael Bense 13.216th Cono Anti 14.09

400m – Heat 1
5th Richard Macauley 55.76

400m – Heat 2
5th Michael Bense 58.856th David Fallon 58.92 – PB

1500m – Heat 2
6th Ruairi McGonagle 4:48.93

5000m – Heat 1
13th Gareth Marshall 18:11.5614th Jonathan Litchfield 18:23.56

5000m – Heat 2
3rd Steve Armstrong 18:08.836th Leigh James 18:31.01 – PB13th Colette Monaghan 19:54.10 – PB15th Michael Abrahams 20:32.35