Youth XC, indoor athletics, Seville Marathon and the return of multisport corner
Heathside successfully hosted the Northwest London Young Athletes League XC on the Heath Extension on Saturday, with a full complement of volunteers. "Everything went perfectly," reports Dave Robertson, qualifying this with: "No-one went off-course or was seriously injured."
Ruairi won a fiercely contested U13s race by no more than two seconds and well done to our U13 girls team coming second in their fixture behind Highgate. Our three to score were Nell (4th place), Rose (6th) and Matilda (11th).
The Seville Marathon
The Wednesday night Potter Endurance Project® reached fruition last weekend as the group of four training buddies (Martin, Marco, Leo and Louisa) toed the line at their target race, the Seville Marathon.
It proved a slightly eye-watering experience (probably in more than one sense) for Marco, who came through 40km set fair for three hours and small change, before something went 'ping' - or possibly 'snap' - in his foot, leaving him to limp home the last 2km in around 23 minutes. It's some measure of how much he's improved that this still netted him a PB, although not quite the PB he wanted.
"The bitter irony, this had to happen at the last 2km of a journey of about 1,200," writes Marco, showing that his flair for words isn't limited to scribbling verse about cross country. He had the additional joy of watching Martin come past him on his way to the line, where he was presented with a consolation medal and a set of commemorative crutches.
Leo C Pemberton nudged inside 3:30 - just ahead of perennial malingerer Simon Hazel (calf cramps this time) who wasn't running as part of coach Potter's stable. Had they but glanced behind, they might have caught sight of Louisa, who ran a sterling marathon debut of 3:32 and scarcely broke sweat.
She further rubbed everyone else's noses in it by being able to walk afterwards, while Marco was crocked, Leo was looking strangely robotic, and Martin's just old. Apparently it was also a couple of kilometres' walk to the bag collection point. Some little way behind was Katy Creaney, another Heathside independent, in 4:18.
There was also a healthy Heathside turnout at the Lee Valley indoor middle distance meet on 15 February, with a particularly impressive turnout, and equally impressive performances, from our junior athletes. Tony K reports:
"We had three U15 runners in the 1500m. Rose Garrett and Oliver O’Connor worked well together in their race to finish in 5:21.81 and 5:22.33 respectively, while Ruairi McGonagle seemingly effortlessly transferred his great cross country form to the track with a time of 4:46.60.
"Liam Garrett produced a typically mature performance to come second in his race in 4:19.16, but hot on his swiftly moving heels was his fellow U17 athlete, Jem O’Flaherty, in 4:20.93. Ed Garrett showed that the oldies can turn on the style, too, steadily working his way through the field in his race to dip under 4:30.
"In the 800m, Yanna Raykov, cunningly disguised as a Cambridge University athlete, produced an impressive turn of speed to edge out one of her university rivals in 2:29.53. Rosa Serafini beat me by over a second in our race, finishing in 2:20.7. Then Richard
Macaulay thundered around the last bend as only he can to record 2:02.34.
"It was a fun evening with a couple of hundred runners making the journey, some from as far afield as, well, Cambridge. It would be great if, in future, we saw more Heathsiders taking advantage of the fantastic facilities at Lee Valley."
Elsewhere
"Three Heathsiders travelled to Bramley (near Reading)," writes renowned cartographer and wayfinder Gavin Evans, "to run in their 10 mile/20 mile event on Sunday. Weather conditions on this scenic, undulating course were close to ideal – cool with a gentle breeze. Mark George ran 69:15 in the 10 mile, followed by Rebecca Taylor who put in a PB of 85:45. For me, the 20-mile event was a comeback race after five weeks of recuperation following a calf injury."
We also had several runners at the Hampton Court Half, led home by a very impressive Andrew Shreeve in 77 minutes and a speedy Josie Hinton in 1:27.
Multisport corner
John Driscoll found his first race for eight months 'a bit of a shock to the system' at the Anglian Water Duathlon (Grafham Water). "After a beautiful undulating 10km trail run to begin with around the lake, followed by a 'what do I do now moment' in T1, a flat 40k bike leg followed where I was slaughtered by stronger cyclists on their TT bikes and a seemingly mountainous 5km trail run to end.
"Despite the aching afterwards, good weather and a friendly relaxed event made it a pleasant way to start the season."
Sebastian Harrison placed a creditable 17th at the Windsor Duathlon series race 2 at Eton Dorney: "Beautiful surroundings - although some madman decided to start at 8:30am so we were running along while elite rowers sailed serenely by."
Results
Northwest London Young Athletes League Hampstead Heath Extension, 18/2/17
UNDER 11 BOYS 1600 metres
18 G. Oliviera 10.51
25 T. Behe 11.18
UNDER 13 BOYS 3200 metres
1 R. McGonagle 11.25
9 . O’Connor 12.12
31 L. Maher 14.06
34 A. Dietrich 14.45
UNDER 15 BOYS 3600 metres24 W. Crawford 16.40
UNDER 17 MEN 4500 metres
5 A. Weston 17.13
UNDER 11 GIRLS 1600 metres
7 H. Munday 7.03
14 P. Oliviera 7.18
Under 13 Girls 2300 metres
4 N. Swinhoe 10.02
6 R. Garrett 10.16
11 M. Heath 10.32
20 A. Metcalf 11.39
28 M. Pegoraro 12.51
30 F. Weston 13.47
UNDER 15 GIRLS 3200 metres
5 M. Curcio . 13.28
6 E. Conlan . 13.39
UNDER 17 WOMEN 3600 metres
5 P. Crockford 18.53
Seville Marathon (finishing places not listed)
MARTIN POTTER 03:06:47
MARCO LUNA 03:16:23
LEO PEMBERTON 03:29:43
SIMON HAZEL 03:30:47
LOUISA POINTON 03:32:20
KATHRYN CREANEY 04:18:51
Anglian Water Duathlon
21 John Driscoll Result: 2.13.44
(39.54 10km / 1.27 T1 / 1:10:27 40km bike / 1.00 T2 / 20.53 5km)
Windsor Duathlon17 Sebastian Harrison 1:12:48(Run1 18:42, T1 00:53, Cycle 33:00, T2 00:32, Run2 19:41;Total 1:12:48)
Bramley 10 (557 finishers)
64 Mark George 69:15
244 Rebecca Taylor 85:45 (PB)
Bramley 20 (856 finishers)
129th Gavin Evans – 2:18.57.
Hampton Court Half, 19/2/17
17. Andrew Shreeve 1:17:10
160. Josie Hinton 1:27:55
262. Rob Sambrooks 1:30:07
776. Marieclaire Gallagher 1:40:32
1177. Sandra Marie 1:44:30
Southern Counties Vets, Lee Valley, 19/2/17
60m
5. Tony Killilea 8.66
Lee Valley Middle Distance Open, 15/2/17
800m, Race 4
4. Yanna Raykov 2:29.53
800m, Race 7
3. Rosa Serafini 2:20.07
6. Tony Killilea 2:21.93
800m, Race 17
4. Richard Macaulay 2:02.34
1500m, Race 1
3. Rose Garrett 5:21.81 (Overall and U15 club record)
4. Oliver O'Connor 5:22.22
1500m, Race 3
3. Ruairi McGonagle 4:46.60
1500m, Race 4
2. Ed Garrett 4:29.93
1500m, Race 5
2. Liam Garrett 4:19.16 (U17 Club record)
4. Jem O'Flaherty 4:20.93
Also from previous weeks
Worthing Half, 12/2/17
82. Cas Wright 1:27:28
155. Peter Ward 1:32:30
Masters Champs, Lee Valley, 12/2/17
1000m
Ivan Ross 3:04.60 (V40 Club Record)
Adrian Essex 3:52.68
60H
Ivan Ross 10.33
Adrian Essex 12.09
HJ
Ivan Ross 1.53
Adrian Essex 1.35
LJ
Ivan Ross 5.22
Adrian Essex 4.07
SP
Ivan Ross 5.42
SP 5kg
Adrian Essex 8.60
PenI
Ivan Ross 2520
PenI (V65)
Adrian Essex 3225
BMC, Lee Valley, 1/2/17
800m, Race B
3. Rosa Serafini 2:19.73 (Overall and Senior Club Record)
800m, Race D
5. Richard Macaulay 2:03.46