Week 1
Another very busy weekend as the cross country season draws to a close and the preparation for spring Marathons ramps up. This winter has seen one of our most successful XC campaigns for several years. We fielded full teams in every fixture and finished second in Division 2 in the mixed and men’s competitions, and respectably mid-table in the women’s. Lots of good individual performances contributed to that success and some of them also brought rewards in terms of League prizes. Mo made a clean sweep, winning all 5 races, to become overall men’s champion, Gurmit won the V40 category, and Dave (V60) and Brian (V75) were both runners up.
The course for the final XC fixture at Bosworth Battlefield was notable for being the driest and fastest it’s ever been. The organisers managed to find a muddy ditch to substitute for the infamous ‘Bosworth Bog’ (if you’ve not seen it, there’s an excellent video on Youtube), but that was merely a speed bump on an otherwise serene progress through the countryside. I’ll leave the full race report for Sam, once we have the complete results in a couple of days.
Chris W (1.53.05), Martin W (2.15.26) and Tim D (2.30.30) all completed the Cambridge HM. Stepping up in distance, Blake and Brian went for the Oundle 20. There was a huge 2.47.22 PB for Blake and a 6-minute improvement on his 2022 time for Brian (4.46.22).
Even with all this race action going on, there was plenty happening at parkrun on Saturday. Tim P achieved his target of a sub-20 (19.27) at LV, Gurmit did 17.30 and Martin Cr bagged another PB. Matt Langtree incorporated an 18.35 at Watermead into a long training run and Manisha celebrated her 50th. At Dulwich, David was 1 second outside his PB and more importantly, just 3 seconds from going sub-20.
Week 2
Saturday was a special day for Roadhoggs. Mo was selected to run for the Leicestershire & Rutland team at the Inter-counties Championships at Prestwold. Running against top runners from all over the UK, he did himself and the club proud by being the 2nd county finisher in 21st place overall. In doing so, he made a major contribution to the Leicestershire & Rutland team winning the men’s title for the first time ever. Charnwood athlete, Gemma Steele, led the ladies to 2nd place, so it was a fantastic day allround for the county.
The Spring Marathon preparation season continued at the weekend. David kicked things off on Saturday with a rapid 1.34.12 in the Battersea Park HM. It was a multi-lap course, so he was probably getting dizzy by the end. Kathryn was only a few seconds behind (1.34.36). winning her age category and gaining a Diamond Standard to boot. According to Power of 10, both may have recorded PBs as well. Sunday saw the MK Festival of Running and we had John D (1.37.19) and Leah (1.38.11, close to her PB) in the Half Marathon. Mike took on the 20 miler (2.48.43). Kudos to Mike and John for resisting the temptation to race.
Week 3
A big thank you to everyone who contributed to making the Kibworth 6 such a success. We put on a great value race, our ace catering team filled everyone with cake and our marshals, traffic management and stewards kept everyone smiling. It was great to work with Andy K and his team from F&K and sharing the load worked brilliantly.
The race wasn’t too shabby from a competitive point of view either. Despite the hills, Mo averaged 5.06 per mile in taking the win. Gurmit made the top 20 (having run 4.36 for 1500m the day before) and Dave P and Tim P, on his debut, made the top 100. Kathryn was 1st V50 and both Leah and Anna got Silver Standards. It was great to see Claire making her debut and the rest of our ladies seemed to take the hills in their stride. I will take some time to crunch the numbers and do a fuller report because there were other strong runs.
Sam J took on the Cannock Chase Trail HM on Saturday finishing 15th in 1.46.39. The race is all trail and includes 1600ft of climb, so that will have represented a serious workout.
We found out on Thursday that the Leicestershire & Rutland XC Team won another trophy and set of medals (9 to score) at the Inter-counties, so Mo will get a second national medal.
Week 4
Last week I promised a bit more on people’s runs at Kibworth. Despite the severity of the course, I reckon there were four PBs; Gurmit, Blake, Anna and Leah. Well done all. Standards were Platinum (Mo), Diamond (Dave P), Gold (Kathryn, Gurmit), Silver (Anna, Leah, Tim P, Haseeb), Bronze (David, James, John, Marcus, Mark Ra, Mark Ri, Martin Cr, Matt L, Nigel, Steve W), Copper (Adele, Blake, Cath, Claire, Harry, Neil), Pewter (Dan), Tungsten (Lee, Sarah).
This week’s big event was the Ashby 20. Speaking as a coach, those who were doing it as preparation for a Marathon should have been keeping it steady, so a fast time is not necessarily evidence of a day well spent. Results: David 2.33.27, Kathryn 2.42.56, Steve W 2.50.01, Charly 2.55.56 (PB), Marcus 3.02.27, Komal 3.18.21, Harry 3.19.49, Sophie 3.20.43, Hilary Bu 3.38.56.
Parkrun was busy, but most people were saving themselves either for Ashby or for breakfast. Gary bagged the only PB of the day, but Tim P, Ashveer and Dave P (celebrating his 50th pr) all went sub-20.
