Week 1

I want to start by celebrating two outstanding female members of the club. Earlier this month, Hilary Buckley beat the cut-offs to complete her 10th Jungfrau Marathon in searing heat. As well as the challenge of running 42km, there is the small matter of 1953m of vert, almost all of it in the second half of the race and mostly on mountain trails. A little further afield, in New South Wales, Fiona completed the Hounslow Trail Marathon, which included 2052m of vert. It says much about her, that despite being on the cusp of the “super, super veteran” category (I think there’s a sentiment in there that we’d all endorse), she’s far more interested in where she ranks against all female runners. In this case 3rd (and 21st overall).

Yesterday was one of those rare days where I get to stand by the side of the route, like a proud parent, and watch you all be amazing. There were so many great achievements, from first half marathons/races to PBs. I think we had 25 finish the Leicester HM and 16 the 10k, plus Chris W and Vijay in the Cardiff HM, Kathryn and David in the Loch Ness Marathon and Ruth in the Oulton Park Sprint Duathlon. Mo was back to his best, winning the HM by six and a half minutes in a PB time of 1.06.58. Matt L took a significant step on the road to recovery with 1.20.27 and 2nd veteran and there were HM PBs for Xander, Tim P, Max, Sally, Gary and Sarah V. A special mention for Steve Palmer, who broke 2 hours as a V70. In the 10k Gurmit finished 4th and 1st veteran, Geraldine did some brilliant ‘pre-hab’ for her knee op (45.55) and there were PBs for Nicole and Mary. If I’ve missed any other PBs, please let me know.

As a consequence of yesterday’s races, several members achieved 2023 County Standards: Gary, Pewter; Lee, Tungsten; Matt L, Bronze, Sandra, Pewter; Sally, Silver and Helen W upgraded to Bronze. Some of those may be upgraded before the end of the year, so watch this space.

Week 2

This weekend we had a handful of members getting some practice for the start of the XC season at the Hoby Hop. Well done to Gurmit (3rd), Marcus, Gurtej and Sandra. Mike kept his feet firmly on tarmac with 1.32.51 in the Royal Parks HM.

Week 3

There was a distinct compass theme to this week’s road running exploits. Mike (1.29.58), Leah (1.39.00), Nicole (1.50.59) and Chris W (1.56.56) in the Great Eastern Run Half Marathon. Nicole’s time was a big PB. In the Great South Run 10 miler, David W (1.11.49) and Kathryn (1.12.40) both recorded season’s bests. Sally covered the other two points of the compass by doing the North-West’s Manchester HM in a big PB time of 1.47.39. There was also Haseeb’s 1.36.10 in the Bath Half.

The weekend also saw the start of the cross country season. On Saturday Gurmit and Dave P ran the opening fixture of the North Mids League at Markeaton Park. Heroes both, they doubled up with the opening Derby Runner League race at Ravenstone. There was a fantastic turnout from the ladies with 9 running, including debuts from Tracey, Adele, Sarah V and Rash. In contrast, the men could only muster 8, with Blake making a welcome debut, but everyone ran well. The course was more challenging than last year, with more distance and more mud, although there was still a lot of dry going.

Week 4

This weekend saw some excellent performances. Jackie showed that her recovery from surgery is going well with a Gold Standard 1.47.20 in the Valencia HM. Kathryn (1.42.06) was also on the HM trail at Battersea and David secured a Marathon Bronze with 3.35.15. At the Leicestershire event, we had a 1.19.34 (Gold) from Ruth and a 1.20.49 (Silver) from Anna in the 10 miler and in the 10k, a 44.11 (Bronze) from Blake and a 57.09 PB (Pewter) from Sarah V which completes a Tungsten Standard for 2023. Possibly the most heartening result of the weekend was Manisha achieving both a PB and her first ever race County Standard with 1.07.56 in the 10k.

Week 5

Having carefully noted Dave Brownlow’s excellent performance in the Leicestershire 10k, I then proceeded to omit it from last week’s round-up. His 50.56 was good enough for silver and completes his Silver Standard for 2023. This weekend, Sally ran 48.15 in the Brewer’s 10k (Burton) to gain her 4th Gold of the year. Elsewhere, Anna (1.45.54) and Helen A (2.12.45) enjoyed the delights of the Coventry HM. Although it starts and finishes in the city centre (in the shadow of the cathedral) it takes in some very leafy suburbs and plenty of country lanes.