A quartet of halves
Craig Tiley and Matt Frost travelled up to the north-east for the Great North Run, the biggest half-marathon in the world. Conditions were very wet on Sunday for the 43rd running of the event. Starting on the (closed) motorway in the city of Newcastle, heading over the famous Tyne bridge, the runners finish with a flat two mile stretch alongside the beach at South Shields. Matt, back in his homeland, had an excellent run finishing in a PB of 1:20.16, 311thwhile Craig finished in 19,844th in 2:07.40.
More than 60,000 started the race which was won by Kenyans, Abel Kipchumba in 59:52 and Mary Ngugi-Cooper in 1:07.40. Marc Scott was second male in 1:01.12 with Eilish McColgan fifth female in 1:07.45.
Richard Hardy took part in the Surrey half-marathon which starts and finishes in Woking using closed roads and hence attracting a strong field of 2700 finishers. He finished 63rd and seventh M40 in 1:18.40.
Mark Spraggs ran the New Forest half marathon, a scenic multi-terrain flat and fast race in the national park, famous for its ponies. The event gives the runners far reaching views across the Forest. He finished in 1:50.14, 314th of nearly 1400 finishers.
Sue Hayes ran the Blackdown Hills Trail half completing it in 2:16.01, 50th overall and an excellent sixth female, third F50. The event started at the Taunton Racecourse taking runners onto quiet country lanes, hills and trails with great scenery across the Somerset levels and Blackdown hills.
Volcano on Dartmoor
AVR’s Jess Board took part in the Dartmoor Volcano Race at Scorriton on Saturday organised by Outer Edge Events. The 10.5 mile race takes the competitors to the red volcano lake on the edge of Dartmoor. The route is undulating across the top with a huge marshland and bog and then a longer steadier incline to the highest point at around mile eight. A faster two-mile steep downhill follows to the finish down the same hill which makes runners appreciate how steep it was!
Jess describes it as the hardest thing she has ever done finishing 94th in 2:22.57. She was very pleased to have completed it after returning from injury and felt the cool medal made it worth the pain!
Seaton parkrun and beyond
Seaton Esplanade became a sea of colour on Saturday as AVR, Louise Rawlins celebrated her 50th birthday and completed her 50th parkrun. She is a key member of the core team at Seaton and Stopline Way Junior parkrun and also reached an incredible 150 volunteering stints on Saturday. Many AVRs celebrated with her in their tutus.
With conditions excellent for running, many AVRs achieved PBs, some helped by a team of excellent pacers. First finisher was Joel Seward in 17:20 followed by Harry McMahon in 18:17. Second female was Debbie Whiston in 20:10. Third female and second on age-grade in an excellent 83% was Karen Eyre in a shiny new PB of 20:57. Other PBs were Simon McClellan in 20:17, Mike Wadsworth in 21:20; James Hawker in 22:00, Rob Harp in 22:10, Mark Parsons in 24:27 and Sue Hodge in 25:53.
Out on the road Andy Goy ran his 333rd parkrun at his 222nd at Peter Pan in Hull, his previous home event. Carolyn Nation secured her G at Goe parkrun in Wales; Sam Miller took part in Seaford Beach parkrun in Newhaven; Fiona Seward ran Chester parkrun; Pam Goddard did Heartlands parkrun in Cornwall; Steve Speariett ran Pomphrey Hill parkrun and Jon Day and Paul Johns did Ashton Court parkrun both in Bristol with Rupert Pady completing Margate parkrun.
And finally …
Well done to Alan Morbey and Steve Lewis who swam more than 12000 m around the Isles of Scilly on Sunday.
Congratulations also to Tony Smith who completed the 100k South Downs Way walking from Eastbourne to Arundel over two days raising funds for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. Not only did he walk 100k over two days he continued his “run streak” with a mile run each evening – that is dedication.
