Beautiful Bath inspires AVR quartet
Four AVRs travelled to Bath for the much-postponed half-marathon and were rewarded with some beautiful autumn sunshine setting off the stunning Bath architecture. A very well organised race started in Queen Square with a three-mile loop followed by two x five mile loops finishing with a wicked 100m uphill. Apart from that finale it was a fast, flat course and ideal for spectators with the looped format.
More than 6700 runners completed the 13.1 mile race with Matt Frost finishing an excellent 208th. Just two weeks after completing the London marathon Matt wasn’t sure how his legs would be. He also took a tumble in the first mile but managed to get into a rhythm to finish in 1:24.01, his second fastest half marathon.
Second AVR home was Tom Parsons in 1:48.30, in a superb PB. After a hampered build-up with a hamstring injury, Carol Austin was pleased with her 1:50.00, sixth F60. Ron Seward was 48th M65 with a time of 1:53.36.
Southsea success
Simon Dimmock was delighted with his sub-1:10 and an excellent 605th at the Great South Run, a popular 10-mile race along the seafront from Southsea to Portsmouth. His 1:09.41 was just 15 seconds off his time last year despite a build-up hampered by knee problems.
Shaun Vinnicombe’s target was to finish which he did in 2:13.21.
A massive 20,000 runners completed the race which was won by Ben Connor in 47.19 with his partner Lily Partridge, on the comeback trail after a major foot operation, winning the women’s race in 54.29.
AVR dominate Seaton parkrun
At Saturday’s parkrun in good conditions despite a heavy shower as the event started, AVR’s Joel Seward was second finisher in 17:22 with Richard Hardy, despite an Atlantic flight this week, in third in 17:28. Kerry Board was second female finisher in 22:14 with Eleanor Wood, a week after celebrating her 50th parkrun, coming in third woman in 22:44 with another outstanding age-grade of 90.54%. Congratulations to Maxine Sweetman who ran her 150thparkrun.
Cardiff cross success for Innes
Local athlete Innes Fitzgerald continued her incredible 2022 with victory in the combined U17/U20 Cardiff Cross Challenge on Saturday.
