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England vests in Chester

Rob Collier (M50) and Angela Kerr (F65) represented England Masters in Sunday’s MBNA Chester marathon following qualifications at Manchester and Milton Keynes marathons respectively, earlier this year.  Unfortunately both have suffered from injuries over the last few weeks but were determined to pull on the prestigious England vest.  Sadly Rob was a DNF – always a tough one but often the best option- with his injury and a cold in the lead-up taking their toll.

Angela, too, had had a challenging build-up with injury and life events, but as usual her strength and determination saw her through to finish in 6:02.21.

Photo:  Angela Kerr and Rob Collier don their England Masters vests

Capital gains for AVR

In the TCS London marathon AVR had a big presence with a mix of ‘good-for-age’, charity place runners and a few who had been lucky in the ballot.  There were more than 40,000 finishers with conditions perfect for marathon running after the forecast rain held off..

Terry Emmett in 2:41.36, Richard Hardy in 2:47.07 and Matt Frost in 2:57.24 were the first three AVRs home in brilliant sub-3 hour finishes.  Richard and Matt also smashed their personal bests while Terry’s was a London PB.

Pic:  Matt Frost in London after completing the marathon in 2:57.24

Paul Johns in 3:32.26 was next to finish in his third London marathon with Alan Hornibrook next AVR in an excellent 3:44.38, 52^nd in the M65 category.  Jason Potter slipped into sub-4 with his 3:57.59 finish.

Laura Kerr, running her first London marathon for Round Table’s Children’s Wish, finished in a massive PB of 4:12.43 with Fiona Pyle breaking the 5-hour barrier in 4:59.14.  Together they also raised a huge amount for this excellent cause as well as fitting in the training alongside their young families and careers.

Both Roger Bramley and Mark Day were also raising money for charities –  Seaton Hospice at Home and Land Aid respectively.  Roger finished in 4:38.59 with Mark in 5:08.40.

Steve Lewis decided to take on the virtual challenge running the 26.2 miles around Seaton, Axmouth and Colyford with support at various points from Carol Austin, Caroline French and Alan Morbey.  Starting in heavy rain but finishing in glorious sunshine Steve kept up a very consistent pace to finish in 5:11.55.

Photo: Steve Lewis – halfway on the virtual marathon: “Tower Bridge”!

Congratulations to all.  The race was in October again this year following Covid postponements but reverts back to April next year with entries already open and only a few months to wait.

Full results: https://www.tcslondonmarathon.com

Excelling by the Exe

Winding Paths introduced a hat-trick of new events starting in Budleigh Salterton with a multi-terrain half-marathon, marathon and a 50k ultra – all tough courses using the beautiful South-West Coast Path along with riverside paths alongside the Exe and the Otter.

In the half-marathon Matt Orsman came an outstanding second in 1:39.43 while Eleanor Wood was an equally brilliant third woman finishing in 2:00.57.  Raghnild Richards came in 52^nd overall in 2:38.26 with 76 runners completing the challenging 13.1m course which had nearly 1500 feet of elevation as runners ran from Budleigh to Exmouth and back after a gentle flat first 5m looping up the River Otter. Not a course for a negative split!

Solo in Cardiff

Susan Wall took part in the Cardiff half-marathon finishing in 2:34:05.  Unfortunately daughter, Vicki Wraight was unable to join her as planned after picking up an injury in the Berlin marathon last Sunday.

parkwalk launches at Seaton parkrun

Joel Seward was first finisher at Seaton parkrun in 17:41 with Mike and Roberta Wadsworth both celebrating PBs in 22:04 and 29:29, respectively.

To celebrate the 18^th birthday of the very first parkrun in Bushy park, the parkrun movement launched parkwalk this weekend and Seaton welcomed its first group of walkers.  Anyone unable to run, perhaps through injury, may like to join in knowing there will be support of the parkrun community to ensure a great start to a Saturday.

Ibiza dreaming

Our chairman Haydn Boehm turned his hand to duathlon at the Thruxton Mass Attack event this weekend.  With two runs and a cycle he finished in 50^th overall and 5^th out of nine in his age group.  The winners from each group can qualify for the World Championships taking place in Ibiza – sadly Haydn will have to wait for another year or maybe just get the Molkky champs to move to the party island.