|
|
|
|
|
|
February 2013
•
BBC at the Cambridge Half
Sue Dougan of BBC Radio Cambridgeshire has been in touch with me with the following
"The station is covering the Cambridge Half next week and will be broadcasting from the city centre on race morning – I was wondering if you knew of any friendly C&C runners who might want to chat to us sometime next week or before/after the race on race day?
"We were hoping to chat to those who are aiming to place in the race or run it hard in C&C colours ….!"
Get in touch with me and I'll pass your contact details on to Sue.
•
Tarpley 10 and 20
Rumours of Spring have proved premature. C&C's squad at Sunday's Tarpley 10 and 20 races, taking in the aforementioned number of miles of Suffolk's lovely undulating country lanes, had to brave flurries of snow and a north-easterly that chilled even the snuggest nook of a runner's soul. The best way to take it, having not been allowed to stay home in bed, was obviously to blast it. Our iced-lightning speedsters flashed round the ten-miler, generating warmth through the friction of rubber on tarmac. John Oakes was returning to his scene of glory in 2012, and, though a shade down on his past effort, was still too good for his category rivals, winning in a few heartbeats outside the hour and taking fifth overall. Giving fine support were Sam Barr (1:09) and Charlie Ritchie (1:10) - Charlie's time second only to John's in the V55s - and in-form Chris Hurcomb, flying in with a 1:14 PB. For the twenty-milers, raw speed was not an option, but a good choice of clothing and a desperate yearning for tea and cake led Carmel and me home very satisfactorily in the upper 2:40s - and for once I took house honours. Yay me.
An excellent, friendly, beautifully-staged event, and very highly recommended - well done St Ed's Pacers.
•
National English Cross Country Championships
A very cold but exciting day for C&C. The race report by Mark Vile can be found here.
•
Stamford St Valentine's 30K
Our romantic St Valentine's Day date in Stamford seems to come round a little early in the marathoning cycle, but if you can survive the endless, endless rolling hills, you must be doing something right. Definitely doing it right, scarily right in fact, our elite racers made embarassingly short work of it. Dan Hurst magnificently trashed the two-hour mark (well, trashed by two seconds) for 28th place and Katie Sherwood, faster every week, broke 2:10 (by three seconds) to PB and reach the top five. Completely amazing. Almost as good were Darren Gillman, Robert Conquest, Paul Jones, Suzy Tautz and Tom Lewis, all in the 2:20s, Ian Richardson and Phil Scofield, both PBing with 2:30-somethings, and Carmel McEniery in 2:40. Mike Difranco and I took in the sights of this beautiful (but terrifying) rural course at a gentler pace. Still hurt though.
And the deep romantic love shown by Stamford Striders' race crew was returned passionately by all. xxxx ♥♥♥
•
Race Your Pace Half Marathon
One for raw pace and quick times, this one, multiple laps around the pan-flat Olympic rowing venue, and billed by the organisers as "not particularly interesting". You can lead a runner to water but you can't make him PB, so gold medals to both Ben Chamberlain (1:30) and Julian Hardyman (1:37) for going out and nailing their quickest-ever Halves.
•
Club Night next Tuesday (26th)
..and another social opportunity next Tuesday when the clubhouse bar is open to all for Club Night. Do please look in, especially if you are a relative 'newbie'; chat, relax, plan, and generally catch up after the training sesh. Mix some beer, tea, snacks and/or sauvignon with the blood, sweat, and blisters.
•
The Old Spring this Saturday
Just a quick reminder about a pub night planned for this Saturday at the Old Spring in Chesterton, from 7pm. Come along and share tales of glory and despair (other runners are guaranteed to be an empathetic ear), blood, sweat and blisters.
•
National English Cross Country Championships
This event, held at Herrington Park, Sunderland, is scheduled for Saturday 23rd February. All those who requested a club paid entry should have received an email with the full details. The timetable can be found here.
•
Cross Country Results
The junior and senior results from the Re-scheduled Southerns can be found here. Three die hard cross country seniors competed the 15000m course with Mike Salt putting in a superb performance to finish 30th of over 500 finishers. James and Christof got lucky - they had been injured and unable to run on the original date.
Second claim Sullivan Smith, running for Swansea Harriers, finished 9th in the Welsh National Championships. He was less than a minute behind the winner! Great running Sullivan.
Glyn and Becky ventured to Shouldham Warren to tackle the two lap 9K hilly course. Click here to see how they got on.
•
Re-scheduled South of England Cross Country Championships
This event being held at Parliament Hill Fields is on Saturday. All those who requested a club paid entry should have received an email with the full details. The race timetable has not been changed - see link.
Please note that due to building works the mens changing and toilets are at the lido (as usual) but the facilities for the ladies are at the track - west of the lido.
•
Folksworth 15
It was blustery and bitter for the Folksworth 15, though at least the promised rain/sleet/snow mostly held off. I thought we'd gained a high-performance clubmate when I saw the winner warming up -- it was Neil Renault in an Edinburgh vest, like ours but with one hoop black. The hills and wind didn't seem to slow him much... For us mortals, it was down to slipstreaming where possible and avoiding outright hypothermia. I didn't catch Carmel & Andy or Isabelle, but Dave, Tim and Hazel all reported decent runs; Rich was a bit ill but looked far healthier afterwards! (I took the MV40 prize only by dint of the more talented V40s getting podium prizes...)
•
Great Bentley HM
As usual I was C&C's lone representative (I think, not seen the full results yet) in darkest Essex for the Great Bentely HM. It really is a great event except for the all most guaranteed horrible weather this time of year. It was cold and windy, but not really that bad today, and I am more than happy with the run considering how relatively easy it felt.
•
Frostbite Bourne
Belated news of another below-par day in the Frostbite League up at Bourne. That we placed as high as fifth with our lowest Frostbite turnout in a couple of years was a tribute to the quality of the runners who did make the long trip. Massive credit to George Schwiening for taking a superb first place in the female rankings, but well done the rest for packing the scoring positions so well. Top male finisher was new star signing Javier De Esteban in 22nd. Junior-wise, hats off to the Chalmers sisters - Diana was first girl, with Amy fourth. David Barber's excellent report has the full details.
We're now seven points behind leaders Hunts AC, in third place, with one race to go.
•
Stamford 30K - place available
Due to injury, I am unable to now take part in the St Valentines 30K event in Stamford on Sunday 17th February. If anyone is keen to enter, then please let me know as I have been told that it is possible to transfer entries in advance.
•
Frostbite League, Race 5, Bourne
Glyn Smith is organising a car pool for the Frostbite race up in Bourne, Lincolnshire on Sunday morning. Meet at the track for 9:00.
Look out for a new C&C lady, Beth Jones. She might need the loan of a lady's vest, size medium. She hasn't collected hers yet and she may not be able to get one in time.
|
|
|
|
|
|
