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May 2013
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Entry dates for your diary...
Entries for St Neots half-marathon opens on 4th June, and usually sells out within a week.
The Good For Age entry for Virgin London Marathon 2014 is online only, and is on 24th June, so if you are lucky enough to qualify, make sure you are by a computer that day.
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Club Night this Tuesday
Club Night is this Tuesday 4th of June in the clubhouse upstairs at Wilberforce Road after training . Do drop in - whether you have trained or not- and enjoy hot and cold drinks, licensed refreshments, and the merry company of your clubmates, perhaps our finest asset. You are particularly welcome if you are new to the club. Catch up on doughty marathoners, Saturday Fetch Milers, Kevin Henry-fanciers, and all. Or just chill. It is your facility, so make it yours on Tuesday!
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Edinburgh Marathon Festival
News in from the Edinburgh Marathon Festival, where a number of C&Cs took to the streets and foreshore of Edinburgh and neighboring towns dotted along the picturesque Firth of Forth. The half-marathon took place early on Sunday morning and Chris Hurcomb (1:46), Steven Anderson (1:52) and Paul Beastall (1:57) braved the mostly unbroken sunshine to put in strong performances, with a PB (I think?) for Steven. Well done guys. Mercifully, the later start of the marathon was greeted by some sporadic cloud-cover, which continued to build throughout the day. Despite the warmer-than-ideal conditions, David Harrison put in a superb marathon debut, to finish in 38th place overall, in 2:52. Andrew Shields was hot on David’s heels, finishing in 52nd place, in 2:53 and improving on his recent London marathon PB by over 3 minutes. He also picked up 4th prize in his category, so great effort Andrew! I was in next, in 3:33, followed by Andy Irvine (3:43), Paul Rudin (3:48) and Anne Schumann (4:16 and a new PB), with both Andy and Anne also improving on their recent London marathon times. A brilliant debut too for Becky Wilburn in 4:49 – a fantastic effort Becky. Finally, it was lovely to see Alex and Fiona Downie en route, in Edinburgh to support Alex’s son. Thanks for your much needed support, especially at mile 25!
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Saffron Walden Striders Kevin Henry 5k - June 6th 2013
The first Kevin Henry race of the series will be at Saffron Walden on the 6th June 2013. The course is 80% off-road on footpaths, starting near Newport Grammar School and finishing on the school playing field. A request from Saffron Striders:- "There should be enough parking at the school, but try to car-share as much as possible please."
Cambridge Tri Club have been unable to reschedule their race, so it will only be a 4 race series this year. This makes it even more important for a great turn out, with every single runner scoring a point for the club. The race starts at 7:30, so be ready nice and early. As long as you are wearing an official club vest the race is open to all runners over the age of 16. Remember we have a title to defend! Those of you who have run the Saffron one before - the course has changed to help the flow and overtaking opportunites. The instructions and location are attached to this news feed. See you there!
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Brathay Windermere Marathon
Darren and I made our annual pilgrimage to 'the beautiful marathon' at the weekend, although some may argue it is more brutal than beautiful with its seemingly never-ending hills. It's certainly a challenging course, but the rewards are well worth the pain if you like your running other than fenland flat. Conditions were near perfect for marathon running, and fast times were expected by many.
Darren had a superb run, smashing through the 3:30 barrier for the first time. I couldn't quite match my time from London last month, but 3:13 was still quick enough to bag the prizes for 2nd female and 1st FV35.
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Ross Peers East Cambs Half Marathon
A good sized herd of us blue and white deer trotted over to Soham for the East Cambs Half Marathon on Sunday. Some fantastic positions and paces were had with Sullivan Smith in overall second place (1:13:24), John Oakes galloping to win his section (1:20:33) and Claire Sullivan PB’ing all the way to become 2nd Female. And congratulations to everyone since despite the breeze it was demandingly muggy and sunny.
It was very well serviced race; a wonderfully enthusiastic Council VIP started us and handed us our medals at the finish and there was even a bossy motorbike patrolling the highways for us. There are a few course photos that to the uninitiated may just look like wonky pictures of Fen roads … but maybe they'll be of use to those who consider it next year. Completely forgot to get any at the finish line oops!
At the starting horn unfortunately I jumped like a startled cat, legs splayed. And Charlie said he jumped too hehe so I wouldn't have felt so silly had it not been for the fact that my thighs slammed shut like clams and I all I could do was stumble out of the way. But against sensible judgement I kept going and managed to calm them down over the first few miles to do a time I’m happily surprised at (1:50:58). This breathing hard over a long distance business is hard work!
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Cambridge Fetch Summer Mile - and other silly distances
Those wanting to test their pace on the track over a short distance are welcome to come and join the Cambridge Fetch Summer Mile. It is being held at the Wilberforce Road track on Saturday 1 June 2013 starting at 12:00 and we have the track until 2:00. Entry for the day is £3:00 and bring cake! If any money is left over after payment for the track, it will go to our local charity. You can just turn up on the day, but it would be really helpful if you could send me your details by email. This really helps speed up sorting the pacing for the races in advance. Please email me; name, address, emergency contact and estimated time. We could also do with pacers as well at 5:50, 7:00 and 8:00, (we have an offer for 9:00 already), so if you can help please state this in the email. You will naturally still be able to race as I can organise the waves around this. We will also be doing 800m, 400m and 100m as a bit of fun; but can sort this on the day. There was a great turnout last time, with kids also having a crack at the shorter distances, so bring your families if they want to see what it is like to run on the on the track. My email is chris@hirky.wanadoo.co.uk. See you there
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Colchester 10k and the Halstead Marathon - TOWIE
John Oakes and I travelled over to Colchester for their 10k. A bit windy, but otherwise sunny and not too hot. John is using these races as strong tempo sessions at the moment, to fine tune himself for a summer of speed and took 18th place in 37:13. This also brought in a 3rd place in category, though in this event the category started at 45, so a great result. I came in a confidence boosting few seconds over 46 minutes, so the summer training should sharpen this up.
Straight afterwards we pinged over to Halstead to watch the runners complete the Halstead Marathon, which is a runners' favourite of beautiful views on a testing undulating course. Christof finished in a very respectable 3:14, though he lamented that a fast start made the later downhills hard work. David Edwards continued his pursuit of membership of the 100 Marathon club with his 3rd 26.2 miler in 8 days, and another negative split (after 3:55 and 3:53 last weekend) with a superb 3:33 - an extraordinary performance. Those looking for a friendly well organised marathon next year - try this one - highly recommended.
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Milton Keynes Marathon
Quite unfairly, Milton Keynes is sometimes the butt of jokes which mock its brutal modernity, its roundabouts and its concrete cows. Two thousand and forty-five marathoners will never again raise a smirk at the mention of MK; more likely a stab of panic and a pitiful whimper. To be fair, who could have imagined that an English early May Bank Holiday could produce a day of such stifling warmth and constant sunshine? It was an oven out there, and if you see Simon Brightwell, Dave Edwards, Chris Poole, Bernard Shannon or Gianluca Savini around the track, lend your sympathy. Simon's 3:12 for 61st place deserves some kind of commemorative plaque in the circumstances, and surely Dave was unique in both completing his second marathon in consecutive days and keeping an almost-even pace for a 3:52, beating Chris's commendable 3:58. Bernard's 4:41 and Gianluca's 5:09 were epic triumphs over the conditions too. Heroes all. And nice to see C&C old boy Ed Catmur pick up the win.
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Ashdon 10k
Another race I have not done before, the Ashdon 10k, turned out to be a very pleasant local event. It's nearly all off road in picturesque country side and the tales I have heard of it being "challenging" turned out to be very true! Think Saffron Walden 10k, but much harder! I was actually happier with my run here than at yesterdays GEAR 10k even though time wise it was nowhere near as fast, running 38:23 for 4th place. Next home for C&C and well up the front were Giacomo Capetti, 10th in 40:36 and Giulio Cinque, 18th in 41:35. I did see other C&C vests there, but there are no teams on the results, so sorry if I have left you out, please add yourself if you also ran.
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Kings Lynn GEAR 10k
A small number of C&C's made the trip up to King's Lynn for the GEAR 10k, the quick course attracting a large field and good standard of runner. It's the first time I have done it and I was impressed by the organization and the big crowds there to watch around the city center. First home for C&C was the ever impressive Sullivan Smith with a time of 32:21 and 4th place over all. Next home was newcomer to C&C and running Jack Bowden, this being only his 3rd ever 10k, in a very speedy 33:55 for 12th place and of course a PB!! Next for C&C was the fast improving Ian Wood, again with a big PB (by about 2 minutes I think) in a time of 36:05 and 28th. I followed Ian in a few seconds later in 36:10 for 30th. And last but not least was Steph Field in a time of 59:33.
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Suffolk Heritage Coast races
A charming set of multiterrain races (M, HM and QM-ish) starting from Thorpeness and taking in Sizewell B, the beach, and some quiet country roads make up the Heritage Coast races, this year in brilliant sunshine of course (and not too desperately hot). The results don't list clubs so please add yourself if I've missed you; Tim had a good run in the half, I blew up rather spectacularly and unexpectedly in the marathon, but the key player was Dave Edwards who had a perfectly paced weekend "negative split" by clocking 3:55 in this marathon and 3:53 the very next day in Milton Keynes (report to follow no doubt).
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Impington 5K Fun Run
You won't find published results for the Impington 5K (do please add yours), but three cheers for David Barber (first vet and third overall) and Carmel McEniery (correspondingly first and second).
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Fen Drayton 10K
Since the earliest times, we people of these islands have emerged from our rough dwellings on May Day to celebrate springtime; the coming of warmth and sunshine, the swifts and swallows, the hawthorn blossom; the end of a hard winter, with its frosts, lean times and woeful marathon failures. We prance around the maypole, thwack our rosetted brothers and uncles with wooden poles, and dig out the vest and racing shoes for a serious bash at the short, fast stuff. At this time of year, the villages of the Fen Edge, from Fenstanton to Willingham to Cottenham come together for a glass of ale and dig out some coins for a slab of sponge cake and a lump of pig in a bap, in shiny anticipation of the good times to come.
All this is usually in chill, gloom and horizontal drizzle, of course, but somehow this year the people of Fen Drayton laid on a glorious Sunday for their day of wild racing and primary school fun, just like it always was in the old days. The pinnacle of pagan revelry was the excellent 10K race, diverted once again from the boggier parts of the RSPB reserve, where many a naive dry-lander has met a sticky end, and took in the busway's cycle track and the farm droves, some concrete, some loose, between Swavesey, Fenstanton and the host village - essentially flat and fast.
Despite the warmth, our squad put in some impressive performances, notably Kye Liddle, second in 35:16, Nicola McBride, second lady and in great form with 41:54, and Caz Wright (42:19), next home after Nicola. Andrew Shields once again went quicker than ever, taking sixth in 36:40, and Chris Johnson ran an excellent 40:55. C&C category wins abounded, for Andrew, Nicola and Caz and for Diane Bunch and Diana Braverman too. Carmel McEniery and Jen Richardson both ran cracking PBs, and I think Natalie Manning and Simon Glover will have done the same. Finally, on a proper family day out, welcome to the C&C racing family Emily Roebuck and David Lacy - the first of many, I'm sure - and no time to mention myself, Alex, Martyn, Pauline or Sam, but we did good too. A lovely village day out.
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Girton 5K
Entries for the fifth Girton 5K are now open at www.girton5k.org.uk The race sold out before the day in the last two years, so apply early if you want to join in.
Date/Time - Thursday 11th July 2013, 5K race starts at 7.30pm.
Location - The Girton Pavilion, Cambridge Road, Girton, Cambridge, CB3 0FH.
Course - Flat, single lap multi-terrain course.
1 mile fun run - Starts at 7pm. Entries on the day only.
Friendly 5K race and fun run in Girton (on the outskirts of Cambridge), organised by the world-renowned Muddy Mucky Munkeys Athletics Club. It costs just £4 for EA registered athletes.
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Greater Manchester Marathon
The latest news from the spring marathon circuit comes from Manchester, where our duo of Graham Anderson and Phil Scofield represented us with distinction. Graham's role as personal pacemaker brought him home in 3:07 (I'd like a 3:07 too, please, Graham - I'll provide the stripy vest), and Phil made his debut at the distance with 4:12 - great running both.
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