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October 2014
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Frostbite race 2 Bushfield
The second of the 6 Frostbite meetings takes place on Sunday 2nd November at Bushfield, just outside Peterborough (A1 side). I hope to see many C & C juniors and seniors at this event, where I will be scoring. The junior race starts at 10:15am with the senior race at 11am. If you are able to come, I suggest car sharing and leaving from the track at 9:15am.
See you on Sunday and full details can be found on the Frostbite website under Sunday's diary events on the left hand side of this screen.
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Friend of C&C Marathon Debut ......
Many of you will remember John Oakes who ran for C&C up to a year or so ago, before he moved away, and also the amount of vet wins he notched for us and still does for his local club Dorset Doddlers. We always wondered how he would fair at the Marathon distance and I thought some of you would be interested to know he made his debut at the ever popular Abington Marathon a couple of weeks ago. He swears it was his "first and last" ..... but we'll see. For various reasons, his training was curtailed and was unable to do the long miles required, with 13 miles being his longest run. But it is the pure tenacity of John to register a fine 2:58:29 in 51st place. Congratulations from us all at C&C!
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Club Night Special Tuesday 4th Nov
Our club night a week on Tuesday will be back at the clubhouse where the FAST crew (Fit Again Sports Therapy) will be offering a special introductory Core session for all runners after training. We will 'do the show right here' so bring a towel or mat. Many of you will have benefited from the skills of Richard, Megan and co already, here's a chance for everyone to build an injury-avoiding performance-enhancing set of routines into their repertoire. https://www.facebook.com/fitagainsportstherapy
The bar will not be open, but The Granta will, for those who want a more traditional drink and chat; and may I take this occasion to plug Christmas Party Tickets, going fast...
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Thurlow 10
This one is a real favourite of mine, despite (or because of?) the hills and stretches of filth, and it seems word has got around because we sent off a pretty big squad down to Suffolk. What's more, we came away with a couple of category wins. Giulio Cinque was our quickest on a difficult course, taking the V55s in a hugely impressive 1:09. First female Emma Buckland was just as awesome, taking first V40 and third female overall in 1:11. Congratulations to both of them. There were numerous other epic runs too - check out the results for full details. Well done all, and well done Haverhill RC too.
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Amsterdam Marathon
It was unseasonably warm for this year's Amsterdam Marathon, but the sweaty summer training clearly paid off for our gaggle of competitors. I'm hoping for a report or two, but for now it's just congratulation time. Firstly Christof Schwiening, who topped a rather large set of strong marathon results with a shiny new PB, running within three minutes of the fabled three-hour mark (surely due to go soon?). Next came Kevin O'Holleran, who blasted a ten minute chunk off his time from twelve months ago, clocking 3:13. And in the Cooke brothers' C&C-vs-Saffron Striders family shootout Alistair (3:53) just out-stayed Craig (3:54), but both comfortably nailed that elusive sub-4. Rather a nice set of results - well done team.
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Essex League Race1
Full teams in each age group at One Tree Hill, Thurrock yesterday. What's more nothing less than second in all age groups. Click here to see the revival in cross country. Next race, Saturday 15th November at Hylands Park, Chelmsford.
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You only get them from your Mum you know...
...your mitochondria that is, those little cellular powerhouses that propel us round races like the Town and Gown 10K. Proving it, young Jonathan E-P won the race in a scorching time, while Mrs P (originator of his organelles) won her V55 category and showed up JEP with a WAVA rating of nearly 89%. Talk about choosing your parents wisely! Well done there, all.
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Perkins Great Eastern Run
Peterborough is a running city (for evidence, see the density and popularity of its clubs and races), and the Perkins Great Eastern Run is its principal running feast day. The GER takes in all of the city's sights (well, you can see the cathedral from the start) in a very Peterborough-esque tour of residential suburbs and green spaces; it's pretty flat (bar the obligatory over- and under-pass) and it's pretty fast too. What's more, the support is generous and enthusiatic, and the organisation is good too. No wonder we took a big squad and no wonder most turned in excellent performances. Charlie Wartnaby and Carla Brown were my undisputed runners of the day; Charlie's excellent 1:15:31 put him 36th, in the top 1% overall, but surely Carla takes star billing - a fantastic 1:19:54 PB for fifth place, and first female from neither Kenya nor Aldershot (surely that should be a category?). Alex Eggeman and Michael Moore challenged Charlie hard, both earning 1:16s, with Craig Dyce (1:17), Graeme Kennedy (1:18) and Alastair Hodges (1:20) making it seven top-100 finishers from C&C. Back with the female race, Ellen Leggate (16th in 1:26) and Jo Eggeman (36th in 1:36, PB) provided C&C quality at the quick end. Lots more to read about via the link, but a mention for some eye-catching PBs to go with Carla's and Jo's; Ian Richardson, making big gains this year, clocked 1:26 to pip Nev Hawkins (1:27), Neil Tween (1:28) and Liam O'Grady (1:32). Finally, there was an impressive performance by Alice Rush in the wheelchair race, finishing in 1:37 and missing out on first female by just 38 seconds, with fine support from third-placed Rebecca Gilbertson (1:52). Excellent racing, everyone.
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Essex League Race 1
First race next Saturday afternoon. Click here. Vets this is your opportunity to pit yourselves against the best in Essex. The more the merrier.
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Ryston Grand Prix Race 1
A race report by Charlie & the results can be found here.
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Frostbite Update
Looks like I was uncharacteristically a smidge optimistic about the team results for the St Neots Frostbite - it's eighth (of 16) for the senior team and eleventh (of 15) for the juniors. Still all to play for though!
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Chester Marathon
On Sunday Darren and I headed North to take part in what must surely be one of the best road marathons in the country. Chester Marathon simply cannot be recommended too highly - it's a fast course, with impeccable organisation, closed roads, and fantastic support. There's a quality field at the sharp end, attracted by free places for the super-quick and 'elite' perks for the slightly-less-than-super-quick, and a generous 6 hour cut off that isn't strictly imposed, making it a welcoming event for all abilities.
Neither of us were going for PBs, as we were using the event as part of a bigger phase of training which included a parkrun and a 15km trail race the day before, so we were both pleased to finish only a few minutes outside our Spring 2014 best times, with Darren clocking 3:27 and me crossing the line in 3:07.
It's a great event. Anyone looking for an Autumn marathon in 2015, take a look!
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National XC Relays - 1 November
If you'd like to run in the National XC relays on 1 November, please contact Ric Park by Wed 8 October.
The National XC Country Relays take place at Mansfield on the 1st November. On the back of recent successes in the Southern and National Road relays, the club would like to enter a number of teams in the National XC Relays and increase the number of C&C athletes participating.
If there is sufficient interest, the club would like to enter the following teams in U13 age categories upwards, including seniors.
Further details of the event can be found on the English XC Association website.
Team selection will be based on previous performances in relays and at the first Essex League XC race at One Tree Hill, Thurrock on Sat 18 October. More details of the Essex League can be found on the C&C website or on Facebook.
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Cross Country League News
The cross country season began on October 1st. If you enjoyed the off road course at the Frostbite last weekend then consider trying the first races in the Ryston Grand Prix on Sunday 12th October or the Essex Cross Country League on Saturday 18th October. This year sees the start of a veterans league at Essex. Teams of 3 women aged 35+ and 4 men aged 40+ to score. Even better - if you run fast enough for C&C you can score twice - for the seniors & vets. Now there's a challenge. Full details can be found on the relevant league webpages.
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Abington 10k
Glorious weather for the Abington 10k and a particularly glorious result for Carla and ClaireS taking the 1-2 double with scorching PBs (though Claire rued those 5 sec!). Istvan left me for dust at about 4k to secure 4th (behind our friend JohnU in 2nd) while in the V50 stakes Jon only just missed the crown, Neville close behind. Highly recommended (despite the unsettling disconnected legs on our trophies!).
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Cambridge Half Entries
Apparently Cambridge Half Marathon entries have opened to those who got a "VIP" entry e-mail, and it sells out extremely fast, so get typing NOW. Those of us who didn't get one will have to sweat it out for a couple of days before any remaining places go on sale.
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Grunty Fen
Some good news! The winners of this year’s Turing Centenary Trophy (1st team of 4 men + 1st team of 3 women) were not St Radegund RDC but C&C. There was an error in the results because Matt Slater wasn't included in the C&C team. Our friends at Ely Runners have sent a kind note and apologised. The corrected results are now on the GF website http://www.elyrunners.co.uk/gruntyfen/
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Frostbite League - St Neots
A beautiful day for an off-road Frostbite, and despite the draw of a number of other local races, we fielded a respectable nineteen seniors and six juniors at Priory Park. We're still awaiting the match scores, but the individual results are in. The juniors were led home by the Haineses - Frances (excellently third-placed girl) beating Oscar (37th boy). I reckon they can expect a solid mid-pack overall result - well done them. The depleted seniors also battled hard, but missed quite a few of our quicker performers (the National Road Relays being rather a good excuse - provided, of course, that we get a report back!), and I reckon something between fifth and seventh will be our overall rank. Michael Moore (eighth) valiantly scrapped it out at the front of the race, Lee Pretlove supporting with a fine 20th and there was an excellent 58th for Neil Tween. The female team rose to the occasion, and Isabelle Lemasson's 25th place on Frostbite début, a 27th from Avril Monmont and a 32nd from Alex Geoghegan will have helped our placing massively. Congratulations and thanks to all who wore the vest, to Adam, captaining ably, and special cheers for the Frostbite first-timers. Follow the link for the full details and check back for the team standings.
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Bournemouth Marathon
A beautiful day to run a marathon on a good course. I thought I was the only C&C runner until I saw Mary Jennings running well along the seafront. This was the second year of the Bournemouth Marathon Festival and was all started by Steve Way. I would recommend it if you want a PB but watch for the hill at 18 to 20 miles.
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Club Night Tuesday 7th @ Granta
Club Night this Tuesday (7th) after training. We shall repair to the Granta by the millpond:
http://gkpubs.co.uk/pubs-in-cambridge/granta-pub/
...no obvious parking at the pub itself, the Lammas land car park is open till 10. There is at least one birthday in the air so there may be cake opportunities as well as the pub's own food and drink. Ambience is currently 'interesting', with framed Daily Telegraphs vying with a plasma log fire...and I am confident we will own it in true C&C style. Everybody welcome!
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Hereward relay - Sun 23 Nov
The club would like to enter teams into the Hereward relay on Sunday 23rd November. This is a 4 person relay event covering 38 miles along the Hereward Way between Peterborough and Ely. Legs are between 6.5 and 11.3 miles and are a mixture of road, track and field.
This event is hosted by March AC and more details are at: http://marchathleticclub.co.uk/Hereward-Relay.php
If you would like to take part, please email me (csomerton@live.co.uk) with the following details by Friday 7th November at the latest:
Full name
Date of Birth
T-shirt size request
Preference for Stage 1, 2, 3 or 4 (or no preference)
Teams will be arranged once people have signed up. However, if you have organised yourselves into a team of 4, please let me know the members of that team.
Last year, C&C won both the mens and ladies trophies, as well as some stage wins, so hopefully there will be lots of support from club members for a strong performance this year.
Any questions, please let me know.
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