Bedford Parkrun - 25.10.14

With Les volunteering and a number of other people away due to half-term it was left to Pete and Sian Jones to represent FlitwickTri at Bedford Parkrun this week.

Of the 221 runners Pete finished in 69th place in a time of 24.36 with Sian finishing in a time of 37.57 in 209th place. 

Bedford Parkrun - 18.10.14

The journey to Bedford and the wait at the start were both in light rain but thankfully by the time the run started the sun had come out and the conditions were pretty much ideal for the 211 runners.

This week it was left to Les and I to represent Flitwick Tri although Emily Potts and Jack Wilkinson both came along to support and both have threatened to get their running kit on for next week.

Times were:

Chris Wright                   22nd in 21.57
Les Potts                        91st in 25.56

Chris 

Royal Parks Half Marathon - 12.10.14

On Sunday Jason and I jumped on a very early train from Flitwick to head to London for the Royal Parks Half Marathon. As always we had allowed plenty of time to get to the race, or so we thought.

Unfortunately Thameslink saw fit to make a complete farce of some engineering works and we were delayed on the train near Cricklewood for about 40 minutes before crawling into St Pancras. This meant that we ended up dashing for the tube and then from Knightsbridge tube station to the bag drop and then running to the start via the loos. This meant I missed the green wave start (for runners with a similar predicted finish time) and Jason and I both ended up starting in the slower blue wave. With a field of 14,718 runners the start was understandably very congested despite the wide closed roads. 

I spent the first 6 miles of the race weaving through slower runners which put paid to my hopes of a PB. In the end I finished with a time of 1.43.31 which was a couple of minutes outside my PB from last year. This was good enough for 2170^th place. Jason, on the back of very little training following his shoulder surgery, finished in a time of 2.45.27 which was good enough for 13,842nd place.

I must say a very big thank you to all who supported my fundraising efforts. I am delighted to say that I managed to raise just over £1,000 (including Gift Aid) for Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

Chris

Perkins Great Eastern Half Marathon - 12th October 2014

Liam and I, plus friend Michael, took part in this event for the second successive year. Held in Peterborough on mainly flat, closed city centre and residential roads this event was again superbly organised with great marshals and very loud local support. Once again a decent goody bag rewarded finishers with a medal, technical t-shirt, water, fruit & cereal bar.

The conditions unlike last year were virtually perfect - windless, cool and a little sunshine. 

Conditions were obviously to my liking as I managed a new half marathon personal best knocking 58 seconds of my previous pb, achieved at Nottingham's Robin Half in 2013, and somehow I also managed to improved by over 7 minutes on this year's Robin Hood Half run just two weeks ago.

Conversely Liam suffered some cramp to his calfs in the early part of the race but was still slightly faster than at Nottingham two weeks ago.

Results were only published for the 3,800 who finished in the allowed time of 3hours 30minutes.

Our results were:

Liam Ko    1,142th    1:48:02

Les Potts   1,498th   1:53:51

Les

Herts 10K - 12.10.14

Hi Folks

Stephen Clough, Fiona and I went down to a cool Harpenden today to run in the 9th Herts 10k. It is not classed as a cross country but there were over 800m on grass and nearly half the course on dirt/stone tracks. As the ground was hard this was not a problem. 

There were about 3000 entrants and they started us out in about 3 waves. Though a moderately slow start the field soon spread out and you were able to run at your normal pace. 

It was a lovely scenic run with only one rise though it did seem to go on for ages at about the 3k point. It was one big loop travelling from the Rothampsted Research Centre in Harpenden out to Redbourn Golf Club, through the lanes and back via disused railway lines and field borders to the start. 

We were all fairly pleased with our times considering the ground conditions and congestion.

Stephen led the way with  46min 31s – a probable PB, I came next 9 sec faster than my target time at 54min 51s and Fiona arrived with a big smile at 1hr 3min 54s.

 

A nice charity event well organised- well worth a visit next year

 

Pete Jones

Bedford Parkrun - 11.10.14

This weekend there were three of us running and one volunteer (Les) at Bedford Parkrun. The weather was pretty dismal with persistent drizzle. Numbers were therefore down slightly on usual with 183 runners taking part.

Times were:

Chris Wright              76th in 26.15
Pete Jones                163rd in 36.42
Sian Jones                 164th in 36.44

Standalone 10K - 05.10.14

Les and I ventured over to Letchworth on Sunday for this highly rated local 10K which is run mostly on closed roads. 

The day dawned very bright but cold with some frost on the ground in the car par (field) when we arrived. The race was very well organised and had sold out completely well in advance of race day and 1138 runners took part.

The race also doubled up as the Hertfordshire County Championships so there were more club runners than many other events. 

The course was an undulating one (similar in profile to the Flitwick 10K) but with mostly closed roads the large number of entrants was not really an issue as the start was on a road and there was room for all to find their appropriate place as the race got underway.

Overall Les and I were happy with our results which were:

Chris Wright                    254th in 46.10
Les Potts                         525th in 51.58

Chris

Robin Hood Nottingham Half Marathon - 28th September 2014

For the second successive year Liam and I took part in the above mass participation event with 7,248 runners crossing the finishers line.

Having learnt our lesson last year we got off nice and early meeting in MK at 6.30am and arriving with plenty of time to spare. A massive improvement on last year's urgent run to the start line due to traffic congestion in Nottingham city centre.

The course is pan-cake flat and run entirely on closed roads. Once again the weather was perfect for running. There was ample supportive marshals and spectators, and plenty of drink stations.

If there was a negative to this event it is that it is a mass participation event and hence you are always crowded in by the sheer volume of runners but especially so in the first 1 to 2k.

Disappointingly neither of us could improve on last year's results or positions:

Liam finished 1786th in 1:48:58 (2013 1390th in 1:45:01)

Les finished 3409th in 2:00:56 (2013 2596th in 1:54:56)

Regardless we received a decent goody bag and medal. Liam particularly enjoyed the post race food on offer from several vendors in the race village!

Les