Bedford Parkrun - 20 June 2015

A rather dismal morning did not stop 257 runners gathering in Bedford Park for the weekly 5K Parkrun.

From our group there were 2 participants and their times were:

Liam Ko              98th in 25.33
Sarah Eke           202nd in 32.55

Well done both. 

Marston Forest 5K - 19.06.15

A small group of us went over to Marston Forest Park for the annual Friday evening 5K race. Conditions were beautiful for being out and about on a summer's evening but a bit warm for a running race. There was also a lot of dust thrown up during the race from the path surface.

There was a good turnout with many of the local running clubs well represented which resulted in some very fast time. The male winner clocked a mightily impressive 15.35 and the female winner clocked a time of 17.32.

Keira Murphy took part in the children's 1K race and looked to be running strongly with her friend Millie.

In the adult 5K race there were 356 runners and our results were:

Chris Wright                        82nd in 21.20
Pete Jones                          188th in 25.22
Jason Murphy                      318th in 33.46
Sian Jones                           349th in 38.37

Well done all. 

St Albans Half Marathon - 14th June 2015

For the second consecutive year Liam & I, along with 2,489 other entrants, tackled the above half marathon event.

 

Compared to the heat of last year the cool damp conditions at the start of this race was a welcome relief. In fact the whole race was run in nearly ideal weather conditions.

If I had to complain I'd moan about the long queues for baggage drop and toilets, that were so bad that the race start was delayed by 10 minutes by which time we had already given up on the pre race loo visit.

 

The course itself is quite undulating with very few flat parts but had decent support from the public, was well marshalled and had plenty of drink stations.

 

We had mixed fortunes in the race.

 

I bettered last year's time by 3 minutes despite walking on 3 separate occasions finishing in 1492nd place in a time of 2:00:29. At the half way point I was in 1380th place in 57:21 so a disappointing 2nd half to the race.

 

Liam had issues in that he had hardly trained since the MK marathon in late May and in the days prior to this race he had been off work unwell. Consequently Liam finished a disappointing (by his standards) 1992nd place in 2:14:16 some 30 minutes slower than in 2014. At the half way point Liam had clocked 59:19 in 1607th place so also a disappointing second half.

 

The burgers we consoled ourselves with after the race plus medal, finishers technical t-shirt & goody bag nearly made it worthwhile.

 

Les

Run Bedford 10K - 07.06.15

Pete, Steve & I took part in the first ever running of the Run Bedford 10k Road Race. The course started and finished on The Embankment and took runners around some of Bedford's finer streets. The course was pancake flat and on closed roads.

 

The start / finish location, great weather and the Kite festival (also in Russell Park) gave the event a real party atmosphere.

 

Given that it was the first such event there were no problems with the organisation. There was ample free car parking just a few minutes walk from the start / finish in Aspects Leisure Park.

 

Surprisingly there was only 433 starters for the event with all but 4 finishing. Having said that the field was of a good standard with all of Bedford's running clubs as well as Ampthill & Flitwick Flyers in attendance and a good turnout from Bedford Parkrun.

 

Steve was hampered by a calf injury for a good proportion of the race but still managed to leave Pete & I in his wake. 

Steve came 170th in a time of 50:02 and was 20th in "our" age category.

I finished in 51:29 in 207th place and 24th in our age category.

 

Pete finished in 228th place in exactly 53 minutes and was 26th in our age category. 

 

Les

Stratford Tempest Sportive - 06.06.15

On Saturday morning I had a break from the normal Parkrun and went off up to Warwick to take part in the Wiggle organised Stratford Tempest Sportive.

There were 3 distances on offer - Short @ 65 miles, Standard @ 82 miles and Epic @ 100 miles. The Standard and Epic also had the "pleasure" of including in their route a hill by the name of Saintbury Hill. This has been the venue for 2 national hill climb championships so it gives you an idea of what is involved. Over a mile long with an average gradient of 9% and up to 18% at its steepest. Despite the name there is nothing saintly about it.

I opted for the Standard distance and my friend Andy was intending to do the same but ended up doing the Short ride instead.

The sun was out when we arrived but there was a very strong wind from the South West that was quite chilly so the weather was much colder than it appeared and the winds also made things interesting when blowing across the route and challenging when cycling into it. 

There were 1500 people taking part in the event so the start area was a bit chaotic and the food stops were very busy but well stocked, not that I stopped long at any of them.

I managed to get round the 82.1 mile course in a time of 5h 03m which equates to an average speed of 16.0mph which I was pleased with given the distance involved and the 3,681 feet of climbing. Wiggle work their awards for the sportives on average speed over the whole event and I was very happy to achieve the top Gold standard for the event.

Overall a long and challenging ride but very satisfying to get up Saintbury Hill without stopping and still having a bit in the tank at the end.

Chris

Edinburgh Marathon Festival

On 30th May I took part in both the 10k & 5k events at the above festival.

Both races were in Holyrood Park in Edinburgh and both to my dismay took the runners to the highest road point around Arthur's Seat. This meant that the first 2.5 to 3.0k of each race was a climb upwards to the tune of about 100 meters, and on both races I did resort to walking small stretches of this long drag. The bonus of such long climbs is that there was plenty of downhills in which to recover some time. 

Both races were well supported and enjoyable.

Results as follows:

10k race - 628th out of 2,361 finishers in 55:23

5k race - 173rd out of 834 finishers in 27:41

I also entered the half marathon event on Sunday 31st but an 8am start and no early trains from my Dunfermline address would have meant a 5.45am start to catch 6.30am park & ride service to get to the start in time so I took the decision to have a lay-in instead. 

Les  

London BUPA 10K - 25.05.15

On bank holiday Monday Pete, Sian and I made our way to Cockfosters tube station and then onto Green Park to take part in the above event for the third or fourth consecutive year.

As usual we were very lucky with the weather with it being dry and pleasant, and ideal for running. Given that there was 12,000 runners taking part virtually everything was well thought out and executed really well. Except that is the toilets in that there was an insufficient number resulting in massive queues. 

The route changed this year starting on The Mall and finishing on Spur Road opposite Buckingham Palace. Runners follow a clockwise route around the City of Westminster and the City of London. It passed many of London’s famous sights including Admiralty Arch, Nelson’s Column, St Paul’s Cathedral, Mansion House, the Bank of England, the Old Bailey, Somerset House, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. Spectators line the whole route.

Our results were:

Les Potts   3,498th in 51:50 1:04 slower than 2014

Pete Jones   4,997th in 55:28 - 3:44 quicker than 2014

Sian Jones   11,222nd in 1:19:56 - 5:54 quicker than 2014

A great medal, decent t-shirt etc etc made the goodie bag very acceptable.

Les

British 10K - 25.05.15

Hi Folks

On Monday 25th June Sian, Les and I ventured down into Green Park to do the London Bupa 10,000 run. We had all done the event before and have enjoyed it so much before we keep coming back.

The weather was ideal and the crowd and bands around the route were great.

Les was the winner from our group in a time of 51 minutes.  I managed to beat last years time by nearly 4 minutes and finished in 55 minutes. Sian also beat her 2014 time by nearly 6 minutes completing the run in 1 hour 19 minutes.

A nice goody bag, T shirt and Medal were provided so it was definitely worth the trip!

Pete Jones

A picture from earlier

Here is a belated addition to the report from the Silverstone Half Marathon in March that I have only recently been sent. This is the before race shot on what was a surprisingly cold and windy day. 

From the left it shows me (Chris - in Simon Cowell high waistband mode), Les, Liam, Fiona and Pete.

For results and the race report please look at the entry from March 2015.

Bedford Parkrun - 30-06-15

It was left to Ellen and I to uphold FlitwickTri's honour at the Bedford Parkrun this weekend and we were part of a very large turnout of 331 runners.

Ellen's progression continued and she managed to run all the way round this time without any need for me to revert to Evil Coach mode.

Our results were:

Ellen Wright                241st in 31.11
Chris Wright                242nd in 31.12