This weekend has seen a record number of Newmarket Joggers competing over the half marathon distance with a massive team of 31 Joggers travelling to the 2nd running of the Cambridge Half Marathon on Sunday. Waking up on Sunday to sub zero temperatures and a blanket of snow did not put the team off running the 13.1 miles with many running the distance for the first time and 11 recording PB’s on the day.
The club also had lots of club members out on the course cheering their team mates on and the support throughout the race for all competitors was immense for such a cold dismal day. First over the line for the club in 9th position overall and 1st Male Veteran was Paul Holley in 1:14, despite not feeling 100% the Jogger put in a solid performance to hold off the 2nd Male Veteran by 4 seconds. In second position for the club and 25th overall was Denys Olefir in a new PB, the first of the day, of 1:17, 3rd Jogger recording 69th position was Martyn Taylor who also claimed a PB by finishing in 1:21.
Running the distance for the first time was Sam Sadler who recorded a great time of 1:27 to finish in 135th position overall. Next for the club was Gabriel Lowrie in 1:28 with another first time half marathoner Ben Jay delighted to finish in 1:30.
Barnabas Purbrook was another to record a PB by finishing in 1:33 with Neil Williamson next in 1:34, closely followed by Ursula Ransom who was first female for the club in a new PB of 1:35, not only was this a great time but was made even more unbelievable after she had competed in the inter-counties cross country championships the day before in Birmingham for Suffolk; the televised national event was a gruelling 8k cross country world championship qualifier which offered a course of knee deep mud and tough terrain throughout. 2nd female for the club was Ruth Astle who by clocking 1:36 made it another PB on the day and finishing 20 seconds ahead of David Cheese also in 1:36. David McLaughlin was next and another to record a PB in 1:37.
Philip Montoya finished in 1:41 with Clive Purbrook split seconds behind despite running a marathon the week before, also recording 1:41 was Susannah Rush who also accomplished a PB which was her 3rd in a week having competed in a 20 mile race and 5k in the last 7 days it gave her a well earned treble. The 1:41 was a popular time with Marcus Gynn also setting this and recording a PB by 7 minutes showing his marathon training is going very well. Nicky Chapman put in a great performance and paced her race to perfection to finish in 1:44 with Justin Long next in 1:46.
It was then a trio of ladies crossing the line in 1:47 – with first Tessa Stone who was running the distance for the first time, Lisa Redman and Carolynn Anderson. Verity MacMahon was another first timer and recorded 1:51 with Belinda Schofield next recording a PB on the day of 1:52 also clocking the same time and a PB was Wendy McLaughlin.
Mike Sales followed in 1:53 with Michelle Barnes putting in a terrific run to finally get under the 2hour mark and record a PB of 1:58 and Julia Winterburn also got under the 2 hours in 1:59. Joe Richer was next in 2:01 followed by Lynda McCormack in 2:05 with Mary Marsh next over the line in 2:09 and Ian Woodroffe completing in 2:11 rounded off a terrific days results for the club.
In training for the Edinburgh Marathon is Jason Beeton who travelled to Milton Keynes to gauge his training to date and was delighted to also record a PB over the 13.1 miles by over 7 minutes as he finished in 1:30 and typical of a runner always striving for better he’s already set himself the goal of a sub 1:30, as his marathon training has just commenced he’s in fine form and hopes there more PB’s to come.
Also running at the weekend down in Devon in the notorious Grizzly race which was this year named Grime & Punishment for its 21 miles of shingle beaches, mud, bogs, cliffs and climbs was sole Newmarket Jogger Lisa Jennings, although official results are not yet in Lisa finished in 5hrs 55mins and was delighted to get round this tough course which was also affected by the unseasonal weather change.