Fourteen Newmarket Joggers travelled to St Neots on Sunday for the popular half marathon by the same name organised by Riverside Runners. The race is always a sell out months in advance and immensely popular with 916 finishers. First to cross the finish line for the club was Denys Olefir in 1:15:44 and 8th position, another fantastic run from Denys and sadly his last for the club as he is soon to leave the town and return home to the Ukraine. Denys has been one of the Joggers championship performers for the club over the last 2 years and this race was no exception as he posted another personal best (PB) – Denys will be sadly missed by all at the club and we wish him well in his new venture. Next over the line also recording a PB was Chris Gay in 1:21:47 (39th) with Ben Blowes next and freshened up from his Dublin Marathon run in 1:25:43 (81st). Neil Williamson also achieved another PB for the year in 1:28:25 (117th), Nik Chapman recorded a Seasons Best (SB) in 1:34:36 (212th) with Justin Long next in 1:37:14 (PB), Chris Eyre took 14 minutes off last year’s time on the same course and gained a PB in doing so 1:40:34 (341st), Lisa Redman was first lady for the club in 1:46:02 (457th), Marcus Gynn 1:47:31 (481st), Miles Johnson 1:52:19 (568th), Michelle Barnes marked the end of the year well by also achieving a PB in 1:58:13 (692nd), whilst Mary Marsh recorded a SB and got her first time under 2 hours this year for the distance by digging deep for the final 400m and racing over the line in 1:59:53 (716th), Isabel Vicente 2:18:44 (880th), Lisa Jennings 2:25:29 (895th).
Running in the Gosport Half in Hampshire on Sunday was Greg Davis who went off too fast by his own admission thus suffering in the final stages to finish in 1:27:56, his daughters Charlie and Ruby Davis also competed on the day for the Juniors in the off road Fun Run over 1.2k.
Tracey Apperley represented Newmarket Joggers at the Wrekin Wrecker Fell Race in Shropshire on Sunday, this tough race is over 12.9km with 732m (2402 feet) of climb and Tracey was delighted with her finish time of 1:46:47 (6th LV45). The course starts on one side of the Wrekin, going up, down, over and around over a variety of terrain with extremely steep climbs and descents and is a technically demanding race.