Two huge PBs for Newmarket Joggers Hannah and Neil Pollard are the main news story this week. The two have been putting in lots of quality training on Newmarket Heath over the last few months and took on the Bedford Half Marathon on Sunday. Hannah finished 23rd of 937 female runners in a time of 1:34:19, which is an all-time PB for her by 2 minutes 21 seconds. Neil crossed the line in 10th position out of a total field of 1,953 runners in a time of 1:14:43, which takes exactly two minutes off his all-time PB. The two are targeting the York Marathon on the 14th October, so this will give them plenty of confidence.
The evening before, Andrew Taylor (47:26), Sianie Painter (1:03:33) and Alice Leadbeter (1:07:48) all took part in the Bedford Twilight 10K. Taylor was 143rd out of 1,846 runners, equalling his season’s best 10K time, while Painter came close to her PB and Leadbeter did well in her first recorded 10K.
On Friday lunchtime, Henry Hamilton-Gould met old friends in London for a tilt at the LFOTM (Last Friday Of The Month) 5K in Hyde Park against top class opposition. The course goes around The Serpentine. He finished 16th of 32 in his age group in a time of 20:03 so a nice way to spend some quality time.
The Framlingham 10K on Sunday was nominated this year as a Suffolk County Championship race. Clive Purbrook (49:43) and Chris Aylmer (57:38) were competing and both received County Championship trophies for second place in their respective age categories of MV60 and MV65.
Newmarket Joggers are gearing up for the final Kevin Henry League 5K race of the season on Thursday 6th Sept, which will be held at the Cambridge University Athletics Track in Wilberforce Road, hosted by current league leaders Cambridge & Coleridge AC. The Joggers stand 4th of 6 in the table so need all hands on deck to put on a good show!