There was a huge turnout of 27 Joggers for the Abington 10K on Sunday, a favourite annual race for the club. Chris Gay (35:04) finished 2nd of 336 runners overall in an all-time PB of 35:04, over two minutes better than his previous PB. First woman home for the Joggers was Danielle Jones in 49:30, finishing 19th of 147 female runners in her first 10K race for the club. Among the best male veteran Joggers, Adam Maltpress (43:43) was 11th of 56 in MV40, Greg Davis (38:52) 2nd of 40 in his MV50 group with Neville Clarke (43:25) 2nd of 17 in MV60. Malcolm Osbourn (53:27) excelled in MV70+ with an all-time PB by over 3 minutes, with Alan Thornhill (58:16) MV70+ not far behind. Among the female veterans, best performers were Hannah Parsons (52:16) FV40, Rebecca Fordham (54:50) FV45, Sianie Painter (57:43) FV50, Jan Holmes (55:10) FV55, Belinda Schofield (55:22) FV60, Mary Marsh (61:55) FV65, Carol Mcintosh (66:11) FV65 and Jenny Osbourn (67:46) FV70. Other finishers were: Malcolm McConnell (43:53), Clive Purbrook (48:09), Jeremy Reader (49:42), Miles Johnson (52:23), David Crowley (52:44), Jill O’Grady (55:50), Dave Price (57:42), Sarah Kinston (1:03:30), Rebecca Hannah (1:03:32), Alexia Smithson (1:03:48), Gillian Green (1:10:23) and Rachel Allen (1:17:28), many of them setting new 2018 or all-time PBs. Well done to all!
Junior Jogger Isla McCulloch (9:19) also did well to finish 5th of 63 U16 girls in the 2K Fun Run at Abington.
The Abington 10K was the start of Adam Maltpress’s campaign to complete 40 races while aged 40 and hopefully receive 40 medals, having had his birthday just a few days ago, so we can follow his progress. So far so good!
Away in the USA, Henry Hamilton-Gould (3:22:25) joined Mo Farah and ran in the Chicago Marathon, finishing 4,135th of 44,559 runners in his best time for two years. He now has only the Tokyo marathon to complete his set of 6 Major Marathons, as Jogger Sarah Boneham did a few weeks ago in the Berlin Marathon. Meanwhile back in the UK, Paul Dockerill ran well in the Bournemouth Marathon (3:49:22), while Tom McCusker (1:27:28) opted for the Half Marathon, finishing an impressive 118th of 3,902 overall. Up at the Chester Marathon, 19 year old Oliver Daykin (2:52:30) put in a tremendous run to finish 102nd of 2,785 overall, his first known attempt at this distance, so his future looks bright.
In the Standalone 10K at Letchworth, James Thomson (40:50), Brian Munns (45:06) and Jim Withers (51:58) were all in action, near their best times this season.
The Great Barrow Challenge (GBC) Half Marathon on Saturday near Bury St Edmunds saw Jason Bevan (1:31:09) and Neil Williamson (1:41:29) come home in 1st and 3rd place, while the next day at GBC, Grainne Brennan (19:16), Hannah Pollard (20:32) and Neil Williamson (20:50) made it a 1-2-3 for Joggers in the GBC 5K! Svitlana Zinchenko (62:26) represented the club in the GBC 10K on the same day.
Mark Hayward came 3rd of 108 in the HaverTri Triathlon Sprint event on Sunday at Haverhill. He was 1st in the 5K run in 22:43, his strongest discipline.