On Sunday, the Marcus Gynn Newmarket 10K, organised by Newmarket Joggers, took place at The Ellesmere Centre in Stetchworth. This race celebrates the life of young fellow club runner Marcus Gynn, who sadly lost his fight against sarcoma cancer 3 years ago. The race helped to raise funds for Sarcoma UK, with Gareth Knighton, a cousin of Marcus, receiving £1000 in sponsorship donations for his run.
Wizardry: Expertly dressed as Wizard of Oz characters and bringing fun and laughter to the race were Danielle Jones (Dorothy), Jeremy Reader (The Tin Man), Joe Cormack (The Cowardly Lion) and Adam Maltpress (The Scarecrow). All finished together in 1:06:17 to well-deserved cheers from the spectators.
Wizards of Oz: Danielle Jones, Jeremy Reader, Joe Cormack and Adam Maltpress. Photo credit: Joe Cormack
A large contingent of club members were kindly helping to organise and marshal this event and grateful thanks to them, led from the front by race director Jim Withers and chief marshal Greg Davis. There were also 16 Newmarket Joggers taking part in the race, including the Wizard of Oz characters.
Senior 10K Race: Neil Pollard found some wizardry of his own and recorded an all-time 10K PB of 34:32, coming home 2nd of 223 runners overall and first in his MV40 age group. This performance puts him into Sapphire club standard at 80.5% age grade. Next home for the Joggers were Jason Bevan (40:54) and Marc Drury (45:01). Hannah Parsons (47:58) was first female Jogger to finish, coming 2nd in her FV40 category, followed by Ellie Bithell (49:54) 3rd FV40 and Anna Mayhew (53:34) 3rd FV45. Others competing were: James Tweed (45:27), Denis Coman (45:46), Rebecca Fordham (54:37), Chris Aylmer (59:50), Sara Brown (59:55), and Angela Barnes (1:03:57).
Wizard Neil Pollard: 2nd overall in a PB time of 34:32. Photo credit: Kate Warboys
Junior Races: Several Junior Joggers represented the club and achieved very good results in the junior races before the 10K senior event. The U8s did one lap of the playing fields, which was about 375m. The U11s did 2 laps, the U13s 3 laps and the U15s 4 laps (about 1500m). Junior Jogger Isobel Basing (1:54, ~8:09/mile) came home 1st of 9 in the U8F event and her sister Lilly Basing (3:45, ~8:00/mile) did equally well by finishing 1st of 2 in the U11F event by over a minute. In the boys’ U11 event, Harvey Thomas (3:45, ~8:00/mile) came home 2nd of 7, with Dylan Jones (4:06, ~8:48/mile) not far behind in 6th. The 3-lap U13 girls’ event was a fast and close-fought contest between Cerys Bithell and Eadie Brooker, with Cerys (4:46, ~6:49/mile) just gaining the advantage over Eadie (4:53, 6:59/mile). Cerys has plenty of Newmarket GRL 2.5K and 5K experience, while Eadie has achieved a high standard in 2K and 5K parkruns, so both are developing into fine young runners. George Jones (7:01, ~10:02/mile) did well to finish 2nd of 3 in the U13 boys’ event. Well done to them all.
Cerys Bithell and mother Ellie Bithell with their Junior and 10K race medals. Photo credit Ellie Bithell.
Leamington Spa HM: Meanwhile, in the Leamington Spa Half Marathon, Henry Hamilton-Gould clocked 1:31:44 and finished 92nd of 992 runners overall, close to his best half marathon time this year.
Holkham 10K: On Saturday, 9 Joggers took part in the Holkham 10K in Norfolk among a total field of 764. Emma Newman (47:04) was first female Jogger home, 10th of 402 female runners and 3rd of 42 in her F30-34 age category. She is coming back to great form after an injury earlier this year laid her low. Following on were Jan Holmes (55:04) 3rd FV55, Jill O’Grady (56:02), Mary Marsh (62:42) 2nd FV65, Sarah Kinston (66:13) and Rebecca Hannah (66:13). Of the male Joggers, Adam Maltpress (44:43) came home first, 10th of 50 in MV40, followed by Clive Purbrook (49:25) 3rd MV60 and Miles Johnson (55:06) 2nd MV65.
Emma Newman, Jan Holmes, Sarah Kinston and Rebecca Hannah at the finish of the Holkham 10K. Photo credit: Jan Holmes
Final Friday 5: On Friday at Great Bentley in Essex, it was the final fixture of the Friday 5 Mile Series of six races. Neville Clarke (34:58) was back in action after missing a fixture and was first Jogger home, coming 2nd of 12 in MV65 and winning his age category in the series as a whole. He had a tremendous series, winning his age group by large margins in all four of his other races. Next came Brian Munns (36:33) and Jim Withers (42:35), both recording their best times of the series, followed by Chris Aylmer (47:15), Kate Warboys (49:38) and Caroline Mcintosh (50:35). It was a great effort by Mcintosh, who recorded her third all-time 5 mile PB in a row, and all in the last three weeks.