Three Joggers joined 442 others in the annual Stowmarket Scenic 7 mile race, which started at 9:30am on Remembrance Day, going along quiet lanes surrounded by attractive autumnal landscape. Two minutes silence was held in the Sports Hall at 11:00am in the Mid Suffolk Leisure Centre before the prizegiving. Our chairperson, Kate Warboys, is enjoying a welcome resurgence of form and completed the race in 1:05:07, her best age-graded performance this year. Caroline McIntosh (1:15:19) and Gillian Green (1:20:43) both ran well, with Green also achieving her best age grade % this year.
On Saturday, it was the Essex Remembrance running event at Carver Barracks, a disused RAF airfield near Saffron Walden, where there were 1 mile/5K/10K and Half Marathon options. Here, the old runways form the shape of cross, very appropriate for this particular occasion. The course is very flat and fast, mainly over the airfield service roads surrounding the runways. Iain Perry achieved an all-time PB of 24:34 in the 5K, the first time he’s been under 25 minutes, coming 2nd of 12 in MV50, while Anna Mayhew clocked 53:03 in the 10K, finishing 4th of 26 in her FV50 age group.
Up at Leverington, near Wisbech, on Sunday, Andrew Taylor was bang on form in the George Munday 10K, gaining an all-time PB of 43:38 and finishing 2nd of 24 in MV45.
Also on Sunday, down in Richmond, SW London, Clive Purbrook (1:51:11) and Belinda Schofield (2:16:30) both enjoyed a run in the beautiful Richmond Park Half Marathon, among a field of 349. They both achieved good age graded performances, with Purbrook 1st of 6 in MV60 and Schofield 2nd of 4 in FV60.
Apologies to Newmarket Jogger Troi Baxter, who was missed from the results of the New York City Marathon last week. She put in a tremendous performance to finish in 4:13:26, 6,028th of 22,719 female runners overall, with halfway splits of 1:55/2:18 and an average pace of 9:40/mile. That was a great achievement. Unfortunately, the results are not searchable by club, just by name or bib number.
New member Charles Jones impressed in the Joggers’ monthly 5K Winter Handicap last Tuesday evening, which is a time-staggered race where the slowest go first and the fastest last, according to their estimated finishing times. This gives everyone a fair chance of winning the race, especially if they are improving. Jones beat his handicap to come home first finisher of 39 overall, from Baz Colley in 2nd and Jackie Henley in 3rd. The next fixture will be on Tuesday 3rd December at 6:30pm, from the Leisure Centre in Newmarket.