A tremendous finale to the NJ Virtual Friday 5 Series. Stuart Sowerby took over a minute off his best time, to clock 33:03 in his 4th and final run of the series and clinch the title and gold trophy at the last hurdle. This gave him an age grade of 70.50% and a total of 206.70 points (best 3 of 4 runs), which put him 1.30 points clear of Ruth Eberhardt at the top of the table. Eberhardt was a valiant runner-up and winner of the silver trophy. Like Sowerby, she had improved her times with every run in the first three rounds, clocking 37:33 and gaining 70.17% age grade in the 3rd round, until an injury sadly prevented her from competing in the final round. Nevertheless, she looked relatively secure with a 1.6 point lead going into the final round and it needed a very special performance by Sowerby to lift the title. In third position, Alan Shand was a deserving bronze trophy winner on 196.13 points, achieved with a very consistent set of high standard runs with 66.53% his highest age graded performance.
Also competing in order of age grade points from their best 3 runs were: Chris Aylmer 179.34 (4 runs), Sianie Painter 175.00 (4), Caroline Mcintosh 175.00 (4), Christine Shand 156.14 (4), Francesca Laughton 154.57 (3), Kate Warboys 153.26 (3), Adam Orriss 138.76 (3), Aaron Self 136.48 (3), Richard Jones 129.96 (2), Sarah Kinston 93.94 (2), Paul Holley 84.83 (1), Jan Holmes 59.64 (1), Nicole Smith 57.58 (1) and Angela Brennan 46.88 (1). Thanks to all those participating, who made the series an exciting and competitive club event.
Caroline Mcintosh and Christine Shand should be particularly commended for completing all four fixtures. Caroline is recovering from a long term hip injury, while Christine has only recently returned to training and was attempting her first club races for a long while. Richard Jones 129.96 (best age grade 65.83%) was right up with the leaders after two runs but was unfortunately unable to continue due to injury. Paul Holley put in a dazzling display in the first round which was good to see. See the results table below:
NJ Virtual Friday 5 Series 2020 Final
Joggers Back in Training: Great news that groups of 6 Joggers (including the leader) are now holding socially distanced training runs on various days and evenings of the week. This is by prior arrangement via phone or phone app and according to strict government guidelines and advice from England Athletics. Where possible, the running groups are keeping predominantly off the Newmarket streets (to avoid overcrowding) and running on the footpaths and trails over Newmarket Heath or in the surrounding countryside. That is a small but welcome step back to normality.
The Virtual Ekiden Relays will be the next opportunity for club members to get some race running fun. Ekidens are relay marathons made up of 1 x 7.2km, 3 x 5km and 2 x 10km, making a total of 42.2km, the metric marathon distance. Individual runs can be done anytime from 00:01 Friday July 10th until 16:00 Sunday 12th. The teams and allotted distances for Newmarket Joggers have already been chosen by the team captains Brian Munns and Jan Holmes. We have 7 teams totaling 42 Joggers in all. See the following link for details:
The next Virtual Kevin Henry 5K (Saffron Striders) will be from Thursday 16th July to Sunday 19th July, after Ekiden weekend, while the zany NJ Virtual Decathlon continues throughout July. This week the two suggested events are Event 3: The most number of skips/jumps (with or without a skipping rope) you can do in two minutes. Event 4: The best time you can achieve over a One Mile time trial. The Decathlon results should be entered at: