Kevin Henry 5K League: Newmarket Joggers has clawed its way back from bottom position (8th) in the Kevin Henry League to a combined =5th in the table after a very encouraging performance in the second fixture, with times recorded by club members in virtual runs from May 13th to 16th 2021. Our men and women finished 4th and 5th respectively, compared with 7th and 8th in the first fixture in April. We again had a very good turnout of 67 runners in all, 4th highest total of the 8 teams in the league, despite having the smallest membership of all the clubs. We also had nearly all our fastest men and women fit and in peak form, which, combined with the high turnout, was a recipe for success.
Kevin Henry League Table 2021 May 26
TOP 5 MEN: 1st Neil Pollard (16:35, 7th of 258 men overall), 2nd James Smith (16:41, 8th), 3rd Mark Hayward (17:10, 18th), 4th Paul Holley (17:41, 22nd), 5th Jonathan Pye (18:09, 30th). TOP 5 WOMEN: 1st Ruth Bell (21:34, 23rd of 252 women overall), 2nd Hannah Parsons (21:45, 27th), 3rd Lisa Johnson (21:52, 29th), 4th Olivia Carter (23:55, 47th), 5th Rosalyn Crawford (24:16, 53rd). Excellent performances by all. Of particular note are the huge efforts by Ruth Bell and Lisa Johnson, who shaved several minutes off their previous best Kevin Henry times.
Kevin Henry NJ Results 2021 May 26
AGE GRADE %, Top 5 men: Paul Holley 86.71%, Neil Pollard 83.82%, James Smith 82.72%, Mark Hayward 79.32%, Malcolm Osbourn 72.97%. Top 5 women: Claire Acklam 72.54%, Hannah Parsons 72.26%, Ruth Bell 68.47%, Wendy Ancill 68.26%, Lisa Johnson 67.53%. All great performances. Paul Holley seems to be dominating affairs for the men, while Claire Acklam and Hannah Parsons are very close on top age grade for the women. A notable effort by Malcolm Osbourn (MV70-74), who clocked 25:17 to put himself into platinum club standard (70%+) for the first time since records began in 2018. Also, a great effort by new member Wendy Ancill.
NJ GRAND PRIX 2021: As a result of the Kevin Henry fixture, the Grand Prix table positions have changed somewhat. Women’s Table: Claire Acklam (144) is now 16 points in the lead, with Ruth Bell (128) and Nicole Smith (128) tied for 2nd place. Then come Rebecca Fordham (125) and Jan Holmes (125), tied for 4th place. Men’s Table: Paul Holley (172 points) has consolidated his lead in the men’s table and now leads by 9 points from Jimmy Smith (163) and Stuart Sowerby (142), with Malcolm Osbourn (134) now tied with Jamie Rule (134) in 4th position. So, all to play for with 10 of the 12 fixtures still remaining. There will be trophies for the top three male and female Grand Prix finishers. Don’t forget to enter your May multi-choice race time by the end of the month, which can be in a real race or a virtual solo effort, over 5M, 10K, 10M, HM, 20M or Marathon; otherwise your Grand Prix chances might be scuppered. All four of your multi-choice races need to be over different distances to obtain maximum bonus points. The link is below:
The current TOP TEN women’s and TOP TEN men’s tables can be found here:
NJ Grand Prix TOP TEN 2021 May 26
NJ Women’s Grand Prix 2021 May 26
NJ Men’s Grand Prix 2021 May 26
REAL RACES Sunday, May 23rd
Little Bromley 10K: Three Joggers had a tilt at the Little Bromley 10K in Essex, over a new and reportedly faster route. First home was Neville Clarke (45:52, 108th of 327 overall & 3rd of 10 in MV65, 76.42% age grade), a top class performance. Then came Brian Munns (46:59, 120th & 11th of 24 in MV55, 67.93%) and Jim Withers (53:00, 196th & 6th MV65, 65.50%), all excellent efforts in these members’ first real race since the first Covid-19 lockdown 14 months ago.
Valentines 10K: Clive Purbrook (50:55) had a great run in the much belated Valentines 10K in Norwich, coming 256th of 488 runners overall and 3rd of 8 in MV65. His best time this year remains 49:50 at Oundle.
Enervit Peterborough Marathon: Chris Aylmer (4:53:39, 484th of 560 overall, 1st of 6 MV70) took on the Peterborough Marathon, hoping (not very confidently) for under 5 hours to make the Good For Age (GFA) qualifying time for the Virgin London Marathon (VLM) 2022, so was very happy with the result, just outside his 4:49 PB.
A GFA place in the VLM is not guaranteed, depending on the number of qualifiers and the final cut-off time. The VLM 2022 Ballot and GFA applications open on October 3rd, the same day as the VLM 2021 takes place.