Twelve Newmarket Joggers turned out for the popular annual Tarpley 10 & 20 mile races (named in honour of Bert Tarpley, founder member of Saint Edmund Pacers) at Bacton School, near Bury St Edmunds, on Sunday 27th February. Mark Hayward was in blistering form in the Tarpley 10, finishing 1st of 316 runners overall, in a time of 56:13, an all-time PB for him by over 2 minutes. He was followed home by Anna Mayhew F50 (1:37:35, 98th F of 178), Angela Brennan (1:45:10, 126th F), Andy Hayward (2:01:06, 302nd) and Caroline Mcintosh F65 (2:02:11, 166th F), all determined efforts on the day.
Mark Hayward powering into the finish of the Tarpley 10, first placed of 316 runners overall. Many thanks to Mark for the photo on Strava.
In the Tarpley 20, Jonathan Pye (2:16:02, 26th of 299 overall) set the pace for the Joggers in an excellent preparatory outing for his Manchester Marathon bid on April 3rd. He ran the second half 11 minutes faster than the first half. Then came very competent performances by Marc Drury (2:23:56, 47th, 11th of 43 in M45), Andy Fryatt (2:27:09, 60th, 9th of 34 in M50), Stuart Sowerby (2:27:18, 62nd, 16th of 43 in M45), Neville Clarke (2:41:21, 109th, 1st of 6 in M65), Claire Gaskell (3:14:27, 45th F of 104) and Alan Shand M65 (3:38:07, 277th).
On the same day in the Wokingham Half Marathon in Berkshire, Neil Pollard clocked a PB (by 14 seconds) of 1:13:09, finishing 59th of 2,694 runners overall and 14th of 294 in M40. This was the culmination of many hundreds of miles of dedicated training, mainly around the undulating and beautiful Moulton Paddocks Stud in Newmarket, where he lives and works.
Over in Braga, Portugal, it was the European Masters Athletics Championships 2022 from 20th to 27th February. Elke Hausler, who currently competes in the W55-59 age group, was dipping her toes back into competition after two years of niggling injuries and lack of events due to Covid-19 restrictions. She clocked 33:06 and finished 15th of 33 in the W55 6.5km cross-country event on 20th Feb, which was an extremely difficult course over rough, hilly terrain. Together with 3 other GB runners in the event, she was honoured to win the silver team medal for GB. In the indoor 3,000m track race on 24th Feb, Elke recorded 12:38.50 and finished 10th of 13 in W55. The standard was very high in the race and this result earned Elke an age grade of 87.54%; an exceptional performance after two years of injuries and lack of competition. Elke’s husband Michael won an individual silver medal for GB in the M60 Shot Put event, so a successful outcome for both.
Above: Elke Hausler in action for GB in the 6.5km XC and with team silver medal for W55. Many thanks to Elke for the photos.
In the RunThrough Battersea Park ‘Chase the Moon’ 10K on Wednesday 23rd February, Phil Blundell M45 recorded an excellent 43:09 and finished 73rd of 283 runners overall. This was his first known attempt at the distance since February 2020, when he clocked 49:34 in the Bath Dark Horse 10K, so a big improvement.