Jimmy Smith pulled out his best 10K of the year at the Bungay Running Festival on Sunday 10th April. He clocked 35:48 and finished 3rd of 331 overall, 1st of 42 in his M40 age group. Also running well at the festival was Marc Walker (M50) in the Bungay Half Marathon, who finished in 2:00:05, 142nd of 271 overall. Marc managed a PB of 1:49 in the Cambridge HM in March but the Bungay course was very hilly on the outward section towards Beccles, so a somewhat tougher challenge.
Above: Jimmy Smith (left) and Marc Walker (right) finishing the 10K and Half Marathon races at Bungay. Thanks to Jimmy and Marc.
In the Bungay 5K, Junior Newmarket Jogger Lilian Corbett did exceptionally well to finish 2nd female of 39 in a total field of 86 juniors and adults. She was 1st of 24 in her FU40 age group in a time of 21:14. The previous day, Lilian had run a 5K PB of 21:23 (JW11-14) in the Storeys Field parkrun in Eddington, Cambridge, so this effort sets yet another PB.
Over in Cambourne, on the other side of Cambridge, Clive Purbrook had a tilt at the popular Cambridge Cambourne 10K, run on an attractive trail route over grass and footpaths. He recorded a time of 52:22 and finished 123rd of 328 overall, 10th of 15 in M65. This was not quite a year best time for Clive, who clocked a slightly faster time in the Thorney 10K a week before.
Further south, Olivia Carter took part in the Ultra-X Spring Trail 50K, over the South Downs Serpent Trail in Surrey, with a start/finish at Haslemere. This event entailed over 4,000ft (1,255m) of climb, so a very high level of difficulty. Carter finished in 6:11:12, according to her watch, with official results and positions not yet available. This represents 7:25/km or 11:56/mi; excellent going over the distance and extremely challenging terrain.
Above top: Course elevation profile of the 50km Spring Trail race. Above bottom: Olivia’s 50km medal. Thanks for images on the Ultra-X Trail website: https://ultra-x.co/spring-trail-series/
This Easter weekend we will all be rooting for Caroline Mcintosh, who will be running in the Boston Marathon (US) on Easter Monday. This will hopefully be her 5th of the 6 Marathon Majors she has completed, with only Tokyo to go. Apologies for writing last week that she still had the Chicago Marathon to do. She did that in 2019 BC (Before Covid)🙂. Let’s hope all goes well for the flights and travel arrangements and nothing else stands in her way. Caroline was due to complete the Tokyo Marathon in 2020 but was thwarted by the Covid-19 pandemic, which caused postponements and eventual cancellation of the event, with no race in 2021 either. Good luck Caroline! Also good luck to Troi Baxter, who has trained so hard for this event. Troi will no doubt be aiming for her first sub 3 hour marathon and we will all be wishing her the very best of fortune. Mark Hayward and Paul Holley are running in the Boston Marathon (UK) on the same day and we wish them all the best too…and also any other Joggers taking part in either of these events that have unknowingly been missed.
Caroline Mcintosh running in the Falesia 5K earlier this year, while at a runners’ training camp in Portugal. Thanks to Caroline for the photo.