The start of the Stowmarket Friday 5 in Haughley Park on 24.06.22. Mark Hayward is at the front on the right with Dan Hutchison tucked in behind him. Neil Pollard (next to Dan) and Joey Bendall (extreme right of picture) are partially visible. The eventual winner, Jack Nixon of Saint Edmund Pacers, is in the white shorts.
The Stowmarket Friday 5 attracted 13 Newmarket Joggers to Haughley Park on Friday evening 24th June, where the course was all along surrounding local roads, apart from start and finish sections in the park. Dan Hutchison was in great form in his first run of the series so far and was first Jogger to finish in 27:22, 4th of 354 runners overall and 2nd of 46 in his U40 age group. He was just ahead of Neil Pollard (27:33, 5th, 2nd of 37 in M40) and Mark Hayward (27:55, 9th, 4th in M40). Then came Joey Bendall (28:47, 15th, 6th of 46 in U40) in his best time of the series to date, followed by new member Christopher Underwood (35:10, 90th, 25th in U40) and ace veteran Neville Clarke (36:05, 109th, 2nd of 9 in M65). Other Joggers putting in their best efforts were Brian Munns M55 (39:46, 178th), Jim Withers M65 (45:57, 267th), Chris Aylmer M70+ (50:17, 314th), Kate Warboys F50 (51:52, 115th F), Jackie Henley F55 (57:39, 126th F), Caroline Mcintosh F65 (57:40, 127th F) and Emma Reader (1:02:03, 129th F). An all-round great performance by the Joggers, without any individual or team trophies to take away on this occasion. However, we couldn’t have come much closer, with 2nd place in three age categories, 4th and 5th finishers overall and 2nd place in 3-member and 5-member men’s team competitions. The last of the 6 fixtures will be on Friday 1st July at Great Bentley in Essex, always a popular finale.
On Sunday 26th June, the Flaming June Half Marathon took place in and around Histon, on a scenic, mixed-terrain course, partly along sections of the busway and partly on country lanes and trails. Histon & Impington Runners helped organise and marshal the event, in support of the local community charity ‘Friends of HI’. Two Joggers were in this race, where conditions were warm for running but with a nice breeze. Shane Basing was going very well until around halfway, when he became aware of a calf injury and had to slow down markedly for the remainder of the race. He put in a courageous effort to finish in 1:45:00, coming 31st of 134 runners overall and 7th of 27 in M40. Angela Barnes (who clocked 2:00:42 in the Cambridge Half earlier this year) enjoyed the scenery but was not expecting so much off-road and found the course quite tough; she did very well to finish in 2:14:40, 30th of 48 female runners and 9th of 16 in F40.
Angela Barnes with her special wooden medal from the Flaming June HM at Histon. Many thanks to Angela for the Strava photo.
In the Abbey 10K in Ramsey, northwest Cambridgeshire, Alan Thornhill M70+ (1:01:03, 143rd of 188 overall) clocked his best 10k time of the year so far, while in the Orwell 10K in southwest Cambridgeshire, near Wimpole, Wayne Hargreaves M50 (1:01:35, 57th of 88 overall) also clocked his best 10k time of 2022. Well done both runners.
Alan Thornhill clocking his best 10K time this year in the Abbey 10K in Ramsey, Cambridgeshire. Many thanks to Alan for photo on Strava.