On Friday evening, July 15th, seven Joggers were attracted to the long-established Wibbly Wobbly Log Jog at High Lodge in Thetford Forest. This is a tough race over approximately 5 miles, with the route varying from year to year. It twists and turns through dense coniferous woods and goes along rough tracks between wooded sections, as well as negotiating a challenging crater or two inside the woods. It’s certainly no 5-mile PB course and this year the distance was long at approximately 5.5 miles on GPS. Jamie Rule was first Jogger home in an impressive time of 37:46, 7th of 275 overall and 5th of 31 in MO (U40), followed by Neville Clarke (42:54, 28th, 1st of 3 in M65+), Brian Munns (48:55, 78th, 6th of 17 in M55) and Neil Williamson (52:18, 101st, 15th of 22 in M45). Suzanne Bailey put in a great time to finish first female Jogger in 53:07, 33rd F of 153 and 5th of 16 in F55. Then came Jim Withers (56:03, 146th, 3rd in M65+) and Jackie Henley (1:07:31, 123rd F, 14th in F55).
Above left: Jamie Rule finishing the Wibbly Wobbly Log Jog in style; right: Joggers taking part in the Wibbly Wobbly race at High Lodge in Thetford Forest, from left: Neil Williamson, Neville Clarke, Jim Withers, Jackie Henley, Brian Munns, Suzanne Bailey and Jamie Rule. Thanks to the team and race organisers for the photos
Also on Friday evening, Paul Holley put in a terrific performance in the Ipswich Twilight 10K, with start/finish area at Ipswich Town football club. He finished 9th of 821 runners overall and 1st of 53 in his M55 age group, earning an age grade of 90.77%. Paul is having a superb year of running and has already bettered 90% age grade over 5K, 5M and 10K, with a top grade of 92.15% so far in 2022.
Above left: The start/finish of the Twilight 10k at Ipswich Town FC; right: Wise words by Sir Bobby Robson. Many thanks to Paul for the photos.
On Thursday evening 14th July, it was the 4th of 5 monthly fixtures of the Hockeys 5k League, to which Newmarket Joggers belongs, together with seven other local running clubs. Full results and official times are not yet out but we do know the overall finishing positions of our runners. There were about 325 participants in all. Our top scoring five women and men were as follows, with unofficial Strava GPS times included where known. Women’s team: Elke Hausler 123rd 20:45; Hannah Parsons 138th; Ruth Eberhardt 199th 24:31; Olivia Carter 217th 25:40; Ruth Bell 218th 25:40; Danielle Jones 219th 25:40 [4th, 5th and 6th finished together]. Men’s team: Neil Pollard 9th 15:46; Paul Holley 13th 16:03; Joey Bendall 14th 16:10; Jimmy Smith 33rd 17:06; Jason Beeton 75th 18:38. These include some big unofficial PBs by Elke Hausler (first sub 21 min 5k) and Neil Pollard (first sub 16 min 5k), plus PBs for others too, but we need to wait for the official times to be sure.
Above left: Olivia Carter, Danielle Jones and Ruth Bell finish together in the Hockeys 5k at Carver Barracks in Saffron Walden; right: Joey Bendall all out at the finish, where he looks sure to have achieved a PB of ~16:10. Thanks to the team for the photos.
Other Joggers representing our club in the Hockeys 5k League were as follows: Women’s team: Angela Barnes 225th 26:09; Suzanne Bailey 241st 27:26; Angela Brennan 264th 29:15; Sarah Martin 281st 31:19; Sianie Painter 282nd, Sarah Kinston 283rd 31:21; Caroline Mcintosh 287th 31:31; Jo Bouttell 291st; Millie Anderson 295th; Zara Bailey 296th; Christine Windsor 313th 35:42. Men’s team: Samuel Chapman 86th? 19:17; Marc Drury 87th 19:18; Christopher Underwood 91st; Jonathan Ollington 108th 20:16; Neville Clarke 134th; James Thomson 144th 21:56; Brian Munns 193rd; Rob Hawkins 200th 24:40; Jim Withers 227th 26:15; Chris Aylmer 272nd 30:01; Andy Fryatt 284th; Joe Cormack 286th 31:34. All times unofficial. After the previous fixture at Newmarket, the men’s team were standing =3rd in the league table, with the women’s team 7th. We await the official results of this fixture with interest.
Some of the Hockeys 5k team relax in a local pub after the race. Clockwise from left: Jimmy Smith, Neville Clarke, Paul Holley, Danielle Jones, Jim Withers, Brian Munns, Joey Bendall and Andy Fryatt. Thanks to the team for the photo.
Newmarket Joggers staged a ‘takeover’ at Fulbourn Hospital parkrun on Saturday July 16th, filling most of the volunteer spots and with a good number running too, including some junior Newmarket Joggers. This is our way of saying ‘thank you’ to all the parkrun volunteers and core teams who help out regularly, to enable us to enjoy our free, weekly Saturday morning 5k runs. It was a lovely, bright, sunny morning. The takeover was organised by Phil Blundell of Newmarket Joggers, who does a great job helping to coach juniors at the club.
