In a quiet weekend for Newmarket Joggers, Caroline Mcintosh was the only club member known to have been involved in a running event. She entered the Zig-Zag multi-lap 6-hour event at Haughley Park, near Stowmarket, although more as a training run than a race. She was in no hurry and completed 3 laps of the course, each an eighth marathon long (~5.3km/3.3mi), in a time of 2:13:36. This was ongoing training for her London Big Half in September, which will be followed by the Amsterdam Marathon in October. Caroline doesn’t believe in putting her feet up for too long. Her ultimate goal is the Tokyo Marathon next spring, which will hopefully take place after two years of cancellations due to the Covid pandemic. This will complete her six Abbott World Marathon Majors, together with London, New York City, Chicago, Boston and Berlin; with one caveat: Her Boston Marathon race earlier this year may not be accepted, as she finished slightly over the 6-hour time limit (from when the last wave crossed the start line) and was not given an official time. It’s a shame, as a good number of finishers also took over 6 hours but were lucky to start in earlier waves. If needs be, Caroline is prepared to do the race all over again, such is her determination. There may be a 7th Abbott World Marathon Major on the horizon, with Sydney in Australia the favourite applicant, but it is likely to take some years to come to fruition.
Caroline Mcintosh, pictured last year in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. Thanks to Caroline for the photo.
Ellison Ekiden Relays, Woodbridge, Sunday August 7th: Joggers are looking forward to the annual Ekiden Relays event at Woodbridge School, near Ipswich. In this competition, teams of six from running clubs all over the region, will run a relay marathon in six legs of 7.2km, 5km, 10km, 5km, 10km and 5km = 42.2km. Ekiden is a Japanese word, from where the marathon relay race format originated. It reached a height of world popularity around the 1990s but this event is now the only place in the UK where it takes place annually, organised by Ipswich JAFFA. The emphasis is not so much on winning but on taking part and enjoying the team camaraderie. It’s a jolly scene in fine weather, with club gazebos lining the routes and picnics in progress for runners and supporters.
There will be male, female and mixed gender teams, with age categories of open, vet and supervet. A female vet is regarded as 35+ and a male 40+; a female supervet as 45+ and male 50+. Newmarket Joggers has entered 7 senior teams of 6, plus one junior team of 4. The juniors will each run 1.1 miles (~1.8km) for a total of 4.4 miles (~7.2km). See teams below: