Sunday, January 8th, 2023: A successful start to the year by Newmarket Joggers saw their senior men’s team take second place in the Suffolk County XC Championships event at the Royal Hospital School in Holbrook, Ipswich. Newmarket Joggers won this event in January 2020 and came 4th in the 2022 resumption, after the interruption by Covid-19 in 2021. Full results with positions and times are not yet out but we do have the athletes’ own watch and GPS data to fill in some gaps. The senior men’s race was originally meant to be over 10km and the women’s over 8km. However the actual distances were shortened to approximately 9.0km/5.6mi and 7.0km/4.4mi respectively, due possibly to high winds in certain areas of the course.
Above left: Event poster; above right: The Royal Hospital School and start/finish area. Thanks to Suzanne Bailey for photos.
The first 4 male Newmarket Joggers (NJ) to count for senior team points were Mark Hayward (33:38, 9th overall, 1st M40), Jimmy Smith (34:19, 2nd M40), Dan Hutchison MS (34:41) and Paul Holley (36:01, 2nd M55), with individual age group trophies as shown. Neville Clarke (time pending) won a trophy for a top-three finish in M65. The other male Joggers to finish were: Chris Underwood SM (39:34), Marc Drury M45 (40:27), Phil Blundell M45 (45:52) and Jeremy Reader M45 (48:35).
Above from left: the 2nd placed NJ men’s team of Mark Hayward (1st NJ, holding team trophy), Neville Clarke (M65 trophy winner), Dan Hutchison (3rd NJ), Paul Holley (4th NJ) and Jimmy Smith (2nd NJ). Thanks to the team for the photo.
Jeremy Reader (above left and crouching on right) with some of the volunteers in yellow hi-viz by the NJ gazebo; from left: Greg Davis, Suzanne Bailey and Angela Drury.
According to the unofficial results at hand, the leading three NJ female finishers were Ellie Bithell F45 (36:47), Wendy Ancill F50 (38:29) and Pearl Fay F60 (52:31), who made up the senior women’s team, followed closely by Jo Bouttell F55 (53:08). Ellie and Wendy have been making big progress in their running over the last year, while Pearl and Jo have been consistent and valuable supporters of all the club races. Jo was a well-deserved winner of the January NJ 5K Handicap last week. Ellie’s daughter Cerys was also running in the U15 age group race, with details to follow. Many thanks to all the volunteers, including Joggers Greg Davis, Brian Munns, Suzanne Bailey, Sophie Adams and Angela Drury. Apologies if any runners or volunteers have been inadvertently left out.
Above left: Ellie Bithell and daughter Cerys. Both have made big progress in their running this year.
Other News: On the same day, Caroline Mcintosh was preparing hard for her Tokyo Marathon on March 5th. She ran a half marathon in the Brandon Zig Zag 6-Hour multi-lap event on Sunday 8th January, completing four laps in 2:57:09 and working on her stamina rather than speed. On Sunday 22nd January, she will be doing the Folksworth 15 mile event near Peterborough, with the same aim in mind. There’s no letting up with Caroline.