It was a busy mid-week for Newmarket Joggers (NJ), with the Eastern Masters Athletics Club (EMAC) T&F meeting at Peterborough on Tuesday evening; the NJ Fox Inn Navigational Trail 10K at Ousden on Wednesday evening; and the penultimate Arkwright & Co/Turners Summer 5K League fixture at Royston on Thursday evening.
First, we can report on the weekend races:
On Saturday, August 1st, at the Suffolk Running Centre in the village of Barrow, it was the 10th and final day of the Great Barrow Challenge, which invited runners to do 10 races in 10 days, from 5k to ultra marathon. NJ Caroline Mcintosh F70 didn’t take up the 10-day challenge, but had taken part in a half marathon on the first day, recording a time of 2:52:12. She did the same distance on the final day, clocking 2:55:48 over a different, very hilly course. Her best half marathon time this year was 2:45:40 at Cambridge in March.
Above: Final 10th day of the Great Barrow Challenge, thanks to Zig Zag Running; Half Marathon shot of runners by Caroline Mcintosh.
On Sunday, August 2nd, Neil Pollard (34:12, 1st of 313 overall, 1st M of 170, 1st of 15 in M45) and Hannah Pollard (42:46, 11th F of 143, 2nd of 19 in F45) were both in tremendous form in the Bedford Autodrome Running Grand Prix 10K. Neil came first overall and won his age group with ease. Hannah was very unlucky to have missed the gun start, due to long queues at the portable loos; as a result, her gun time (48:26) was nearly 6 minutes slower than her chip time. Otherwise, she would have won 3rd overall female place and first place in her age category. She also had nobody to pace herself against, being well behind all the leaders in the 10K, which was not conducive to achieving her best time.
Above: Hannah Pollard in the Bedford Running Grand Prix 10K.
Everybody seemed to enjoy the Fox Inn Navigational Trail 10K organised by NJ Jimmy Smith in the village of Ousden on Wednesday evening, where entrants were given specially abbreviated course directions just before the race. 24 Newmarket Joggers took part among 65 finishers. It was a very warm evening of 30°C+, which undoubtedly put some of the ~100 entrants off, though there was plenty of shade along the course.
Above: The Fox Inn; navigational instructions; Reuben Smith on the trail.
Above: Scenery photos of Fox Inn Trail, including a combine harvester on left; Fox of Fox Inn; Jeremy Reader & Ian Butcher having fun.
First to finish was a Newmarket Joggers group of 3 men and 1 woman, all with the same individual times of 48:18. The 3 men (Christopher Underwood, Jack Imrie & Mark Hayward) shared 1st place male prize, while Izzy Talbot Price was declared outright winning female. Young NJ Lilian Corbett did well to finish 3rd F overall in a time of 1:03:54. Afterwards, there was a relaxing social at the Fox Inn. The race start/finish area was right behind, in the Fox Inn grounds.
Above: Izzy Talbot Price receiving women’s first prize from Jimmy Smith in Fox Inn Trail 10km; three Joggers: Mark Hayward, Chris Underwood & Jack Imrie, shared the men’s first prize.
We are very lucky to have the results of the fifth and penultimate fixture of the Arkwright & Co/Turners 5K Summer League in Royston, which were given out by organisers Royston Runners in record time, just 2 days after the event. Some days prior to that we also received the results of the 4th fixture at Carver Barracks, Saffron Walden, which took place on Thursday evening, July 16th.
Above: Joggers at Royston Summer 5K
To summarise the current situation for Newmarket Joggers in the 5K Summer League, the NJ women’s team now stands in 4th place of the 8 competing running club teams, while the NJ men’s team is faring less well in 6th position. There is just one more fixture to go: at Hinxton, near Duxford, organised by Cambridge & Coleridge AC on Thursday 13th August. Below are the first 5 female and first 5 male finishers for Newmarket Joggers at Saffron Walden and Royston. These runners were the principal scorers for our women’s and men’s teams. Their finishing positions, within gender, were added up to give a total points score. For example, at Royston, the NJ women’s Top 5 total was 1 + 9 +19 +25 +49 = 103), with the lowest total being the best. All runners, including the Top 5, then helped to improve their team’s positional points score by reducing it by 1 point per person; so all club runners helped to influence the result. In this example the NJ women’s final score was 103 minus 11 (total NJ women runners) = 92. Cambridge & Coleridge AC often achieve a negative points total, having more runners than their Top 5 points scores.
Carver Barracks, Saffron Walden. Top 5 NJ women: Isabelle Talbot Price, 17:59 PB, 1st F of 149 overall; Cerys Bithell 20:16, 12th F; Elke Hausler 21:50, 28th F; Helen Hilario 21:55, 30th F; Olivia Carter 22:45, 41st F. Top 5 NJ men: Tom Hemsley 16:56, 22nd M of 291 overall; Mark Hayward 17:35, 35th M; Jason Bevan 17:51, 43rd M; Harvey Thomas 19:42, 104th M; Marc Drury 19:59, 109th M. Total NJ women 12; total NJ men 27.
Therfield Heath, Royston. Top 5 NJ women: Isabelle Talbot Price 18:26, 1st F of 121 overall; Cerys Bithell 20:54, 9th F; Helen Hilario 23:05, 19th F; Elke Hausler 23:52, 25th F; Ellie Bithell 26:33, 49th F. Top 5 NJ men: Tom Hemsley 17:59, 12th M of 221 overall; Mark Hayward 18:21, 20th M; Jason Bevan 18:51, 29th M; Barley Woodcock 20:19, 61st M; Harvey Thomas 21:35, 84th M. Total NJ women 11; total NJ men 23.
The running form of Izzy Talbot Price has been unbelievable. She has been first overall female finisher in every fixture she has run….great support also from the rest of the women’s team, including Cerys Bithell, Helen Hilario and Elke Hausler. For the men, Tom Hemsley is establishing himself as top Jogger. Good to see Mark Hayward back to his best and Jason Bevan continuing in great form. Young Harvey Thomas has done so well to get into the top 5.
Above: Helen Hilario in Royston Summer 5K; Helen Hilario leading on right with Michael McGarvey following on left.
TRACK & FIELD NEWS
On Tuesday, 28th July, the fourth and last fixture of the EMAC (Eastern Masters Athletics Club) T&F League 2026 took place in Peterborough. Newmarket Joggers (NJ) combine with Saint Edmund Pacers (SEP) of Bury St Edmunds in this local league, which is open only to adults aged 35+. NJ/SEP produced another set of very decent results, especially in the track events. The top three women’s and men’s teams from this league will be invited to a regional final at Milton Keynes on September 19th. It looks pretty certain that NJ/SEP women’s team will qualify for the final, along with Peterborough & Nene Valley AC (PENVAC) and Cambridge & Coleridge AC (C&C), so they can book their tickets to MK. Unfortunately, it looks likely that the NJ/SEP men’s team will finish 4th of 6 in their division and will just miss out on the final. The qualifying men’s teams will likely be C&C, PENVAC and West Norfolk AC.
Above: Team photos of NJ/SEP team at Peterborough. Joggers in blue on left, from left: Caroline Mcintosh, Richard Defries, Malcolm Osbourn, Cienna Carter, Shane Mcandrew, Richard Eddershaw, Andy Fryatt; Joggers in blue on right, from left: Richard Defries, Shane Mcandrew, Andy Fryatt, Richard Eddershaw and Cienna Carter.
Below: some Newmarket Joggers’ results highlights from the EMAC fixture at Peterborough, where the main track events were 200m, 800m and 3,000m:
NJ Women
200m: Carol Cienna Carter W55 37.2s, 72.26% (age grade)
800m: Carol Cienna Carter W55 2:51.6, 79.00%
3,000m: Caroline Mcintosh W70 20:09.9, 68.77%
NJ Men
200m: Shane Mcandrew M35 25.6s, 80.74%
200m: Richard Defries M50 28.4s, 81.13%
800m: Shane Mcandrew M35 2:20.8, 74.82%
800m: Richard Defries M50 2:32.2, 79.02%
800m: Richard Eddershaw M60 2:56.1, 73.94%
3,000m: Andy Fryatt M55 12:10.2, 74.27%
3,000m: Malcolm Osbourn M75 17:11.8, 67.84%
Thanks very much for all the photos and race info.
Enjoy your running!
Chris Aylmer