From Saturday to Sunday, 9th/10th August, Newmarket Joggers (NJ) put in a great team effort in the Sandringham 24-hour event, which followed trails through woods and over parkland on the picturesque Sandringham Estate. The idea was to complete as many 5-mile laps as possible, from 12 noon Saturday to 12 noon Sunday, either individually or in relay teams of two or more runners.
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Above: Newmarket Joggers and scenery at Sandringham on Saturday morning, before the start of the event. Thanks for photos.
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NJ entered two teams of seven, called ‘Dolly Mixtures’ and ‘Newmarket Plodders – Return of the Ledge’, into the large team category, which did not distinguish between male and female participants. ‘Ledge’ is the nickname for NJ Paul Holley, who was unable to take part last year. One more entry was into the female pairs, called ‘NJ’s Happy Feet’, for Ellie Bithell and Helen Hilario and another into the mixed pairs, called ‘Cadence Clash’, for Kirsty McDermott and Mark Hayward. Dolly Mixtures members were: Jo Bouttell, Jan Holmes, Angela Drury, Ruth Eberhardt, Sophie Adams, Sarah Martin and Hannah Parsons. Newmarket Plodders members: Nicole Smith, Jonathan Ollington, Jimmy Smith, Paul Holley, Jon Brooker, Tom Elton and Rob Pollard. NJ Anna Mayhew entered a large team for her LRG (Let’s Run Girls) members, called ‘Newmarket LRG Crew Vol 2’, and also ran in a female pairs team called ‘LRG TWO’, with Lorna Brokenshire-Dyke.
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Above: Night scenes on the Sandringham Estate. Thanks for great photos.
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Big success came for three of these teams. In the mixed pairs, Kirsty McDermott and Mark Hayward managed to complete 14 laps each for a total of 140 miles of running in 24 hours, putting them well ahead and first of 6 teams in their category. With Kirsty’s cadence (strides per minute) averaging 188 and Mark’s 166, the reason for the team’s name of Cadence Clash becomes clear😊. Amazingly, Kirsty ran one continuous stretch of 8 laps (40 miles), without showing any signs of slowing down, while Mark achieved a similar feat by running continuously for 7 laps (35 miles), his longest run ever. These runs will count as true ultras. The long runs may have been cleverly thought out, to give the other partner more time to rest.
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Above: Kirsty McDermott and Mark Hayward, who won the mixed pairs competition. Thanks for photos.
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Equal success came to Ellie Bithell and Helen Hilario in the female pairs, who managed to complete 11 laps each for a total distance of 110 miles, sticking to a strategy of alternate laps. NJ’s Happy Feet finished 1st of 10 in their team category.
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Above: Helen Hilario and Ellie Bithell, who won the female pairs competition. Thanks for photos.
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Newmarket Plodders also tasted sweet success, completing 35 laps for a phenomenal total of 175 miles and finishing 1st of 19 in their large team category. Dolly Mixtures did well to finish 11th of 19 in the same category, completing 27 laps for a distance of 135 miles. Anna Mayhew and the LRG runners all enjoyed the event and had a fun time, finishing 8th in the female pairs and 18th in the large team category.
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Above: Newmarket Plodders, who won the large team category. From left: Tom Elton, Nicole Smith, Jonathan Ollington, Paul Holley, Jimmy Smith, Jon Brooker, Rob Pollard. Many thanks for photos.
Above: Dolly Mixtures, who did well to finish 8th of 19 in the large team category. From left: Sophie Adams, Hannah Parsons, Sarah Martin, (junior runner), Ruth Eberhardt, Jo Bouttell, Angela Drury, Jan Holmes. Thanks for photos.
Above left: Most of the Joggers taking part; right: some of the LRG runners, with Anna Mayhew third from left. Thanks for photos.
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OTHER RACES
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Great Yarmouth Half Marathon, Gorleston, Sunday August 10th: NJ Oliver Daykin (1:17:59 PB) put in a great effort to finish 6th of 356 runners overall and 3rd of 93 in his Male Open (MO) category. His times have been dropping all through the year.
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Above: Oliver Daykin finishing the Great Yarmouth HM
Thanks to him and Total Race Timing for photo.
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Over on the west coast of Ireland, near Westport-Belmullet, Shane Mcandrew (19:16, 3rd of 170 overall, 2nd of 22 in MO) was near his best time in the Great Erris 5K Run. This race was in memory of much-respected local resident Pauline Sweeney, who sadly died of multiple sclerosis.
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The Stour Valley Path (SVP) 50K/100K took place on Saturday, with the 100K race starting in Newmarket and roughly following the River Stour all the way along trails to Manningtree in Essex; the 50K began half way along the route at Sudbury in Suffolk. NJs Richard Defries and Carol Cienna Carter ran together in the 100K race, both being experienced long distance athletes. Unfortunately, after about 70km, Richard’s ankles were causing a lot of discomfort, likely due to the very hard, dry, trail surfaces and possibly the wrong type of shoes, so they both reluctantly decided to retire. It was still a great achievement and they will surely be back in top form soon.
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RUN NEWMARKET NEWS: AMAZING CASH PRIZES GIVEN OUT.
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An extraordinary thing happened on Sunday, August 10th at the local Run Newmarket 5k on Newmarket Heath. This run is free to enter every Sunday at 11:15 am and is generously organised by a small band of loyal volunteers. Just a few days before, they were informed that the event would be ‘sponsored’ by The F3 Endurance Team of Dubai, who are believed to be part of the same company as Godolphin Racing in Newmarket. It was only on the day that most of us realised that sponsorship would take the form of cash prizes for the first 5 women and first 5 men to finish the 5k run on that day. The extraordinary size of the prizes caused an audible gasp when announced: 1st £5,000, 2nd £3,000, 3rd £2,000, 4th and 5th £1,000 each, for a total prize money of £24,000. This was so exciting, as Newmarket Joggers had four very talented junior Joggers running on the day and also some fast senior members. As it turned out, Newmarket Joggers took 5 of the ten prizes with all four junior Joggers winning a prize, which was a delightful outcome. The winners will no doubt remember this day for the rest of their lives.
Results for Newmarket Joggers: Women: Cerys Bithell (Junior) 20:25, 2nd F; Lilian Corbett (Junior) 21:55, 3rd F; Mandy Corbett (Senior) 22:29, 4th F; Men: Rory King (Junior) 19:49, 3rd M; Harvey Thomas (Junior)19:55, 5th M. Total runners around 60 in all.
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Thanks to the generosity of The F3 Endurance Team. It was a once in a million experience for all of us.
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Above: Scenes from the Run Newmarket on Sunday, 10th August. Thanks for photos.