TRACK
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Just one week after Elke Hausler earned a W60 3,000m silver medal at the British Masters indoor event at Sheffield, she was competing at the Austrian Masters Indoors Athletics Championships in Linz. These championships were primarily for Austrians, but allowed visitors from abroad to compete in parallel, with their own sets of medals. Here, her main target was the W60 1500m event, representing NJ, EMAC and the UK.
In this race, she clocked an impressive 5:54.01, finishing in second place for silver medal and earning a year best age grade of 90.84%. Feeling buoyed up and more for the fun of it, she decided to compete in the 400m less than 2 hours later; she has never considered this to be one of her strongest events. To her great surprise, she ended up finishing ahead of the Austrian favourites, taking the visitor’s gold medal in a time of 75.39s, which was a PB for her by 0.81s. To cap it all, her husband Michael Hausler (representing Cambridge & Coleridge, EMAC and the UK) won a gold medal in the M65 Shot Put and is now World Masters leader in this event, with a throw of 13.46m. So, quite a successful weekend trip for the Hauslers.
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Above left: Elke Hausler W60 silver medal in 1500m; right: Gold medal in 400m. Thanks to Elke for photos.
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ROAD
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On Sunday, Mark Hayward (1:12:39, 7th of 635 overall, 2nd of 59 in M40-44) was in great form in the Great Bentley Half Marathon in Essex, earning his best age grade this year of 84.54%.
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Above: Mark Hayward in action in the Suffolk XC Champs 2025. Thanks for the photo.
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TRAIL
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Peddars Way Ultra ~48M, Sunday: Two Newmarket Joggers competed in this event, which followed the Peddars Way trail from Knettishall Heath in south Norfolk to Holmes-next-the Sea, near Hunstanton on the north Norfolk coast. Jimmy Smith M45 (6:40:42, 5th of 83 overall, 5th of 64 men) was in seemingly effortless form, with level gradient-adjusted splits all the way through. Jonathan Pye M35 (8:19:16, 16th overall) found it tough in the second half but managed the situation well by dialling his pace down to a sustainable level.
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Above left: Jimmy Smith and Jonathan Pye at Peddars Way Ultra; right: Jimmy Smith in action. Thanks for photos.
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Above: Peddars Way scenery, thanks to Paul Holley/Chris Underwood, who were supporting Jimmy Smith and Jonathan Pye.
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Pilgrim Challenge Day One ~33M, Saturday: This race headed eastwards, following hilly trails in Surrey from near Farnham towards Reigate. Sianie Painter (9:43:29, 144th of 165 overall, 52nd F of 63, 15th in F50-59) enjoyed the challenge, especially the scenery along the way, spending adequate time to relax at the checkpoints. For various reasons, she decided not to attempt the second day of the challenge, also over 33 miles.
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Lavenham Old Railway 10K, Sunday: Four female Joggers competed in this race. The route was along the disused railway track, which was built in 1865 and used to connect Sudbury to Bury St Edmunds via Long Melford. Sadly, it was closed down 100 years later (Dr Beeching’s cuts, I presume 😢). The route was extremely muddy most of the way, but all the runners enjoyed the challenge.
First Jogger to finish was Hanneli Stevenson F45 (51:37, 28th of 145 overall, 6th F of 75) in an impressive time, considering the poor conditions underfoot. Then came Sarah Last F50 (1:09:51, 65th F), Caroline Mcintosh F70 (1:19:47, 72nd F) and Gillie Green F60 (1:28:36, 75th F). An enjoyable experience was had by all.
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Above from left: Hanneli Stevenson; Sarah Last; Caroline Mcintosh; Gillian Green in action. Thanks to all
the Joggers and to Raw Trails for excellent photos.
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Above left: Sarah Last, Gillian Green and Caroline Mcintosh; right Lavenham scene by Sarah; bib and medal by Hanneli. Thanks for photos.
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Zig Zag OMG (One Mile 2 Go) multi-lap, Hinchingbrooke Park, Huntingdon, Sunday: Suzanne Bailey F60 generously volunteered to set up this event and later ran 2 laps (10.6k) in a time of 1:19:09, 21st of 45 overall, 7th F of 25 . The conditions here were absolutely dire, with deep mud and flooding all along the course.
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Above: The state of the course in the Zig Zag OMG…not ideal. Thanks to Suzanne Bailey for photos.
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At least the sun was shining and the organiser was smiling….thanks to Zig Zag Running for photo.
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CROSS COUNTRY
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English Schools XC Regional Championships 2024-2025: It was the Anglian Regional XC Championships on Saturday, Feb 1st, held at Woodbridge School in Suffolk. Three junior Newmarket Joggers were representing their schools and counties at this event, all having progressed from the county championship stages earlier in the season to qualify for this event. The final stage will be the English Schools XC Championships in West Sussex on Saturday 15th March.
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Harvey Thomas (U15, junior boy) was representing his Newmarket school and Suffolk County in the 3500m Junior Boy’s race. He did very well to finish in a time of 13:18, 8th in Suffolk and 15th of 65 from the ‘Anglian’ counties of Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire. This looks sure to qualify him for the finals in March, for which Suffolk will be selecting 8 qualifiers and 4 reserves.
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Above left: Harvey Thomas in action at Woodbridge School. Thanks to Cheryl Thomas for photo.
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Meanwhile, Lilian Corbett (17+ senior girl) and Cerys Bithell (17+ senior girl) were representing their Cambridgeshire school at the same venue and running in the 3800m race. Lilian (17:18) did very well to finish 3rd in Cambridgeshire and 22nd of 49 overall, and looks sure to proceed to the finals at West Sussex in March. Cerys was storming ahead early in the race at under 5 min/mi but unfortunately suffered an asthma attack towards the end and was unable to finish. Hopefully she will be given a chance to compete in the finals, as she definitely has the speed and ability.
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Above from left: Lilian Corbett and Cerys Bithell pictured at the Ely Cambridgeshire County Championships
in January. Thanks to the person who took the original videos from which these stills were made…Mandy Corbett?