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Kew The Run 10K, Kew Gardens, London, Saturday 28th March: This was the first part of ‘Kew The Run Weekend’, which also included the Half Marathon on Sunday, both held entirely within the grounds of Kew Botanical Gardens. This is reportedly one of the flattest 10K courses in the UK, though there were a lot of twists and turns along the mainly hard-path route.
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Newmarket Joggers member Kirsty McDermott entered the 10K, which attracted a large field of 2,740 runners, including some elite participants. She put in a tremendous effort, starting near the back with some friends. She soon began to thread her way through the hundreds of slower runners in the field which, itself, must have slowed her down significantly. By the end she managed to place 7th F of 1,583 female runners on her chip time of 39:40, compared with 81st F on gun time of 48:38. She was also 2nd of 208 in her F35 age category on chip time but 9th on gun time. Fortunately, Kirsty’s chip time is what counts for national records on Power of 10 and for club records; not her gun time. It is currently the fastest 10km time of any Newmarket Jogger this year and earned Kirsty an age grade of 77.90%.
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Above from left: Kirsty McDermott (right) with friends, before Kew The Run 10K; Kirsty (left) with same friends after the race.
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Of course, the officials were obliged to use gun times and gun positions for gender and age category awards on the grounds that it was a race, not a time trial. It means that all aspiring gender and age category runners have to start near the front to have any chance. In the London Marathon, it’s currently believed to be only the first elite wave which requires gun times, so that chip times are used for the mass participant categories in all the slower waves. With the many start waves involved in large marathons, it seems like the fairest way to go.
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Berlin Half Marathon, Sunday 29th March: This race attracted a huge field of 36,543 runners overall. Andy Fryatt (1:35:26, 4,174th M of 20,120, 141st of 1,655 in M55) and Francine Dasseville (2:13:12, 9,598th F of 16,423, 677th of 1,312 in F50) enjoyed taking part in this race and all the scenery and excitement that went with it, with the start and finish by the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. It will be excellent preparation for a spring marathon.
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Above left: Andy Fryatt & Francine Dasseville, with Brandenburg Gate behind; right: the start of Berlin Half Marathon.
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Above left: the finish of the Berlin HM; right: Andy & Francine with medals
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Oakley 20M, Bedfordshire, Sunday: Two Joggers took part in this race, which was also an ideal preparation for a spring marathon. Jack Imrie (2:20:16 PB, 71st of 640 overall, 20th of 67 in MS) was very happy with his pace and performance and is looking forward to the Brighton Marathon on 12th April, which he will be running in support of Alzheimer’s Society. Ian McClements (3:02:50 PB, 343rd overall, 52nd of 67 in M45), representing 1st claim Stevenage Striders, couldn’t have been happier to record PBs over 10M, Half Marathon, 30K and 20M, all in the same race. He has been clocking a lot of distance in races over the last couple of months and will be well prepared for a marathon attempt this spring.
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Above: Ian McClements (right) with Stevenage colleagues, after Oakley 20M.
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TRACK NEWS
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Elke Hausler is currently at the European Masters indoor Athletics Championships in Toruń, Poland, from Friday, 27th March to Thursday, 2nd April. She was in the W60-64 3000m final on 27th March and did very well to finish in silver medal position for GBR, 2nd of 8 W60 runners, in a time of 12:27.21. This earned her a club age grade of 94.35%, the highest figure achieved by any Newmarket Jogger this year….just pipping Carol Cienna Carter by 0.10%. The winner was Sabina Hofer of Austria in 11:33.89. Elke is also in the finals of the W60 800m on Tuesday evening and the W60 1500m on Thursday afternoon. We wish her the best of luck and will report on those races in due course.
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STOP PRESS: In the W60 800m Final on Tuesday evening, Elke Hausler finished 7th of 8 in a time of 2:50.60 (90.66%). The winner was Anne Gilshinan of Ireland in 2:28.36, with Virginia Mitchell of GBR (2:29.65) close behind in second. In the W60 1500m Final, Elke Hausler put in a huge effort to finish 5th of 8 runners in a time of 5:44.24 SB (96.27%); not far from her PB time of 5:34.19 set in 2023. The winner was Anne Gilshinan of Ireland in 5:01.81, which works out at an astonishing 106.56% on the Howard Grubb 2015 tables that we currently use for Newmarket Joggers club records.
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Note: these same Howard Grubb 2015 tables were also used by Power of 10 for all their track and road event records until their recent website revamp. They don’t appear to be providing age grade % values at the present time (no confirmation sought). Perhaps they are updating their systems to the latest tables released around 2023. It should be added that all the national and international track & field events (not road events) already use these very latest tables and give lower age grades by several percentage points, due to advancing world records over the years. The age grade tables are based on world record times for all the distances and adjusted for goodness of fit over the whole age range. If Power of 10 adopts the latest system for road races AND track races, then we could move to the new system at the end of the current year for all road and track events. At present it would be unfair to compare road and track times on different systems.
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Cambridge & Coleridge (C&C) Pre-Season Meeting, East Anglian League (EAL), Cambridge University Athletics Track, Saturday, March 28th: Newmarket Joggers join with Ely Runners in the EAL, and usually take part in four, monthly, track & field competitions, from April to July. The EAL is open to all ages. This was an invitational warm-up session organised by C&C, another member of the EAL, with official timers and field scorers present. Eight junior Newmarket Joggers took part.
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Working up from the shortest races, Esther Eaton (13.30s SB, age grade n/a, 4th of 4 in U12G) clocked a very decent time in the 75m. In the 100m, Harvey Thomas (13.0s SB, 80.15%, 3rd of 6 in U16B) was bang in form, earning his highest age grade this year. Also in the 100m, Joshua Russell (15.8s SB, 71.46%, 5th of 6 in U14B) put in a remarkable effort at a current age of only 11 (being 12 this school year excludes him from U12 category) and in his first known track event. All age grades were worked out at actual age on the day.
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In the 200m, Sophie Blundell (30.7s SB, 76.38%, 5th of 5 in U14G) was in top form against high class C&C opposition, achieving her 2nd highest age grade this year. Also in 200m, Harvey Thomas (26.0s SB, 79.31%, 3rd of 4 in U16B) enjoyed another excellent run, as did Rio Mcandrew (31.9s SB, 67.90%, 3rd in U16B) and Joshua Russell (34.3s SB, 66.85%, 5th in U14B).
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Esther Eaton (2:28.1 SB, 63.71%, 1st of 9 in U12G) tried out the 600m distance and did very well to come first. In the 800m, Sophie Blundell (2:43.1 SB, 76.63%, 6th of 11 in U14G) achieved her highest age grade this year. Also doing very well at 800m were: Rio Mcandrew (2:50.5 SB, 66.90%, 10th of 14 in U14B), Noah Poujardieu (2:53.6 SB, 70.01%, 11th in U14B) and Seb Barrett (2:56.2 SB, 66.66%, 12th in U14B).
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In the 1km Race Walk, Rio Mcandrew (4:54.4 SB, AG% n/a, 1st of 2 in U14B) and Lily-Ann Cooper (5:52 SB, AG% n/a, 1st of 1 in U16G) both did very well, as experienced junior walkers in the Enfield Race Walking League.
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Three junior Joggers tried out some field events. In the Long Jump, Seb Barrett (3.93m SB, 59.64%, 6th of 17 in U14B) and Joshua Russell (3.40m, 56.01%, 13th in U14B) both did well, as did Lily-Ann Cooper (4.72m, 30.83%, 2nd of 2 in U16G) in her first known attempt at the Shot Put.
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Many thanks for all the great photos!