Caroline Mcintosh put in a tremendous effort to finish the BMW Helsinki Marathon in 5:51:51. She finished 1,399th of 1,482 runners overall, 325th of 344 female runners and 1st of 2 in the F70+ age group, earning an age grade of 59.34% (bronze club standard). It was a close thing in her age group, with just 9 seconds separating the two competitors.
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Caroline with medal after the Helsinki Marathon
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This was Caroline’s second marathon of the year, having posted a time of 5:33:10 (62.67%, silver club standard)) in the TCS London Marathon in April, for which she had qualified with a Good For Age time of under 6 hours. Not one for resting on her laurels, Caroline has already entered the daddy of them all, the original ‘Marathon to Athens’ Marathon in November this year.
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Scenes of Helsinki Harbour
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This all follows on from her completion of all six of the World Abbott Marathon Majors: New York City 2015, London 2017, Berlin 2018, Chicago 2019, Boston 2022 and Tokyo 2023. Her first known marathon was in Edinburgh 2010, where she clocked 6:11:40 aged 57. In the 14 years since then, her marathon times have actually got quicker and she has regularly been posting sub 6 hours for some years. Altogether, Caroline has run at least 16 road marathons ratified by UKA, plus a good number of trail marathons. What a running career Caroline has built for herself since retiring from her job as a local head teacher in a primary school. Well done Caroline.
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Scenes of Helsinki Harbour
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World Masters Athletics (WMA) Championships, Gothenburg, Sweden, August 2024: Elke Hausler (representing Great Britain) took the trip to Gothenburg mainly to support her husband Michael Hausler in his M65 Shot Put event, knowing that her form was not at its best. Still not fully fit, following her serious foot injury last year in a steeplechase event, she had recently suffered a trapped nerve in her neck, which stopped training for 6 weeks in the lead up to Gothenburg. She nevertheless decided to test the waters in the 800m and 1500m events. Good to report that Michael did very well to win bronze in the shot put before Elke’s events began.
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Above: Elke Hausler in WMA W60 800m final. Thanks to Alan Rammage for photos.
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In her W60 800m heat, Elke clocked 2:50.62 (87.12%) to qualify for the final, where she finished in 12th place (2:55.08). She was very pleased just to make the final, though posting a slower time than in the heat. 5 days later she clocked 5:55.64 in the W60 1500m heat to qualify for the final and finished 9th of 16 (5:48.72, 92.22%) in a SB time. This was a great result for her, considering all the injury problems she has had to cope with over the past year. Out of interest, Christine Anthony (top local athlete and good friend of Elke) came 5th for Great Britain in the W60 400m final (1:10.78) and 7th in the W60 800m final (2:44.04).
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Above: Elke Hausler in the WMA W60 1500m Final. Many thanks to Alan Rammage for photo.
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Arkwright/Turners 5k Summer League: Final Results. On Thursday evening 22nd August, it was the 6th and final fixture of this summer 5k series, which took place on hilly Therfield Heath in Royston. The results were tabulated straight after the race, and awards given out to the various winners and runners-up in the Sports Club Cafe. As hoped, Newmarket Joggers’ combined women’s and men’s team held onto 4th position of the 8 clubs competing, with the women’s team 4th and the men =4th with Histon & Impington. Winners were Cambridge & Coleridge AC, from Ely Runners 2nd and Cambridge Tri Club 3rd. The course was fair but very tough, with lots of inclines and a fairly uneven surface in places, not to mention rabbit holes to watch out for. Everybody’s times were significantly slower than normal.
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Above: Final Table of the Arkwright-Turners 5K Summer League. Apologies for rather poor definition.
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Sixteen women and twenty men represented Newmarket Joggers at Royston. Top 5 female finishers were: Lilian Corbett 21:14, 8th F of 118; Cerys Bithell 21:32, 11th F; Helen Hilario 25:18, 41st F; Ellie Bithell 25:45, 47th F; Nicole Smith 27:58, 59th F. Top 5 male finishers were: Jonathan Pye 18:04, 10th M of 194; Jimmy Smith 18:15, 13th M; Paul Holley 20:34, 53rd M; Marc Drury 21:14, 63rd M; Barley Woodcock 21:26, 68th M. Well done those high flyers, with special mention for Lilian and Cerys, our two youngest competitors.
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Also putting in big efforts for the women and men and contributing to the team score were: Helen Wass 28:00, Angela Drury 28:12, Belinda Schofield 29:15, Bridget Wallwin 29:38, Francine Dasseville 30:42, Jan Holmes 32:24, Sarah Kinston 33:31, Sophie Adams 33:44, Sianie Painter 37:07, Jo Bouttell 38:06, Pearl Fay 38:59; Stephen Edwards 22:26, Andy Fryatt 22:46, Jon Ollington 22:55, Tom Elton 23:21, Neville Clarke 23:40, Phil Blundell 25:17, Liam Elvidge 25:28, Darren Gore 25:35, Jon Brooker 25:39, Martin Smith 25:40, Ian Butcher 25:43, Steve Oglesby 26:13, Stephen Cousins 26:37, Rob Hawkins 26:49, Brian Munns 33:27. Many thanks to all who participated for the club; also to Jackie Henley, our trusty team organiser and scorer.
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Above left: Marc Drury with series trophy; middle: The trophy; right: Lilian Corbett 2nd from left, pictured after the Newmarket 10K in June,
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The award for Best Female Newmarket Jogger of the series, went to young Lilian Corbett, who has raced so fast and enthusiastically in the fixtures. Voted the Best Male Newmarket Jogger of the series was Marc Drury, who has been in great form and supported the series all the way through. Both winners fully deserve their awards.
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Left: Jimmy Smith, Jon Brooker and Paul Holley in the sports club cafe; right: Visual scene of the awards night by Barley Woodcock.
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Spitfire Virtual 10K, Sunday 25th August: Something a little more relaxing to finish off. Sarah Last and Gillie Green ran/walked together in this event, choosing a local route from Newmarket to Ashley Pond & back. This brings back more pleasant memories of the pandemic. Their elapsed time was about 1:28:29, according to Sarah’s watch.
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Left: Gillie Green & Sarah Last during Spitfire Virtual 10K; right: Ashley Pond visual by Sarah Last.
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