Newmarket Joggers Elke Hausler and Carol Cienna Carter post age grades over 90% at the weekend

Two Newmarket Joggers posted impressive age grades in their races over the weekend. For comparison purposes, a world record holder in top form would be expected to post an age grade of around 100%.

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On Saturday, March 14th, Elke Hausler (W60-64) was competing in the England Masters indoor Track & Field Championships at Lee Valley Athletics Centre, Edmonton, North London. Her main event was the 1500m race, in which she took the silver medal, finishing 2nd of 4 in her W60 age group in a time of 5:53.98 SB. This earned her a very impressive 92.83% age grade. She also competed in the 4 x 400m open relay (4:28.74) and the 4 x 200m W60 relay (2:17.12), in which her team finished 2nd in both events. Elke will now be preparing for the European Masters Athletics Championships in Torun, Poland, from March 27th to April 2nd, where we wish her good luck.

Above: Elke Hausler (left), pictured last year, with Christine Anthony (right) of Saint Edmund Pacers

On Sunday, March 15th, Carol Cienna Carter (F55) ran in the Liverpool 10M race, just one week after earning a 6-minute PB in the Cambridge Half Marathon. At Liverpool, her chip time was 1:06:12 PB; she was 20th of 366 runners overall, first female finisher of 238 and 1^st of 45 in F55, earning a very impressive age grade of 90.16%. This was actually slightly lower than her age grade of 93.91% in the Cambridge Half Marathon, where she finished 44th of 6,064 female runners and 2nd of 315 in F55. She is currently in absolutely in top form.

Also running well in the Liverpool 10M was Richard Defries (1:09:01, 31^st of 366 overall, 4^th of 13 in M50, 73.87%), husband of Carol Cienna, just seconds outside his PB time in the Tarpley 10M at Bury St Edmunds last month.

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Essex 20M, Essex County Championships & Inter-County Match, Sunday, at Carver Barracks, Debden, near Saffron Walden: NJ Mark Hayward (1:58:03 SB, 17th of 508 overall, 3^rd of 41 in M40) was in great form, finishing 1^st of three Suffolk runners and 14th of 44 county runners overall.

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Stowmarket Half Marathon & Suffolk Grand Prix, Sunday: Here, the strong 20mph southerly wind made for very tough conditions, especially over the hilly terrain towards the end of the race. In great form was Jimmy Smith (1:21:38 SB, 10th of 309 overall, 2^nd of 23 in M45, 1^st of 10 in M45 for Suffolk. Also with an impressive effort was David Percy (1:29:15 SB, 26^th, 2^nd of 36 in M50, 1^st of 19 for Suffolk). Then came Jason Beeton (1:38:13, 71st, 12^th of 18 in M40), representing 1st claim Thetford AC, and Sergio Pelado (1:42:22 SB, 99th, 10^th in M45, 6th for Suffolk).

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Malaga Half Marathon, Sunday: Three female Joggers made the trip to the sunny, southern Spanish coast for the popular Malaga Half Marathon, which attracted a total of 10,683 participants. First to finish was Helen Hilario (1:45:07, 383^rd F of 3,878, 24^th of 329 in F50), followed by Ellie Bithell (1:52:43, 754^th F, 72nd of 426 in F45) and Angela Drury (2:02:37 SB, 1,520th F, 150^th in F45). This was more of a sun-boost weekend break, with other targets looming, such as the Rome Marathon in only a week’s time. A good time was obviously had by all.

  

Rounding up the race news, Michael McGarvey (1:56:24 SB, ~167th of 373 overall) took on the Cambridge Boundary Run Half Marathon on Sunday, which, together with the Boundary Run Marathon, follows the week after the TTP Cambridge Half Marathon. It is a much more relaxed event, over open roads, pathways and some trails, roughly following the city boundary of Cambridge.

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On Saturday, at Walton-on-Thames, Ian McClements took part in another of his favourite Phoenix Running multi-lap events, called the Octopus Run. Each lap was an out & back section along the Thames River Path of approximately 5.3km or 3.3 miles, so that 8 laps would be a marathon distance. Ian did 6 laps for 19.7 miles (31.7km) in a time of 3:09:40, which was a PB for him.