On Saturday & Sunday, 13th & 14th September, the annual Round Norfolk Relay took place, starting and finishing in King’s Lynn and roughly tracing out the county boundary of Norfolk in a clockwise direction. The course was made up of seventeen stages of varying distances, from over 5 miles to nearly 19 miles long, totaling 199.4 miles altogether. The relay race started soon after dawn on Saturday morning and continued all day and all night long until the finish back in King’s Lynn on Sunday morning. The start was staggered, so that the slower relay teams went first, and arranged so that all teams should finish about the same time on Sunday morning. The night stages were all along road, with runners followed in a vehicle supplied by their own team; during the daylight hours the runners were followed by cyclists along road sections, who could also communicate with them over the phone on trail sections.
This year, there were 57 teams of 17 members taking part, mostly from running clubs all over East Anglia, though guest teams from further afield were welcome. There were 5 different team categories: Open (no restrictions on members); Club (must have at least 5 female runners and 8 ‘masters’, i.e. males aged 40+ and/or females aged 35+); Masters (must be all masters, male and/or female); Ladies (must be all female); and Mixed (must contain at least 8 female runners).
Newmarket Joggers opted to enter as a Masters team and it proved to be a very wise decision. There were only 3 teams declared in the Masters category, with Newmarket Joggers (23h:17m:08s) finishing 3h:40m ahead of the second team, to take the Masters Trophy with ease. By comparison, the Club team winner and overall winner City of Norwich AC (20:10:32) had to compete against 17 other Club teams, while Open team winner Norwich Road Runners (22:09:00) had to beat 29 other Open teams. In past years, the Joggers have generally entered as a Club team, without notable success, so this was a very productive strategy.
Individually, NJ Kirsty McDermott had the most success, finishing 1st of 18 female runners by over 6 minutes in Stage 11 (14.90 mi), earning the top NJ female age grade of 79.72%. Sarah Osborne also enjoyed a great final leg in Stage 17 (11.73 mi), finishing 2nd F of 15. Other notable NJ performances were by Hannah Pollard, 4th F of 32 in Stage 8 (7.52 mi), and Neil Pollard, 4th of 57 overall in Stage 9 (16.60 mi). This earned Neil top NJ age grade of 84.69%, just pipping Paul Holley (Stage 13, 15.00 mi) on 84.61%. Congratulations to Jonathan Ollington, who earned his highest age grade of the year of 76.41% in Stage 15, putting him up to diamond standard. Most of all, it was a great team effort by Newmarket Joggers from start to finish.
Thanks to all the NJ runners in stage order: Carol Cienna Carter (1) 2:17:44, 5th F, 16.32 mi; Jimmy Smith (2) 1:28:30, 7th overall, 13.75 mi; Angela Drury (3) 51:18, 7th F, 5.76 mi; Jon Brooker (4) 1:24:53, 16th, 11.14 mi; Sam Sadler (5) 1:13:54, 8th, 10.81 mi; Stephen Edwards (6) 58:49, 17th, 7.90 mi; Neville Clarke (7) 1:15:38, 39th, 9.24 mi; Hannah Pollard (8) 52:05, 4th F, 7.52 mi; Neil Pollard (9) 1:36:39 4th, 16.60 mi; Barley Woodcock (10) 2:00:56, 27th, 16.50 mi; Kirsty McDermott (11), 1:35:06, 1st F, 14.90 mi; Mark Hayward (12) 1:54:53, 13th, 18.88 mi; Paul Holley (13) 1:36:35, 10th, 15.00 mi; Tom Elton (14) 54:55, 23rd, 7.27 mi; Jonathan Ollington (15) 1:13:28, 16th, 10.59 mi; Helen Hilario (16) 40:45, 10th F, 5.49 mi; Sarah Osborne (17) 1:21:00, 2nd F, 11.73 mi.
Thanks to all the support crew, including race director Jim Withers, Kate Warboys, Brian Munns, Stephen Edwards and Suzanne Bailey. Apologies to anyone unknowingly left out.
Richard Bennett Felixstowe Coastal 10M, Sunday: 13 Joggers competed in this race, in bright sunshine, with the course starting and finishing near the pier and extending to both ends of the promenade, also passing through Old Felixstowe and reaching nearly as far as the River Deben to the northeast. First Jogger home and in great form was Chris Underwood (1:09:55 SB, 55th of 629 overall, 29th of 106 in MS), followed by Andy Fryatt (1:11:52, 65th, 5th of 35 in M55) who did very well in his age group. Then came Carol Cienna Carter (1:12:36 SB, 11th F of 235, 1st of 31 in F50), who did exceptionally well to take home 1st place F50 trophies for overall race and for Suffolk County, just one week after completing the Swiss Peaks Trail Marathon and the day after her 16-mile effort in the Round Norfolk Relay. Running with Cienna, Richard Defries (1:12:36 SB, 74th, 6th of 50 in M50) also did very well to take 3rd place M50 trophy for Suffolk. Next came James Thomson (1:15:53 SB, 101st, 37th in MS), followed by Andy McKeague (1:27:57 SB, 263rd, 79th in MS), both with good efforts. All quite close together and in good form were Bridget Wallwin (1:36:21 SB, 98th F, 6th of 15 in F55), Francine Dasseville (1:36:23 SB, 98th F, 12th of 31 in F50), Jan Holmes (1:38:06 SB, 113th F, 1st of 11 in F60) and Jo Bouttell (1:39:37 SB, 130th F, 4th of 11 in F60. Jan Holmes did very well to take home the F60 winner’s age group trophy for the overall race and for Suffolk County.
Richmond Marathon, SW London, Sunday: Jack Imrie (3:11:19 PB, 111th of 1,381 overall, 17th of 196 in M25-29) will be pleased with this excellent result, in what appears to be his first ever marathon.
THREE ULTRA RACES
On Saturday, Olivia Carter (12:24:37, 179th of 840 overall, 28th F of 298, 11th of 79 in FS) put in a tremendous effort in THE LAP Ultra (Autumn), which took place in the Lake District and followed an extended loop of about 47 miles around Lake Windermere and the surrounding hills and valleys. It included a staggering total of 9,104 ft of climb and expended 4,567 Calories of energy, according to Strava. This was the same course completed by Marc Drury in the spring version earlier this year.
Suffolk Coastal Path 50K Ultra, Saturday: Over in Suffolk, Sianie Painter (7:46:18 SB, 280th of 304 overall, 86th F of 98, 19th in F50-59) really enjoyed this race, which followed a picturesque coastal route from Lowestoft, down to the finish in Aldeburgh. Sianie sliced a lot of time off her previous 50K ultra earlier this year and thoroughly enjoyed the scenery along the way.
Thames Path 100K Ultra, Saturday: Steve Oglesby took on this challenge, which started at Putney Bridge and followed the Thames tow path to Henley-on Thames. Unfortunately, Steve had to retire after 77km, due to badly blistered feet, but was deservedly awarded a 3/4 certificate for completing over 75% of the route. His time was approximately 13h:19m.
TRACK NEWS
Elke Hausler was competing at the British Masters Athletics Federation (BMAF) championships at Derby on Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th September. On Saturday, she ran in the W60 1500m race, along with W55 and W65 athletes. Elke did very well to win the GB W60 gold medal in a time of 5:41.46, earning an impressive Power of 10 age grade of 95.59%. In the same race, Irish runner Anne Gilshinan took the international gold medal in a near W60 world record time of 4:56.90, earning an official 98.39% age grade by the track authorities (see paragraph below). She was the first W60 female runner in the world to break 5 minutes for the 1500m in 2024; since then, GB’s Clare Elms has edged ahead. Later on Saturday, Elke also competed in the W60 400m (1:14.65, 6th GB) and on Sunday in the W60 800m (2:51.99, 4th for GB). Elke has bettered all these times earlier this year, including her 1500m time. The weather in Derby was rainy and quite blustery, so not ideal. It’s great to add that Elke’s husband Mike took GB gold in the M65 Shot Put, with a throw of 13.94m. He is currently top European M65 and 2nd M65 in the world rankings, so a successful weekend for both of them.
It’s worth noting that the world masters’ track authorities, including the BMAF, have gone over to the latest, updated and more stringent, age-grading tables, compared with Power of 10, who still appear to be using the 2015 version for all road races and track events. Since 2015, world records have steadily improved, making the older tables (which are based on world record times in 2015 for age and sex) less reliable. On the older system, Anne Gilshinan would have been rated at well over 100% in this 1500m race. Ideally, world record holders should be close to 100% age grade.
Above: Elke Hausler on left and Irish runner Anne Gilshinan on right. Thanks for photo.