Newmarket Joggers women’s team take top prize at Sudbury Fun Run on Good Friday

Thirteen Newmarket Joggers (NJ) kicked off the Easter Weekend on Good Friday morning, with a trip to Sudbury for the Sudbury Fun Run 5. This is a popular and longstanding 5-mile event in the town, organised by Sudbury Joggers running club, which has helped to raise a lot of money for local charities over the years. The Mayor of Sudbury was there to present the trophies. This year, the race was included in the NJ Grand Prix, which helped to boost the turnout of NJs.

Carol Cienna Carter F55 put in a tremendous effort to finish first NJ home, in a time of 32:40 PB, 44th of 559 overall and 3^rd F of 218, in podium position. This earned her an impressive 88.57% age grade and 3rd place women’s overall trophy. Next to finish, not far behind, was her husband Richard Defries (32:59 PB, 48th, 10^th of 88 in M50), followed closely by Marc Drury (33:21 SB, 56th, 12^th in M50), Andy Fryatt (34:40 SB, 77th, 18^th in M50), Charles Jones (34:45 PB, 78th, 4^th of 42 in M60) and Stephen Edwards (34:56 SB, 82nd, 6^th in M60). Second and third female NJs to finish were Helen Hilario (36:12 SB, 8^th F, 1^st of 46 in F50), who did very well to win her age group, and Eleanor Bithell (39:39 SB, 18^th F, 8^th of 62 in F40). Together, Carol Cienna Carter, Helen Hilario and Eleanor Bithell won the 1st place female team trophy for Newmarket Joggers, with Stowmarket Striders and Halstead Runners in 2nd and 3rd. Also putting in good efforts for NJ were: Angela Drury (44:53 SB 67^th F, 25^th in F40), Helen Wass (45:42 SB, 77^th F, 2^nd of 21 in F60), Chris Aylmer (54:10 SB, 489th, 7^th of 11 in M70+), Sianie Painter (54:18 SB, 165^th F, 10^th in F60) and Pearl Fay (59:48 SB, 202^nd F, 18^th in F60).

On Easter Saturday, Sarah Osborne took part in the Battersea Park Half Marathon in London. She was aiming to go for a sub 1h:26m time but, as the race evolved, wasn’t feeling 100%; at one point, she even felt like quitting. Nevertheless, she “hung in” and managed to achieve an excellent PB result of 1:27:23, finishing 53^rd of 765 overall, 7^th F of 299 and 2^nd of 28 in F35.

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Ian McClements took on the Phoenix 5 in 5 Treasure Challenge at Walton-on-Thames, from Thursday 2^nd April to Easter Monday 6^th April. He opted to run a half marathon each day for 5 days. The half marathon course was made up of 4 x out & back laps along a stretch of the Thames Path, with each lap approximately 5.3km or 3.3 miles. His times for the 5 days were: 2:42:40, 3:05:20, 1:57:41 PB, 3:13:05 and 2:44:04. On Easter Saturday, he went all-out and achieved a sub 2-hour half marathon PB. Each day had a different coloured treasure chest medal, as seen in his photo.

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At the Zig Zag Easter Challenge, starting at the Suffolk Running Centre in Barrow on Good Friday, Miranda McWade (1:22:10 SB, 57th of 76 overall, 32^nd F of 47) did well in the 10K, which was more like a quarter marathon of about 10.6km, with four of the same laps equalling the marathon distance.

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TRACK NEWS

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Elke Hausler is now back from her successful trip to the European Masters Athletics Championships in Torun, Poland, where she represented Great Britain. The Championships took place from March 27th to April 2nd. As reported last week, she competed in the 3000m, 800m and 1500m events in the W60-64 age group. In her first event on Friday 27^th March, she won the W60 3000m silver medal, finishing 2^nd of 8 in a time of 12:27.21 (94.55%); on Tuesday 31st March she came 7^th of 8 in the W60 800m in a time of 2:50.60 (90.66%), still a very good performance; on Thursday 2nd April she did well to finish 5^th of 8 in the W60 1500m final in 5:44.24, earning her highest age grade of 96.27%. Elke was full of praise for the help of Mick Graham and Stuart Janes, the coaches for her Newmarket Joggers track training sessions during the winter months and leading up to the championships. She said that, without their help, she could not have achieved the standard she has.

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Enfield Race Walking League (ERWL), QEII Stadium, Enfield, North London, Saturday March 21st: Junior Newmarket Joggers Lily-Ann Cooper U16G, Sophie Blundell U16G and Rio Mcandrew U14B all represented Newmarket Joggers in the 3^rd fixture of the season at Enfield.  In the 3000m Walk, Sophie Blundell (18:19.0 PB, 68.43%) and Lily-Ann Cooper (19:39.6 PB, 62.73%) both achieved PBs. Rio Mcandrew competed in the 2000m Walk and achieved a PB of 10:39.6 (age grade n/a for this distance). All the juniors are making rapid progress.

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Looking at the ERWL overall team results, Newmarket Joggers are now back at the top of the league table on 611 points, with Belgrave Harriers second on 609 points, out of 7 teams in the league. Individually, Lily-Ann Cooper is currently top of 8 junior race walkers on points overall, with Sophie Blundell 2^nd and Rio Mcandrew 3rd, so things looking very good for the Newmarket Joggers race walkers.