Run Sandringham 24, Saturday 10th August to Sunday 11th August, Royal Sandringham Estate, North Norfolk: In this event, the idea was to do as many 5-mile trail laps as possible within the 24-hour time limit, from 12 noon on the Saturday to 12 noon on the Sunday. There were different categories of solo, pairs, groups of 3-5 and larger groups of over 5.
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Mist over the Sandringham Estate; thanks to Paul Holley for photo.
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Newmarket Joggers (NJ) entered two teams called “Newmarket Plodders” (3 women and 4 men) and “Dolly Mixtures” (8 women), who both competed in the same group category against 13 other teams. Newmarket Plodders completed 36 laps altogether and came so close to winning the category, with the same number of laps as their rivals “24HR Party People” but just 1m:45s behind on time. Dolly Mixtures did well to finish 9th, with 25 laps completed. NJ Jon Brooker ran with three friends in a team of four, called “Misfits”, who put in a great effort to complete 30 laps and finish 1st of 6 in the mixed 3-5 category, 2 laps ahead of the next team.
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Newmarket Plodders team: Nicole, Jimmy, Paul, Angela, Olivia, Marc & Liam. Many thanks for the photo.
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Team members were as follows, with best 5-mile lap time shown and number of laps in brackets: Newmarket Plodders: Angela Drury 45:35 (5), Jimmy Smith 30:03 (6), Liam Elvidge 41:40 (5), Marc Drury 33:16 (6), Nicole Smith 46:25 (4), Olivia Carter 39:02 (5), Paul Holley 34:18 (5); Dolly Mixtures: Hannah Parsons 44:57 (4), Jan Holmes 50:31 (4), Kate Warboys 1:04:26 (2), Meera Mahadevan 45:56 (4), Ruth Eberhardt 52:20 (3), Sarah Martin 1:03:15 (3), Sophie Adams 53:56 (3), Stepanka Vranova 1:05:32 (2); Misfits: Jon Brooker 42:45 (7), Justin Smith 41:06 (7), Mia Huckstep 45:24 (7), Paul Buckle 42:36 (9).
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The Run Sandringham 24 Medal and Angela Drury finishing one of her laps.
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Lee Valley ‘Be Fit Today’ Open T & F meeting, Sunday 11th August: Junior Jogger Harvey Thomas (aged 13) put in a tremendous effort in the 800m, under the appreciative eyes of coaches Mick Graham and Stuart Janes, as well as his mother Cheryl Thomas. He recorded a time of 2m 22.41, a PB by about 6 seconds, and achieved an age grade of 80.10%, putting him into sapphire club standard, along with a select few other members of the club. He continues to improve with each race.
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Above top: Harvey finishing 1st in his 800m heat; bottom: The 800m time displayed on the board.
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Great Yarmouth Half Marathon, Norfolk coast, Sunday 11th August: Neville Clarke (1:44:21, 121st of 336 overall, 1st of 5 in M70-74) continues to amaze with his performances since turning 70 in the autumn of 2023. He was 7 minutes ahead of the next finisher in his age group. Earlier this year he was sidelined by injury for a month or two but came through it with no lasting effects and is running better than ever. Interesting that he has never worn a watch in all his running career and must be well tuned in to his degree of effort and the feel of his body.
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Above: Neville Clarke finishing Gt Yarmouth HM, thanks to Neville and Total Race Timing
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Littondale 4-Mile Road Race and Arncliffe Gala Fell Race, North Yorkshire Dales, Saturday 10th August: Christopher Underwood is no stranger to these hilly parts of the country, whether he is hiking, fell running or on ultra trail challenges. The Littondale road race was a kind of appetiser for the Arncliffe fell race later in the day. Chris did well to come 28th of 164 in the road race in a time of 27:25. The fell race started and finished in Arncliffe and was over approximately 3km or 1.9 miles, with an extremely steep climb and descent and a total elevation of 433ft. Chris came a very respectable 55th of 150 runners overall in a time of 16:42.
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Above left: Angela Brennan on left with Chris Underwood behind; right: North Yorkshire Dales scenery.
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Chris Underwood (in blue) during the Arncliffe Fell Race. Thanks for photos.