Two popular 20-mile events took place on Sunday, 23rd March, both being excellent preparation for spring marathons.
Three Joggers opted for the Milton Keynes Twin Lakes 20, which is a beautiful, more or less flat, route around two large lakes. First Jogger home was John Bramhill (2:51:55, 136th of 574 overall, 18th of 64 in M50-59), not far ahead of Helen Hilario (2:52:35, 27th F of 285, 4th of 59 in F50-59) and Ellie Bithell (2:52:35, 28th F, 15th of 105 in F40-49), the latter two running together for mutual support. All were very good efforts in their age groups.
Top left, Helen and Ellie after MK Twin Lakes 20; scenes of the route and the medal. Thanks for photos.
Two Joggers took part in the Bedford Harriers Oakley 20, which was quite hilly, with an elevation of over 1,000ft. Meera Mahadevan (3:13:47, 335th of 569 overall, F50-54) was first Jogger home, followed by Angela Drury (3:23:26, 403rd overall, F40-44). No gender or category positions were shown in the results, though the first three to finish in each age group were provided. Meera took about 2 minutes off her Tarpley 20 time in February, while Angela was about 8 minutes faster than Tarpley, so excellent results and good omens for a spring marathon attempt.
Above: Meera and Angela wearing their prize hoodies after the Oakley 20. Thanks for photo.
During the previous week, Caroline Mcintosh was at her annual training camp in Albufeira, Portugal; this time in the company of NJ Malcolm Osbourn as well as her husband Tosh, Malcolm’s wife Jenny and their daughter Liz. On Tuesday 18th March, Caroline and Malcolm took part in the Falesia 5K, which was an official competitive race among all the various training runs planned for the week. It was a very hilly course, inland from the beach area. Malcolm (32:15, 70th of 79 overall, 1st of 3 in M75-79) had the slight edge, with Caroline (33:19, 74th overall, 2nd of 2 in F70-74) not far behind. This race took Caroline over 65% age grade and into NJ gold standard. It was a hard week’s training with the longest run over 17 miles of rugged terrain.
Top: Caroline, Tosh and Malcolm after Falesia 5K; below: Scenes of the beach area. Thanks for Strava photos.
A lot nearer home in Norfolk, Greg Davis (12m10s) ran in the David Hardingham Memorial 3000m for his new club: West Norfolk AC. It was his first track race for a long time but he surprised himself by achieving his highest age grade of the year so far at 76.27%, taking him into NJ diamond standard. We wish him well at his new club.
Kirsty McDermott ran her last race for her Crawley Run Crew club on Sunday, before joining Newmarket Joggers as first claim. It was the Flyers 6 XC, near Horsham in West Sussex. She was honoured to be first home overall for her club in this cross-country race over ~6 miles (5.7 miles on her watch), in a time of 38:51. It was a nice way to say farewell.
Above: Kirsty in Flyers 6 XC. Thanks for photo on Strava.