At Great Bentley, Essex, on Friday evening, July 3rd, it was the sixth and final fixture of the popular Friday 5 Series of 5-mile races. Neil Pollard (27:36 SB, 13th of 375 overall, 13th M of 255, 1st of 30 in M45, 85.75%) made a surprise appearance, putting in a huge effort to finish first Newmarket Jogger (NJ) home and first in his age group. Not far behind was NJ Thomas Hemsley (28:55 SB, 23rd M, 16th of 71 in MS), another of our fastest male club runners. Next home and first female NJ to finish was Carol Cienna Carter (33:13, 5th F of 120, 1st of 14 in F55, 87.10%), with another tremendous run in her age group to secure the F55 Series trophy. She was closely followed by Hannah Pollard (34:07 SB, 9th F, 2nd of 16 in FS, 75.77%), also in great form. It was Hannah’s fastest 5-mile time since 2018, before a long period of injury set her back; great to see her in top form again.
Above left, at Great Bentley Friday 5: Jo Bouttell, Richard Defries, Cienna Carter, Brian Munns, Neville Clarke, Jim Withers, Jan Holmes, Angela Underwood; right: Neil Pollard, Hannah Pollard and Tom Hemsley, also at Greta Bentley Friday 5.
Next home was Richard Defries (34:52, 18th of 40 in M50), thankfully avoiding the asthma attack he suffered in the previous fixture at Stowmarket. Then came Neville Clarke (37:12 SB, 1st of 9 in M70+, 79.35%), with a huge effort to top his age group for the 5th time out of 5 races in the Series (best 4 races counted), winning him the Series M70+ trophy. Also running well were: Angela Underwood (43:58 SB, 21st in FS), Jan Holmes (49:20 SB, 8th of 13 in F60), Brian Munns (49:25, 26th in M60), Jim Withers (51:30, 9th in M70+, 3rd M70+ of 28 in the Series) and Joanne Bouttell (52:16, 11th in F60).
Above: Sun going down at Great Bentley, after the final race of the Friday 5 Series, thanks to Jo Bouttell.
EKIDEN RELAYS, Ipswich High School, Woolverstone, Ipswich, Sunday, July 5th: This event attracted 1,152 participants, including 484 women and 668 men, for a total of 192 x 6-person teams from running clubs all over East Anglia. There was a carnival atmosphere, with all the club gazebos lining the route along the way to cheer on their members and enjoy a picnic at the same time. Newmarket Joggers sent three teams of six runners to this event. Each team runner ran a 5km, 7.2km or 10km leg to make a total of 42.2km, the metric marathon distance of 26.2 miles. Each lap was 2.5km around the school grounds, apart from the first lap of 2.2km, to make the total distance correct. NJ entered two open, mixed gender teams, with at least two female runners in each, plus a 60+ team (no gender restriction).
Above: Scene at Ipswich High School during the Ekiden Relays, with running club gazebos set out along the route.
Above: The running route in aerial view; note the River Orwell behind, thanks to Liam Elvidge.
Joggers at Ekiden Relays, back row from left: John Beardsworth, Rob Hawkins, Neville Clarke, Izzy Talbot Price, Sarah Osborne, Cienna Carter, Richard Defries, Helen Hilario, Brian Munns, Sam Sadler; front row from left: Charles Jones, Jeremy Reader, Tristram Hilborn, Harvey Thomas, Angela Drury.
The NJ Mixed Team 1 did very well to finish 4th of 107 mixed teams overall, covering the marathon distance in 2:49:17 and just missing out on 3rd place trophy. The members were: John Beardsworth 7.2km 27:53; Sarah Osborne 5km 23:36; Sam Sadler 10km 38:24 SB; Harvey Thomas 5km 20:49; Izzy Talbot Price 10km 38:39 PB 78.48%; Carol Cienna Carter 5km 21:09, 82.58% .
Izzy Talbot Price did exceptionally well to finish 2nd F of 120 in the 10km category, while Carol Cienna Carter came a very impressive 6th F of 292 in the 5km category.
The NJ Mixed Team 2 clocked 3:25:23, 19th of 107 mixed teams, with individual times as follows: Richard Defries 7.2km 29:27; Helen Hilario 5km 22:20 SB; Jeremy Reader 10km 50:44 SB; Angela Drury 5km 27:32; Tristram Hilborn 10km 49:28; Liam Elvidge 5km 24:34.
The Legends 60+ team clocked 3:37:00, 7th of 8 60+ teams, with individual times as follows: Stephen Edwards 7.2km 30:55, 76.87%; Rob Hawkins 5km 25:58 SB; Charles Jones 10km 46:04 75.36%; Chris Aylmer 5km 35:19; Neville Clarke 10km 48:21, 76.63%; Alan Thornhill 5km 30:21.
Above, from left: John Beardsworth at Ekiden; Tristram Hilborn in action during his 10km leg; Jeremy Reader going well in 10km, on left in blue.
Above: Scenes of the NJ Gazebo camp at Ekiden.
TRIATHLON NEWS
Also on Sunday, two Joggers entered the Outlaw Half Triathlon at Holkham in North Norfolk, representing first claim Newmarket Cycling & Triathlon Club (NCTC). Martin Smith and Joanne Bouttell entered the Outlaw Mixed Relay category, together with another NCTC member Ian. Ian took on the 1.2-mile swim, Martin the 56-mile bike ride and Joanne the Half Marathon run. They finished in a total time of 5:59:23, putting them 20th of 33 teams in the category. Ian finished 28th in the swim in a time of 46:48, Martin 6th in the bike ride (2:38:05), and Joanne 26th in the half marathon (2:31:55). They all enjoyed the event camaraderie and the exciting atmosphere.
Above: Martin, Ian and Joanne after their Outlaw Half Holkham Triathlon Relay.
Above: The event T-shirt, front & back.
RACE WALK NEWS
On Saturday, the annual Moulton Walks took place in the village of Moulton, near Newmarket. This year was the Silver Jubilee of this event. Double Olympian race walker Callum Wilkinson and his brother Edson were there to give out the prizes. Both Callum and Edson Wilkinson have previously won the headline 5-mile race. This year, as well as the 5-mile event, there was a 3km and 1.5km race to enter.
Above: Moulton Walks: Rio Mcandrew (33) at the front, during his 1.5km race walk; to the left of Rio, Sophie Blundell (number hidden) and Lily-Ann Cooper (32) in blue, and to the right Caroline Mcintosh, also in blue (35). during their 3km walk. There was presumably a mass start for all the races. Thanks to Caroline for the results and photo.
No Newmarket Joggers were in the line-up for the 5-mile race walk this year. Philip Barnard of Ilford AC came home first of 23 participants, in a time of 43:07, with Grazia Manzotti (45:53) of Ashford AC in second and first female home. Three Newmarket Joggers entered the 3km race and one entered the 1.5km.
3km: Sophie Blundell U14 (19:20, 2nd of 5, AG 65.43% ) and Lily-Ann Cooper U15 (20:15, 3rd, 61.48%) both did very well and have a lot of experience of race walking over the past two years. Caroline Mcintosh W70 (23:12, 4th, 70.04%) put in an astonishing effort for her first ever walking race, gaining a high age grade. In the 1.5km race, Rio Mcandrew U14 (7:37, 1st of 4, 77.02%) put in a great effort to finish over 3 minutes ahead of the second person home. He has a very high age grade and has a real talent for the sport. The age grades are based on actual age in years on the day of the race.
Many thanks for all the Strava posts, photos and other news.
Wishing you an enjoyable week of running
Chris Aylmer