Steve Oglesby put in an exemplary performance in the Great Barrow Challenge (GBC), organised by Zig Zag Running and held at the Suffolk Running Centre in the village of Barrow, near Bury St Edmunds. Participants were challenged to complete 10 running events in 10 days, from Thursday July 24th to Saturday August 2nd, including any distance from 5km to ultra marathon. Steve chose to attempt 10 half marathons in 10 days for a total running distance of 131 miles or 211km. As with most of his personal challenges, he was generously helping to raise money for the MND (Motor Neurone Disease) charity.
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Above left & right: Steve Oglesby after two of his early half marathons; centre: Zig Zag Running official photo. Thanks to Steve & Zig Zag Running.
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The half marathon routes varied each day and were predominantly along country roads, with varying amounts of trail included; most were one lap, circular routes with signage arrows along the way and mapped routes were available for download. To conserve stamina, Steve used a gentle run/walk technique most of the way through the challenge and kept his half marathon times fairly even at around 2 hours 30 minutes. On the final day, he was kindly accompanied by fellow Newmarket Joggers (NJ) Jimmy Smith and Kirsty McDermott and was able to run his fastest time of all at 2:15:25, feeling encouraged and quite elated by the end. That’s the perfect way to run a challenge of this sort; starting in a relaxed way and feeling strong and positive by the end. For the record, his times from Day 1 to Day 10 were: 2:24:46; 2:35:08; 2:28:54; 2:34:18; 2:38:11; 2:30:51; 2:35:21; 2:31:30; 2:23:12; 2:15:25.
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Above top left: Steve in his final half marathon; top right: Jimmy Smith and Kirsty McDermott running with Steve; Bottom left: Jimmy, Steve & Kirsty at the finish; bottom right: Steve with all 10 of his medals. Thanks for the great photos.
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Three other Joggers took part at Barrow on various days of the GBC. NJ Caroline Mcintosh F70+ (3:22:04) accompanied friend Paul Forshaw M70+ on Day 8, who succeeded in walking his way though 10 events, including one 10km, 5 half marathons and 4 ‘heavy’ half marathons (5km extra); that’s determination. Well done by Paul, who regularly volunteers at Run Newmarket and Soham Village College parkrun. On Day 10, NJ Sue Kent F60 (1:15:10) successfully completed the 10km, while NJ Miranda McWade F60 opted for a 10km (1:14:55) on Day 6 and a half marathon (2:49:51) on Day 10. Well done both.
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On Sunday, Carol Cienna Carter (20:12, 16th of 107 overall, 9th F of 56, 1st of 7 in F50) and Richard Defries (20:28, 18th, 1st of 3 in M50) competed in the 5K at the multi-lap Run Through event at Bedford Autodrome. Both did very well in their age groups, but felt somewhat hindered by the blustery weather conditions.
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Down in West London on Friday 1st August, NJ 2nd claim member Charlie Spencer (4:48, 2nd of 28 overall, 1st U20M) put in a great time in The Ealing Mile, which attracts some top runners and takes place in Lammas Park on the first Friday of every month. This was his best performance of the year and earned him 78.96% age grade.
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Up in Derbyshire on Saturday, Alexia Smithson (9:29:22, 699th F of 1,348, 250th of 447 in F40) did very well in the SHE Peak District 50K Ultra, keeping a very steady pace and finishing in mid field. The picturesque route went along the ‘edges’ from the village of Hathersage, through Chatsworth Park and onto Monsal Trail.
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TRACK & FIELD NEWS
The results are now in for the EMAC (Eastern Masters Athletics Club) meeting at King’s Lynn, which took place on Wednesday evening, July 30th. This was the last of 4 fixtures in 2025 and is a league competition only for those aged 35 and over. In this league, Newmarket Joggers (NJ) join with Saint Edmund Pacers (SEP) to form team NJ/SEP. Other teams include Cambridge & Coleridge AC (C&C), Peterborough & Nene Valley Harriers AC, Ryston Runners and West Norfolk AC.
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In this match, NJ/SEP finished 4th of the 5 clubs in both the women’s and men’s competitions, with Peterborough top, C&C in 2nd and Ryston Runners in 3rd. The overall placings for the season have yet to be finalised.
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There were some very good individual NJ track performances in the various events, with age grade % shown:
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200m: Phil Blundell M45 29.50, 75.42%; Stuart Janes M55 41.00 SB, 57.76%; Malcolm Osbourn M75 42.00 PB, 69.88%. 800m: Richard Defries M50 2:25.80 PB, 81.79%; Carol Cienna Carter F50 3:03.30 PB, 72.98%. 3000m: Richard Defries M50 11:41.50 PB, 73.49%; Carol Cienna Carter F50 12:12.30 PB 84.66%; Elke Hausler W60 12:25.90 SB, 93.04%; Malcolm Osbourn M75 16:27.70 PB, 69.35%.
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Interesting to note that Elke Hausler’s 3000m PB was 11:48.75 in 2019, but that her age grade in 2019 would have worked out at 89.88%, so she is actually running better than ever. Other observations: Malcolm Osbourn’s 2025 best age grade jumped from 64.74% (5k) to 69.88% (200m) when he ran at King’s Lynn last week; long live the track. Similarly, Richard Defries achieved his highest ever age grade of 81.79% in the 800m. Of course, lumpy roads with ups, downs, twists and turns can’t really compete with a smooth, level track surface; there’s also a subtle give and rebound in modern tracks.
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Some field results from EMAC King’s Lynn: Javelin: Adam Maltpress M45 16.80m PB; Cheryl Thomas 11.63m PB. Discus: Adam Maltpress M45 14.05m PB.