Essex & Suffolk Relays: On Saturday 12th April, the annual Essex & Suffolk 3-mile Relays were held at Colchester Sports Park. This was not a competition between Essex and Suffolk but rather two separate county competitions, with Suffolk the guests of home team Essex. There were open and veteran categories for women and men, with all but the men’s open race being by 3-person teams, with each team member running 3 laps of the 1-mile course for a total of 9 miles. The men’s open race was by 4-person teams, each member running 3 laps for a total of 12 miles, though Newmarket Joggers did not field a men’s open team this year.
Above: NJ Women’s team members, back row: Rachael Maltpress, Helen Hilario, Sianie Painter, Hanneli Stevenson, Carol Cienna Carter, Kirsty McDermott, Suzanne Bailey; front row: Angela Drury, Wendy Ancill. Many thanks for photo.
The NJ women’s V40 team, consisting of Carol Cienna Carter (individual 3-mile time 19:10), Hanneli Stevenson (22:37) and Helen Hilario (21:14), were on top form and finished 1st V40 team for Suffolk, despite two of their members being over 50. This achievement was matched by the NJ men’s V40 team of Joey Bendall (15:45), Mark Hayward (15:46) and James Smith (16:42), who finished 1st of six V40 Suffolk teams. Our second men’s V40 team of Adam Maltpress (18:56), Steve Oglesby (21:34) and Neville Clarke (20:44), put in a great effort to finish 5th, despite one of them being over 70.
Above left: NJ women’s V40 team, 1st place: Helen Hilario, Carol Cienna Carter and Hanneli Stevenson. Above right: NJ men’s V40 team, 1st Place: Jimmy Smith, Joey Bendall and Mark Hayward. Thanks for team photos.
The NJ men’s V50 team of Marc Drury (17:47), Richard Defries (19:51) and Jonathan Ollington (20:10) were bang in form and took 1st place trophy of six Suffolk teams. The NJ women’s V50 team of Wendy Ancill (22:37), Sianie Painter (27:51) and Suzanne Bailey (26:58), succeeded in taking 3rd place trophy for Suffolk. The NJ women’s Open team of Kirsty McDermott (18:10), Rachael Maltpress (24:35) and Angela Drury (24:14), put in a big effort to finish 4th among ten Suffolk contenders; a worthy achievement, especially considering that two of them were V40s.
Ibiza Marathon on the Spanish island, Saturday, April 12th: Jeremy Reader (4:33:50, 761st of 1,109, 71st of 94 in M50-54) achieved a very good time in this tough marathon, which went up and over a big hill and had a total elevation of around 1,000ft. This was Jeremy’s 7th UKA-licensed marathon, with a PB of 4:01:28 in London 2011.
Above: Jeremy Reader after Ibiza Marathon. Thanks for photo.
Schneider Electric Paris Marathon, Sunday April 13th: Jan Holmes (5:02:30, 48,235th of 55,495 overall, 13,059th female (F) of 16,533, 192nd of 323 in F60-64) put in a tremendous effort to take 26 minutes off her marathon PB. She has been turning back the clock over the last six months or so, with some great times in all her races. She was followed by Jo Bouttell (5:43:22, 15,541st F, 282nd in F60-64), who showed great courage in taking on her first marathon in her sixties and who could not have wished for a better outcome. Jan and Jo were very grateful for the support of two friends who accompanied them on their trip, including NJ Pearl Fay.
Above from left: Supporter Pearl Fay, Jo Bouttell, supporter Sheila, Jan Holmes. Thanks for great photo.
Also on Sunday was the ABP Newport Marathon in South Wales. Due to increasing hip muscle fatigue, Chris Aylmer (6:21:39, 2,835th of 2,846 overall, 10th of 10 in M70-74) found this road marathon the toughest of any he has done, despite the beautiful course in the Gwent Levels being almost pancake flat and the temperature ideal at around 10 to 12°C. He was very glad to be able to complete the race.
Camuplodunum Trail Ultra, Colchester, Sunday: This race’s name was a play on the Roman word for Colchester (Camulodunum). It was organised by Hare & Tortoise Running and was a self-navigational trail route around Colchester (about 45km), with generously-stocked checkpoints along the way. Reuben Smith (6:23:07, 37th of 55 overall) enjoyed his run and, no doubt, the scenery. He was not afraid to walk up some of the hills, with the total elevation over 1,400ft.
Above left: Chris Aylmer crossing Newport City Bridge; above right: Reuben Smith’s Camuplodunum medal.
Rome Marathon, March 16th 2025: Missed result! Thanks to Caroline Mcintosh for letting me know. Apologies to NJ Miranda McWade F60-64, who did very well to complete the Rome Marathon in 5:49:51, together with her LRG (Let’s Run Girls) friend Nicole Senz, who clocked the same time. Congratulations on a very good result. The positions are not easy to work out from the results, but it looks like Miranda was 21,035th of 21,926 runners overall. The female positions and category positions are not readily searchable. From current results on runbritainrankings.com and thepowerof10.info, it appears to be Miranda’s first ever official marathon but the Rome result has not yet gone onto her Run Britain profile. Run Britain will need to be made aware of that race and given a link to the results in order to add it. Of course, charity races such as Landmarks, Race For Life etc., and also Zig Zag Running and other similar events don’t count on Power of 10; nor do any events licensed by ARC (Association of Running Clubs), so Miranda may well have run marathons before.