Four Joggers travelled to Seville in southwest Spain to compete in the annual Seville Half Marathon, which attracted over 16,000 participants. Ace veteran Carol Cienna Carter (1:32:38 SB, 2,740th of 16,732 overall, 158th F of 5,184, 9th of 410 in F50-54, 84.06% age grade) was in brilliant form and joint first Jogger to finish, along with her husband Richard Defries (1:32:38 SB, 2,582nd M of 11,548, 157th of 1,187 in M50-54). Then came Andy Fryatt (1:35:10 SB, 3,305th, 76th of 663 in M55-59) with a very good effort, followed by his wife Francine Dasseville (2:11:22 SB, 3,785th F, 262nd in F50-54), who felt strong and enjoyed her race.
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Above top left: Andy Fryatt, Francine Dasseville, Cienna Carter and Richard Defries with medals; plus other photo scenes.
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Two female Joggers travelled a little further to Morocco, to take part in the Marrakech Half Marathon. Pearl Fay F65-69 (2:59:37 SB, 1,741st F of 2,028) and Caroline McIntosh F70-74 (2:59:36 SB, 1,742nd F) ran together all the way. Early in the race, Caroline had a nasty fall and sustained an injury to her nose and forehead. Thankfully, she was able to carry on and complete the race, no doubt supported all the way by Pearl.
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Above: Caroline Mcintosh back right and Pearl Fay front right, with Marrakesh medals. Some of the other runners were in the
Marathon event.
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CROSS COUNTRY NEWS
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Preliminary results are now out for the fourth fixture of the Suffolk Winter XC League, which took place on Sunday, January 25th at Woburn Farm in the village of Corton, near Lowestoft. It was organised by Bungay Black Dog Running Club over a challenging 7.8km (4.8 mi) 2-lap course, mainly over muddy, grass farm tracks, but also including a hard-path hilly section and a series of dirt humps, resembling a BMX bike course.
Due to various other commitments, including other race entries and holidays, our joint Newmarket (NJ) & Sudbury (SJ) team was rather depleted for this fixture, with 5 women and 10 men competing among a total field of about 325 runners. It was enough for a complete, combined A team of 4 women and 7 men, plus incomplete B teams. It was a good opportunity for usual B and C team runners to step up to the responsibility of representing the A team and to gain experience and extra enjoyment. The overall positions were as follows:
Women’s A team: Helen Hilario NJ 122nd of ~325 overall; Angela Drury NJ 243rd; Ruth Cowlin SJ 245th; Helen Wass NJ 255th. Men’s A team: Jimmy Smith NJ 11th; Paul Holley NJ 29th; Charles Jones NJ 76th; Andrew Sandeman NJ 84th; Stephen Edwards NJ 111th; Tom Elton NJ 172nd; Neville Clarke NJ 197th. Women’s B team: Sianie Painter NJ 299th. Men’s B team: Rob Hawkins NJ 209th; Jim Withers NJ 310th; Chris Aylmer NJ 317th.
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Above: N&S XC team, minus three members, at Woburn Farm, Corton, after the race. From back left: Jim Withers,
Charles Jones, Neville Clarke, Paul Holley. Brian Munns, Andrew Sandeman, Helen Wass, Chris Aylmer; front row: Jimmy Smith,
Tom Elton, Helen Hilario, Rob Hawkins, Angela Drury (team captain). Not in photo: Sianie Painter, Ruth Cowlin and Stephen
Edwards. Thanks for team photo.
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Above left: The start of the Bungay XC race with Brian Munns on right in foreground (Brian didn’t complete the course);
right: The hill on Woburn Farm that was part of the XC route and likely designed as part of a BMX bike course.
Coming into this fixture, Newmarket & Sudbury (N&S) stood in 2nd place of 22 clubs in the women’s, men’s and combined women’s and men’s A-team competitions. We must be realistic and expect to lose a position or two when the official results are announced in a few days’ time. However, we have the final two fixtures at Pakenham (organised by Saint Edmund Pacers) and at Horseheath (organised by Haverhill RC) to look forward to in February, both being local events and easy to get to. A good turnout at these fixtures could help N&S stay in the top three of the League…with fingers crossed.
Good news that Junior Jogger Harvey Thomas U17 was invited to take part in the second Suffolk Schools XC Trial at Woodbridge on January 15th and did well to finish in 18th position of 50 runners in the Inter Boys category. His time was 20:42 over the 5km course. He has been picked as first reserve for the Anglian Regional Championships at Abington in Northamptonshire on 31st January. Solomon Brokenshire-Dyke U13 was also competing in the Junior Boys’ race over 3.5km and achieved a very decent time of 15:23, though not enough to qualify for the Anglian Regional Championships.
TRACK NEWS
Junior Joggers Anders Bester U17 (new member) and Harvey Thomas U17 both did very well at the London Indoor Games, held at the Lee Valley Track on Saturday, January 24th. Anders and Harvey were in the same 200m heat, with Anders winning the heat in a time of 26.10s (79.50%), while Harvey set a new PB of 26.77s (77.51%). We will be following their progress over the season.
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Above: Harvey Thomas flying in the 200m event at
Lee Valley. Thanks to Cheryl Thomas for photo.
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Many thanks for all the photos, which are much appreciated..