Above: Newmarket & Sudbury XC team out in force at Sutton Heath, Woodbridge.
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The second fixture of the Suffolk Winter XC League took place in brilliant sunshine on Sunday, 30th November, over an estimated 8.2km (5.1mi) course at Sutton Heath, near Woodbridge. Newmarket Joggers (NJ) and Sudbury Joggers (SJ) join forces in this league, as team N&S. There were 499 adult runners in all, from running clubs all over East Anglia. The scoring will be based on gender positions, rather than overall positions, but overall positions are all we have until the official results are released. Here are the preliminary positional results of the N&S team, with no times or gender positions released as yet:
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Women’s A team: Isabelle Talbot-Price NJ 34th overall; Sarah Osborne NJ 67th; Carol Cienna Carter NJ 141st; Olivia Carter NJ 171st. B team: Helen Hilario NJ 215th; Elke Hausler NJ 301st; Ruth Cowlin SJ 360th; Angela Drury NJ 393rd. C team: Helen Wass NJ 413th; Pearl Fay NJ 498th.
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Men’s A team: Mark Hayward NJ 11th; Oliver Daykin NJ 12th; Joey Bendall NJ 15th; Chris Balmer NJ 23rd; James Smith NJ 27th; Paul Holley NJ 45th; Jack Imrie NJ 60th. B team: Barley Woodcock NJ 81st; Shane McAndrew NJ 139th; Richard Defries NJ 142nd; Charles Jones NJ 162nd; Stephen Edwards NJ 216th; Michael McGarvey NJ 235th; Neville Clarke NJ 260th. C team: Sergio Pelado NJ 320th; James Hilton NJ 323rd; Reuben Smith NJ 332nd; Rob Hawkins NJ 350th; Tom Elton NJ 361st; Ian Butcher NJ 408th; Brian Munns NJ 425th. Men’s team reserves: Alan Thornhill NJ 429th; Jim Withers NJ 485th; Chris Aylmer NJ 492nd.
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Above left: Angela Drury going straight through the water feature and loving it; right: Barley Woodcock forcing the pace but
keeping his feet dry.
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It was great to have three Junior NJs competing in the Junior XC 3.5km race, which took place before the adult race. Harvey Thomas NJ U15 finished 14th of approximately 80 juniors overall, with Noah Poujardieu NJ U13 45th and Rio McAndrew NJ U13 66th.
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Going by these preliminary results, our positional scoring in the women’s and men’s A teams is likely to be significantly lower than it was at Framlingham, meaning that we could lose our slender league lead for the combined women’s and men’s A team and for the men’s A team. However, there was a great team atmosphere and there is no doubt that all our team members did their very best and enjoyed the challenge; there is every reason to look forward to the next fixture at Haughley Park, Stowmarket on January 11th.
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Bass Belle 10M, Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire, Sunday: Five Newmarket Joggers took part in this popular, annual event over a mixed road and trail course. The event helped to raise funds for the brain tumour charity Brainstrust. The Bass Belle race derives its name from the famous B17 “Memphis Belle” WWII bomber, which flew missions from RAF Bassingbourn and was immortalised in a wartime film, with another remake in 1990. The race medal was a collectors’ piece, with a fine depiction of this aircraft (see photo).
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Above left: Jo Bouttell, Ellie Bithell, Jan Holmes, Francine Dasseville & Andy Fryatt after Bass Belle; right: the attractive
medal with a moulding of the ‘Memphis Belle’.
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First home for the Joggers was Andy Fryatt (1:12:07, 44th of 360 overall, 12th of 59 in M50-59), doing very well in his age group. First female Jogger was Ellie Bithell (1:17:45 PB, 11th F of 171, 4th of 66 in F45-54), enjoying a great run and recording her best known time over the distance, having previously completed this race in 2018 (1:21:13), 2022 (1:22:26) and 2024 (1:20:35). Bass Belle results do not show up on Power of 10. Then came Jo Bouttell (1:39:43, 107th F, 20th of 42 in F55-64), Francine Dasseville (1:39:48, 108th F, 49th of 66 in F45-54) and Jan Holmes (1:50:23, 145th F, 34th in F55-64). The last three Joggers all got their season’s best times in the Felixstowe Coastal 10M earlier this year.
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RACE WALK NEWS
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On Saturday 29th November, the Southern Area Race Walk Championships took place at Tonbridge School in Kent. Three Junior Newmarket Joggers entered the Championships: NJ Lily-Ann Cooper (aged 14) took on the U17W 3000m event and did well to record a PB time of 20m:47.8s. Sophie Blundell (aged 13) also achieved a PB time of 12m:03.1s in the U15G 2000m race, finishing 2nd of 4 walkers, while Rio McAndrew (aged 13) finished 3rd of 6 in the U15B 2000m race, in a PB time of 11m:09.8s. So a very successful race walk outing for the Juniors, with support from Phil Blundell. Medals were presented by Tom Bosworth MBE, a top British race walker and double Olympian. He holds the world best time for a one mile walk at 5:31.08 and has completed 5km in 18:20, 10km in 39:10 and 20km in 1:19:28.
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Above top left: Rio McAndrew leading his group; top right: Rio & Sophie Blundell in 2000m race; bottom left:
Sophie Blundell; bottom right: Sophie receives medal from Tom Bosworth MBE, top British race walker Thanks to
Phil Blundell for the great photos.
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TRAINING CAMP IN PAPHOS, CYPRUS:
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Caroline McIntosh spent four days in Paphos, Cyprus at a special training camp for runners, from Thursday to Sunday, November 27th to 30th. It’s sort of an annual pilgrimage for Caroline, similar to her spring expeditions to a training camp in Portugal. The camp kicked off on Thursday with a 6km time-trial over a relatively flat course. She did very well to clock 40:10 in this race, earning her highest age grade this year of 67.01% (gold standard) in her 70 to 74 age bracket. Next day there was a very difficult, continuous 11km hill climb, totalling 2,093 ft of elevation, which she completed in 1:51:43 and found very tough. On the third day, there was an equally tough, hilly, half marathon with 1,913 ft of climb, which she finished in 3:14:18. On the final day there was a fairly flat 10km race, which Caroline had chosen as her NJ Grand Prix wild card (despite missing the Woodbridge XC fixture by doing it!). She clocked a time of 1:14:37, worth a very decent 63.17% age grade. Caroline was no doubt pretty shattered by the end of her stay in Cyprus.
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Above: Caroline McIntosh, bottom left at the 10km race, with scenes of the Paphos area; top left, the start of one of the races by the shipwreck. Thanks to Caroline for the photos.
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Many thanks for all the photos, including those on Strava, which are much appreciated.