Last Friday of the Month 5k
Graham Collett flew round the monthly 5k on 31 July, clocking an impressive 19:08.
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Bearbrook 10k
A great turnout at the Bearbrook 10k on 2 August saw some excellent performances across the field. Leading the way was Daire Stack, who produced a fantastic run to finish 4th overall in 34:15. Not far behind, Dom Baker broke 40 minutes with 39:57, while Tom Wright and Tim Margetts crossed the line just five seconds apart in 43:50 and 43:55 respectively. Mim Kempson completed the club contingent, finishing in 52:31.

Burnham Beeches Half Marathon & 10k

The picturesque but challenging Burnham Beeches event attracted a large club turnout today, 9 August.

In the half marathon, Mark Nicholas led the way with a strong 1:29:36, followed by Graham Collett in 1:33:08. There were excellent runs throughout the field, with Ben Hannen (1:42:58), Abi Askey (1:45:50) and Silvia Moss (1:49:38) all dipping under 1:50. Caroline Stephens and Giles Greenhalgh, finished just three seconds apart in 2:00:05 and 2:00:08, proving that every second counts.
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The 10k also featured some strong performances. Kingsley Nanton was first home for the club in 43:07 (a strong performance that surely reflects his first ever training session with the Club this week!), closely followed by Ian Lawson(44:11) and Andy Hickman (45:31). Heidi Folkard, Rebecca Lawson, Paul Horwood and Jessica Moss all finished comfortably inside the hour.

Richmond Park Half Marathon

Completing the weekend's action, Nathan Taylor took on the Richmond Park Half Marathon, recording a 2:21:45 (Strava time) while accompanying his daughter on her half marathon debut. Congratulations to Team Taylor!
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COMING UP LOCALLY: the free Trust 10k at Stowe (which a few Get Going Runners have tried and recommend!), Last Friday of the Month 5k, the Bovingdon 10k (check out the Club WhatsApp chat for special CHAC discount), SEAA U10/ U12 Quadrathlon & U14 Open Races and the Second Sunday 5. Check out these events and more on the Club Calendar.

REMEMBER to send any results, photos or events for the Club Calendar to ellie.bates@chilternharriers.com . I’m getting increasingly lazy in my old age, so if it ain’t obvious, it probably won’t be in there… 

The third in the four-match series of the Southern Athletics League took place on Sunday at Little Marlow where the Wycombe and Chiltern team were hosting. It was a sunny day with pleasant temperatures and a blustery wind that came and went. Chiltern Harriers provided several athletes contributing to the team score which at the end totalled 263.5 points, enough for a strong second place this time in the match of six teams.
 
Sarah Cross did her usual strong job of scoring well across a range of events - second in A string pole vault, third in A string javelin, and fifth in A string triple jump. Issy Robinson also had a good day, winning 2000m steeplechase in her debut at the event in 7.52.59 and placing her 12th in the national rankings. Issy also ran well for third in A string 400m hurdles. Katie Repper had a good run to win B string 3000m in 10.45.50 and Jess Orr was second in B string 1500m.
 
On the men’s side Ash Finch was second in A string 5000m whilst Aran Davidson was second in B string. James Henderson, Jack Turner, and Neil Turner all ran well as non-scorers. Ash also made his debut in 3000m steeplechase running a creditable 11.11.42 to be fourth in A string. Isaac Jessop-Tranter, Edward Johnson and James Malin all started the 1500m but were interrupted a by a freak weather incident. After the race had been going 600m spectators noticed a plastic bag and some other rubbish being blown strongly across the infield. Unfortunately, this mini-tornado also managed to pick up the two tin covers of the pole vault and toss them across the track. The race had to be stopped for the sake of safety, and after lengthy discussion the race was not rerun.
 
The final match is at Bromley on August 8th where the team will hope to remain top ten in the division of eighteen.

Going back in time to the weekend of 11 – 12 July. Neil Turner raced at European Sprint Duathlon Championship in Banyoles in northern Spain. For the uninitiated, that means: 5km run > 20km ride > 2.5km run. Temperatures were obviously toasty. While starting strongly, the heat made for a tough second run, but Neil still finished a very respectable 10th in the age group. 

That same weekend Yours Truly took on the Maverick Trail Chiltern 50k. Having started like a numpty, I was pleased to finish in 5.35.50, and with nothing more serious than a terminally bruised big toe(nail). Amputation is now on the cards.
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Last weekend a number of Harriers decided it would be a good idea to take on light itself in a race (surely folly, I hear you cry). Fortunately, it was the Race the Light 5k and 10k in Wendover Woods on 18 July, rather than a trip from the sun itself. In the 5k wife-and-husband duo Lauren and Vincent Mayot were, respectively, first and second place in 26.26 and 27.55. (Vincent also took first male.) Meanwhile, in the 10k Ben Hannen clocked 48.02 and Tim ‘Everyday’s-a-race-day’ Margetts finished in 51.39.

And now, the biggie! Two Harriers took on the formidable Lakeland 100 (mile) race by Montane, 24 – 26 July. And both finished, which was by no means true of everyone. James Hudson in a terrifying time of 26.48.08 and Hywel Thomas in 32.37.03. To give you a flavour of the event, which starts and finishes in Coniston, the circular route encompasses the whole of the lakeland fells and includes in the region of 6300m of ascent. 

Coach Mike Shrive said: 

“These performances are almost in the sphere of being unbelievable. Hywel is club treasurer. Like a good wine has matured into a formidable ultra distance performer. James has a range of running ability I have never witnessed before. He has endurance for 100 miles and, in a recent interval track session, finished with a 63 secs 400m!!”

COMING UP LOCALLY: Last Friday of the Month 5k, Bearbrook 10k, YDL Lower Age Group, Southern Athletics League, Burnham Beeches Half & 10k, Second Sunday 5 nd more. Check out the Club Calendar for these events and more.

Done a race? Know someone who’s done a race? Send your results and any photos to ellie.bates@chilternharriers.com . Similarly, let me know if any events are missing from the Club Calendar and I will add those in.

The highlights were superb runs from Emile Morti and Tom Ford. Emile, representing Buckinghamshire Schools, had a tough qualifying process with only the winner of the four heats of the U18 Boy’s 110m hurdles on the Friday guaranteed to progress to the final plus four fastest non-automatic qualifiers. Emile won his heat in 14.09, the fastest time going into the final. On the Saturday temperatures were slightly down on the extremely tough highs of Friday, and Emile was running at 12.32pm. He had his best ever run to win the Championship title in a big PB of 13.66, complete with a -0.9 wind reading. Emile will therefore represent England in the home international SIAB meeting in Belfast next weekend.
 
Tom, competing for Hertfordshire Schools, was involved in the heats of the Intermediate Boys 3000m at 2.15pm on the Friday in painfully hot conditions. Tom calmly qualified with 9.08.75. The final was at 3.30pm on the Saturday and Tom ran a tactically astute race to claim the silver medal in 8.46.25 and also an England vest at the SIAB match. Tom has run twice for England in cross country but this will be his first experience of representing the country on the track.
 
All the other Chiltern athletes involved were taking part for Bucks Schools. Issy Robinson was competing in her third English Schools and this was her third different event. Previously Issy had qualified in 800m and 1500m steeplechase, but this year Issy was involved in U18 Girls 400m hurdles. Issy had done well to qualify, having only taken up the event in the latter part of this season, and ran well to record 70.58 in her heat; not enough to progress to the final. Maya Davis was in her second championships and had her best ever race in the heat of the Intermediate Girls 1500m to record a PB of 4.44.33. Maya was seventh in her heat, just a place away from qualifying for the final. 
 
Harrison Lawrence was making his debut and ran very well in his heat of the Junor Boys 800m, running just outside his PB in 2.06.35. Not enough for the final, but great experience gained. Juliette MacDougall was also in her first English Schools, running in Junior Girls 1500m. Juliette ran calmly to be 11th in 4.57.42, a little off her PB set at the Southern Champs last weekend.
 
 
All the six Chiltern athletes gave a very good account of themselves at this high level championships, which is an enjoyable but pressured environment. Good luck to Emile and Tom in Belfast next weekend!

Evelyn Wildman competed on the Saturday in 2000m Steeplechase. Conditions were good with temperatures lower than the mid-week heatwave, and there was also a pleasant cooling breeze. The track at Cardiff features a water jump outside lane 8 which Evelyn hadn’t encountered before but she coped fine with the new configuration. Evelyn had another very good race to win in a time of 6.41.92, beating the qualifying standard of 6.45 for the second time.
 
Emile Morti was in action on the Sunday, again with pleasant, but blustery, conditions. Emile was taking part in the 110m Hurdles and won his heat in a new PB of 13.93 with a legal wind reading. Emile pushed on to a faster time to win the final in 13.71, just a hundredth outside the qualifying standard, but with a +5.1 wind reading it was not eligible for consideration.
 
So, two great wins at this prestigious meeting for the Chiltern duo. The GB team for the European U18 Championships which take place in Rieti, Italy July 16-19 will be announced later this week with Evelyn hopeful of being on the list.

This week’s Race Report – embarrassingly – is actually a wrapping up of the last few weeks. I don’t think it’s possible to pre-emptively blame this on the lateness / earliness of the England v Mexico game, but I’m happy to try!

Man v Horse
The legendary Man v Horse race took place on 13 June in Llanwrtyd Wells. The unique 22-mile event pitches human runners against horses and riders over challenging terrain. This year the horses came out on top (boo hiss…..)
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Representing Chiltern Harriers: Glen Martin, Seb Lawrence, Matt Lawrence and Matt Channer combined to complete the relay in 4:01:23. Ed Wright tackled the course solo in 4:37:08. Mike Sheppard also ran solo, finishing in an impressive 3:34:56. Next year, to add to the jeopardy, organisers are rumoured to be considering holding the event at 7000 ft above sea level at 1am...

Thame 10k
The biggest local event of last weekend was the CPM Thame 10k, with over 1,000 runners entered. There was an unexpected twist before the start when the race bibs apparently got stuck in a London depot, forcing organisers to go old-school with manual timing. Stressful for the organisers, no doubt ((Mike Shrive, Doug Smith and crew would leave them for dust), but the race went ahead successfully nonetheless.

Club results were: Dom Baker – 39:23; Graham Collett – 40:06; Allan Cairns – 41:59; Matt Channer – 54:58.

Lundy Island Half Marathon
Further afield, Ben Hannen put in a strong performance at the Lundy Island Half Marathon, finishing in 2:02:08 and claiming 2nd place in his age category. Lauren Mayot completed the race in 2:49:02, accompanied by husband Vincent, who crossed the line in exactly the same time. (For the record, I could never run with Neil for a whole half marathon. There would be a major falling out.)

Marlow Trail 10k
One member was at the Marlow Trail 10k, reporting conditions that were “less boiling” than the Bank Holiday Rebellion Brewery Run, although it was still a warm morning. The hill at 4km remained as brutal as ever, but at least the view from the water station helped soften the blow. (If you are ‘Me’ on WhatsApp, please do feel free to email ellie.bates@chilternharriers.com with your results in future, so I can give you the shout-out you deserve!)

Great Britain Call-Up
Finally, huge congratulations to Evelyn Wildman, who has been selected to represent Great Britain at the U18 European Championships in Rieti, Italy. Evelyn will compete in the 2000m steeplechase as part of a 43-athlete team travelling out on 14 July and returning on 20 July. A fantastic achievement and one the whole club can take vicarious pride in (but especially Steve Perkin.)

COMING UP LOCALLY: Second Sunday 5, YDL Upper and Lower Age Groups, FVS Annual Midweek Road Relays, Southern Athletics League, Last Fridy of the Month 5k and the Bearbrook 10k. Check out these events and more on the Club Calendar.

DONE AN EVENT: let me know, so I can include your result and any pictures in an upcoming edition of Race Report. I especially love editorial detail. Do also let me know if any local events are missing from the Calendar. Email ellie.bates@chilternharriers.com

1500m Section 1
Race 1
Jess Orr                         SW               5.12.04               SB
Sunaya Nanda             U14              5.12.91               PB
 
Race 4
Maya Davis                  U16               4.49.45
 
1500m Section 2
Race 2
Harrison Lawrence    U16               4.20.74               PB
Jack Turner                  U20               4.32.71
 
Race 5
Tom Ford                     U18               4.10.06
 
3000m
Aran Davidson            SM                 9.19.30