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Last week it was Ciara, this week it was Dennis getting in the way of racing. Alex Paul was so frustrated by it all that he headed off to Barcelona in order to get a race in (disclosure: I suspect Alex hd already booked this race before he watched the weather forecast). Alex completed the Barcelona Half Marathon today, Sunday 16 February, in a muy impresionante time of 1.23.12.
Chiltern Harriers rounded off the Chiltern Cross Country League season on a high with a match win at Campbell Park, Milton Keynes on Saturday. On tough, but surprisingly firm, hilly courses, Chiltern runners across the age groups ran very well to secure a rare match win. Several junior age groups ended up team winners and the club ended the season in a strong third place.
Between Chiltern League (look out for Steve Perkin's report) and Storm Ciara causing events to be cancelled, there's not too much for Race Report to report on this week, I'm afraid.
That said, a few highlights from parkrun events yesterday, Saturday 8 February: Chiltern's Kate Loach and Ali Young both came away as first female finisher at Cassiobury Park (21.13) and Sizewell (21.38), respectively. Melanie Windridge ran her first ever parkrun in Tring (25.32), whilst there were all-time PBs for Claire and Nigel Dickinson in Scunthorpe (24.30 and 25.57, respectively). COMING UP LOCALLY: Bramley 20/10, Harrow Hill 10k, Hardwick X-Stream, Gade Valley Marathon Training Run (17 miles), Winslow Lions 10k and Baldock Beast Half Marathon. Check the Club Calendar out for details of these events and more. Over 70 Chiltern Harriers were running for their schools at the Buckinghamshire Schools Cross Country Championships at Stowe School on Wednesday Feb 5th.
There were some individual wins and several athletes finished high enough up the finishing order to receive invitation letters for the Primary Year 5,6, and Year 7 English Schools Championships at Prestwold Hall on March 21st, or the English Schools Cross Country Championships at Sefton Park Liverpool on March 14th for those in Years 8 to 13.         Richard, Sam and Harry celebrating after the races The annual cross country championships for students took place at Holyrood Park, Edinburgh on Saturday.
Four Chiltern Harriers took part representing their universities in this large, atmospheric and fun event. The BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) Championships features an elite long A race for men restricted to six in a team, and a shorter B race with more athletes per university allowed, for those that did not get into the A team. For the first time the women had the same two-race pattern. Richard Slade was running for the University of Bath A team, and, with a target of top 50, had a great run to be 47th – compared to previous finishes of 144th at Exeter last year and 118th at Brunel in 2018. Richard was the second Bath finisher. In the men’s shorter B race Harry Cox, running for Cambridge University, had a very good run to be 121st. Harry was 11th Cambridge finisher in a very large and strong team that won team bronze. Back from a stint at Monash University in Melbourne, Sam Howell ran in the B race for Warwick University. Sam was 278th, a creditable run in a huge field of 635 finishers. Not to be outdone by the lads, Lizzie Barraclough had an excellent run to be 112th and seventh Leeds University finisher in the women’s B race which featured 495 finishers. Good evening, Race Report fans. I hope you have all had as wonderful a weekend as I have.
We'll kick things off with parkrun events. Yesterday, Saturday 1 February, there were first placed finishes for Alicia Bushell at Black Park (19.46 - an overall PB) and for Yours Truly at Wendover Woods (20.44 - a course PB). There was a number of course PBs: Cath Holloway (24.29 at Wendover Woods); Ed Wright (26.41 at Crissy Fields in San Francisco); Ian Lawson (20.00 at Osterley); and Miriam Kempson, Harriet Lemon and Henrik Hartman (25.28, 27.00 and 29.52, respectively, at Black Park). Kara Gorman earned herself an all-time PB of 24.02 at Rickmansworth, whilst Tim Dawson celebrated his 300th parkrun at Black Park (where else?!) Two of Chiltern Harriers U20 athletes took part in the prestigious late January middle distance evening at Lee Valley indoor track, which features open 3000m races, the Ayo Falola Dream Mile and a series of British Milers Club 800m races. Both Cameron Reid and Angus Williams were taking part in the BMC 800m and both set very good early season times. All the BMC races have pacemakers which usually facilitates good times. Cameron was able to stay with the pack in the ‘B’ race and record an excellent season debut of 1.55.04 which is an indoor personal best. Angus Williams was running in the ‘E’ race and at halfway had already established a good lead. Despite not having a rival to push him, Angus kept a high tempo and was rewarded with an indoor, and overall, PB of 1.57.98, a full second and a half ahead of his previous best. Cameron moves on to the Southern Championships, also at Lee Valley, on Sunday. Cameron’s race: Angus’s race: Chiltern Harriers had a fantastic day at the South of England Cross Country Championships at Parliament Hill, Hampstead Heath on Saturday.
There were individual wins in the U13 boys and girls races for Alden Collier and Frankie Baxter, and team wins for both U13 boys and U13 girls teams. To add to the success the U15 girls won team silver and there were numerous other great runs across the age groups. Before we talk about this week's parkrun results (the only results which Race Report has for you this week), can we please offer a huge congratulations to all our athletes who took part in yesterday's South of England Athletics Association cross country champs at the infamous Parliament Hill Fields. There were some brilliant results for Chiltern athletes. Look out for a full report from Steve Perkin.
Three Chiltern Harriers girls took part in the South of England U13/U15/U17 Indoor Championships at Lee Valley on the 11th/12th January.
All were taking part in the U15 age group. Chisom Nwafor took on two events on the Saturday, 60m hurdles and 60m. With the hurdles first, Chisom progressed through the rounds well, running 9.81. In the semi Chisom improved markedly to record a PB of 9.61 to qualify for the final where she ran 9.70 to be seventh. ON to 60m flat and Chisom won her heat well in a PB of 8.11. Chisom bowed out in the semi with 8.22. Chisom now has national qualifying standards in four events with shot and long jump being the others. Taking part in this level of competition for the first time was first year Mila Luker who ran well in her 60m heat to score a PB of 8.67. On the Sunday in 300m Jemma Thomson looked good in the heats to be second in an indoor PB of 43.76 to qualify for the final. Here Jemma shaved a further hundredth off to be fourth in 43.75. |
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