Race Report 23 - 24 September: Tring XNRG, Vitality and Ealing 10ks, Windsor Half, SHARDELOES and more....

Well, Happy Shardeloes Day everyone… and it’s been a really busy weekend! ​

First of all, congratulations to all those who took part in the Southern Road Relays in Aldershot yesterday. No doubt a report will follow this one.

We’ll kick things off chronologically with results from yesterday’s parkrun events: Aran Davidson was victorious at Rickmansworth in a time of 17.14, meanwhile Shaun Fry celebrated his 100th parkrun at Wycombe Rye in a very credible 19.14. In deepest, darkest London Tamsin Finch, Harriet Lemon and Miriam Kempson took on the Westminster Mile, completing it in 7.17, 7.19 and 7.40, respectively.

Over in Windsor Lindsay Turner was in action in the Running4Women Windsor 10k, clocking a time of 50.20. In Tring Kate Paxton and James Grant joined forces to complete the half ultra (a mere 27km) in 3.15.44 and 3.15.46, respectively. Meanwhile in the ‘full fat’ XNRG event Giles Greenhalgh came home in 5.29.06; Harriers friend Archie Bellamy - 5.45.07; and Ben Martin - 6.01.19.

Moving on to today, several Chiltern Harriers AC runners were in action at the Windsor Half: Pablo Fuentes led the pack home in 1.31.37, joined briskly by Neil Walker (1.32.55), and Stuart Clarke (1.39.52). In nearby Ealing, Allan Cairns completed the Half Marathon in 1.47.01. In London Dave Howells and David Saul completed the Vitality London 10,000, with strava times of 51.27 and 52.57, respectively. Fiona Kelleher was 3rd female at the Moor Park 10k in an excellent 42.14, while Hector Gamblen clocked 10.38 in the U12 fun run. Looking to more exotic climes, Philip Lovelace completed the Berlin Marathon in a brilliant time of 3.23.46.

… and if that wasn’t enough, here are the results and photos from the Club’s very own Shardeloes 10k! Chiltern Harriers AC were dominant, taking the lion’s (or should that be Red Kite’s?) share of the prizes. Alex Hughes led the pack home in a brilliant 37.26, joined swiftly by Dad Nick for second place (37.52). Third male was former Harrier Charlie Wood (38.55). Maddie Hughes was first female (41.56… are you seeing some kind of pattern now?!), with Hannah Burkhardt of St Albans Striders in second (44.07) and Frankie Baxter of CHAC in third (45.08). Chiltern took both the male and female team prizes, and age categories as follows:

M20 - Mathis Ashcroft (unattached, 46.26)
M40 - Tom Dixon (CHAC, 39.41)
M50 - Jon Gundry (unattached, 45.21)
M60 - Mike ‘Tiny’ Turney (CHAC, 43.18)
F20 - Holly Martin (unattached, 57.09)
F40- Fay Cripps (unattached, 48.20)
F50 - Abi Askey (CHAC; 52.14)
F60 - Avril Riddell (Serpentine AC, 59.39)
Well done to everyone, to the volunteers and - especially - to Race Director Katie Royals!

And finally, if that really wasn’t enough, thank you to James Repper for this awesome bit of guest correspondence from last weekend:

“Hever Castle was the venue for a unique and amazing achievement by one of our Harriers.

As part of the Castle Series the annual event holds a fuil range if mutilsport events over an action packed weekend which this year included the British Triathlon Sprint Aquathlon Championships.

Two Chiltern Harriers were taking part in the Championships which was a mass start across all age-group categories, one 750m swim lap in the fantastic Hever lake, followed by a tough multi-terrain 5k run around the grounds of Hever Castle.

First over the line for Chiltern was James Repper, making up for a poor swim to run through the field, passing 2 rivals in the last 1km, moving himself from 3rd position to take the British title in the 50-54 age group.
James was quickly followed by Patrick Ahern, also taking the gold in the 65-69 category and completing his targeted quadruple.
The British Title was the final piece of a fantastic 2023 multisport season for Patrick which also saw him take three other championship golds:
2023 Europe Triathlon Aquathlon Championships - Menen
2023 World Triathlon Aquathlon Championships - Ibiza
2023 Triathlon England’s National Aquathlon Championship - North Shields

An astonishing result by Patrick!”

COMING UP LOCALLY: Last Friday of the Month 5k and the first Chiltern Cross Country League match of the season. Check out these events and more in the Club Calendar.
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PS. Yours Truly is on holiday next week, so there will be no Race Report. If there is anything which you would like me to include in a future report, please email [email protected] .