Race Report 5 - 13 June: Extreme adventures and awesome half marathons

This evening Race Report is celebrating the return of parkrun in England. On Friday 11 June parkrun made the announcement that there are now sufficient permissions in place from landowners across the country for events to return on 26 June. And whilst this Race Reporter is very excited for the events’ return, she is wondering whether she will be able to get up in time on a Saturday morning…

Last weekend was an impressive weekend for Chiltern Harriers AC’s triathletes. On 5 June, Patrick Barrett completed the TriathlonX “FullX” event. Described as “the world’s toughest ‘Iron Man’, as voted for by 220 Mag, the event takes in 140 miles with almost 17,000 ft of climbing in the beautiful Lake District. It makes me feel a little dizzy just thinking about it. Patrick finished in a total time of 19.43.09, completing 2.4 miles of swimming in Lake Windermere, 112 miles and 12,000 ft of cycle route and a marathon taking in Scafell Pike (almost 5,000 ft). All I can say is ‘tough as nails’.

On Sunday 6 June, Nick Hughes took part in the British Championships for Standard Triathlon in Leeds, clocking a time of 2.16.54 for the 1.5k swim, 36.2k bike and 10k run. Well done!
If last weekend was the weekend of Triathlon, this weekend was (almost) all about half marathons. On Saturday 12 June Matt Lawrence and Roger Ellerby took on the distance at Dorney Lake, finishing in very respectable times of 1.51.20 and 2.10.57, respectively. Today, Sunday 13 June, Tom Powell was in half marathon action during the Cheltenham Running Festival, achieving a great time of 1.35.33.

Today was also the day of the (always) hilly and (often) hot St Albans Half. This Race Reporter almost can’t believe she is writing this: our very own Aran Davidson was the overall winner of the event, coming home first out of more than 1,500 runners in a brilliant time of 1.12.28. Mike ‘Tiny’ Turney also made an impressive return to racing, coming home 2nd in age category in a time of 1.26.37. There were also brilliant runs from: Simon Conway (1.47.34); Claire Dickinson (2.05.25); Rik Edwards (1.56.54); Fiona Kelleher (1.48.32); Richard Lloyd (2.11.52); Adam Shute (1.22.54); Gemma Stockwell (2.03.56); Tom Wright (1.39.17) and Ed Wright (1.42.23). What brilliant times and a brilliant turnout by Team Green.

And finally, Chiltern’s very own ultra man extraordinaire, Dave Bellamy tackled the gruelling South Downs Way 100 (miler). Starting on Saturday 12 June, Dave completed the Centurion event from Winchester to Eastbourne in 26.07.05. Huge congratulations, Dave!