Seeing September out in style: XNRG ultra, Great Bristol Half Marathon, Leighton 10 and more

Well, Race Report fans, I was going to call this post ‘Wake me up when September ends’, but with all the excitement that Harriers have been making this weekend, I’d be hard pushed to drop off! There has been some truly spectacular results over a variety of distances and terrains.

We’ll kick things off with yesterday’s parkrun results. At Church Mead (Amersham) Abi Askey came home as first woman in 25.00, whilst Claire and Nigel Dickinson were rewarded with course PBs (30.38 and 32.48, respectively). Rick Moss equalled his course PB for Cassiobury Park (19.07), whilst Sebastian Lawrence came away with an all-time PB from Wycombe Rye (22.26).

Multiply parkrun by 10 and stick in a whole lot of Chiltern hills and you’ve got the XNRG Humanity Direct Tring Ultra 50k. Superwoman Annelize Colquhoun did amazingly well, completing the event in under 5 hours and in a huge PB time of 4.53.12, which was good enough to earn her 2nd place (and less than a minute behind the 1st placed woman). Massive congratulations, Annelize! Paul McCarthy gritted out a tough day at the office to finish the event in 5.10.32, and well done to Ed Wright for doing his first ever ultra, in a very respectable 5.32.15.

Moving on to today, Miriam Kempson and Tamsin Finch were both in action at the Goodwood Running Grand Prix. Tamsin managed a 5k PB of 23.59 (2nd in her age category) a mere 10 days after completing a marathon at the ‘Ricky Races’ on 15 September, in a time of 4.47.58. It was Miriam’s turn to take on the marathon distance today at Goodwood, where she completed 11 laps of the trace in 3.51.07 - 1st in her age category and earning the coveted ‘good for age’ entry for the London Marathon.

Down in Bristol Finola Watkins earned herself a half marathon PB at the Great Bristol Half Marathon (1.43.48). Meanwhile Richard Moss was the first Harrier home at the re-arranged Moor Park 10k in a time of 39.28. He was joined by Fiona Kelleher in 42.09 and Sylvia Moss in a course PB time of 44.37. Finally, Michael ‘Tiny’ Turney and Kingsley Nanton supported the Leighton 10 (mile) event by Leighton Buzzard AC. Mike was 1st in his age category in a time of 1.05.59 and Kingsley finished in 1.12.55.

COMING UP LOCALLY: Last Friday of the Month 5k, MK Autumn Run Weekend, Abbots Langley Tough 10, the London Marathon (details of the Club coach to the start here), Herts 10k, the Tring Ridgeway Run, the first Chiltern League cross-country match of the season, Frieth Hilly, Ampthill Trophy Cross Country and the Abingdon Marathon. Check out the Club Calendar for more.