Jon and Deb Wilson travelled to york for the Plusnet york marathon. Jon finished in an excellent 3hrs 35 min 10 secs to record a new personal best for the distance, Deb finished in 4.54.21 despite struggling with a calf problem from around mile 14.
2 striders travelled to Elvaston country park for the Goldengate Gallop a flat 5 mile part trail part road race, Julie Bass finished an excellent 2nd lady in 37.54 then Lynda Harris in 41.15.
Emma Hope completed her first half marathon the Tissington Trail Half in 2.05.07.
Another group of Striders travelled to Beacon Hill near Woodhouse Eaves for the Beacon Hill trail half marathon, a tough 2 lap trail race around the edge of beacon hill country park. 1st back for the striders in 11th place was Luke Eggleston in 1.34.50. Next in 27th was Ian Drage in 1.40.39, then Greeba Heard 1.56.21, Sarah Lawrence 2.16.00, Matt Chalmers and Rachel Heggs got round in a fantastic 3.03.4 .
With the Equinox 24 event falling on the same weekend, it was a small group of Striders who made the short journey to Nottingham for the annual Robin Hood event. The sun decided to shine, so conditions were warm by late September standards, and we were grateful for the frequent water stations around the course.
A special mention goes to Greeba Heard, who completed her first full marathon and in doing so raised an amazing total of over £2,700 for the Breast Cancer Now charity – well done Greeba!
The races attracted over 7,000 participants in total, with a phased starting system along the Victoria Embankment. All times reported are chip times, with Striders times as follows:
Full Marathon – Greeba Heard 4.03.08
Half Marathon – Luke Eggleston 1.26.16 (75th place overall), Natalie Teece 1.28.31 (117th overall, and 4th F35), Alan Thompson 1.31.00 (half marathon PB), David Hall 1.53.46, Ross Jackson 2.01.34.
Helen Widdowson also completed the half marathon although I think the result was reported under the name of the lady whose place you took, so sorry I couldn’t find the official result but I remember you saying it was around 1.47 at the finish so well done Helen!
Alan
Very well organised Jack Rabbit 10K which started and finished in the grounds of Calke Abbey the rest of the race was on the roads outside the Abbey which incorporated two fairly long hills.
As with all Jack Rabbit events a nice medal and goody bag to finish. The only downside of this race was I thought it might have all been run in the grounds of the Abbey.
3 Striders did this one.
Jon Wilson: 102.52 (he was running with a friend to get her round)
Renee Wright (1.9K swim – friend of Kirsty Black), Sean Elkington (76K bike) and Andy Nicholls (20K run) took part in this triathlon as the only relay team.
Creditable times of 0:31, 2:04 and 1:28 were posted to give us 3rd position overall. Sean’s cycle was only 2 minutes slower than the winner – a qualifier for this year’s Kona Ironman world championships.
Stilton striders travelled to Countesthorpe for the final race of the Leicestershire Road Running League- the longest race in the series.
This is a tough course with gradual climbs and downhill.
662 Leicestershire runners joined the start line. A great run from Ian Drage leading the Striders in 1.06.54 closely followed by Alan Thompson in 1.07.45. Natalie Teece led the ladies team in a strong 1.08.32.
Other times:
Matt Gayton 1.10.23
Vicki Lowe 1.17.09
Julie Bass 1.17.33
Michelle Farlow 1.19.34
Greeba Heard 1.20.14
Sharon Eshelby 1.22.44
Helen Plant 1.25.04
Ross Jackson 1.26.31
Ray Walker 1.30.16
Vanessa Walker 1.34..27
Emma Hope 1.35.03
Ceilia Bown 1.40.54
Final league standings and individual positions will be announced shortly from the league.
A group of Stilton Striders travelled to Rutland for the Rutland half and full marathon. In the half marathon with 550 in the field, and first back for the Striders, winning the ladies race and finishing a brilliant 11th overall, was Natalie Teece in 1hr 29 min. Next back in 24th place was Stuart Shaw in 1.36.14, and Lynda Harris 2.09. A couple took on the full marathon with Helen Metcalfe and Celia Brown completing it in 5hrs 44 mins .
A few striders participated in the Calke Abbey 10k. Debs Wilson was first back in 56.50, then Kaye Mead in 1.02.29. Rachel Holland and Jon Wilson finished with great times of 1.02.52
Dan Valencia ran a brilliant Worcester half marathon finishing in 1.42.58.
The Quadrathon is a series of four full or half marathons around the Malin Head peninsula in Donegal, Ireland. This year it was held from 17-20 August 2017. Although the weather was predictably Irish (everything in one day) we managed to avoid the worst of the summer storms.
Beautiful Ireland
Shane Sharkey, Ben and Laura Pickard and Clive and Jenny Kent had a mini-holiday, staying in a lovely house in Culdaff only a few minutes from the beach and right in the middle of the loop that the marathon runners were going the draw around the peninsula. Each day there was a different start/finish, with the half marathon starting at the 13.1 mile point and running the latter half of that day’s marathon.
Malin Head is the northernmost point in Ireland, and it feels like the Extreme North, exposed and wild. The scenery was breathtaking, especially when running along the coast road or reaching the top of yet another hill and seeing the purple moors, golden beaches or deep blue-grey Atlantic ocean spread out before us like a patchwork quilt. The real strength of this race series was the people though, the support and camaraderie that lifted us up and carried us along to the end of each day feeling stronger than ever – some great characters and lovely people that we look forward to seeing again (it seems to be a small world). We all had off-days, where the size of the challenge became overwhelming, but came through that and finished strongly. While it wasn’t about the times for most of us but about covering 104 miles over four days (or 52 miles, for Laura and me), Clive came 21st out of 92 finishers in the Warrior challenge and raised £700 for the MS Society in the process.
The handicap race is a fantastic run to see if people can match their recent form, or beat it. The idea being that everyone finishes at the same time based on a complex array of algorithms and dark matter accelleration (estimation by the independent adjudicator). Slower runners start first, while the faster runners are progressively handicapped by adding on time before they follow the earlier starters.
Starting and finishing in the market town of Atherstone. This undulating route passed through the lovely Merevale Estate. When I say undulating it felt like the first half of the 10k was up hill. The scenery was spectacular. Extremely well organised 10k with lots of atmosphere. Nice medal and teashirt at the end, printed chip time was available also.
