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Happy Holidays and Success Everywhere
Berlin Marathon
Richard Hardy and Ryan Snell ran the Berlin Marathon for the first time yesterday. The Berlin Marathon is one of the big events of the marathon-year known for its fast, relatively flat course. This was its 50th birthday too! It didn’t disappoint for Richard and Ryan who were fortunate to have perfect conditions weather-wise for 26.2 miles. Ryan finished in 2:40.53, despite a stitch at 33k, and Richard crossed the line soon after in 2:41.12; not PBs but absolutely fantastic times which rightly deserved a beer afterwards. The full results are yet to be confirmed.
Bolt Round the Holt
A little closer to home, on UK soil, Simon Dimmock was delighted with 5th place in the Portsmouth Lakeside parkrun on Saturday. He finished in 18:44 which was his fastest time since before lockdown. There were 344 runners overall. The very next day, he finished the Bolt Round the Holt 10k at Alice Holt forest near Farnham in sub-40 minutes (39:14). He thoroughly enjoyed the relatively hilly off-road run, on the trails through the forest, and came in 2nd overall. There were 83 finishers.
Barnstaple Half Marathon
In North Devon, Tim Sibley completed the Barnstaple half marathon in 1:35.47. Although the course is relatively flat, there was a brutal head wind for most of the second half, and he was recovering from illness. Despite this he was 2nd in his age group and 29th overall out of 263 finishers.
Taunton 10k
Near home, Matt Frost took part in the Taunton 10k, a gently undulating course through residential areas and along country roads. Due to marathon training and other races he has coming up he used it more as a training run with a 10-mile warm-up! He planned to do the 10k race at target marathon pace but got a bit caught up in it being a race and went slightly quicker than intended. He finished in 38:10, in 16th place. There were 429 runners overall.
The Honiton Hippo
The Honiton Hippo is a very hilly, very muddy (!) trail run of about 7.5 miles. It is a local favourite and was wholly enjoyed by AVR members. Tim Lenton was 4th overall in 56:34 and 2nd in his age group. Eleanor Wood, a day after parkrun success (see below) was first in her age group, 35th overall, in 1:10.49. Other results were Steve Maclure (54th, 1:19.36), Jeremy Young (81st, 1:28.37), John Wittaker (84th, 1:30.42) and, Samantha Tooze, Helen Boehm and Carolyn Nation (127th, 1:53.20). There were 134 runners overall. Well done all.
Bradley’s Exmouth 10k
Lee Brooker and Matt Chenery also had success in Exmouth running the Bradley’s Exmouth 10k. Known as a popular, tarmacked, officially measured and timed 10k it is a popular run in which Lee Brooker and Matt Chenery ran. Lee took a massive near-10 minutes off his 2023 run finishing in 54:49. Matt finished in 57:31. Well done to both.
parkrun Down Under
Carol Austin continued her successful tour of Oz with a course PB (25:20) at Centennial parkrun and a “perfectly progressive” run. She was 30th female out of 196, with an age-grading of 77.70%, and 200th overall. There were 505 finishers overall.
Italian parkrun
Tony Smith enjoyed the beautiful city of Padua and the friendly Farfalle parkrun. He was 3rd finisher out of 40 on a relatively flat course around the park in 21:45.
Cranbrook parkrun
Closer to home in parkrun tourism terms for Thomas Parsons, Cranbrook Country Park parkrun provided him with a number of successes this weekend. He ran it in 21:25 which is his overall parkrun PB, he was 8th out of 159 runners and was 2nd in his age category. He described it as a great course on the trails of the country park with a fab atmosphere because it was their 3rd birthday.
Exmouth parkrun
Debbie Whiston (19:20) and Simon McClellan (19:43) ran well at Exmouth parkrun on its fast, flat course. Simon ran a 5k, and course, PB and Debbie was 3rd female out of 165. There were 373 finishers in total.
Seaton parkrun
At home, Joel Seward was first finisher in 17:52, pacing Luke Reed to a sub-18 minute parkrun. He also finished, successfully in 17:52, just behind Joel. Matt Hewer was first in his age group with a wholly sub-19 minute run – 18:34 – and 5th overall. Rupert Pady (20:15), Karen Eyre (20:40), James Hawker (21:47), Luke Freathy (23:53), Mark Parsons (24:06), Sarah Farmer (28:49), Shirley Goy (31:11) and Liz Curley (32:37) all ran course PB’s on the pebbles! Eleanor Wood maintained her remarkable record of first on age grade (91.32%) with Karen, second on age grade (84.27%), and a well-deserved first female.
A full set of results can be found here:-
https://www.parkrun.org.uk/seaton/results/latestresults/
Challenging Conquests in Stunning September
Conquest of Avalon
The Conquest of Avalon is set in the stunning scenery of Somerset, with “enough up and down to keep things interesting”. The route runs from Castle Cary to Glastonbury with a final climb to the infamous Tor when your legs are really tired! But the panoramic view and sense of achievement make this well worth it. Amy Sibley and Tim Sibley both completed the challenging 30 miler in a fantastic time of 7:20.41. They were 61st , Amy being 23rd female overall. There were 78 runners, roughly half of whom were female.
CapTEN and Bosun
Another infamous landmark with a challenging climb is the Golden Cap hill in near-Dorset. The Bosun is a single lap-scaling of the Cap and is a 5.5 mile course. The CapTEN had the added bonus (!) of a second ascent of the Cap and double the distance (the eleventh mile being advertised as the bonus mile!). Both events included the ascent to the beautiful Thorncombe Beacon, treating runners to two of the crown jewels of the South West Coast Path and Jurassic Coastline. Adding to the tricky elevation of the fell runs was the not-so-good wet weather. Andrew Snook (47:59.01) took the win in the Bosun with Susi Sadler finishing in a very respectable 39th in 1:29.12. There were 46 runners overall. In the CapTEN, Simon McClellan (2:03.05) rapidly getting more rapid was 8th overall, first MV50. Eleanor Wood (2:15.06) was 5th female, 17th overall and first FV60. Other results included Richard Jackson (19th, 2:17.42), James Ashforth (28th, 2:25.18), Rik Tumber (29th, 2:25.19), Rob Harp (36th, 2:33.46), and Adele Girwood (44th, 2:50.03). There were 56 runners overall.
Seaton parkrun
234 runners braved the pebbles on Saturday and took advantage of our lovely local views. Joel Seward (17:10) was 2nd with Rich Hardy (17:13), also second on age grade (79.86%), hot on his heels in 3rd. Debbie Whiston (20:15) was 1st female out of 123 and fifteenth overall.
A full set of results can be found here:-
https://www.parkrun.org.uk/seaton/results/latestresults/
Exmouth parkrun
Karen Eyre (20:25) just keeps getting faster with another new 5 K PB, 1st on age grade (85.31%) and 3rd female out of 172. Well done to Rupert Pady (19:50) too. A full set of results can be found here:-
https://www.parkrun.org.uk/exmouth/results/latestresults
parkrun tourism
Thomas Parsons (22:11) continued his spate of park run tourism, enjoying the course at Ashton Court, particularly the downhill second half! Meanwhile, still in Oz, Carol Austin (25:09) enjoyed the beautiful banks of the Burley Griffin lake in Canberra. The lake was part of the original design of the Nation’s capital. It was her fastest parkrun post injury, despite the chilly wind.
And finally, a world conquest!
A huge congratulations to Innes Fitzgerald in Lima on becoming fourth fastest U20 in the world in the 3 K track race of the U20 World Championships. She finished in a PB of 8:57.01 at the end of a hugely successful track season. Certainly one of GB’s young rising stars!
Speedy September
Yeovilton 5K Summer Series
Wednesday evening saw the last in the 5K Summer Series at Yeovilton. The course is fast and flat, providing an ideal opportunity for PB-running and therefore attracting some very speedy individuals. Race number six, in September, didn’t disappoint. Matt Clist (16:15) was 10th overall and first in his age category, running a 5K PB. Karen Eyre (18th Female, 100th overall, 20:31) took nearly 30 seconds off her PB from last weekend’s parkrun and was third in her age category. Other results included Max Richardson (37th, 18:01), Lee Moran (60th, 18:48), Adrian Strawbridge (89th, 20:04), Rob Collier on pacing duties (93rd, 20:19), James Ashforth (97th, 20:28), Richard Jackson (103rd , 21:29), Richard Matthews (143rd, 22:22) and Jacqui Stokes (33rd Female, 147th overall, 22:39). There were 207 runners, 72 of them female, overall.
A full set of results can be found here: https://www.timingmonkey.co.uk/results/Yeovilton24/Race6/
Beautiful Bath
Thomas Parsons returned to his hometown for a speedy and successful weekend. The Chippenham Half Marathon is a relatively fast and flat course running through the streets of Chippenham and visiting local villages through scenic country lanes. Tom ran a 13.1 mile PB in 1:47.35 – nearly 1 minute faster than his previous PB. On Saturday, just before the Chippenham half – making his PB all the more impressive – Tom took part in the Bath Skyline Parkrun, finishing in a time of 22:36, while enjoying scenic views of his hometown.
AVRs down under
TCS Sydney Marathon and 10k
Angela Kerr took part in the Sydney marathon on Sunday as part of the Abbot World Majors Marathon Age Group Championships. The marathon is only in its second year and is a candidate city for the majors and no wonder, it has to have one of the most scenic routes with runners starting by crossing Sydney Harbour Bridge and finishing in front of the iconic Sydney Opera House. After some brilliantly consistent pacing for the 26.2 miles Angela finished in 4:43.15, 66th of 124 F65. More than 20,000 completed the marathon.
Carol Austin and Lesley Adams completed the 10k which also included running over the bridge then around the newly developed Barangeroo with stunning views of the Opera House finishing in the Botanical Gardens. Carol, returning from a knee injury, finished in 52:11, third F60 from 142 while Lesley finished in 1:08 with more than 6000 completing the 10k.
parkrun
“The best things in life are 5K, free, friendly and fun”.
This weekend, in Seaton it was sunny too with little wind providing good conditions for fast running. Matt Clist put in another sterling performance as first finisher in 16:47, 10 seconds short of a Seaton parkrun PB. Ryan Snell made it an AVR 1-2 in 17:38, 12 seconds short of his PB. AVR were second, third and fourth in age-grading too with Matt in second (84.51%), Ryan in third (80.43%) and Debbie Whiston in fourth, and first lady (20:10, 79.50%). Anthony Mullins (24:15) set a new PB as did David Whelan (27:22) and Shirley Goy (31:57).
A full set of results can be found here:
https://www.parkrun.org.uk/seaton/results/latestresults/
A little further afield Karen Eyre (21:47) also continued her golden thread of runs with first lady at Killerton out of 123. She was also fourth on age grade (79.95%) and 11 seconds off her Killerton parkrun PB. Well done to teammate Richard Pady (20:32) too.
A full set of results can be found here:
https://www.parkrun.org.uk/killerton/results/latestresults/
Meanwhile, further afield still, parkrun tourism was underway with Andy Goy bagging a W on the east coast seafront at Withernsea Promenade parkrun with his fastest time this year (30:05) in the absence of pebbles!
Furthest afield Angela Kerr and Carol Austin took part in Centennial parkrun prior to their races on Sunday. Using part of the marathon route it was a good opportunity to check it out for Angela the day before her marathon.