RUNNING
Junior Parkrun 2K
Katie Lasseter was the only BRJ Junior in action across all Junior Parkrun events. Katie competed at Juliee Park finishing just outside her current Club 2K PB.
Parkrun 5K
There were BRJ returns to Irchester Country, Pocket, Sixfields Upton & Woodhouse Moor, No PB’s were secured at these events. At Mura di Luca (Italy), Anna Best secured a 10 Sec Club 5K PB. Much nearer to home, Stuart Ainsworth earned a 1 Min 14 Sec Club PB at Storeys Field, his 4th of 2021.
Ainslie & Tracey Bousfield made a BRJ debut at the Maldon (Essex) Prom Parkrun. Finally at Huntingdon, Kags Alexander-Cahill earned a 41 Sec Club PB (#4 of 2021) & Alex Mitton completed his first event as a Senior member.
Cambourne 10k
5 BRJ’ers successfully completed the event, usually held in April. There were 273 finishers. Alison Orrell secured the silverAge Category position, whilst Ian Smurthwaite made his Club 10k debut. The individual results were:-
Name Time Position
Mark Elliott 00:42:00. 26
Richard Orrell 00:49:40. 82
Alison Orrell 00:51:08. 93
Caroline Smurthwaite 00:57:58. 165
Ian Smurthwaite 00:58:02. 166
Grantchester 10k
Ruth Foster completed this charity event in a time of 00:48:20 in 44th position (4th female finisher).
Northampton 1/2 Marathon
As part of a personal challenge to run 50 1/2 marathons, Melanie Gearing run this local race. Mel completed the race in a time of 2:32:03 in position 456 of the 488 finishers.
Robin Hood 1/2 Marathon
The long established Nottingham 1/2 & full Marathon both disappeared from the Road Running fixture list back in 2019, but the 1/2 was resurrected in 2021. Kathryn Heath was the sole BRJ entrant of the 3,867 finishers in a time of 2:39:25 in position 3,367.
Berlin Marathon
The runners would not have not expected a Europe wide heatwave & having to endure temperatures of around 26 degrees. Even the elite field was affected by these conditions, with the overall winner only securing a pedestrian 2:05 finish. The course record of 2:01:39 was set here in 2018.
Sadly, the German COVID regulations saw charity places being cancelled meaning that Nicki McMahon had to defer her entry to 2022, leaving just 2 BRJ’ers in the field of 16,731 finishers.
Marco Wassersleben is a regular competitor in the event. position 9,335 in a time of 4:12:58. Paul Treadwell, in his club debut marathon, finished in position 11,322 in 4:29:25. It was worthy to note that even in these difficult conditions his time to complete the second half was only marginally slower than the first.
MULTI-SPORTS
Great Yarmouth Sprint Triathlon
Paulus Maukonen took part in the Great Yarmouth Sprint Triathlon. The swim was over in record time thanks to a strong tide; but it was followed by a long sandy run to transition. Paulus set a very competitive cycle pace, but found himself wondering where the other sprint distance competitors were, and why he still wasn’t back in Great Yarmouth after 32KM – turns out he missed a turn and ended up cycling the standard distance route! He finished the event in 1:42:44 in position 60, but sadly about half an hour later than expected. Oh well, it must have been nice to be beside the seaside.
Great Yarmouth Standard Distance Triathlon
Thankfully, in the Standard distance event Stuart Hathaway did not encounter directional issues. Stuart completed the event in position 14 of the 48 finishers in a time of 2:07:30 taking the silver medal in his Age Group.