RUNNING
A busy running weekend, with much improved weather which saw individual successes in the Thorney 10K & 2 members joining the 132 Men & 107 Women that are members of the “BRJ Marathon Club”.
Sadly, because of potential inclement weather, the BRJ Junior Track 1M planned for 30th March that was the “nominated” event in the 2022 Junior Running Championships was cancelled. To event is to be re-scheduled to a date yet to be agreed by the Club Committee.
Parkrun 5K
BRJ’ers made returns to Burgess, Castle Park, Colney Lane, Ferry Meadows, Fountains Abbey, Linford Wood, Pocket, Somerdale Pavilion, Storeys Field (Willian Dales exactly matched his current Club 5K PB), Whittlesey, Wimpole & Woodhouse Moor. No Club PB’s were secured at these venues.
At Huntingdon, Marco Wassersleben completed Parkrun #350 & Pat Jackson #400.
Keith Hall Memorial Thorney 10K
The event was held for the first time since 2019 and was recently re-named in memory of the late Keith Hall who was the Chairman of Thorney Running Club & for many years the Head Referee of the Frostbite Friendly League. This 10K was the “Nominated” event for April in the BRJ Senior Running Championship & the results show the Age Graded scores that count towards the Champs.
The weather was more favourable than in previous days, but the wind direction was variable meaning that the expected tail winds on the return journey to the finish line turned out to be a headwind. Despite these challenges, the 13 BRJ participants among the 277 finishers secured 4 new Club 10K PB’s, 1 Debut Club 10K (Lisa Shacklock), 2 Age Category Podium Places (Anna Best & Heledd Marshall-Roberts) & 1 Sub-60 minute Debut for the distance (Anna Best). The PB’ers, in order of merit were:-
Kerry Surkitt (by 5 Mins 26 Secs since the 2021 Peterborough NYE event), Anna Best (by 2 Mins 27 Secs since June 2021’s Peterborough Midsummer 10K), Heledd Marshall-Roberts (by 2 Mins 7 Secs since the same Peterborough Midsummer event) & Stuart Hathaway (by 1 Min 52 Sec since Thorney 2017).
| Race: Thorney 10K Date: 3/4/22 Nos of Finishers: 277 | ||||
| Position | Name | Time | Age-Grade % | Notes |
| 49 | Stuart Hathway | 00:39:48 | 76.13% | PB |
| 69 | Neil Whitaker | 00:41:34 | 67.20% | |
| 106 | Richard Orrell | 00:46:00 | 70.00% | |
| 110 | Heledd Marshall-Roberts | 00:46:13 | 66.57% | PB & 2nd FV35-39 |
| 118 | Melanie Wiffin | 00:46:38 | 67.41% | |
| 134 | Kerry Surkitt | 00:48:11 | 70.29% | PB |
| 138 | Alison Orrell | 00:48:43 | 76.74% | |
| 140 | Ruth Foster | 00:49:14 | 76.91% | |
| 170 | Lisa Shacklock | 00:53:04 | 66.96% | Debut Club 10k |
| 171 | Mike Gullis | 00:53:12 | 64.00% | |
| 174 | Clive Best | 00:53:19 | 67.08% | |
| 193 | Anthony Foster | 00:56:37 | 59.02% | |
| 215 | Anna Best | 00:59:41 | 73.02% | PB & 3rd FV65+ |
Looking forward, the next “Nominated” event in the Senior Running Champs is the flat & fast Eye 10K being held on Sunday 8th May 2022.
London Landmarks 1/2 Marathon
Melanie Gearing & Chloe Wilson joined 11,615 runners in a tour of many of the major historical landmarks of Central London. Chloe finished in position 5,569 in a time of 2:10:23. Melanie, running Half Marathon #46 of a challenge to complete 50 halves, finished in position 8,147 in 2:26:36.
Rutland Water 1/2 Marathon
Tom Brand & Kevin Ryan were amongst the 526 finishers in this local 1/2 Marathon. Kevin finished in position 264 in 2:03:55 & Tom in 266 in 2:04:06. Both finished just outside their existing Club 1/2 Marathon PB’s.
Essex Marathon (RAF Debden)
Jonathan Harding participated in his Debut Club Marathon over a course based at ex-US Air Force Base Debden, finishing in 7th position of the 41 competitors in a time of 3:03:43. An Age Graded score of 70.99% counts towards the 2022 Running Championships. Jonathan secured the bronze medal in his Age Category.
Manchester Marathon
As part of a campaign to raise funds for 2 Animal Rescue charities, Chloe Barker-Rudd successfully completed her Debut Club Marathon in a sunny Manchester. Chloe finished in position 12,651 out of 14,170 in a time of 5:18:04 (Age Grading 42.57%).