A fantastic weekend of achievements by BRJ’ers that saw 5 members join the BRJ Marathon “Club” along with 7 new Club PB’s from 2K to Full Marathon.
RUNNING
Parkrun Junior 2K
3 BRJ’ers were in action at Jubilee Park. Christopher Scott took the overall win followed, in a top 10 place, by Ella Whitfield. Ella secured PB #3 of 2002 by a 10 Sec margin.
Parkrun 5K
There were BRJ returns to Clare Castle, Downham Market Academy, Pocket, Seaton (Course PB for Karen James) & Wimpole (Course PB for Frank Holmes). 3 BRJ’ers (Michelle Caspersz, Alice Edwards & Alice Noyes) made a Club Debut at Tarpijan in Maastricht, The Netherlands.
At Huntingdon, the winter course was re-established & which saw Angelo Dama secure Club PB #4 of 2022 by a margin of 38 Secs.
Leeds Golden Mile
Last weekend, in his final speed session ahead of the London Marathon, Keelan Duffy finished in 4th position from the 78 finishers in his Debut Club 1 Mile. His finish time was a spectacular 00:04:52 representing, over the full Marathon distance, a finish time 2:07:36.
Colchester Zoo Stampede 1/2 Marathon
Clare Few & Kate Ruddock visited Colchester Zoo & whilst there took part in their 1/2 Marathon along wth 544 other participants. Kate finished in position 364 in a time of 2:21:23 & Clare in 411 in 2:27:34.
Chester Marathon
Rob Farrant, Marcela Gracova & Melanie Wiffin competed at Chester which again was a qualifier for the 2023 England Masters (Over 50) Championships. Rob overcame his recent injury concerns to fly round the course in position 39 of the 2,404 finishers with his 1st sub-2:45 Marathon in a time of 2:43:07. This represents a new Club PB (#3 of 2022) by a margin of 3 Mins 14 Secs against the time he set at London in 2021. This time makes him the 4th fastest BRJ Man over the distance and more importantly, the runner-up placing in his Age Category means he has qualified to wear an England Masters vest in 2023.
Marcela Gracova was next home in position 347 in 3:16:15, also a new PB (#6 of 2022) over London 2021, by a margin of 2 Mins 1 Sec. Marcela is now our 3rd fastest BRJ Marathon Woman. Melanie Wiffin, who also encountered injury issues during her build-up, finished in position 826 in 3:46:40, which was just shy of her existing Club PB. The results below include the Age Grading scores that count towards the 2022 Senior Running Championships.
| Race: Chester Marathon Date: 2/10/22 Nos of Finishers: 2,404 | ||||
| 39 | Robert Fsrrant | 02:43:07 | 84.11% | PB & 2nd MV50-54 |
| 347 | Marcela Gracova | 03:16:15 | 70.72% | PB |
| 826 | Melanie Wiffin | 03:46:40 | 62.46%% | |
London Marathon
The Mass event saw 12 club members competing amongst the near 41,000 finishers and 1 in the Virtual Marathon (Carol Hall). In the Mass event, 3 members (Belinda Parker, Sue Ray & Ian Wilson) were participating utilising Club Ballot places deferred from as far back as 2020.
In the Mass event, Keelan Duffy was our first home by a large margin in a spectacular time that bettered that set in his Debut Marathon in last year’s London by a margin of 9 Mins 50 Secs. His new Marathon time places him as 5 fastest BRJ Senior Man over the distance about 3 Mins behind Rob Farrant.
Keelan was followed home with an impressive performance by Alice Synge, who also improved on a time set back in 2021 by 2 Mins 3 Secs to become the Club’s 8th fastest Woman over the Marathon behind Sarah Taylor-Hall.
Jacqui Moore secured the largest Club PB of the day, by a significant 39 Mins 7 Secs, compared to the time she set way back in 2018’s London Marathon. The Debut Club Marathoneer’s were Juliet Aungier, Fiona Greig, Alex Mitton & Sue Ray.
Finally, Melanie Gearing successfully used this event as part of a personal challenge to complete 50 Half Marathons & 5 Full Marathon’s by the age of 50. Job done!
In the Virtual event Carol Hall, also in her Debut Club Marathon, finished in position 6,238 of the 8,065 finishers in a time of 7:59:32.
For those members aspiring to compete in April 2023’s London Marathon, the Public Ballot is currently OPEN.
The results below include the Age Grading scores that count towards the 2022 Senior Running Championships.
| Race: London Marathon Date: 2/10/22 Nos of Finishers: 40,545 (Mass) | ||||
| 612 | Keelan Duffy | 02:46:37 | 73.79% | PB |
| 6443 | Alice Synge | 03:34:04 | 67.25% | PB |
| 6769 | Alex Mitton | 03:35:42 | 57.00% | Debut Club Marathon |
| 14081 | Ian Wilson | 04:05:34 | 55.87% | |
| 23301 | Jacqui Moore | 04:43:03 | 63.07% | PB |
| 23445 | Sue Ray | 04:43:40 | 64.81% | Debut Club Marathon |
| 25727 | Juliet Aungier | 04:52:57 | 47.66% | Debut Club Marathon |
| 26780 | Mike Gullis | 04:57:15 | 52:54% | |
| 30965 | Fiona Greig | 05:19:18 | 51.27% | Debut Club Marathon |
| 31119 | Sue Yendley | 05:20:16 | 51.97% | |
| 35850 | Melanie Gearing | 05:53:20 | 43.57% | |
| 35960 | Belinda Parker | 05:54:18 | 41.90% | |
| Race: London Marathon Date: 2/10/22 Nos of Finishers: 8,065 (Virtual) | ||||
| 6238 | Carol Hall | 07:59:32 | 37.23% | Debut Club Marathon |