RUNNING
PARKRUN JUNIOR 2K
Just 15 brave Junior athletes braved the mist / frosty conditions at Jubilee Park, indeed they were out-numbered by the equally brave volunteers. Alexander Eason was the sole BRJ representative in 8th place, just outside his current 2K PB.
PARKRUN 5K
BRJ’ers made returns to Bedford, Greenwich, Irchester Country, Pocket, Preston Park, Shipley Country & Whittlesey. No new PB’s were secured at these venues.
Anna & Clive Best BRJ Debuted at Wishart (Brisbane, Australia) whilst committed Parkrun Tourist, Mark Jackman, made a BRJ Debut at Lordship Recreation Ground (North London).
At Huntingdon, Keelan Duffy took 2nd place overall, David Barrett-Hague secured a course PB, completed Parkrun #25 & Junior Jack Hutchinson completed Parkrun #50.
Malaga Marathon (Spain)
Whilst many endured the chilly conditions at the St Neots Frostbite or just stayed at home, Felicity Baillie was enjoying 20 degree temperatures as she tackled Spain’s Malaga Marathon alongside 2,745 finishers.. There is no doubt that Felicity has trained hard ahead of this race because on many occasions she completed training runs of up to 20 miles ahead immediately of tackling a Huntingdon Parkrun. In position 790, with a finish time of 3:25:03, her Club PB of 4:19:38 set at 2019’s London Marathon was deservedly smashed by a massive 54 Min 35 Sec margin. This was PB #4 of 2022 and her PB makes Felicity the 4th fastest BRJ Woman over the Marathon distance. An Age Graded Score of 66:54% counts towards the 2022 Senior Club Running Championships.
MULTI-SPORTS
Wendover Woods Sprint Duathlon
In his final Duathlon of the year, Stuart Hathaway finished on a high taking 1st place overall in this challenging Chiltern Hills based Sprint Distance Duathlon in a time of 1:31:55. His individual stats were:-
Run 1 – 00:21:36
T1 – 00:01:41
Bike – 00:42:20
T2 – 00:01:09
Run 2 – 00:25:06
FROSTBITE FRIENDLY LEAGUE
Race 3 (of 6), hosted by Riverside Runners, was held at a misty & frosty Priory Park in St Neots. This event is usually the season opener, but for 2022 was replaced by Hunts AC hosted race at Hinchingbrooke Country Park. Riverside Runners have hosted this event at Priory Park since 2004. In most years, the uphill section of the course that runs within the woods is usually very muddy underfoot & although the frost in preceding days hardened the ground it was still slippery in places. Indeed, Club Captain, Alan Hannibal, was a faller but carried on to complete the distance. For Race 3, there were 82 Junior & 343 Senior finishers which was significantly down on both Races 1 & 2.
A big thank you goes out to all those that either represented or supported the club, but special thanks must go to your Frostbite Manager, Claire Few, who negotiated the misty road conditions to arrive early ahead of the arrival of the Juniors & endured the cold conditions until the conclusion of the Senior event. Full results can be found on the Frostbite Friendly League website. For your diaries, Race 4 hosted by March AC takes place from the Sports Ground adjacent to Whitemoor Prison on 15th January 2023. This race is well timed as it presents a post Christmas / New Year opportunity to shed any excess calories so it would be great if we could get a much larger BRJ attendance by both squads at Race 4.
JUNIOR
Our squad numbered just 3 Juniors (2 Boys & 1 Girl) & so below the 5 runners (2 of which must be Boys & 2 Girls) required to qualify for a team score. Thankfully, a number of other clubs also failed to muster the requisite number / mix of runners meaning that once the various non-qualifying scores had been calculated by the Frostbite Committee BRJ were awarded 9th place of the 14 teams thus securing 6 League points. Following the conclusion of Race 3, BRJ has a total of 21 League Points & currently sit in 9th position overall down from 7th place.
Our first home with a Venue PB was the in-form Katie Lasseter in 30th position, very closely followed by Henry Reeve in 38th. Tom Sheldon in 42nd position was the remaining team member. As listed below, this race saw 1 Venue PB & 1 Venue Debut.
PB at Venue
Katie Lasseter (2nd Venue PB of the 2022 / 2023 season)
Debut at Venue
Tom Sheldon
SENIOR
The squad numbered 24 Seniors (18 Men & 6 Women) where Keelan Duffy was our lead Man (6th) very closely followed by Mark Sampson (12th). Lead Woman (195th) was Alison Edwards followed by Kerry Surkitt in 200th.
Our 10 Scorers for Race 3 were Seb Burley, Keelan Duffy, Alice Edwards, James Greenley, Paul Mitton, Alison Orrell, Tim Phillips, Mark Sampson, Andrew Skea & Kerry Surkitt. As listed below, this race saw 4 Venue PB’s & 10 Venue Debuts.
The Senior team secured 8th position of the 16 teams securing 9 League points. After Race 3, BRJ has 27 League Points & currently sit in 8th position overall which is unchanged from Race 2.
PB at Venue
Keelan Duffy (now 4th fastest BRJ Man at this Venue)
Paul Mitton (2nd Venue PB of the 2022 / 2023 season)
Andrew Skea (2nd Venue PB of the 2022 / 2023 season)
Alexander Smart (PB’d in Races 1, 2 & 3 of the 2022 / 2023 season)
Debut at Venue
Seb Burley
James Greenley
Sam Hathaway
Karen James
Tim Phillips
Gerry Pye
Helen Richardson
Mark Sampson (6th fastest BRJ Man at this Venue)
Kerry Surkitt (+ debut Frostbite)
Gareth Thomas