RUNNING
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Riverside Runners St Neots 1/2 Marathon & Junior 3K
On-line entries for this very popular local event with huge PB potential (there were 11 BRJ PB’s in the 2022 race) opened on Tuesday 1st August. In previous years the race allocation has filled up quickly so do not hang around if you want to compete.
Parkrun Junior 2K
BRJ Juniors were in action at 2 venues. At Jubilee Park, Bailey Pendlebury secured his 3rd Club PB of 2023, by a 1 Min 7 Sec margin. At Conwy Nature Reserve (Wales), Katie Lasseter took the Runner-Up position whilst sister, Hannah, secured a Course PB.
Parkrun 5K
BRJ’ers made returns to Bedford, March, Kettering (Course PB for Megan Wilson), Morecambe Prom, Oak Hill, Pavilion Gardens, Penrhyn (Wales), Pocket, Rushmere, Salcey Forest & Vogrie (Scotland). At St Storey’s Field, Keelan Duffy took 1st place & Alice Edwards secured a Course PB.
There were 4 BRJ Parkrun Venue Debuts at Evesham (David Spurle), Old Railway Trail Llangollen, Wales (Kerry Surkitt), Thornham Walks (Sue Yendley) & University of Nottingham (Mark Jackman).
At Huntingdon, Will Dales took 4th place, Simon Moore secured a Course PB & Bryn Jones made a Club 5K Debut. Significant Parkrun milestones were made by Felicity Baillie (#200) & Peter Jackson #450.
Beat the Sunset 5K
A quality field of 169 finishers, including BRJ Women’s Captain, Felicity Baillie, participated in this Desborough based event run over closed, but rather wet, summer roads. Felicity finished in 50th position in a time of 00:19:47 being 4th Lady & 2nd in Age Category.
Peterborough Grand Prix Series Junior 3K & 5K
Race 4 of this 5 race series took place at Werrington Sports Centre hosted by Werrington Joggers. The final race of the 2023 Series, hosted by Bushfield Joggers, takes place at Ferry Meadows on 9th July. Online entries, which attract a slightly reduced entry fee, close at 18:00 hours on Tuesday 8th July, but on the day entry will be available.
As a reminder, the Senior 5K is the “Nominated: event in the 2023 BRJ Senior Running Championships.
Junior – BRJ Junior attendance was low as only the Reeve brothers, Henry & Jack, were the BRJ entrants amongst the 41 finishers. Henry finished in a time of 00:12:33 (15th position) & Jack 32nd in 00:16:13.
Senior – A great turnout of 22 BRJ’ers among the 308 finishers produced a total of 5 new Club PB’s & a total of 6 Age Category podiums.The squad were led home home by Mark Sampson & Keelan Duffy within the top 10. Our PB’ers, in order of merit, were Andrew Stevenson by 11 Secs (PB #7 of 2023), Chloe Wilson by 30 Secs (PB #5), Mica Covell by 35 Secs (#7 & now 8th fastest BRJ lady over 5K), Nicola Sparkes by 60 secs (#3) & Jessica Barrett-Drylie by 2 Mins 18 Secs (#1).
Clive Best, Keelan Duffy, Annette Newton, David Newton, Alison Orrell & Mark Sampson. all secured Age Category podiums.
Unluckiest BRJ’er was Keelan Duffy, missing a new Club 5K PB by just 3 Secs. The full suite of results are:
| Race: Peterborough Grand Prix Series 5K (Race 4 – Werrington – Werrington Joggers Date: 26/07/23 Nos of Finishers: 308 | ||||
| Position | Name | Time | Age-Grade % | Notes |
| 5 | Mark Sampson | 00:15:53 | N/A | 3rd SM |
| 8 | Keelan Duffy | 00:16:06 | N/A | 2nd MU20 |
| 40 | William Dales | 00:18:12 | N/A | |
| 53 | Alex Mitton | 00:18:54 | N/A | |
| 77 | Paul Mitton | 00:19:50 | N/A | |
| 92 | Jonathan Harding | 00:20:00 | N/A | |
| 119 | Andrew Stevenson | 00:20:45 | N/A | PB |
| 123 | Mica Covell | 00:21:03 | N/A | PB |
| 126 | Nicola Sparkes | 00:21:11 | N/A | PB |
| 136 | Jessica Barrett-Drylie | 00:21:39 | N/A | PB |
| 145 | David Spurle | 00:22:10 | N/A | |
| 162 | Melanie Wiffin | 00:22:52 | N/A | |
| 165 | Richard Orrell | 00:22:58 | N/A | |
| 170 | David Newton | 00:23:23 | N/A | 1st MV70 |
| 181 | Alison Orrell | 00:23:54 | N/A | 1st FV55 |
| 182 | Ian Wilson | 00:23:57 | N/A | |
| 200 | Annette Newton | 00:25:01 | N/A | 1st FV65 |
| 208 | Chloe Wilson | 00:25:22 | N/A | PB |
| 218 | Michael Shaw | 00:25:43 | N/A | |
| 253 | Clive Best | 00:27:58 | N/A | 3rd MV70 |
| 273 | Juliet Aungier | 00:29:35 | N/A | |
| 279 | Anna Best | 00:30:10 | N/A | |
| 303 | Alice Noyes | 00:35:15 | N/A | |
OPEN WATER SWIMMING
Swim Grafham Open Water 5K
The very windy conditions on the day made the water conditions somewhat challenging meaning that a number of participants opted to downsize to the 2K or 1K events although the 2 BRJ entrants were among the 54 5K finishers. The conditions clearly suited William Davies as he took the overall race win in a great time of 1:12:16.
BRJ Swim Coach, Sophie Etheridge, was using the event as one of her final training sessions before she takes part in a Cross English Channel Swim in a few weeks time … who needs a boat! Her training campaign over many months has certainly paid dividends as her 5K Swim finish time of 1:53:15 (position 31) bettered her previous 5K PB, staged in more ideal conditions, by over 8 minutes.
MULTI-SPORTS
L’Alpe d’heur Triathlon
Rachel Miler, along with former BRJ member Rachel Real, headed to France to tackle a Triathlon based around the iconic L’Alpe d’heur mountain in the French Alps that included a 3,450 foot ascent. The event, held in searing 38 Degree temperatures, included a 1.2K swim in a cold glacial lake. The 28K bike ride included 14K uphill at a 8% gradient with 21 hairpin bends The final stage was a 6.7K run down from the summit. Rachel finished in a time of 4:08:45 in position 1,332 of the 1,642 athletes that managed to complete the tough course. Ravhels stats were:-
Swim – 00:42:38
T1 – 00:04:41
Bike – 2:27:02
T2 – 00:03:37
Run – 00:50:35