RUNNING
Parkrun Junior 2K
With many Juniors representing BRJ at the St Neots Frostbite, Alexander Eason was the sole Junior in action at Jubilee Park.
Parkrun 5K
BRJ’ers returned to Chester, High Woodland (Course PB for Kelsey Crickmore), Market Rasen Racecourse, Milton Country (2nd place for Keelan Duffy), Pocket, Preston Park Brighton, Snowden Field, Soham Village College, Stevenage, Whinlatter Forest & Wimpole.
At Storey’s Field, Ian Percy secured PB #6 of 2023 by a 5 Sec margin since August’s Huntingdon Parkrun so Ian is now the 3rd placed Man in the “Most Road Running PB’s” Competition of 2023. Finally, Mark Jackman secured a Course PB.
Gareth Thomas made a BRJ Debut at the Orebro (Sweden) Parkrun.
At Huntingdon, which reverted to the Winter Course, Junior Eliza Woodcock made her Club 5K Debut.
PANVAC Middle Distance Open Meeting 1500M
After his impressive win in the West Pinchbeck 10K the previous weekend, Mark Sampson competed in the Peterborough based Open Track Meeting. In the final, Mark took 1st place in a time of 4:32:70, just shy of his existing 1500M Track PB.
Chester Marathon
As part of their preparation for November’s New York Marathon, Annette & David Newton, supported by Amanda Roland-Convey headed to Chester. Sadly, because of injury David was forced to withdraw. By virtue of a string of impressive running performances, Annette was invited by England Athletics, to be a member of the English Masters squad to compete against a team from Wales.
Being a member of the England squad offered significant benefits over the general entrants, such as use of the “Facilities” inside the race course Grandstand rather than queuing for the portable loos !
The Marathon started at the race course & meandered through this historic city for 3 miles before heading into Wales & then back to Chester. It was a pretty route although the description that the course was “flat” was not easily recognised by a runner from East Anglia.
Despite the hot conditions, Annette finished in Chip Position 1,472 / 3,391 in a time of 3:59:44 equating to an Age / Gender grade score of 87.09% that counts towards the BRJ Senior Running Champs. Annette’s spectacular result earned the Gold Medal & Trophy in the FV70+ Age Category in the Masters competition.
Loch Ness Marathon
A late result from 1st October where Tom Brand was among the 3,504 competitors that completed the Marathon. Tom finished in Chip Position 2,206 in 4:46:06 & securing an Age Graded score of 51.53% towards the 2023 Senior Running Championships.
Frostbite Friendly League
Event #1 of the 6 race 2023/2024 Frostbite Friendly Series, hosted by Riverside Runners, took place at Priory Park, St Neots. This was the 200th event since this League started in 1988 with the BRJ being one of the founder clubs. It is also a former BRJ member that holds the record for the most Senior race wins, namely Pete Galpin with a total of 38.
The non-seasonable near 24 degree temperatures made the going more difficult for the participants. but on the plus side the route through the woods section was much less slippery than in most years.
The full set of results from Race 1 are available on the Frostbite Friendly League.
website.
By way of clarification, because the distances of every Frostbite course vary in length & are not measured, any Venue PB’s that are highlighted do not qualify towards the “Most Running PB’s ” Competitions.
For your diaries, Race 2 hosted by Bushfield Joggers takes place at Ferry Meadows, Peterborough on 5th November, It would be great to see a larger attendance by Junior & Senior members.
Juniors
A total of 119 runners competed the Junior 1.5 Mile (approx) course. The race featured as the “Nominated” event for October in the BRJ 2023 Junior Running Championships.
Our 9 person squad comprised 5 Boys & 4 Girls, a welcome increase on last seasons number. The team finished in 5th position of the 13 teams, which is 1 less team than last season, with 9 League Points.
The 5 BRJ scorers for Race 1 were Iris Purser (Position 24), Henry Reeve (26), Katie Lasseter (30), Isaac Friswell (41) & Tom Sheldon (50). The Junior stats for this race were:-
PB at Venue
Katie Lasseter
Iris Purser
Henry Reeve
Tom Sheldon
Debut at Venue
Isaac Friswell
Jack Hutchinson
Mason Rogers
Dixie Swales
Eliza Woodcock
Seniors
438 participants completed the 5m (approx) distance including a great turnout by 38 BRJ’ers. The event included a number of first time Frostbiters & several members that have not participated in a Frostbite for some time. Frank Holmes was amongst them but the record goes to Darren Butler as this was his first Frostbite since representing BRJ as a Junior between 1988-1990.
The Senior squad finished in 6th place of the 16 teams with 11 League Points. A great start to the Season.
The 10 BRJ Scorers were Keelan Duffy( 23), Jonathan Harding (27), Seb Burley (34), Paul Mitton (67), Frank Holmes (73), Sam Hathaway (78), Felicity Baillie (79). Lawrence Raven (82), Christine Howard (164) & Ruth Foster (193). The Senior stats for Race 1 were:-
PB at Venue
Felicity Baillie
Seb Burley
Jim Greenley
Sam Hathaway
Debut at Venue
Richard Braddick
Darren Butler
Jon Daulton
Adam D’Souza
Jonathan Harding
Christine Howard
Ruth Lasseter
Heledd Marshall-Roberts
Sarah Noble
Lawrence Raven
Mark Sheldon
Chloe Wilson
MULTI-SPORTS
Ironman Barcelona
Camilla Rhead successfully competed in the Barcelona event which was actually staged in the town of Callela, some 50K North East of Barcelona. The sea swim consisted of 1 lap, the bike phase a flat 3 laps & the Marathon a flat 3 laps.
Camilla Rhead smashed the event & in doing so becoming the latest inductee to the very exclusive BRJ Ironman Club. Camilla finished in position 1,683 of the 1,936 successful finishers in an awesome time of 14:33:06. Camilla’s individual phase splits were:-
Swim (2.4M) – 1:31:42
T1 – 00:07:57
Bike (112M) – 6:37:36
T2 – 00:09:39
Run (26.2M) – 6:06:06