RUNNING
Parkrun Junior 2K
George Jenner, in his 50th Parkrun, took 2nd place at Jubilee Park.
Parkrun 5K
There were BRJ returns to Ancholme Valley, Braunstone, Brighton & Hove, Brueton, Holkham, Itchen Valley, Milton Keynes, Pocket, Rutland Water (4th place for Felicity Baillie) & Soham Village College (Parkrun #25 for Camilla Rhead).
At Storeys Field, Aaron Ball’s finish time of 00:18:53 secured himself a new Club 5K PB by a 23 Sec margin.
Down under, Alice Noyes made another BRJ Parkrun Venue Debut this week at You Yangs which is an area of Melbourne.
At Huntingdon, William Dales took the runners-up position & 4 BRJ’ers reached Parkrun Milestones namely Kevin Ryan (#100), Megan Wilson (200), Ruth Foster (250) & Paul Mitton (325).
Folksworth 15M
The Folksworth event has always been subject to the extreme of weather conditions of a UK winter alongside the challenges of 3 steep ascents on each of the 2 laps, Fortunately for the 404 finishers the 2024 race date fell outside the Cold, Wet & Windy conditions of Storm Henk & a few hours before the significant winds of Storm Isha, although it was fairly gusty in some exposed parts of the course.
For BRJ, there were 16 finishers & being led home by Jonathan Harding. Club Senior Captains, Paul Mitton & Felicity Baillie, both secured new Club 15M PB’s when compared with the 2023 race by margins of 52 Secs for Paul & 4 Mins 9 Secs for Felicity. Ian Lasseter was the final Club PB’er with a 3 Min 39 Sec improvement Felicity also secured 2nd place in her Age Group. In total there were 6 BRJ’ers making their Club Distance Debuts.
The full suite of BRJ results, including the Age / Gender Graded scores counting towards the 2024 Senior Running Champs are
| Race: Folksworth 15M Date: 21/01/24 Nos of Finishers: 404 | ||||
| Position | Name | Time | Age-Grade % | Notes |
| 52 | Jonathan Harding | 01:43:41 | 70.21% | |
| 59 | Paul Mitton | 01:44:34 | 72.66% | PB |
| 73 | Simon Moore | 01:46:56 | 70.45% | |
| 93 | Felicity Baillie | 01:50:34 | 68.75% | PB & 2nd FV35-39 |
| 155 | Richard Braddick | 02:02:08 | 66.28% | |
| 165 | Jon Daulton | 02:03:02 | 55.15% | Debut Club 15M |
| 166 | Ian Lasseter | 02:03:23 | 65.00% | PB |
| 185 | Gilles Corby | 02:05:29 | 65.12% | |
| 211 | Melanie Wiffin | 02:08:05 | 61.93% | |
| 233 | David Newton | 02:11:20 | 74.18% | |
| 239 | Amanda Roland-Convey | 02:12:20 | 64.52% | |
| 242 | Simon Lumley | 02:12:37 | 65.97% | Debut Club 15M |
| 250 | Ian Percy | 02:13:49 | 58.31% | Debut Club 15M |
| 348 | Sarah Noble | 02:33:06 | 53.28% | Debut Club 15M |
| 350 | Rachael Dent | 02:34:19 | 48.94% | Debut Club 15M |
| 360 | Ruth Lasseter | 02:37:03 | 51.94% | Debut Club 15M |
The next “Nominated” event in the 2024 Senior Running Champs is the Stamford Valentines 30K taking place on the 11th February. The programme for the 2024 Junior & Senior Running Champs are displayed on the Club Website.
Cambridgeshire AAA County Cross Country Champs 2024
As a result of the significant flooding in St Neots (Priory Park) caused by Storm Henk the Cambs County XC Champs were moved from its traditional position of the 1st weekend in January to the 21st. Unfortunately, the date change meant that the BRJ could only field 2 runners namely Jack Scott for the Juniors & Senior Alison Orrell. Despite the low numbers, they both delivered successful performances.
Although the Priory Park course passed the Inspection, the course was muddy meaning that good footwear selection & careful selection of your route were key.. The strong headwind along the long home straight also made for tougher conditions.
In the Junior Boys Under 11 race run over a 1.7K distance Jack Scott ran brilliantly finishing in 8th place from 46 in a time of 00:07:23.
In the Senior Women’s 5;8K race, Alison Orrell was the sole BRJ’er finishing in position 23 / 33 in 00:29:56. For her efforts, Alison secured the Silver medal in her Age Group missing the Gold by just 1 position.