RUNNING
Parkrun Junior 2K
Alexander Eason was the sole Junior BRJ’er braving the very wet conditions at the Jubilee Park venue.
Parkrun 5K
BRJ’ers returned to Brockenhurst, Brockwell (Herne Hill), Centennial (Sydney, Australia), Ferry Meadows (Course PBs for Paul Mitton & Andrew Stevenson), Hove Promenade, Jersey Farm, Linford Wood (Course PB’s for Annette & David Newton), Pocket, Sandringham, Sixfields, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Storeys Field (new member Simon Mayes made his Club 5K Debut) & Zamek Malborku (Poland).
Anna & Clive Best made a BRJ debut at Kawana Parkrun (Brisbane, Australia).
At Huntingdon, Adam D’Souza made a Course PB & Emily Miller a new Club 5K PB by a 11 Sec margin (#2 of 2024). Bryn Jones completed Parkrun #50.
Mid-Cheshire Spring 5K
Keelan Duffy was among the 907 finishers in this village based event. Keelan finished just 8 Secs shy of his existing Club 5K PB in a time of 00:16:12. The fact that such a fast finish time only warranted position 169 was testament to the quality of the field.
Quayside 5K
As part of his final speed session ahead of the Leeds Marathon on 12 May, William Dales ventured to Gateshead to compete over a 5K course running alongside the River Tyne. Will participated in Race A, which was restricted to sub-20 Min competitors. Will’s PB was 00:16:52 which was set at Media City (Manchester) in May 2022.
Of the 168 finishers, he finished in 37th position in a chip time of 00:16:19 securing a huge new Club PB by a 33 Sec margin.
This great result sees him become the 6th fastest BRJ Man over the distance, up from 10th place, & now just 14 Secs short the time set by former member, John Uff, in 5th place. This result should be a great confidence builder for the Marathon & all being well & he does not try to replicate this 5:15 Min/Mile pace (i.e. equal to a 2:17:39 Marathon), his existing Club Marathon PB of 3:17:12 set at London in 2021 could be challenged.
Longhorn 10K
The event was based in & around Sherwood Forest. The recent heavy rainfall made the course very wet & muddy, ankle deep in places. Sue Ray completed the course in a time of 00:59:46 in position 114 / 464. Sue took the Gold Medal position in her Age Category.
Moneteau 1/2 Marathon (France)
John Abbey, formerly the Landlord of The Elm Pub in Abbots Ripton, is our only French based Club Member having purchased and then refurbished a Restaurant & Guest House in the lovely Chablis region some years ago. The extensive building work, establishing the business & a few injuries saw John take an enforced break from running. His long awaited return was his Debut Club 1/2 Marathon. In windy conditions, John finished in position 94 / 429 in a very impressive time of 1:38:16. John was 1st in the MV65+ Age Group.
Boston (UK) Marathon
A total of 661 finishers overcame the very wet & windy conditions in this Lincolnshire based event. Sebastian Burley was the sole BRJ’er, finishing in position 162 in a time of 3:23:14, about 4 Mins shy of his existing Club PB. An Age / Gender Graded score of 60.66% counts towards the Senior Running Championships.
Norfolk Marathon
This was the inaugural staging of this event based in Cromer. The closed roads route started in North Lodge Park & headed through the surrounding villages such as Mundesley & Bradfield & finishing in Cromer adjacent to the famous pier. As with much of the country, the conditions on the day were very wet & windy & alongside the weather conditions the participants faced a very undulating course. In light of these challenges it was unlikely to be a day for setting PB’s.
Jonathan Harding put in a very strong performance leading home our 4 person squad to15th position overall from the 946 finishers. This was his first sub-3 time & securing a new Club Distance PB (#3 of 2024) by a margin of 3 Mins 45 Secs compared to 2023’s Chelmsford Marathon. Jonathan was 2nd in his Age Category & is now the 12th fastest BRJ man over the Marathon distance. It is likely that in more favourable weather conditions & over a flatter course, such as October’s Abingdon Marathon, Jonathan could significantly improve on this new PB.
Just 5 weeks after competing the Rome Marathon, John Clark was our next finisher in position 413. Although John has completed 2 Full Marathons in 2024, the rules of the Senior Running Championships state that only 1 Marathon counts towards the competition. Given the Rome Marathon was run in more favourable conditions & he finished 15 minutes faster his Age / Gender Graded Score for Norfolk Marathon will be discounted in favour of his time at Rome (56.16%).
Our leading lady in position 511 was Kerry Surkitt followed by Alexandra Smart in position 852. Alex clearly entered into the spirit of the occasion by wearing a Crab costume & perhaps coincidentally, the Finishers Medal featured a Cromer Crab.
The full set of Club results, including the Age / Gender Graded Scores counting towards the 2024 Senior Running Championships, are detailed below. As it currently stands, Jon Daulton, Jonathan Harding & Paul Mitton have all now completed the 4 events necessary to qualify for a finish position in the Champs although they still have opportunities to improve on their current scores from the remaining Qualifying events. As a reminder, the next “Nominated” Championships event is the Eye 10K taking place on 12th May.
| Race: Norfolk Marathon Date: 28/04/24 Nos of Finishers: 946 | ||||
| Position | Name | Time | Age-Grade % | Notes |
| 15 | Jonathan Harding | 02:59:49 | 73.73% | PB & 2nd MV45-49 |
| 413 | John Clark | 04:13:57 | 52.65% | |
| 511 | Kerry Surkitt | 04:26:36 | 58.48% | |
| 852 | Alexandra Smart | 05:19:53 | 45.01% | |