RUNNING
Despite the challenging weather conditions delivered by Storm Ashley across the UK, BRJ’ers delivered some great performance from 2K through to the full Marathon and in a non-storm affected World Triathlon Champs.
Parkrun Junior 2K
BRJ’ers were in action at Cambourne & Jubilee Park:
Cambourne – Finley Harrison secured 3rd place.
Jubilee Park – George Jenner & Hannah Lasseter finished within the top 10, whilst Alexander Eason completed Parkrun #175.
Parkrun 5K
BRJ’ers returned to Bug Hunter Waters (Parkrun #25 + Course Best for Sophie Coe), Bushy, Clacton Seafront, Glossop, Great Yarmouth North Beach (4th place for Paul Mitton), Kettering, Milton Country, Pocket, Roliston, Sheringham, Sixfields Upton (Parkrun #250 for Amie Taylor-Hall), Storeys Field & Toyen (Oslo, Norway).
At Ferry Meadows, Anthony Charters secured a new Club 5K PB by a 28 Sec margin (#5 of 2024) & Andrew Stevenson a Course Best.
At a very wet Huntingdon #517, the number of finishers was significantly reduced & the where tight left turn at Henry’s Hill into the finish straight saw 4 of these individuals dive into the nearby mudbath. Slawomir Dziarmaga took 6th place & Junior Bailey Pendlebury completed Parkrun #25.
Duxford Dash 10K
A total of 626 participants braved the wet & windy conditions to run 2 laps of this historic airfield. Between the 4 BRJ’ers they recorded 1 new Club 10K PB & a Debut Club 10K. Their finish times & stats were:
NAME TIME POSITION INFO
Darren Frost 00:51:11 129 PB (by 3 Mins 12 Secs) & 3rd MV60-64
Darren Butler 00:56:18 243
Paul Treadwell 00:56:23 244
Grace Thompson 1:08:54 513 Debut Club 10K
Holdenby House 10K
Bryn Jones completed the distance in 10th position of the 72 finishers in a time of 00:58:04 securing bronze medal in his Age Category.
Worthing 10K
Unlike the Great South 10M Run at nearby Portsmouth the Worthing 10K was not cancelled due to the stormy conditions. Despite what were still challenging conditions, Alex Mitton secured 2nd place overall from the 328 finishers in a time of 00:38:48.
Yorkshire 10M – Lee Watkins, in her Debut Club 10M, completed the distance in 3,087th position from the 3,243 finishers in a time of 2:08:18.
Blicking Autumn 1/2 Marathon
Kate Ruddock & Claire Few were among the 840 finishers in this Norfolk based event. Both finished in a time of 2:19:54 with Kate in position 614 & Claire in 615.
Stevenage 1/2 Marathon – Ian Wilson was the sole BRJ’er completing the distance in 198th position from 413 finishers in a time of 2:01:32.
Marathons (Various)
BRJ’ers were in action at 4 Marathon events at home & abroad albeit only the “home” events were significantly wind & rain affected. Despite these challenges, the events delivered 4 new Club Marathon PB’s. They also saw 2 Senior Women became member numbers 120 & 121 of the BRJ Women’s Marathon “Club”. For information, the range of finish times in the Women’s division range from 3:01:33 to 7:59:32. In the Senior Men’s Records, the times of the 146 Men range from 2:26:42 to 6:25:08.
Abingdon Marathon – Jonathan Harding & Ian Percy were among the 995 finishers in this longstanding event. Jonathan was the lead BRJ’er in position 193 in 3:04:18 just over 4 Mins shy of his existing PB which was achieved in more conducive conditions for an endurance event. Ian Percy finished in position 708 in a time of 4:00:40 that represented a new Club PB (#6 of 2024) by a 14 Min 1 Sec margin compared to his time in April 2024’s London Marathon. Jonathon & Ian secured Age / Gender Graded scores of 72.55% & 59.60% respectively.
Amsterdam Marathon – In her Debut Marathon, Poppy Wells was among the 16,763 individuals that completed the race in the historic stadium that was used in the 1928 Olympics. Poppy completed the distance over a mostly flat course in position 14,677 in a time of 4:43:15. An Age / Gender Graded score of 47.81% counts towards the Senior Running Championships,
Stevenage Marathon – The Stevenage Marathon is only held every 10 years & in 2024 there were 304 successful finishers. The 4 BRJ’ers produced 2 new Club PB’s and Rachael Dent completed her Debut Marathon.
Adam D’Souza, in 72nd, out sprinted Jim Greenley in the final few metres to beat him by 1 finish position, but both secured new Club PB’s. Our leading lady, Kerry Surkitt, was in 147th position & was running her 2nd Marathon of 2024 & Marathon #135 in total. Like Kerry, former BRJ Member Tony Cotton, who sadly passed away in late September was also a member of the prestigious 100 Marathon Club. Tony’s final tally was 151 Marathons.
Having only joined the BRJ 2 years ago as a novice runner, Rachael Dent successfully completed her Debut Marathon. For the majority of her endurance training for this marathon she was mentored by Kerry. Clearly, she could not have been in better hands! The stats for the 2 PB’ers were:-
i). Adam D’Souza improved by 27 Mins 34 Secs compared to September 2024’s Ouse Valley Way Marathon. This was PB #20 of 2024.
ii). Jim Greenley by 1 Min 47 Secs compared to September 2023’s Berlin Marathon. This was PB #4 of 2024.
The full suite of results, including the Age / Gender Graded scores counting towards the Senior Running Champs, are
| Race: Stevenage Marathon Date: 20/10/24 Nos of Finishers: 304 | ||||
| Position | Name | Time | Age-Grade % | Notes |
| 72 | Adam D’Souza | 03:47:01 | 54.22% | PB |
| 73 | Jim Greenley | 03:47:03 | 61.49% | PB |
| 147 | Kerry Surkitt | 04:21:58 | 59.51% | |
| 227 | Rachael Dent | 04:54:28 | 46.33% | Debut Club Marathon |
Yorkshire Marathon – Karen Gilchrist completed the rain soaked, but picturesque & hilly York based course, in position 3,697 from the 5,298 finishers in 4:35:09. Although this finish time was just outside her 4 hr 30 min pre-race target, it still represented a new Club PB (#1 of 2024) by a 1 Min 49 Sec margin compared to her time in April 2022’s Brighton Marathon. An Age / Gender Graded Score of 59.68% was achieved.
MULTI-SPORTS
Shrewsbury Junior Autumn Duathlon
Jack Reeve travelled to Shrewsbury to compete in the Tristar 2 category (11-12 years). Jack finished in 4th position in a total time of 00:26:20. His individual phase stats were:-
Run 1 (1.5K) – 00:06:47
T1 – 00:00:29
Bike (6K) – 00:15:21
T2 – 00:00:22
Run 2 (600M ) – 00:03:21
World Triathlon Age Group Championships
Following successful qualification in the European Age Group Champs held in Vichy (France) last month, Gilles Corby travelled to Torremolinos in Spain to compete in the Sprint race, followed 2 days later, by the Standard distance event.
Sprint Distance – From the 110 finishers in his Age Group, Gilles completed the course in 39th position in a total time of 01:24:32. Sadly, in this race 2 participants died as a result of suffering heart attacks, one during the sea swim phase & another 1 mile into the run. On a happier note, Gilles’s individual phase stats were:-
Swim (750M) – 00:17:51
T1 – 00:03:47
Bike (20K) – 00:37:06
T2 – 00:02:23
Run (5K ) – 00:23:27
Standard Distance – After a 2 day rest, Gilles was one of the 118 finishers in his Age Group. Due to a re-occurrence of the Hamstring issue that affected his performance in the qualifying event, Gilles lost a few places in the final section of the run phase. Despite the challenge, Gilles successfully completed the course in 66th position in a total time of 02:40:32. His individual phase stats were:-
Swim (1.5K) – 00:30:46
T1 – 00:04:00
Bike (40K) – 1:13:30
T2 – 00:02:40
Run (10K ) – 00:49:40