Parkrun Junior 2K
At Jubilee Park, 8 BRJ’ers were among the 47 finishers. George Jenner led home the field with new member Ewan Mackie in 5th place.
In spite of the challenging conditions there were 4 new Club 2K PB’s achieved by Baxter Gilkison (by 4 Secs), Eloise Eason (by 10 Secs), Rhys Coverdale by 19 Secs & Olivia Caruana (by 28 Secs).
Parkrun 5K
This week 78 BRJ’ers participated in a 5K Parkrun including returns to Coventry, Doddington Hall, Great Denham (Parkrun #300 for Cameron Taylor-Hall), Hastings Hill School, Henlow Bridge Lakes, Holbrooks, Littleport (1st lady for Felicity Baillie), Hove Promenade, Pocket, Storeys Field & Whittlesey.
At Bug Hunter Waters, Emma Rigby achieved a new Club 5K PB by a 20 Sec margin compared to Catton #503 of 14 September 2024. Alison Orrell secured a Course Best & Junior Stanley Coe completed Parkrun #50.
Alice Noyes made a BRJ Parkrun Venue Debut at Newport Lakes (Melbourne, Australia) & at Huntingdon, Alice Edwards completed Parkrun #375.
Bedford 5M & 10M
BRJ’ers participated in both of the distances offered:
5M – Phillipa (Pippa) Burns made her Club 5M debut. Of the 229 finishers, Pippa completed the distance in 43rd position in a time of 00:40:03 & was 3rd in her Age Category.
10M – 7 BRJ’ers were among the 437 finishers. Adam D’Souza led home the squad with his finish time securing him a new Club 10M PB by a 1 Min 43 Sec margin compared to December 2024’s Grafham Water 10. Nicki McMahon, in her Debut Club 10M, led home our ladies. There were Club 10M Debut runs by Fiona Green & Kathy Unwin as well as Age Category podium positions for Nicki McMahon & Sue Ray. The full suite of there results are:
| Race: Bedford 10M Date: 26/01/25 Nos of Finishers: 437 | ||||
| Position | Name | Time | Age-Grade % | Notes |
| 65 | Adam D’Souza | 01:13:40 | N/A | PB |
| 132 | Nicki McMahon | 01:21:03 | N/A | Debut Club 10M & 3rd FV35-39 |
| 208 | Kerry Surkitt | 01:29:02 | N/A | |
| 248 | Fiona Green | 01:32:58 | N/A | Debut Club 10M |
| 267 | Sue Ray | 01:34:26 | N/A | 2nd FV65-69 |
| 329 | Rachael Dent | 01:42:15 | N/A | |
| 389 | Kathy Unwin | 01:50:40 | N/A | Debut Club 10M |
Reepham Cross Country
Alex Howard was the sole BRJ representative. The multi-terrain course, consisting of mud, water filled ditches, dykes & more mud was over a distance of “about” 10K. Of the 117 finishers, Alex completed the distance in 46th position in 1:00:29. Judging by the picture, the post race clean-up probably took as long!
Hereward 4 Stage Relay
This local annual event hosted by March AC, & celebrating Hereward the Wake, the local leader fighting against the Norman Conquest, was scheduled for its usual November slot, but Storm Bert necessitated its postponement. The Hereward Relay started back in 1998 & is a trail course of 39 Miles over 4 stages starting at Peterborough Cathedral & ending at Ely. The 4 stages are Peterborough to Whittlesey (6.9M), Whittlesey to March (10.6M), March to Welney (11.5M) & Welney to Ely (10.7M).
The BRJ had significant success in this event back in the early 2000’s with 1st places in 2000 (4:24:21), 2002 (4:11:10), 2003 (3:55:06) & as Runners-Up in 2004 (3:57:23). From these races, & with the recent passing of Tony Cotton, the only participants of these winning teams that are still BRJ members are Alan Hannibal & Mike Gullis.
For the re-scheduled race, BRJ fielded 2 teams & in their stage order our teams consisted of:-
Team 1. Nigel Maggs, Richard Braddick, Stuart Hathaway & Paul Mitton
Team 2. Robin Cooper, Emily Miller, Felicity Baillie & Simon Mayes
Although Storm Eowyn did its worst further up the country, the participants still faced wet, windy & muddy conditions with the heaviest rain being saved for Paul Mitton & Simon Mayes on stage 4. Despite conditions being described as “brutal”, 95 teams completed the distance. The BRJ stats were:-
Team 1 – Position 32 in 5:35:20
Team 2 – Position 26 in 5:31:21
Hopefully, & weather permitting, the relay will return to its normal November slot in 2025.