Meet The Member – Colin Carpenter completes 100 parkruns

Q) For members who don’t know you, tell us a bit about yourself?

A) My name is Colin Carpenter and I am a Carpenter by trade as well as name. I am extremely happy when tinkering with wood and partaking in projects around the house. However, my main love and how I relax is by running.

 

Q) How and when did you get into running?

A) I started running at the rip age of 42. I took my daughter Teresa to an athletics club. It was too far to drive back home again so I started running around the adjoining Football pitches while I waited for her to do her training. I soon got fitter and faster and caught the bug quickly. My first race was The Rochester 5 miles. I soon moved onto 10km, 10miles, Half Marathons and then Marathons. I have completed The London Marathon nine times and my PB is 3hrs 46mins 20secs in 1997. I have also competed on the track in the veterans from 100m to 5000km to the 2km walk. My club back then was Medway and then Medway and Maidstone in 2000.

 

Q) What do you enjoy most about being a member of Sandhurst Joggers?

A) In 2016 I moved from Chatham in Kent to Sandhurst due to the passing of the love of my life and beautiful wife Elizabeth. After looking at running clubs online I decided to join Sandhurst Joggers in April 2017. My first time out with SJ was on a Thursday night…… It was not a good start. I fell over the curb at the start. I was looked after by James Casey, he took me on the shorter route and made me feel at ease. The group said it might be better for me to do a Monday or Tuesday night. So not giving up I joined the Monday group led by Patrick. This was good. Looping and bringing everyone together and giving encouragement when needed. I then tried the Tuesday night. Lots of different groups to choose from. I started in the medium group and enjoyed how it was similar to the Monday group. In August last year I had an operation on my eye and had to have a break from running for a while. I then had issues with my sciatic nerve so I had to start again gradually building myself up. Because the Tuesday group is so versatile I went and joined in with the run/ walk group building myself up to the running groups.

 

Q) On which of the weekly runs are we most likely to bump into you?

A) Tuesday is the main night I run with Sandhurst Joggers and the main thing I love about this club is the people. From the fastest to the slowest you always feel welcome and
encouraged and there is always someone to discuss your latest running achievements with. I like how we are able to be a part of the team by volunteering for events such as the Yateley 10k Series. There are also some really good events put on by the SJs; the intra club relays at the Memorial Park, Anniversary Round Bracknell Relay, Friday night Track events, Pacers at Bracknell Park run and marshalling at The London Marathon to name
but a few. Every thing is always so well organised and has enhanced my running enjoyment.

 

Q) I see you’ve mainly run at Bracknell, of the other venues you’ve run at which is your favourite and why?

A) Due to now being retired I have run Bracknell parkrun the most times and was pleased to complete my 100th at a course I call home. But, my favourite parkrun is my first parkrun course in Kent. The Great Lines in Gillingham. Its a fast course of just 2 laps and has a nice long stretch for over taking and the finish is on a nice slope down hill.

 

Q) What other events are on your programme for 2018?

A) I have no major events coming up for 2018 but I’m excited for the X-country season this year.

 

Colin ran his first Parkrun on 21st December 2013 at Great Lines parkrun in Gillingham, here’s some more achievements for the statos taken from the ‘Parkrun Challenges’ Chrome Extension:-

100 x Parkruns in Total

66 x of those at Bracknell

11 x Personal Bests (fastest ever is 25:29 set at Great Lines in 2015)

6 x Different venues

37 x parkruns in a single year (2017) – Bronze level obsessive in 2017 and 2018 (already!)

Groundhog Day – on December 30th 2017 and January 6th 2018 at Bracknell

49/60 scored in Stopwatch Bingo

Volunteered as pacer

 

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18th/19th August – SJ Weekend Run Down

The week started at pace with Eddie Wilson completing the Ramsey 10k on the Isle of Man in 54:12.

Jumping onto the weekend; A bumper Saturday of Parkrun action. With Rushmoor cancelled this week Frimley Lodge was bursting at the seams with 667 runners celebrating on the retro course with the original finish! Of the 14 SJs Mark Pattrick was first to finish as he returned from injury to post his fastest time of 2018. He also ran the course at a similar pace earlier in the week in his first pain free run since injury. Jon Payne, KJ Kajla and Jim Casey also recorded seasons bests while Mo Wilcox, Bev Mathews and Kirsty Darcy sampled Frimley for the first time. Congratulations to John King who completed his 150th parkrun!

Plenty of PBs over at Parkrun Bracknell where the SJ turnout matched Frimley with 14! Jill Pemberton lowered her PB by over 3 minutes to 38:50 while Liz Ujszaszi knocked nearly 2 minutes off her Bracknell best. Paul Biggs also improved for the second consecutive run at the Great Hollands course as Alistair Ingall-Tombs ran his first ever parkrun.

with Rushmoor not running this week we’ve elevated Dinton Pastures to a SJ regular as yet again it attracted a decent contingent of members. Carla Wright knocked nearly 3 minutes off her overall parkrun PB and Faye Joyner lowered her Dinton PB. Sue Hopkinson and Alurie Dutton sampled the course for the first time as Kate Parker volunteered as Tail Walker.

It’s holiday season so no surprise to see lots of Parkrun Tourism this week. Of those running their home venues; John Tovell ran at Crane Park, Yvette Glacken at Luton Wardown, Lisa Hale and Stuart Overhill ran at their second parkrun home Bushy Park where Lisa was just 1 second outside her fastest. Jon Green returned to his favourite Woodley where he recorded an outright PB.

Top 10 finishes for Robert Jerrett who took 7th place at the inaugural Higginson Park parkrun in Marlow and Neil Praine with 6th position at Homewood in a cracking 19:33. Down at Bournemouth Graham Robinson was narrowly edged into 2nd place on the same time as the first finisher. A pair of 4th places for Mark Fallowfield-Smith and Nikki Stanley at Upton Court as their recent Hen/Stag parkruns have rekindled the love of parkrun.

A trio of SJs made the trip to Wales with Philip Boylan and Kim Reeves running at Llanelli Coast and Stephen Casey bagging an impressive outright PB of 20:44 at Aberystwyth (he’s getting closer but still not quite a sub 4 minute mile).

Further afield Will Lucas ran at Seaton, Jane Pond at Kesgrave near Ipswitch, Simon and Anne Whillis at Leicester Victoria Park. Tina Acock wins the award for the furthest trip as she touristed at Constantia Greenbelt near Cape Town in South Africa.

Later on Saturday the superb beginners triathlon ‘Try A Tri’ was held in Yateley with a 200m swim in the pool at Yateley School, a bike lap of the Yateley 10k course and finally a 2.5km run. We’ll have a full report and results later in the week. In the meantime here’s some pictures:-

Caroline Cutliffe tackled the Mamore Gap half marathon in County Donegal on a challenging course with mountains and rain to contend with.

 

The SJ Mud Running Crew overcame the latest Brutal 10k at one of the less severe courses at Pyestock. Regulars Gareth Hopkins, Nigel Evans, Karen Page, Angela Foker, Mark Foker and Jacq Hudson were joined by newbie Blanche Barnes.

 

The SJ Strava club is growing and we now have 97 members logging runs on Strava. Lisa Hale combined speed with endurance banking over 80km to top the leaderboard. To take part in this just create a free Strava account and link it to the club in your profile. Here’s the top 10 from last week:-

Please let me know if I’ve missed anything and share your results and achievements in the future so the rest of the club know what you are up to. It’s also great to find out about new events or get an honest opinion on the multitude of events out there so we love to receive run reports. Any member, any event, any distance, any surface! Just email publicity@sandhurstjoggers.org.uk

As always keep a look out on Facebook for details of the weekday evening runs.

Monday: Patrick will be leading the Monday night chatfest from Sandhurst Sports Centre at 7:30pm. The route will cover approx. 6 miles and is very likely to be off road as its the height of bluebell season. This is one of the most sociable runs of the week and a great opportunity to catch up with friends or discuss the preceding weekend. And don’t forget the Monday Mantra ‘Mondays defo make me faster’.

Tuesday Club Run: The biggest club run of the week will as always offer multiple groups to cater for all abilities from beginners through to faster and more experienced runners. It’s perfect for novices and those coming back from injury or a long lay-off because you can start with an easy group and work your way upwards. The start time is 6:30pm as always, this week from Sandhurst Memorial Park.

Tuesday Intervals: Later the interval sessions will meet at The TYTHINGS in Yateley at 8pm. The session will be run at Blackbushe and will be 4 x 4 minutes with 45 seconds recovery between each effort and 3 x 3 minutes with 30 seconds recovery between each effort. You can read more about the Tuesday night intervals here

Wednesday: Sharon and Andrea are the General Members for Wednesday and they have a great route planned for this week. Join them at Sandhurst Memorial Park at 7pm. The 10k to 10M course starts this week at the earlier time of 6:30pm also from Sandhurst Memorial Park.

Thursday: This week the threshold/improvers run will be off-road. This run is suitable for all abilities and as this run grows in popularity there are even more groups of varying speed to fit with your ability. There is also a shorter route and a sweeper to make sure nobody gets left behind. Meet at Sandhurst Sports Centre at 7:30pm.

Friday: Track is still free and the coaches have some great sessions planned for all abilities to improve fitness and technique. This is a great way to improve your running form and fitness, get faster and help prevent injury. If you’ve never ran on a track before give it a try, it’s a lot of fun and you are never more than 200m away from the start.

Saturday: Lots of members will be enjoying their weekly Parkrun fix at 9am on Saturday morning. Wherever you are parkrunning – Don’t forget your barcode!

Sunday: Check Facebook to find out who is running at The Lookout at 9am. It’s a flexible run to suit everybody’s needs and is either adapted to fit with distance targets or multiple groups are formed. The three ‘Cs’ of Coffee, cake and chat are enjoyed in the cafe post-run.

The Run Down is taking a week off for Bank Holiday and will return in September.

Burnham Beeches SJ Member Highlights

Helen Vizard finished the 10k in 54:58

“After a long walk to what I thought would be a start line the horn sounded. I continued to walk as the crowd of people in front of me left me no choice. Eventually I realised there was no starting timing mat, so started to work my way though the field of runners. I was in no rush today. Still feeling tired from jet lag from my holiday today was just a training run. I slowly picked up the pace and enjoyed a few hills along the way. The last mile was a lovely hill to finish on. But when I got to top I decided to pick up the pace to run round the field and head for the finish line with maximum effort. A lovely Sunday run in beautiful countryside.”

 

Jackie Kent finished the half marathon in 1:54:25

“My overriding thought about Burnham Beeches is, it was hilly!!! I’ve done this course before but don’t remember it being so hilly! It’s a lovely course though, through the woods and country lanes. I’d recommend it, especially if you like hills!”

 

Angela Foker finished the 10k in 1:04:30 (although we suspect the event timings are off!)

“I enjoyed the Burnham Beeches 10k, it is in a lovely setting and a nice route through lovely countryside, slightly undulating! The organisation and marshals were excellent. Nice medal and my name on the finishers Tshirt. The only negative for me was that although the 10k runners had chips on for timing we started away from the main field where the half marathon started so the timings were gun rather than chip timings plus my husband and I ran the whole race together, crossed the line together and his time was recorded as 1 minute faster!!

 

Mark Foker finished the 10k in 1:03:33

“It was a well turned out event and very well organised. Me and Angela ran the 10K and thoroughly enjoyed the experience…although, for anyone thinking of doing the Burnham Beeches 10k or half marathon, just bear in mind that you need to be half mountain goat!! To say it was a tad hilly is an understatement. Great day though as ever the running community were giving other runners huge encouragement.”

 

Nigel Evans – finished the half marathon in 2:00:00

“This was a new event for me and I was running it with my Step Son Olly and Dave Bartlett. I had heard good reports but due to preparing for Ride London 100 I had really only been on the bike since the Endure with very little running. I was slightly apprehensive because I had heard it was a hilly course. Dave kindly drove using his VIP parking which meant we had a very short walk to the start which was in the field at Caldicott School. The race area seemed very well organised with some stalls and a BBQ if you fancied a burger for breakfast. The Half Marathon started at 9.15 with the 10k starting after. We met up with Jackie Kent in the car park and at 9 we all headed to the start. 

At 9.15 we were off being cheered out of the school by all the 10km runners which was great. The course is described as a “Scenic 2 lap course full of lovely undulating hills” If I was in a car I would agree not so much on two feet. Dave and Jackie looked strong so at around 5k I dropped back and settled into a steady pace with Olly who was running his first half Marathon for over a year and was feeling the pace and hills. I really liked the course which was on closed roads with a nice section of Burnham Beeches woodland paths , plenty of friendly marshals ,and 2 water stops which used the small soft pouch water bottles which I prefer. The course does have some challenging hills especially towards the end heading back up to the school but the first lap shows you what to expect so you can pace accordingly ready for the tougher feeling second lap.

Olly was happy with me dragging him round in sub 2 hrs with a time of  1:59:59 but he must have crossed the line a fraction before me because I failed to get sub 2 with an 02:00:00 which really made us laugh and he hasn’t stopped mentioning it since although I did point out that my knees hurt because I was running so slow and he is 18 and I’m 53. All in all I really enjoyed the course (learn to love hills) and the atmosphere and would definitely do it again.”

 

Leon Hicks on finding his lost running mojo

Hi all!

Well since my 100th celebrations I’ve found it hard to motivate myself and have lost my mojo. I have started about six marathons but only managed to get halfway before calling it a day, and every time I beat myself up after. I did manage to complete the marathon for the world record medal in June and managed to find the belief to finish at the Saturn Running ‘Masters of the Runiverse’ marathon in Reading this weekend. So hopefully now finding my feet again.

I have been busy though giving back to the running community by marshaling and will be heading up to Scotland this week to marshal the GB Ultra race, a 214 mile race in 100 hours. My aim is to do this race next year so the training starts now. Hills hills hills I think. I’m looking forward to running one of the marathon days in support of Claire with her quest at the end of the month. Never give up, set new challenges and make new friends.

 

Masters of the Runiverse – Mark Neve tells of his latest marathon

This was my third lapped event with Saturn running. The layout is the same as most of the Phoenix event runs – 3.28 Mile laps, 8 for marathon distance and you get an awesome medal. I really like this course in Early, as there’s no big bridges!

It’s been pretty nice to bump into many of the same runners at different events, events which are nice and small, so even someone like me, who’s terrible with names and faces can get to know some people. Laps mean you cross paths with other marathon runners maybe 15 times and people sometimes slow down for a chat. Here are some of the interesting people I’ve met:

Will and Sandy who run Jogging Made Easy came prepared for the run dressed as He-Man and She-Ra and even on a cooler day must have been stifling hot.

Leon The Runner! I know Leon is one of our own but I’d never met Leon until recently and he finished his 100th marathon the day before I ran my first, so he’s a huge inspiration to me and always has a smile on his face and seems to know everyone and their dog but then he has spent a lot of time running with them.

Leslie (who ran the 26.2 with Leon) was taking it easy as she’d ran a 50k the day before. Taking it easy ended up with her completing another 50k.

Our very own Martin Gould was running and kept me company for 5 hours as we chatted about all sorts of things until he decided to show me a clean pair of heels around mile 23 finishing about 8 minutes before me.

George McDonough is the man behind Saturn Running, he finished his 52 marathons in 52 weeks last weekend and snuck in a 50k on Sunday too.

Steve who had just completed his 12 marathons in 12 months challenge the week before, who I barraged with questions as 12 in 12 is my next goal. 

People tell me they hate the idea of running laps, but I don’t think you’d get to meet such a mix of runners in a big marathon, these events just seem much more personal.

My next marathon (8/12) is at East Farm on 25th August , my first with White Star Running who I’ve heard lots of good things about. I hope there’ll be some more Sandhurst Joggers there to chat to.

Meet the Member – Dave Breslin completes 150 Parkruns

Q) For members who don’t know you, tell us a bit about yourself?

A) I live in Sandhurst, about 5 minutes’ walk from the Sandhurst Sports centre, which is handy. I am on the SJ committee, helping Graham with Summer Events.

 

Q) How and when did you get into running?

A) In 2006, a colleague at work organised a group of us to run the Bupa Capital 10k. I did nothing for a year after that, then a smaller group of us ran the Elmbridge 10k, which I ran in the same time. I started training  after that, and for motivation, joined SJ.

 

Q) What do you enjoy most about being a member of Sandhurst Joggers?

A) It’s got to be the people in the club. I’ve made some life time friends in the club.

 

Q) On which of the weekly runs are we most likely to bump into you?

A) I am normally at Tuesday Intervals, Thursday, and Sunday at the Lookout.

 

Q) I see you’ve mainly run at Bracknell, of the other venues you’ve run at which is your favourite and why?

A) I started at Frimley, and have done a few at Rushmoor. I think Bracknell is my favourite at the moment. It’s more like running Cross Country.

 

Q) You’ve also ran in Ireland and France, tell us more about what those overseas events were like? Much different to a typical UK Parkrun?

A) My first international parkrun was at Clonakilty in Ireland. It’s a 4 lap event around a small show ground. I have also done Fairview parkrun in Dublin, at Mark FS’s stag do. The one in France was at Lac de Divonne, but on a different course to the usual, because of Bastille Day celebrations. Having the run brief in French was a bit different though.

 

Q) What other events are on your programme for 2018?

A) I think I will be running the 10k at the Bournemouth Marathon Festival, and most of the cross countries over the winter and the River Relay.

 

 

Dave ran his first Parkrun on 9th May 2009 at Basingstoke, here’s some more achievements for the statos taken from the ‘Parkrun Challenges’ Chrome Extension:-

151 x Parkruns in Total

46 x of those at Bracknell

9 x Personal Bests (fastest ever is 18:24 set at Frimley Lodge in 2013)

14 x Different venues

3 x Different countries (England, Ireland and France)

Bushy Park Pilgrimage completed in January 2010

37 x parkruns in a single year (2015) – Bronze level obsessive in 2015 and 2016

Groundhog Day – 2016 and 2018 at Bracknell

55/60 scored in Stopwatch Bingo

4 x Different Volunteering roles

 

11th/12th August – SJ Weekend Run Down

It’s another busy week in SJ World. Wednesday saw the eighth and latest Handicap of 2018. You can read about the results and latest standings here

Thursday saw the final round of the Dinton Pastures 5/10k Summer Series. Great runs from all our members who were in action including lots of category podiums! Kieran Cooper also ran in a great time of 51:09.

Also on Thursday the Dachet Dashers held their relay near Windsor on a surprisingly fun course. Patrick Wadsworth and Paul Biggs represented.

Onto the weekend and at Parkrun Frimley Lodge a healthy turnout with nine members running. Gareth Hopkins bagged imself a new outright PB and Lisa Hale ran her fastest time at Frimley after eight years running at the venue! Lisa was also the first member to finish while Royston Crandley ran his fastest parkrun of the year.

Over at Bracknell Krzysztof Zielinski was 3rd overall and first SJ into the finish funnel. Both Jon Green, Blanche Barnes, Chris Cole and Jane Pond grabbed themselves Bracknell PBs.

Another good turnout of SJs at Rushmoor parkrun with twelve members in action. Liz Ujszaszi recorded another PB as she gets faster and faster. Max Woods, Sacha Kendall-Woods and Kate Parker all recorded course PBs while run of the day came from Fiona Slevin-Brown who finished in an incredible 19:19. Nearly a minute faster than her previous best and only three seconds outside the fastest parkrun ever recorded by a female Sandhurst Jogger.

Loads of tourism this week. Robert Jerrett and Stuart Overhill at Bushy Park, Robert recorded 18:55 which his best time ever and the fastest by a Sandhurst Jogger at Bushy Park! Gavin Loader ran with the kids at hilly Alice Holt, John Tovell stayed home at Crane Park, Harvey Young at Blackhill in the North East, Jim Laidlaw took 7th at Barrow in Cumbria, Patrick Wadsworth 8th at Cheadle Hulme, Yvette Glacken at Luton Wardown, Sharon Conquer at Northampton, Neil Praine at Worcester Pitchcroft, Jon Payne at Medina IOW, Paul and Sarah Alexander at Poole where Sarah beat her outright PB by 1 second! Stuart Mayes at Tamar Lakes, Sam Goodall at Homewood.

Don’t forget to make sure you have added Sandhurst Joggers as you club in your Parkrun profile.

Sharon Burfield completed a half marathon from Morzine to Avoriaz in the Porte du Soleil region of France. It wasn’t a regular half with lots of steep climbing, nearly 2000m of vertical, some bonus distance and stunning views of the mountains.

Five SJ teams took on a 4km course at Minley Manor in the Hart 4 Trail Relay. The rain just about held off and the light showers provided some refreshment on a humid day in the forest. All the teams did well with the Men’s A and Ladies’ A teams narrowly missing out on category podiums. There was close racing throughout with many of the SJ teams trading places throughout the 4 hour relay event.

 

The Burnham Beeches 10k and Half Marathon took place on an undulating course. Great runs all round and especially from Andy Provost who recorded a great time to take 14th position overall and a top 10 category placing.

Marathon legend Leon Hicks and Marathon legend in the making Mark Neve completed the Masters of the Runiverse marathon on a course near the Thames in Reading. We’ll have more from them later in the week.

Sadly Stephen Casey failed to beat 4 minutes for the mile for the 31st consecutive week this year.

Ninety Four members logged runs on Strava this week with Krzysztof Zielinski taking the top spot. To take part in this just create a free Strava account and link it to the club in your profile. Here’s the top 10 from last week:-

Please let me know if I’ve missed anything and share your results and achievements in the future so the rest of the club know what you are up to. It’s also great to find out about new events or get an honest opinion on the multitude of events out there so we love to receive run reports. Any member, any event, any distance, any surface! Just email publicity@sandhurstjoggers.org.uk

As always keep a look out on Facebook for details of the weekday evening runs.

Monday: Patrick will be leading the Monday night chatfest from Sandhurst Sports Centre at 7:30pm. The route will cover approx. 6 miles and is very likely to be off road as its the height of bluebell season. This is one of the most sociable runs of the week and a great opportunity to catch up with friends or discuss the preceding weekend. And don’t forget the Monday Mantra ‘Mondays defo make me faster’.

Tuesday Club Run: The biggest club run of the week will as always offer multiple groups to cater for all abilities from beginners through to faster and more experienced runners. It’s perfect for novices and those coming back from injury or a long lay-off because you can start with an easy group and work your way upwards. The start time is 6:30pm as always, this week from Sandhurst Memorial Park.

Tuesday Intervals: Later the interval sessions will meet at the Morgan Rec in Crowthorne at 8pm. The session will focus on ‘Hills’. You can read more about the Tuesday night intervals here

Wednesday: Sharon and Andrea are the General Members for Wednesday and they have a great route planned for this week. Join them at Sandhurst Memorial Park at 7pm. The 5k to 10k course will be running as usual also from Sandhurst Memorial Park at 7pm.

Thursday: This week the threshold/improvers run will be off-road. This run is suitable for all abilities and as this run grows in popularity there are even more groups of varying speed to fit with your ability. There is also a shorter route and a sweeper to make sure nobody gets left behind. Meet at Sandhurst Sports Centre at 7:30pm.

Friday: Track is still free and the coaches have some great sessions planned for all abilities to improve fitness and technique. This is a great way to improve your running form and fitness, get faster and help prevent injury. If you’ve never ran on a track before give it a try, it’s a lot of fun and you are never more than 200m away from the start.

Saturday: Lots of members will be enjoying their weekly Parkrun fix at 9am on Saturday morning. Wherever you are parkrunning – Don’t forget your barcode! Also don’t forget that Rushmoor isn’t running this week so you can sample of the many other local options.

Also on Saturday will be the fun, friendly and accessible for all abilities ‘Try A Tri’ multisport event. The swim will take place in the Pool at Yateley’s followed by a 10km bike route and a roughly 2.5km run around Yateley. If you are interested in taking part or helping you’ll need to get in touch with Carl Bradshaw.

Sunday: Check Facebook to find out who is running at The Lookout at 9am. It’s a flexible run to suit everybody’s needs and is either adapted to fit with distance targets or multiple groups are formed. The three ‘Cs’ of Coffee, cake and chat are enjoyed in the cafe post-run.