April 29th/30th – SJ Weekend Run Down

As the dust settled on a week celebrating members achievements at the Virgin Money London Marathon, there was still plenty of action to follow closer to home…

On Saturday Parkrun Frimley Lodge saw the biggest number of members in action with fifteen running. Clive Rolfe was first to finish for the club in 19:21 followed soon after by Max Woods whose 20:17 is his fastest time in 2017. Philip Boylan improved his best time by 20 seconds lowering his PB to 23:08. Pam Whelan was only 2 seconds shy of equaling her best.

At Bracknell thirteen members were in action out of 429 total runners with Matthew Jones the first member to finish in 21:42, followed by Martin Steadman warming up for the Bracknell Half next weekend in 23:26. Colin Carpenter came close (2 seconds) to his best on the Bracknell course

It was the third birthday for the team at Rushmoor and 493 runners celebrated including ten SJs. I (Craig Bowles) was first to finish for the club with Lisa Hale slotting in a short race inbetween marathons to finish next in 21:17.

Read about John King’s run at Rushmoor

Limited Parkrun tourism this week. John Tovell vacationed at home at Crane Park while Royston Crandley and Paula Vine visited Homewood.

Graham Meek travelled to the Isle Of Wight for the IOW First Half Island Challenge as part of his preperation for his big ultra challenge; The London to Brighton 100k Challenge at the end of May. He looks to be well on track for the big one with a superb performance on the hilly 52km IOW course finishing in 5:20:35 to bag 3rd position overall.

Plenty more marathons on the calendar and Leon Hicks continued ‘The Quest’ with 4:56:11 at the Milton Keynes Marathon while Kate Parker recovered well from London to accompany Leon for part of the course to record 2:12:19 in the concurrent Half Marathon.

Lisa Hale tackled the 3 Forts Marathon finishing the 27 miles in a course PR of 4:12:29.

You can read Lisa’s full report hereYou can read Lisa’s full report here

Also on Sunday the Run Frimley 10k attracted a large contingent of SJs. Phil Guy was first finisher for the club as he set a new PB in 40:15. He was followed over the line by Neil Praine who continued his excellent form setting another PB in 40:18. Both finished in the top 30. Other finishers were Jim Laidlaw (43:00), John King (44:04), Erol Ali (46:06),  Jane Crawford (50:12), Stuart Holbrook (51:06), Fern Stonestreet (51:47), Callum Lundie (53:12), Elin Loftesnes (54:53), Jon Curham (59:27), Angela Foker (1:01:18),  Roger Halliwell (1:02:13), Catherine Dunn (1:02:13), Jenny Morris (1:05:08), Danielle Scott (1:06:23), Suren Mannick (1:07:45), Jan Lovelock (1:08:40), Louise Heginbotham (1:09:48), Susan Hopkinson (1:10:01), Fiona Gascoigne (1:15:26).

Up in the midlands, Pam Whelan ran well at the Great Birmingham 10k finishing the city based course in 1:00:44.

Bank Holiday Monday saw more race action on the edge of Reading at the Shinfield 10k where a select crew of SJs achived some great times and category positions. Craig Bowles (37:26 – 21st overall and 2nd V40), Andrew Brooks (39:33 – 38th overall and 9th V40), Tony Brackstone (47:14 – 1st V70), John Tovell (47:34 – 7th V60), Gerry Allen (49:17), Kerstin Johnson (1:05:10)

On the Strava leaderboard, the Marathon Queen of April Lisa Hale regained her crown with the Three Forts (27 mile) Marathon contributing to her 87.3km total. Graham Meek dropped to 3rd sacrificing some volume for a great performance on the Isle of White in his 50k race. Impressive he still logged 62.3km in only two runs! Back from injury Krzysztof Zielinski took second with 64.2km. Sixty-three members logged runs this week. To take part in this just create a free Strava account and link it to the club in your profile.

As always, 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.

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

Tuesday: This week the Tuesday runs start at the Morgan Recreational Park in Crowthorne at 6:30pm as it is the first Tuesday of the month. In addition the interval session meeting at The Tythings in Yateley at 8pm will be a Pyramid session at Blackbush airfield – 1 x 5 minutes, 2 x 4 minutes, 2 x 3 minutes, 2 x 2 minutes, 2 x 1 minutes.

Wednesday: Sharon Burfield and/or Andrea Vincent will be leading a great run from Sandhurst Memorial Park departing at 7pm.

Thursday: This week the threshold/improvers run will be off road and Nikki Stanley will confirm the route and details in her inimitable style nearer the time.

Friday: Track is still free and the THREE coaches have some great sessions planned for all abilities to improve fitness and technique. A number of members have seen improvements as a result of tweaks in their running form identified at the track sessions.

Sunday: Anybody not racing can join the crowd running from 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.