Retford Half Marathon, Notts

Neil continues his marathon preparations

Position	Time	Name		Category		Grading
428	01:50:45	Neil EMERSON		MV55		63.98%

adidas Silverstone Half Marathon

Position	Time	Name		Category		Grading
1796	1:50:22	Andrew SPENCER		MV50		62.81%
5386	2:14:59	Kieran ATTER		M		43.87%

Raceways Spring Shakespeare Marathon

Position	Time	Name		Category		Grading
21	03:52:16	Nick Payne		MV35		54.66%

Newton's Fraction Half Marathon

Gav goes sub 90

Winning Ladies Team

​Sunday 5th March saw runners flood into Grantham along with a deluge of rain to top up Doris's puddles from the previous weeks. The 12th Newton's Fraction Half Marathon organised by GAC, was sold out to maximum capacity of 500. The mighty GRC team dominated the soggy track at the Meres Stadium, where the race started and finished, with a sea of 30 green vests, many beneath waterproof ponchos and bin liners.

Fifth PB at the half in 6 months

​The 13.1 mile route took in a good mix of terrain and elevation including the canal towpath from The Drift to Woolsthorpe by Belvoir and Woolsthorpe and Casthorpe Hills. Matthew Kingston-Lee led the way for GRC and finished in fourth place overall in 1:18:01 earning the MV40 prize and celebrated with daughter, Molly, who completed the 3km Little Apple Fun Run. Chris Limmer ran another strong race particularly after his efforts at last week's 26 mile Belvoir Challenge, finishing in 1:20:05 and 7th place overall. Gav Meadows was doubtful that he'd reach his sub 1:30 goal considering the conditions. Despite an ankle injury in a particularly deep puddle which spanned the road to resemble a ford, Gav soldiered on for the final two miles and even managed a sprint finish into the stadium to arrive home in an impressive pb of 1:28:26.

GRC members take shelter before the race

​Other victories for the club included first in age category for Rob Howbrook, Sarah High (both also completing the longer version of Belvoir last week) and Holly Durham. Holly, Penny Hodges and SJ Willis winning first place for female team. Despite the tough conditions there were a number of other PB's including Peter Bonner, Caroline Davis and Martin Carter. A special mention to the beginners' group c25k for braving the elements and distance. Many of whom were unable to run one mile without stopping this time last year before joining the club. Everyone finished with a smile and were rewarded with a t-shirt, medal and goody bag including locally brewed beer! 

Full results:

4	Matthew	Kingston-Lee	1:18:01
7	Christopher	Limmer	1:20:05
32	Gav	Meadows   PB	1:28:26
51	Matthew	Williamson    PB	1:32:40
55	Robert	Howbrook	1:33:12
65	Holly	Durham	1:34:27
75	Paul	Davis	1:36:11
87	Peter	Bonner   PB	1:37:52
91	Thomas	Williamson	1:38:32
104	Penny	Hodges	1:40:24
106	Mark	Hillson	1:40:49
121	Ben	Mason	1:43:14
126	SJ	Willis	1:43:38
155	Adrian	Walker	1:48:09
178	Sarah	High	1:50:36
200	Liam	Vincent	1:52:33
207	Caroline	Davis  PB	1:53:19
242	Rachel	Birch	1:56:47
243	Martin	Carter  PB	1:56:47
268	Tommy	Napier	2:00:31
339	Hazel	Dunthorne	2:11:09
345	Bianca	Parnaby	2:12:42
349	Paul	Durham	2:13:39
353	Nicholas	Jones	2:13:44
369	Jonathan	Lill	2:17:32
372	Rosalind	Sadler	2:19:51
374	Louise	Fenton	2:19:52
390	Yvonne	Buckley	2:24:28
391	Brendon	Buckley	2:24:28
401	Andy	Barradell	2:32:59

Rushcliffe 10k Multi-terrain

Goody bag included bag, buff and medal

Neil does Berlin

This turned out the be the perfect antidote for those missing the cross-country season already as 800 runners turned Rushcliffe Country Park into an ever bigger sea of mud as they did two laps in a very wet Ruddington. GRC’s European Marathon man, Neil Emerson, chose this as part of his build up the his Swiss Marathon ahead of the Retford Half next week and the Ashby 20 on the Sunday following that. In a field thinned out by almost two hundred no-shows or perhaps “let’s sneak back to the car” type runners it completely overwhelmed the metre wide paths of a course similar to the Melton Mowbray parkrun. Having the good sense to start near the front Neil got away cleanly unlike teammate Robert McArdle who naively started in the signed starting box and was bogged down, literally. As the race progressed Neil was able to consolidate his position passing halfway dead on 25 minutes and keeping up the pace on the muddier second lap as the remaining grass became more brown than green. Approaching the final corner with exactly 20 seconds to go to beat fifty minutes the commentator caught Neil's green shirt in the distance and got everyone to cheer him in with a countdown, Neil duly obliged with a sprint and possible a dip to cross the line in 49:59 although his chip time would give him a few seconds better at 49:52. Taking part that day as the UKA event Adjudicator Robert finished in 48:01.

This would have been a fun race on a warmer, dryer day but as it was it very cold and wet.

East Midlands 10k: Holme Pierrepont National Watersports Centre

left Yvette Taylor and Lynn Fisher is on the right

Three members of GRC braved the very wet conditions on Sunday 5^th March to complete the East Midlands 10K at Holme Pierrepont National Watersports Centre in Nottingham.

A nice flat course which consisted of 2 laps of the Regatta Lake.

First over the line was Chris Armstrong with a time of 38.09.  Next was Yvette Taylor with a time of 1.05:15 a new PB, followed by Lynn Fisher also with a PB of 1.05:44.

Despite the weather the event had a great atmosphere and was attended by nearly 900 runners.

Saucony Cambridge Half Marathon

Further afield, one GRC member was running the sixth Saucony Cambridge Half Marathon. In a cold, wet and windy race starting on Midsummer Common head through the centre of Cambridge, passing some of the City’s finest buildings, before heading along King’s Parade and out of the City via Trumpington Street/Road. After a beautiful loop around Trumpington & Grantchester they will headed back through the City and to the finish on Victoria Avenue., Dean Riggall was one of 9,000 runners cheered on by a large crowd who lined the picturesque race route around Cambridge. Dean finished in a time of 1:28:56 for 382nd which.despite the conditions, was only 30 seconds outside his PB