Cambridge Half Marathon

Another PB for Jonny

On Sunday 8^th March ten members of Grantham Running Club joined over 11,000 other runners for the 2020 Cambridge Half Marathon. Starting on Midsummer Common before weaving through the historic streets of the city, the course then sent runners out towards the villages of Granchester and Trumpington before finally giving runners a fast final few miles downhill back to the city and to the finish back on Midsummer Common.

First in for GRC and smashing both his PB and the previous club record by nearly four minutes with a superb 1:11:35 was Jonny Palmer. Currently in the form of his life he will sadly not have the opportunity to target a sub-2:30 clocking at the London Marathon in April, but hopefully can use all the miles banked in training to good effect when racing presumably resumes over other distances in the summer.  

Finishing nearly ten minutes later was Chris Limmer. Having nursed a niggle in his shin in the days before the race he took it relatively easy in the twisty and narrow first four miles. He soon got in to his stride though as the route left the city centre and spent a majority of the race overtaking people and was not unhappy with his 1:21:01 clocking.

Gav Meadows showed a welcome return to form after running a well paced race to finish less than two minutes outside his PB with 1:29:46 – his fastest half marathon time since 2017.  Sarah Chynoweth finished exactly a minute later (1:30:46) after slowing in the final stages and was disappointed to not break ninety minutes but should be rightly pleased with another age graded performance above 70%.

Gav back running

Clocking 1:40:40, Craig Drury shaved seven seconds off his eighteen month old PB. Despite the congestion on the course, he was full of praise for the support and atmosphere of the event. Returning too from Cambridge with a PB was Harriet Siebenaller, who took a whopping ten minutes off her half marathon PB, clocking 1:40:01.

Claudette Joint also claimed a personal best by three minutes and was rightly delighted with 1:53:31. Vicki Ball was equally pleased finishing her first half marathon since joining the club nearly two years ago in a time of 2:02:58.

Sandwiched between Vicki and Claudette were Katie Bland and Neil Emerson. Katie ran her thirteenth half marathon in as many months as part of her marathon training and only three minutes outside her PB with 1:55:43; Neil ran his quickest half marathon since 2018 with 1:55:05.

The race winners were both from the local club Cambridge and Coleridge with Victoria Knight winning the women’s race in 1:14:45 and Jonathan Escalante-Phillips winning overall in 1:05:36.

Burleigh 7 Mile Road Race

Nine members of Grantham Running Club took part in the Rutland Marathon Events hosted inaugural Burghley 7 Mile Road Race on Sunday 8th March. A sell out field of over 1200 competitors experienced this new event on a stunning course which utilised private sections of the Burgleigh Estate.

Catherine Wallace 65:53

The race started at Bottle Lodges in Burghley Estate itself before taking in St Martin’s High Street in Stamford, Burghley Deer Park and a testing climb through the village of Pilsgate before passing through The Walled Gardens for a rewarding fast final downhill mile passing over The Lions Bridge to the finish line backdropped by Burghley House. 

The race was well received despite the brutal head wind runners encountered between miles four and five shortly after the tough climb at Pilsgate. All runners received medals and t-shirts at the finish. With a few tweaks, particularly the awkwardly placed finish line which became congested for later finishers, the race could become a must-do fixture on the local racing calendar.

First home for GRC was Russell Love in a time of 47:28, followed two minutes later by Stefan Latter in 49:28. Chris Bibby finished in 55:46; Paul Kelly, 56:04; Stuart Baty 56:44; and Tommy Napier in 1:00:50. Catherine Wallace was the first of three ladies to finish in 1:05:53. She followed by Hazel Dunthome and Victoria Dexter, both crossing the line in 1:27:57.

The race was won by James Gelsthorpe in 39:26 with Philippa Taylor of Helpston Harriers AC the winning woman in 44:54.

Locke Park 20Ten

In one of the last races before the Covid 19 shutdown two of GRC’s long distance runners Catherine Payne and Robert McArdle once again made the long trip north to Redcar to compete in the  Locke Park 20Ten where both opted for the full twenty miles. This is a tough race in which the runners have to negotiate 20 one mile laps of the park, to make it tougher the new route has two 180 degree turns which makes the athletes come to a dead stop and have to accelerate up to speed again during every mile, this means it is impossible to get into any sort of rhythm and effectively the race is a 2½ hour effort session!

There is only one real straight on the lap and it enjoyed a headwind coming straight off the North Sea to further test the field. In a crowded March race calendar this event  came just seven days after both completed a full marathon so they were expecting cumulative fatigue to play a big part later in the race. Catherine started well concentrating on running as far as she could at marathon pace before succumbing to heavy legs and the inevitable slowdown. Her plan was to keep the faster pace for the first ten miles but as she was still running well she was able to go through half marathons distance around the 1:36 mark and keep some sort of form right through to sixteen miles when she decided to ease off. Her finishing time of 2:32:49 was faster than last year and good enough to place her second lady using the WMA age grading that decides prize-winners for this race, her score of just over 82% made her fourth overall.

Robert McArdle enjoyed a steady run in preparation for a marathon that is postponed until the autumn actually moving up the field by seven places in the second half as others faded more than he did to eventually secure first place in his age category and a 70%+ grading in a chip time of 2:42:06

The Vitality Big Half

Name	Position		Position in Gender	Total Time
Alan Carley	2639		2262	1:38:53
Anthony Pearson	9606		6472	2:07:34
Suzie Smith	15508		6982	3:04:56

Cambridge Boundary Run

Three of Grantham Running Club’s endurance runners took part in last weekend’s Cambridge University Hare and Hounds Club’s Boundary Run to sharpen up for the April road marathons. This 26.2 mile route traverses roads, footpaths and trails, and incorporates some beautiful and not-often-seen areas of the city. It has about a third of the distance a very muddy off road and there are several reasonably sized hills on the course - significant enough to surprise those who are used to the flat terrain of Cambridge. One of the highlights is always racing against the rowing eights along the banks of the Cam although this time round the distinction between the river and the “dry” land was a bit vague. With almost a thousand runners taking part and the option of stopping half way all the GRC athletes opted for the full challenge. The strong wind was pleasantly cheeky especially when funnelled through the underpasses. As you would expect the muddier fields were practically unrunable in road shoes and those who opted for mudclaws to run them suffered badly on the road.

The GRC runners Catherine Payne, Rob Howbrook and Robert McArdle jogged as a trio for the first 16 miles treating it as a training run passing through the half way point in 1:52:14 before working their way through the field especially between 21 and 24 miles. At that point Catherine decided to shift up to near race pace on an uphill gravel section to move past some fading runners and finish 13^th lady with a time of 3:49:25 with the other two keeping their pace constant to clock 3:59:35 just inside their four hour target.

Sunset running race in Benidorm city 10k

Season's best for Louise

POS	DORS	NOMBRE		CATEGORIA	POS CAT	TIEMPO	PROMEDIO	TIEMPOREAL
1169	3157	KENNEDY, LOUISE		VETE	76	1:15:09	7,31	1:14:04

Albert Park Leap Year Trot 6K

Taking advantage of an extra day in the year which happened to be a Saturday, two runners from New Marske Harriers set up a one-off race over the rarely-run distance of 6K. Grantham Running Club’s Peter Bonner took part in the Leap Year Trot charity event for SeeAbility (The Royal School for the Blind), which took place in Albert Park, Middlesbrough. 

The course utlilised the traffic-free paths inside the perimeter of the park, using the same route as the two lap weekly parkrun, except running three laps anti-clockwise to finish at the visitors’ centre. To ensure the exact distance, the start was a few metres away from the finish. 

The windy conditions combined with the slight hills in the park to leave the odd kilometres noticeably slower than the even ones. Many of the participants chose to enjoy the race rather than race at full speed. This lack of competitiveness gave a very friendly feel to the race, with lots of support from the marshals and other runners on different laps.

The race was chip-timed, but unfortunately suffered from computer issues which delayed the start. The lack of experience from the Race Director showed at this point, leaving the runners shivering on the start line rather than communicating early and allowing people to wait inside. Once the race started however, everything went smoothly.

The race was won by Keith Bindoff of Middlesbrough & Cleveland Harriers in 22:49 with GRC’s Peter finishing second in 23:36, with Michael Meggs third. Both Keith and Peter had run parkrun earlier that day, with Keith having been round Albert Park in the opposite direction in 19:11 whilst Peter had a much more scenic jog round the quays on the Tees Barrage parkrun. The first female home was Isobel Nicholls, an U15 runner from the City of York AC. She was recovering from illness but still managed 26:29. There were 66 finishers, all completing in under an hour and with an average finish time of 37½ minutes.

The goody bag after the event included a stamped medal, food and drink, a Middlesbrough FC pencil and some cooling foot lotion. Speaking afterwards Peter said that he really enjoyed the race and would do any future events in that series, though would prefer it to have been a little closer to home.