 |
| Joe turns the screw |
A total of 16 runners from Grantham Running Club took part in the Stamford
Striders St Valentine’s 30K on Sunday 11th February. The undulating road race,
which equates to 18.6 miles, is the second of a trio of races regularly used by
local runners preparing for a spring marathon. The course starts at Stamford
Welland Academy & makes its way through Little Casterton before the runners
embark on a loop taking in Great Casterton, Holywell, Careby, and Aunby &
Tolethorpe. The route then goes back through Little Casterton before the finish
at the academy. Conditions on the day were very windy with gusts reaching over
40 mph making an already challenging race a whole lot tougher.
 |
| Pasky was first GRC Vet |
The 30k is seen as fair indicator of where the runners are with their
marathon training and most runners begin the race with a fair deal of
accumulated fatigue already in their legs. It is generally reckoned that a sub
2 hour run here will see you go sub three at London and a sub 2:30 could easily
see you going below three and a half at the full distance is the remained of
your training goes well. Three of the senior men had a tussle for bragging
rights and pushed each other to some great times. First to finish for GRC was
Joe Clarke in a personal best time of 2:08:58 - knocking a huge 21 minutes off
his previous attempt at the distance back in 2014. Matt Kidd crossed the line
22 seconds later in his debut race in the green and black of GRC and his first
attempt at the distance. He clocked an impressive 2:09:20 narrowly beating
Matthew Williamson who was 7 seconds behind also setting a new PB of 2:09:27 -
bettering his 2017 result by over 7 minutes. The fourth finisher and first GRC
veteran in this close group of runners was Andrew Pask. He was another one who
set a new PB of 2:10:21 - over 3 minutes quicker than his previous best.
 |
| Gave takes a gel |
The next two runners provided a thrilling finish with Gav Meadows chasing
down Dean Riggall for the last 2 miles and narrowly failing to beat him to the
line. Dean continued the string of impressive GRC PB’s in less than ideal
conditions with a time of 2:12:58. Gav was 28 seconds outside his fastest
clocking 2:13:04. Holly Durham was next with yet another PB of 2:18:10. She
also finished an impressive 3rd in the Female Veteran 35 category. A few
minutes later Sam Clark - another GRC debutant. He finished in a solid time of
2:22:44 in his first attempt at the distance.
 |
| Good to see Tony back |
Catherine Payne and Robert McArdle both recorded impressive age grade
performances - they were the only two GRC runners on the day to break the 70%
barrier. Catherine finished in 2:23:15 with an age grade score of 77.86% just a
fraction outside her club record for this distance. She also placed 2nd in the
Female Veteran 50 category. Robert was seconds behind clocking 2:23:37 giving
him an age grade score of 72.62%. He placed 5th in the Male Veteran 55
category.
 |
| Mark is on course |
Next back was Mark Wilson, Mark was suffering from a virus which had interrupted
his training all year but decided to give it a go regardless, on a particularly
steep hill at 9k he knew that the confident start was unsustainable and was
faced with the decision of walking back to the start or continuing and risking
a setback. He went for the former and was pleased to get in what was for him a
good long training run and finish in 2:29:52. He was closely followed by the
other invalid of the day, Tony Johnson delighted to finish over half an hour
down on his best in his comeback race from serious illness, Tony started like
his old self and powered his way to 24k where his legs ran out of steam and
forced him to walk until some energy returned and allowed him to finish in just
over the 2½ hour another.
Although Mark Hillson was down on his 2017 time he was relaxed about this as
the timing of this year’s marathon means he is three weeks less far into his
training and is confident he is on course for a shot at a marathon PB. It was a
tough race for Nev in which he was unable to match his 2016 time but again was
pleased to get the miles into his legs. Caroline Davis was one of the few
runners to include a parkrun that weekend as she comfortably came home inside
three hours just in front of Liam Vincent. The final PB of the day was from
Yvonne Buckley who despite the wind was able to better her previous mark by a
few seconds
Given the windy conditions, it was a good day at the office for GRC with
some hard earned PB’s and impressive performances all round. Attentions now
turn to the Ashby 20 and various other races that runners have chosen as they
look to complete the longest runs of their marathon training block.
| Position |
Time |
Name |
|
Category |
|
Grading |
Cat Place |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 61 |
2:08:58 |
Joe Clarke |
|
M Sen |
PB |
66.93% |
26 |
| 62 |
2:09:20 |
Matt Kidd |
|
M Sen |
|
66.74% |
27 |
| 63 |
2:09:27 |
Matthew Williamson |
|
M Sen |
PB |
66.68% |
28 |
| 68 |
2:10:21 |
Andrew Pask |
|
M Sen |
PB |
66.60% |
31 |
| 86 |
2:12:58 |
Dean Riggall |
|
MV40 |
PB |
69.31% |
17 |
| 87 |
2:13:04 |
Gav Meadows |
|
M Sen |
|
65.56% |
39 |
| 117 |
2:18:10 |
Holly Durham |
|
FV35 |
PB |
69.83% |
3 |
| 138 |
2:22:44 |
Sam Clark |
|
M Sen |
|
60.47% |
47 |
| 149 |
2:23:15 |
Catherine Payne |
|
FV50 |
|
77.86% |
2 |
| 153 |
2:23:37 |
Robert McArdle |
|
MV55 |
|
72.62% |
5 |
| 210 |
2:31:38 |
Tony Johnson |
|
MV50 |
|
65.11% |
24 |
| 227 |
2:33:05 |
Mark Hillson |
|
MV45 |
|
61.74% |
39 |
| 363 |
2:50:20 |
Anthony Chamberlain |
|
MV55 |
|
60.10% |
15 |
| 388 |
2:54:03 |
Caroline Davis |
|
FV45 |
|
61.71% |
24 |
| 393 |
2:54:23 |
Liam Vincent |
|
MV40 |
|
52.85% |
51 |
| 590 |
3:46:34 |
Yvonne Buckley |
|
FV55 |
PB |
53.32% |
13 |
