St Valentines 30K

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