Boston Marathon (UK) Report

Kate Raised more than £1200 for John Van Geest Cancer Research Centre

 There was a good representation from Grantham Running Club both at the rearranged full marathon and also at the accompanying half. There was a mix of experience and first timers in the trio going for the 26.2 mile event. First home was Dean Riggall who was very pleased to have his start time pulled forward to 08:00 especially after dong the “Hot London” in 2018, coming back from a broken foot in 2019 and still suffering from plantar fasciitis he was delighted to finish in 3:26:57 saying afterwards "It felt incredible to be back running a marathon. A realisation to take nothing for granted. All the runners seemed to enjoy the occasion and well done to the organisers for getting a large event back on public roads." Next home was the very experienced Warren Stark in his second Marathon in as many months and looking like challenging his PB until the toe pain and heat took their toll in a painful final 5k finishing in 4:05:54. The final marathoner was Kate Marshall making her debut at the distance after a delay of some 12 months during which she was able to keep training hard. Her final warmup race was in March 2020 when she did a 20 miler.  Kate was at a disadvantage compared to the runners with faster previous times who got the favoured early starting slots meaning Kate had to run through the midday sun but battled on to finish just outside her target in 4:42:00 and raising well over twelve hundred pounds for a cancer charity in the process.

In the half there were nine runners led home by Matt Williamson who set a PB of 81:16 to complete a month in which he also achieved his first ever race win. Next in was Joe Diggins in a great time considering his recent injuries, in a struggle to get ready he took a full week off training to gamble he could find something on the day and was delighted to get within 30 seconds of his best ever. Third home for the club was Catherine Payne in 99:30 to win her age category and position herself at number five in the UKA rankings. An impressive debut by Robin Atter saw him clock 99:47. Battling with the rising temperatures and a strong headwind the first half Gav Meadows was happy that his time of 1:41:17 was about where he judged himself to be. Exactly a minute behind Robert McArdle crossed the line in 1:42:17 to give himself a top 50 MV60 National Ranking. There was another PB for Martin Rodell finishing fast to reduce his best time to 1:46:10. The final two finishers for GRC both suffered from the delayed start made necessary for covid security reasons to reduce on course overtaking with Neil Emerson coming home in 2:01:56 and Tracy Webb having to contend with an injured foot as well as the heat to clock 2:27:09

Enervit Peterborough Marathon

 

57

Craig Drury      GRANTHAM RUNNING CLUB

Male V45

4:04:22

Even Splits York 5K Series

 

Position		Name	Club	Wave	Age Grade	Cat	Category Position	Net Time
152		Peter Bonner	Grantham Running Club	Wave 1	68.6 %	MV40	20/25	0:20:33

Chase The Sun Race Events at Prestwold Hall – 1 mile, 5k, 10 and 10 mile

Some of the runners before the race

 The old footballing adage of “can they do it on a cold, rainy Thursday night in…” has never been put more to the test than in the case of the ‘Chase The Sun’ at Prestwold Hall on Thursday 20^th May. Indeed, it may even be a contender for the most ironically named event! 

With ominous grey skies and chastening winds circling the disused airfield a couple of hours before the event, it became very apparent that the weather gods were not going to be kind.

With different events taking place on the 1.55 mile looped course throughout the evening, it attracted a wide variety of runners. As with other events over the past month or so, the starts were managed through ‘waves’ with social distancing encouraged and monitored in the runners village beforehand.

First up in the out and back mile was Robert McArdle. A fierce headwind blighted the chance of any serious challenge on his best, but his clocking of 06:56 still represented an accomplished effort. 

Next in the 10 mile race and making his debut for GRC was Mark ‘Elly’ Ellison.
With the start of the 10 mile race came the driving rain that would colour the rest of the evening but Elly paid no heed and attacked the race with vigour, only slowing slightly in the 2^nd half. His strong 01:11:07 was a little outside his best, but enough to secure a top 15 spot in UKA rankings for the distance and an age grading of over 70%.  

PB for Sam

 With the 5k and 10k proving to be the most popular, the wave style starts saw both sets of runners off at the same time in a rough pairing of 5k and 10k predicted times.

 Leading the pack home and defying the conditions was Sam Jepson-Rivers. Starting in what he now considers the wrong wave, Sam found it challenging having to weave through the other runners. However he quickly hit his stride, continuing his momentum throughout to finish in 18:26 – a 14 second PB and also his first 70% age grading in any race. 

 Chris Armstrong in his first official 5k for 5 years, was pleased to finish in 22:27, finishing strong and smiling despite the wet and wind.
Separated by less than 200m, Robert McArdle followed Chris to cross the line in 23:09 to conclude a solid and well controlled night of racing.

  First lady home in the 5k was Naomi Jepson-Rivers, her time of 24:20 was down from her best, but pleasing after an injury layoff and in tough conditions.
Naomi’s Father-In-Law Paul Jepson, kept a close reign on Naomi throughout the race, eventually clocking 10 seconds behind with 24:30 and his own UK ranking in his age category.
Vicki Ball rounded off the 5kers with her own close fought battle with Paul, finishing just 2 seconds behind in 24:32, it represented a fine season opener despite the unfavourable conditions.

In the 10k, first home was Andrew Pask, his first race in his new age category was unfortunately one to forget from his point of view. His clocking of 42:32 some way off his best.
By contrast, Sam Dodwell was left feeling elated with his own performance. Quickly assessing that his current standing PB was not going to be bettered he turned it in to a tempo session to at least derive some benefit, finishing in 45:55.
Turning in his own strong performance, prolific racer Stuart Baty was more than thrilled to bag his 4^th fastest 10k time in a solid 48:38 – his consistent ‘lockdown’ mileage again coming to the fore.

Sylv Hull completed her own fabulous race, flying in the face of the aforementioned conditions. With well-judged and consistent pacing throughout she crossed the line in 54:59 to secure a
two minute and 31 second PB – a superb showing and arguably the performance of the day for GRC. 

Big step forward for Sylv

 

The various races were won by: 

Mile:
(2^nd Claim GRC) Matthew Williamson of Newark AC – 05:30

5k:
Matthew Bowser of Lincoln Wellington in 15:33
Abbie Donnelly of Lincoln Wellington in 16:37 

10k
Lewis Budgen of Lincoln Wellington in 33:39
Charlie Nurse – no club given in 39:27

 

10 mile:
Namir Batavia of Coventry Godiva in 58:01
Julia Matheson – no club given in 01:05:51