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| Full report to follow |
Sunday, 2 April 2017
Vitality Liverpool Half Marathon
A season's best for Andrew as he is now
running to heart rate given that he has Ironman Barcelona in October. "I
basically run in easy, aerobic and as little threshold as possible to help me
build my endurance for what lies ahead!" He finished in 901st place in a time of 1:43:25.
Asda Foundation City of Lincoln 10K
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| PB for Paul |
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| PB for Caroline |
On Sunday seven members of the club
made the journey to Lincoln for the 21st running of its 10k race.
The cool, overcast weather provided good conditions for the race which was as usual very well supported by spectators. During the race runners were entertained by a brass band, rock band and a choir situated around the course.
Fastest runner for GRC in a field of over 4800 finishers was Paul Davis, he was under a lot of pressure to even match his impressive 41:01 from last year as he concentrated on longer distances before representing the club at the London Marathon in a couple of weeks. He responded well by knocking 51 seconds of his previous best to finish in 186th
place with a new PB of 40 minutes 10 seconds. Next home was Darren Harley in his first run for many years showing he was on his way back with ranking time of 41:32.
A massive 2 minute PB was the result Caroline Davis 49:07 dreamed off and Sue Swann's 57:27was her first time in an offical UKA race as was Adam Jacobs'
59:39, Brendon Buckley finished in 1:01:27 and Lynn Fisher in 1:05:45.
| Position | Time | Name | Category | Grading | ||
| 186 | 40:10 | Paul Davis | MV45 | PB | 75.21% | |
| 253 | 41:32 | Darren Harley | MV45 | 72.74% | ||
| 1049 | 49:07 | Caroline Davis | FV45 | PB | 67.58% | |
| 2893 | 57:27 | Sue Swann | FV45 | 59.08% | ||
| 3161 | 59:39 | Adam Jacobs | MV55 | 54:08% | ||
| 3219 | 1:01:27 | Brendon Buckley | MV65 | 57.87% | ||
| 3815 | 1:05:45 | Lynn Fisher | FV45 | 49.97% |
ASICS Greater Manchester Marathon
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| Before: Sj, Gav and Matt |
A total of nine runners from Grantham Running Club took part in the Greater Manchester Marathon on Sunday. The race, which starts close to Old Trafford football stadium, is one of the highlights of the UK marathon calendar. It works its way through Trafford Park, Stretford, Sale, Timperley, Altrincham and Urmston before finishing at Old Trafford cricket ground. The course is one of the flattest in the UK making it ideal for running fast times and personal bests. Runners were also helped by near perfect weather conditions on the day.
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| After: First timer, first home and a PB |
All nine GRC athletes performed well and were rightly proud of what they achieved after months of long, hard training. First home was Gav Meadows who was hoping to achieve the London Marathon 'good for age' time for his age group (under 3:05). He came up short in the end but still posted an impressive time of 3:10:21 - his 2nd fastest marathon to date. Second to cross the line was Andy Atter who was running his first serious marathon and also his first as a member of the club. He paced the race perfectly recording a huge personal best of 3:12:13 beating his previous time by an unbelievable 48 minutes.
Next to finish for GRC was young marathon debutant Matthew Williamson in a time of 3:14:58. This was a remarkable first attempt at the distance and shows a lot of potential for the future and was more remarkable considering his first ever race was less than a year ago! Continuing the string of fine performances was Rob Howbrook who set a new PB of 3:20:39 after making his marathon debut in 2016. He also finished a very impressive 22nd in the Male Veteran 55 age category. Closely following was Nick Payne who also ran a PB of 3:22:01 beating his previous best by a whopping margin of 15 minutes.
There is absolutely no doubt which GRC runner had the most eventful day overall. Mark Hillson had a great race, running a new PB of 3:34:02. However, his battle didn't end there. Unfortunately he fell ill close to the finish line and spent 5 hours in the medical tent after the race. As he came round it was only when his finishers bag and medal were pointed out to him that he became aware that he'd finished the race.
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| Mark: Looking good |
Next was GRC's second marathon debutant of the day, Sinead McDonnell, she produced a very impressive first attempt at the distance crossing the line in 3:57:50. To put this in context Sinead was a two hour Half Marathon runner when she started training with the club last summer! Closely following was SJ Willis who added yet another PB to the collection finishing in 3:59:01 beating her previous best by a massive 45 minutes. After the race SJ publicly thanked the club for helping with the progress she's made.
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| Mark: Looking not so good |
Summing up after the race, Gav Meadows said 'Overall this was a day of great achievements for the club. Every single athlete performed well regardless of whether personal targets set before the race were met or not. The marathon is an extremely difficult beast to conquer and to have all 9 runners break the 4 hour barrier was truly remarkable'.
The day after the race a fully recovered Mark contacted Caerphilly Runners to thank his fellow runners helping to the line, if they had not helped and the medics (just out of shot) had intervened he would have faced disqualification.
| Position | Time | Name | Category | Grading | ||
| 709 | 3:10:21 | Gav MEADOWS | MV35 | 65.69% | ||
| 798 | 3:12:13 | Andy ATTER | MV35 | PB | 64.99% | |
| 959 | 3:14:58 | Matt WILLIAMSON | MSEN | PB | 64.07% | |
| 1219 | 3:20:39 | Robert HOWBROOK | MV55 | PB | 74.86% | |
| 1309 | 3:22:01 | Nick PAYNE | MV35 | PB | 62.84% | |
| 2073 | 3:34:02 | Mark HILLSON | MV45 | PB | 62.90% | |
| 3215 | 3:48:36 | Sarah HIGH | FV55 | PB | 75.22% | |
| 4023 | 3:57:50 | Sinead McDONNELL | FV40 | PB | 62.75% | |
| 4153 | 3:59:01 | Sj WILLIS | FV35 | PB | 58.22% | |
Sunday, 26 March 2017
Thorney 10K
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| Nicola sets PB |
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| Nev's PB earns UKA Ranking |
The first day of British Summer Time brought with it blue
skies and light winds, this plus the flat closed roads course made for fast
times. Times of 47.13 and 51.45 for Nev and Nicola
respectively gave both of them massive PB's saw them finish in the top half of the field.
| Position | Time | Name | Category | Grading | ||
| 87 | 47:13 | Nev Chamberlin | MV55 | PB | 67.74% | |
| 123 | 51:45 | Nicola Cottam | FV45 | PB | 64.84% |
Sunday, 19 March 2017
Dronfield 10K
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| Another PB for Peter |
| Position | Time | Name | Category | Grading | ||
| 71 | 0:44:19 | Peter Bonner | MV40 | 64.11% |
Locke Park 20TEN
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| The host club had some top runners out |
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| Catherine approaches the finish |
Two of GRC’s athletes made the trip north to take part in the Locke Park races in Redcar, in this challenge both distances of ten and twenty miles take place on a tight twisty multi-lap course. The weather was the typical “four seasons in one day” variety with a stiff onshore breeze making a challenging headwind on the only two straights. Just before the ten o’clock start the timing mats failed to boot up leaving the runners literally out in the cold as the organisers frantically tried various ways to find a fix. After half an hour they gave up and asked the runners to warm-up for the second time as they positioned the spotter aerials on the line and steeled themselves for a long night of reviewing over two and a half thousand video images to verify the lap count and final times. The race finally started at 10:36 in bright sunshine but with the wind building up worryingly, it was forecast to reach gale-force at noon. Due to the nature of the course GPS watches do not measure the distance or pace with any degree of accuracy so runners have to rely on the lap count to try and gauge their speed. With the excitement of the start and the lack of external timing for the first couple of laps the pace was less controlled than usual with Catherine Payne going backwards through the field despite a 6:40 for mile two. Ignoring those round about him Robert McArdle made a steady start with the first six laps within seconds of his target pace of 7:30 before realising that he was going to be too ill to complete the race, aware that he had an option to record a ten mile time if he did not go past 11 miles and as he started to get slower over laps eight and nine he made up his mind to complete the ten but try and continue. Lap eleven shaped up to be heading close to 9½ minutes so he had to retire before doing even more damage. Meanwhile Catherine settled into laps in the mid 7:20s before the high mileage in the preceding weeks caught up with her as she had to work hard to stop the lap time creeping towards the eight minute mark. She was rewarded for this with a time of 2:30:10 which was a PB and good enough for her to be placed third lady. As the prizes for this race are awarded on age grading her 80.27% was not only good enough for fourth overall but beat her own club record for the distance set last year. Robert’s time for the 10 miler was given as 1:16:56 which was graded at 69.59% which was respectable given the circumstances and managed to win him one of the prizes. The goody bag was a pair of race socks, a medal and a Mars bar which is not bad for a chipped timed 20 miler costing £16.00.
| 20 mile | ||||||
| Position | Time | Name | Category | Grading | ||
| 20 | 02:30:10 | Catherine Payne | FV50 | 80.27% | ||
| 10 mile | ||||||
| Position | Time | Name | Category | Grading | ||
| 13 | 01:16:56 | Robert McArdle | MV55 | 69.59% |
ALDI Ashby 20
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| Dean, Gav, Caroline, Paul, Penny and Holly |
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| Chris was first home for GRC |
Many of the club members were using it as a tester ahead of forthcoming marathons with spring marathon season looming in April and came armed with the gels, sweets and fluids needed to get them through a tough race. The Ashby 20's unique appeal though is also about the hoody and cheese cob awarded to all finishers when they arrive back in the town after two laps around the local villages and this meant many runners at the start were discussing the what colour the hoody would be rather than dwelling on the challenge ahead.
First in for Grantham Running Club was Chris Limmer whom came close to a personal best despite the conditions. It was his fifth run around the course and over took former local rivals from his past life living and working in Leicestershire towards the end as legs tired and pushed on to finish in 15th place in 2:04:08 and get his hands on another hoody for the collection.
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| Dean |
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| Paul Davis |
A great race and the support around the largely traffic free course made up for the challenges of running uphill into a headwind like the runners did half way through the race.
Now many in the club begin the final preparations for hopefully a really successful spring marathon season with some beginning the taper down to marathons on 2nd April with others having slightly longer till 23rd April's London Marathon.
| Position | Time | Name | Category | Grading | ||
| 15 | 2:04:08 | Christopher LIMMER | M | 75.09% | ||
| 128 | 2:22:16 | Gav MEADOWS | MV35 | 65.84% | ||
| 183 | 2:27:48 | Dean RIGGALL | MV40 | 66.67% | ||
| 201 | 2:29:06 | Paul DAVIS | MV45 | 68.96% | ||
| 215 | 2:30:18 | Holly DURHAM | FV35 | 68.83% | ||
| 521 | 2:51:45 | Nick PAYNE | MV35 | 55.55% | ||
| 538 | 2:53:18 | Penny HODGES | FV35 | 60.64% | ||
| 672 | 3:00:14 | Caroline DAVIS | FV45 | 63.61% | ||
| 682 | 3:01:09 | Andrew SPENCER | MV50 | 59.86% | ||
| 899 | 3:16:16 | Neil EMERSON | MV55 | 56.80% |
Sunday, 12 March 2017
Retford Half Marathon, Notts
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| Neil continues his marathon preparations |
| Position | Time | Name | Category | Grading | ||
| 428 | 01:50:45 | Neil EMERSON | MV55 | 63.98% |
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