Bassingham Bash 5 Mile

 

The organisers of the Bassingham Bash went to great lengths this year to host a race under strict COVID-19 conditions, capping the field to 150 (Actual finishers 89), with a maximum finish time of 37mins for men and 41 mins for ladies. With the usual emphasis on fast times, the race attracted top athletes

Big PB for Matt

from all over England, including 4 of our very own from Grantham Running Club. Starting in pods based on predicted finish time runners were in good company from the very start.

 

First off was the rapidly improving Matthew Williamson running for his 1st claim club Newark AC. After a mile, Matthew suffered a shoelace malfunction but luckily his shoes held tight to allow him to kick-on into the strong wind for the final 2 miles. Matthew was delighted with his time of 28:54, a PB of over 1min and finishing 5s ahead of international athlete Gemma Steel.

 

Sub 30 for Chris

Next was Chris Limmer who was also representing his 1st claim club Hinckley RC. Chris starting from the pod behind Matthew in his first race for 6 months declared that he was rusty but really glad to be back racing again. His time was some way off his best but Chris was pleased to dip under 30mins with 29:43.

 

63rd spot for Aaron

Next up were the GRC green vest wearers Aaron Smith and Andrew Pask. Aaron starting in the pod ahead was away 10s sooner but within 1 mile Andrew was chasing him down. Andrew was chipping away at Aaron's lead until the final mile when Aaron realising he was on for a gigantic PB kicked-on to finish strong. Clocking a huge 5min PB, Aaron’s time of 31:49 was just reward for all of his hard training during lockdown. Andrew finishing close behind with 31:52 was also pleased with an unexpected 24s PB in the challenging conditions.

 

The race was won by Alastair Watson of Notts AC (24:00) and Cloe Hubbard of Newark AC (27:11).

Virtual Equinox 24 Hour Race – 19 September 2020.

 On 19 September Grantham Running Club’s ultra-marathon runner Holly Durham embarked upon the Virtual Equinox 24 hour race. The race, usually held in the grounds of Belvoir Castle is a firm favourite with club members. Participants compete in teams or as solo runners, with the aim to run as many laps of a 6 mile loop as possible within a 24 hour period. This year, like many other events, the race was cancelled and runners were invited to participate in a virtual event instead.

Despite little training, last years’ second place female, Holly, chose to complete the challenge running various routes around Grantham and the surrounding villages for 24 hours. Weather conditions were favourable for her and her team of fellow club members who supported her during the day and throughout the night, enabling her to complete an epic total of 75 miles/122km.

After the event Holly remarked that she was very pleased with the distance achieved and especially grateful to her support team for their encouragement throughout the virtual event. The race closes on 20 October and Holly is currently placed third on the leader-board with the first placed runner completing an incredible distance of 162km.

St Albans 10k

 

After several months of lockdown and a gradually easing set of restrictions, Active Training World looked at their plans for a 10k race for 1000 people starting at 10am and realised that they were able to work within the current social distancing regulations to provide a race for half that many people by splitting into smaller groups.

The venue was Highfield Park in St Albans, which provided enough space for a car park and several socially distanced starting pens. The competitors were ranked by expected finishing time and set off in order, to minimise overtaking and to give space for social distancing; obviously this means that all times are recorded as chip times due to the gaps between runners.

The planning and organisation was very well done, with 300 people arriving and collecting numbers in advance of a 9am start, and the same number arriving after 9am for a 10:15 start. Once race numbers were collected, 6 large pens were provided in the event field, in which runners warmed up and had their final instructions before making their way in groups of ten to the start.

The advance preparation was assisted by a very comprehensive written race briefing and a slightly waffly 13 minute video presentation that was sent to all competitors in advance. It looked as though all the runners were aware of these documents and there was no confusion during the start process.

Two runners from Grantham had the early start for the 9am race, Matthew Williamson and Peter Bonner. Matthew was looking forward to the race because, although he had been injured in March, he had used the lockdown period to train very hard and wanted to see how much he had improved. Peter was less positive about his prospects, saying that he was looking forward to racing after 5 months off, and that this would give him a true benchmark that could be built on in future races.

The course initially went across the grass, then onto a track and round to a road, before joining the Alban Way, which is a tarmacked old railway and formed the majority of the route. The only problem with the route came from Peter, who was at the head of his group and who briefly went the wrong way at the first path crossroads because a photographer was stood in front of the turn left sign whilst the runners were dazzled by the low sun. Other than this, the route was clear and well-marshalled, with a lollipop route for the first 3km, then a turn past some houses and along a pavement alongside the A414 and A1001, before returning to the Alban Way at 6km and following it past the turn to the finish. Weather was perfect, although there was a bit of a strobe effect from the sun on the outward stretch and those with tiring legs realised that the wind and the slight incline were against them around the 8^th kilometre.

Matthew, who is a second claim Grantham Running Club member, ran the course in 36:34, which is a massive 1 minute 14 seconds personal best. Afterwards he said that he was thrilled with the result, that the course had worked really well for him and that he was really glad to have made the journey down to St Albans. Matthew finished in 40^th place, overtaking people compared to his race number of 49.

Peter is a first claim GRC runner and he finished in 43:40, which was a slight disappointment after suffering from a recurrence of a sinus problem. However, he was pleased to have raced and looks forward to doing better in his next events.

The fastest runner was Ollie Garrod of South London Harriers in 32:02, with the fastest female being Hannah Rayden of St Albans AC in 33:36. The total number of finishers was 567.

GRC Virtual Series 2, Round 1 (5Km)

Round 1 of GRC’s Virtual Series 2 has drawn to its conclusion and some new names appear at the top of the leaderboards. Runners were given the usual two week window, now having a feeling for where their fastest miles can be run and results reflected that.

 The standout performer was the overall winner Matthew Williamson with an outstanding 17:14, some 40s quicker than his official PB. Running 2 ½ laps of the Manthorpe Estate, Matthew running for his 2nd claim club ran well beyond his own wildest expectations to take the overall series lead. Next was Joe Diggins with another leap in form, smashing the 19min barrier with his 18:34 during his effort up from Welby.

In the ladies category there was a new winner with Hannah San Jose taking the title. Now with her recent injury worries behind her Hannah smashed her official PB time by 13s with an impressive 22:15. Next was the ever improving and GRC’s club member of the month for June Naomi Jepson-Rivers, beating her official PB yet again, clocking 22:49.

Further down the field there were standout performances from Alan Carley ( 20:46, VM40 winner) and Keith Measures (24:25).  Both men very familiar with the distance ran their fastest 5k’s for over two years and reached a county level standard for their age grade.

Other Round 1 category winners were:

Stefan Latter (20:23, VM40), Caroline Davies (23:37, VF50) and Paul Jepson (23:14, VM60).

 Other results:Sam Jepson-Rivers 18:47, Andrew Pask 19:11,  Mark Hillson 22:28, Warren Stark 22:38, Michelle Parczuk 23:30, Ben Mason 23:57, Vicki Ball 24:18, Helen Brown 24:22, Stuart Baty 24:42, Anthony Boyle 25:12, Mark Rice 25:23, Sarah High 26:25, Stephen Fay 27:30, Fraser Marshall 28:04, Tracy Webb 30:30, Yvonne Buckley 31:19.

 The next event in the series is the 5 mile where runners will have to give more consideration for stamina and is sure to provide a good test for club members.  

England Athletics Virtual 5k Champs

Sam clocked 19:02

 

Four members of Grantham Running Club joined nearly 3,000 other runners for the England Athletics Virtual 5km Championships. The virtual race was run over a 3 day window with an array of limitations including; no track runs, no more than 3 laps of any route and no more than 10m net elevation loss.

Tommy's time was 25:12

Sam Jepson-Rivers and Andrew Pask decided to meet (socially distanced) and try to re-create some actual race-like conditions. Starting from the Crown & Anchor in Welby the pair aimed to work off each other down Church Lane and back. The contest however was over from the halfway turn point with Sam now pulling ahead of Andrew and gaining more and more confidence. With his first sub 19min 5k insight, Sam pushed hard through the final 800m to narrowly miss the sub 19 mark but still post a PB time of 19:02. Andrew now out of sight finished with a solid enough 19:49.

Next was Warren Stark, a man who loves the 5k distance and is sorely missing parkrun which has not been run since the March lockdown. His time of 23:26 was some way of his best but he will take it as a step forward after recent injury struggles.

Finally it was Tommy Napier who chose the quiet Harrowby Hall Lane/Turnor Rd for his attempt. Tommy’s time of 25:12 was within range of his 2019 best and strong enough to place him 85^th in the M55 category, the highest age finish of any GRC runner.