Parkrun Action Many North Herts Road Runners were also in action at Parkruns both near and far this weekend. The full results are as follows:
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 Wednesday saw the start of this year’s Mid Week League in St Albans. The sun came out, along with 58 runners from NHRR giving them a super start to the 2024 MWL season with the ladies finishing 2nd, men 4th and overall the team are 3rd with the same league points as Trent Park but superior match points. St Albans striders made a strong start on home ground and won both the men's and women's races to lead 3 points clear of Orion Harriers. In the vets competition NHRR men finished 5th and ladies 2nd for 4th position overall. Katie Harbon was first lady home for the club and won the women’s race with Rhia Botha, Rachel Arnott, Hannah Ridley, Astrid Mckeown, Tracey Pitcairn, Jane Clarke and Tash Pitman completing the scoring team. Scoring for the men were Sam Coxon, Ben Hadman, Mike Roberts, Andrew Leach, Tom Barclay, Matthew Sayers, Mike Banister, Vincent Wright, Nicholas Malpeli, Nathaniel Rosa, Oliver Babik and Darren Matusa.
 Riga Marathon Katrina Slisane ran the Riga Marathon which was her third marathon overall and the first in her native Latvia. The unexpected early arrival of summer in Riga made for a very sweltering run and an early tempering of ambitions so it was a pleasant surprise to have shaved a couple of minutes off her previous PB, finishing in 03:48:12. Cam completes Lanzarote Ironman Cam Geekie completed Ironman Lanzarote on Saturday. He absolutely smashed the 3.8km swim and 180km bike. By the time the marathon arrived it was absolutely roasting and zero cloud cover making Geekie feel like he was in survival mode, making it all the more impressive that he finished the hardest Ironman in the world in a time of 12hrs 41mins. Cloe Conquers Aix en Provence Ironman The Ironman action continued on Sunday as Cloe Stout took on the Ironman Aix en Provence 70.3 on Sunday, which included over 1100m of vertical elevation on the bike and nearly 300m on the run. After a challenging year she hit nearly all her time goals (missing the overall goal due to refusing to wee on the bike and having to wait for several minutes in the transition from bike to run) and finished with a huge smile on her face for her 13th half iron distance! NHRR Parkrun Roundup As usual, the NHRR members enjoyed the various Parkrun events on offer, with the fastest time being bagged by Matthew Ronayne, completing the Storeys Field event in 17:19 and Sophie Thrussel being the quickest Park running NHRR lady completing the Heartlands event in 20:29.
 402 runners congregated at Stevenage's Shephalbury Park under blue skies and bright sunshine on Sunday morning to take on the flat pathed 5 mile route passing through green areas in Stevenage and the iconic Lamex Stadium. Runners were treated to a great view of 4,000 newly planted trees in Fairlands Valley park. Six North Herts Road Runners toed the line led in by James Dalton in 35:43, followed by Hannah Keeble 44:11; Richard Barker 53:00; Georgia Barker 53:00; Stephen Doran 53:38. Sheila Leavy race walked in a great time of 1:04:33 and said “it was warm and undulating in parts, but enjoyable”.  Three top 10 finishes for Squirrels at Snowdonia Half Marathon A scurry of squirrels travelled to Wales for the Snowdonia Half Marathon, classified as 'very very tough' and 'one of the UK's toughest half marathons' with an elevation of 1900ft. And Georgia, one of the scurry agreed, “yes it was tough!! There was even a secondary medal for those with stamina and determination to run the final hill, which Caroline and Georgia achieved! Everyone was pleased with their results followed by the traditional swim in the local river.” The squirrels were led home by Kat Burr who 1:57:28 to take 5th position in her veteran 40-44 age group, closely followed in by Caroline Thrussell who took top spot by over 30 minutes in her veteran 60-64 age group and next was her daughter Georgia Head in 2:08:32 to finish 9th in the open category. Other Squirrels running were Dervla Downing 02:14:00; Alice Noakes 02:21:53; Paul Bowal 02:25:30; Helen Ankers 02:29:12; Andy Grudzinski 02:35:21 and Adam Wilson 02:40:39 Linda overcomes train strike to race at Battersea Linda was the only squirrel at the Veterans AC 5 miles champs at Battersea Park on Tues evening. It was a small, high quality field for the three and a half laps of the very fast and flat Battersea Park. Given the sunshine the park was very busy with many runners, walkers and cyclists, with Linda commenting “there was a certain amount of dodging necessary for those of us taking part in the race. Those of us near the back were soon lapped by the very speedy front runners, and it was a bit soul-destroying to have to run past the finish to do the final lap when most runners had already finished! I'm not sure I enjoyed the race, exactly, as I was running quite hard in warm conditions, but was happy with my finishing time of 43:13 (fastest 5 mile time since 2019, and following several years of recurrent injuries.). First W65 - also last W65 as I was the ONLY W65! Got quite a nice medal, anyway, which I definitely felt I'd earned. I narrowly avoided being last by beating a 65, a 70 and two 80 year olds - needless to say, they got a massive cheer as they went past and into the finish!”  Parkrun roundup: Letchworth parkrun Sheriff Special update from Philip Flack, “We all know we couldn't have parkrun or any race without marshalls. Well, at Letchworth Parkrun this week, we had a Sheriff in attendance. The Sheriff of Hertfordshire adorned in traditional dress with ceremonial sword, gave a pre race speech in which she said she had the power to punish anyone taking shortcuts. The run/walk proceeded in it's usual orderly way and no executions took place.” Danish double from Bev Rimmer, “Being something of a ParkRun obsessive, I made the a trip to Denmark to take part in their extra event on Ascension Day. This fell on Thursday 9 May this year, and my chosen venue was Fælledparken in Copenhagen. The race director opened, rather amusingly, by asking if any Danes were taking part. A scattered few hands went up … however, the rest were crazy/enthusiastic/insert adjective here tourists rather like myself. The race is a flat three-lapper, and I dragged myself home in a fairly respectable time of 00:29:44. I’ve been struggling with pace lately, knowing full well that my training has hit a brick wall, and I was pleased to have finished sub-30. My mile times (according to my watch) were: 09:45, 09:23, and 09:17 respectively, which is certainly taking the desired direction. Still in Denmark on Saturday, I plumped for Amager Strandpark ParkRun (also in Copenhagen) - a beautiful coastal course that consists of an anti-clockwise lap followed by a clockwise one. I must add that the weather was absolutely stunning; the shorts and vest have made their first appearance of what I hope will be many this year. Again, the route is flat and fast, and I pushed with all my heart/lungs/aching muscles/flashy new trainers/increasing lactic acid to finish in the much better time of 00:28:40. Danish double completed…now to keep up the ParkRun attendance and the pace. It’s the Netherlands’ turn to have a double next weekend, as their nominated special day is Whit Monday. Is that the sound of temptation I hear?” And well done to Sharon French who went to Stevenage to complete her second ever parkrun!
 Twenty nine North Herts Road Runners headed to compete in the brilliant local Hitchin 10k which played host to this year's Hertfordshire County Championship. They put in a smashing team effort with both male and female teams taking both first and third podium spots. Sophie Thrussell, Rhia Botha and Karen Townsend formed the gold medal winning women's team. Karen was delighted with her result, as it was her first run since becoming a mum just ten weeks ago! Astrid McKeown, Tracy Pitcairn and Rhiannon Brooks raced well to claim the bronze county female team medal. Ben Hadman led the male team to the male county title, supported by Shaun Allin in a PB time, Steve McKeown and David Edwards. The male third placed county team was led by Ian Datlen, who just 2 weeks after his London marathon PB paced Natalie Phillips to achieve a massive 10k best time. Ian was followed home by Simon Clapham, Andrew Wallis and Richard Barker. Ladies team captain Natalie Phillips reported the "Weather was sunny and warm, with beautiful blue skies, marshals were friendly. Club members offered each other plenty of support, including Ian Datlen who helped me achieve a (even better than I had hoped for) PB!"
 Run to the sea Brighton 50k Ultra Laurie Scott headed south for his first Ultra marathon. The multi-terrain route from Horsham to Brighton seafront was a great introduction to the world of ultras. A beautiful slightly downhill first 25k then a very hilly next 20k across the beautiful South Downs and a “sprint” downhill to the sea front. Laurie managed to get home in 6hrs 45 min and 19 secs and says ‘he was extremely pleased after spraining both ankles (walking the dog on 2 separate occasions 4 weeks out!) and that it was a real well organised beautiful run with my Italian colleague, highly recommended to anyone wanting to try an ultra and a free 99 at the end of the run!’ Milton Keynes Marathon madness Rachel Arnott was back in marathon action just two weeks after her club record and personal best time at the London Marathon. She stormed round in a speedy 3:19:46 much to the astonishment of her clubmates, as some are still on light running duties post marathon! Running in the Half Marathon event was Dave Braybrook who finished in 1:57:36. First Saturday of the month 5k Saturday morning North Herts Road Runners hosted their FSOTM 5k on Norton common. The mud was back and made for some fun conditions. First home for the club was Tom Webb and first lady was Katie Harbon. Our next event is on June 1st and hopefully the course will be dry! Full result list.
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