North Herts Road Runners had success at the Thorney 5-mile race on Sunday with many winning individual category prizes and breaking club records.

The Thorney 5-mile race was the clubs chosen ‘run of the month’ with a strong contingent of squirrels making the trip north for the event. Run over a fast flat out and back course and despite the strong head wind for half the race there were plenty of quick times and superb results.

The club had three finishers in the top four with Tom Webb racing to 2nd place in 26.30, followed by Andrew Leach in 3rd (1st V55) in 27.05 and Mark Vaughan 4th (1st V45) in 27.13 breaking his own club record and Andrew setting a new club record with his time. The three men unsurprisingly also won the men’s team trophy.

For the women Astrid McKeown finished in 4th and 1st FV45 setting another club recorded with her time of 32.45. Linda Aird was delighted to win her age group to be 1st FV60 in a time of 41.23.

There were also plenty of squirrels taking on a longer challenge at the Kimbolton Half Marathon. Those taking part described the event as lovely and really well organised. Adam Wilson was very happy to achieve a new personal best by four minutes with a time 1.52.53 and 9 minutes quicker than the last time he ran the event.

Endurance athletes Jo Summers and Sue Foot were in Wheathampstead for Leila's Run a four-lap undulating marathon course with constantly changing scenery to enjoy. Jo finished with a course PB of 4.07 and Sue finished in 4.50.

Steve McKeown was up early for the Triathlon National Championships at Box End, Bedford. He was happy to pick up an age group silver medal at the Sprint, finishing the 750m Swim, 20km cycle and 5k Run In 1:06:43. Paula Holm was also competing well after a period of injury finishing 18th in her  age group in a time of 1:25:46. Natalie Lawrence had a brilliant race winning her age group in 1:09:25 and 4th overall.

David Annetts was 2nd at the Woodford Open 3000m Race Walk in a time of 13.49 on Tuesday evening.

Full Results for Thorney:
pos name time cat pos
2 Thomas Webb 00:26:30 1
3 Andrew Leach 00:27:05 1
4 Mark Vaughan 00:27:13 2
20 Peter Sibbett 00:30:19 3
25 John Auld 00:30:37 12
30 David Weston 00:31:41 13
45 Astrid McKeown 00:32:48 1
125 Andrew Coates 00:38:36 18
143 Richard Weber 00:40:03 15
149 F Lucy O'Connor 00:40:20 5
166 Linda Aird 00:41:30 1
182 Karen Dodsworth 00:42:14 8
206 Sue Vaughan 00:43:47 8
254 Jane Tyler 00:49:39 12
284 Joanne Sopala 00:54:38 18
298 Lindsey Lucas 00:58:28 17
 
Full Results for Kimbolton Half Marathon
Rachel Arnott - 1:42:48
Adam Wilson - 1:52:53
Jennie Fraser - 1:53:58
Alice Noakes - 1:55:58
Lucy Hurley - 2:03:05
Naomi Parkinson - 2:03:06
Alan Hazlehurst - 2:06:22
Allison Blunt - 2:09:21
Vanessa Rolfe - 2:19:52
Jim Marvell - 2:31:11
Alison Mottram - 2:31:55
 
Parkrun Results:
Letchworth: 1 Matthew SAYERS 19:02, 7 James DALTON 22:43, 13 Steve BRENTON 24:40, 1 Katherine GOURD 25:25, 80 Helen MARSON-SMITH 32:46, 98 Naomi PARKINSON 34:11, 135 Anna GREETHAM 40:25, 154 Glyn BLAKEY 54:29. Stevenage: 2 Rhiannon BOTHA 22:04, 3 Dervla DOWNING 23:09, 46 Damon CLEVELEY 23:13, 142 Philip FLACK 26:51. Wimpole: 14 Jillian BOYS 25:43. Ormskirk: 116 Joseph SHERRY 28:50. Great Denham: 25 Andrew COATES 22:52, 75 Dave BRAYBROOK 25:46. Heartlands: 19 Andrew ROBSON 22:48. Tawd Valley: 25 Chris POOLE 26:14. Roding Valley: 8 Darren MATUSSA 20:00. Bath Skyline: 35 Ian DATLEN 23:33. Gunnersbury: 413 Georgina QUAYLE 29:39.

Making the most of the long summer days with some evening racing, Stewart Overton headed to Battersea Park after work on Tuesday to run the VAC 5-mile road race. Held over a flat and fast course Stewart set himself a target time of 27.30. Missing his target time by just 5 seconds Stewart finished in 27.35 taking first place. Stewart was happy with the result saying, ‘so close to my target time and nice to take the win.’

Also racing in the evening John Rayner travelled up to Sceddington in Lincolnshire on Friday night to race the Sleaford Striders Summer 10k. Expecting some family support John said, ‘It’s my dad’s club, I picked the race so he could watch but he was in Hertfordshire watching the Proclaimers instead.’ The blustery evening made conditions tougher than expected producing slower times for all the runners. John finished outside his target time but was happy with his effort considering the conditions securing 4th place overall and first V35 in a time of 36.18.

David Annetts had a busy weekend race walking at the British Masters Championships held at the Birmingham Alexander Stadium. The event was more about championship racing than times. David competed in two races in two days starting with the British Masters Championship 3000m Race Walk on Saturday where he finished 1st in 15:09.68. Sunday saw him competing in the 5000m Race Walk and again David showed his form by winning the event in 24:46.71.
 

Parkrun Results:
Stevenage: Rhiannon BOTHA 22:47, Dervla DOWNING 23:04, Damon CLEVELEY 23:31, Elwyn HOWELL 24:47
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Letchworth: Ed PRICE 18:30, Glyn BLAKEY, 23:55, Jegan SIMON 25:56, Linda AIRD 28:18, Ian DATLEN
28:18, Carl GOODRUM 29:05, Philip FLACK 30:36, Steve BRENTON 32:03, Brian JUDKINS 37:16, Lucy HURLEY 49:14
 
Ellenbrook Fields: Chris POOLE 24:43
 
Eden Project: Eva MCCABE 22:31
 
Conkers: Naomi PARKINSON 25:40
 
Penrose: Chris STOKES 20:47
 
Cirencester: Jillian BOYS 24:17
 
Rheinaue: David WESTON 20:06

A small bunch of squirrels made their way up the A1 to St Neots for the Riverside Runners' 32nd annual 10k race.

Run over a flat mix terrain course with some wobbly bridges and pretty scenery to distract the runners. Adam Wilson described it as ‘a very enjoyable run’ despite temperatures soaring to 27 degrees during the race. Admin was delighted to break 50 minutes for the first time with a new PB of 49.54. Helen Wilson was also  pleased to finish her first 10k in about three years in 1.07.06. Other squirrels completing the race were Glyn Blakey in 47.48, Andrew Coates 50.57, Kat Gourd 50.57, Ian Sutcliffe 59.57, and Ally Blunt 1.00.58.

Adam Bowller unexpectedly found himself taking part in the Clun Carnival Canta on Friday evening in Shropshire. The course was 5.5 miles of what could be considered as a fell race due to the steep off road climbs and descents. Adam said the descents were, ‘so steep that I had to walk in places and I was leading over the peaks. I clearly have to work on my descending however as I ended up 2nd by just 5 seconds’. Adam completed the incredibly tough course in a time of 39.45.
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Taking a break from road racing Darren Matussa and Stewart Overton took part in the SOAR mile on Friday evening at the Olympic Stadium warm up track in Stratford. Darren was first up and ran a new PB of 5:09. Stewart’s race also hosted the Women’s Elite mile and in a competitive field he finished in a time of 4:51. Stewart said ‘It was Great fun to run on the track graced by so many Olympians and international stars since 2012’

Pete Sibbett broke the clubs V55 parkrun record at Great Dunham on Saturday in 18.54 and Karen Dodsworth was delighted with her time of 23.53.

​Other Parkrun results:

Bury St Edmunds Patrick NORRIS, 35:26, Stevenage Dervla DOWNING 23:24, Wimpole Estate Jillian BOYS 23:47, Joseph SHERRY 29:19, Stretford Ian DATLEN 20:18, Letchworth Damon CLEVELEY 23:46, Lucy HURLEY 27:24, Naomi PARKINSON 27:25, Glyn BLAKEY 36:51, Great Denham Peter SIBBETT 18:54 and Karen DODSWORTH 25:53.