Only 3 weeks after winning silver at the British Masters Marathon championships, Nick Malpeli was racing again. This time over a shorter distance at the Fenland 10.  A strong head wind for the first 5 miles and with legs still recovering from his recent marathon meant that his time wasn’t as fast as he had hoped for finishing 20th overall in 01:02:36, 2nd MV50. This was still good enough to secure him the gold medal in the Eastern Masters championships MV50-54 category.

Four squirrels took on marathons this weekend. Sue Foot and Miranda Morgan took part in the challenging Beachy Head Marathon running together they finished in a time of 5:32. Michelle Grudzinski took on the Snowdonia Marathon for the second time and despite nursing an injury and stopping in the local pub she managed to finish 4 minutes quicker than last year in 5:16. Jo Summers was at St Edmunds Marathon where she finished 4th female and 1st FV50 in a time of 4:06. Pat Norris was also at St Edmunds and took the half marathon option finishing in 2:58:20.

Monica Cullin took park in the Love Luton 10k finishing in a time of 1:36:09.

On Saturday North Herts Road Runners were out in force at many and various parkruns around the country. Simon Poole took the top result at Pennington Flash parkrun finishing 1st in a time of 19:23. Darren Matussa was 3rd at Roding Valley Parkrun in 18:48. Other parkruns included Torbay Velopark where Brian Judkins finished 156th in 30:28, Phoenix parkrun Chris Poole 21st 25:26,  Westmill parkrun Helen Giffin 33rd 30:07, Kettering parkrun Steve Williamson 26th 22:05, Wimpole Estate parkrun Matthew Davies 26th 21:13. 
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Most squirrels stayed closer to home at Stevenage parkrun with John Cooper 8th 20:31, Rob Milburn 10th 20:36, Richard Harbon 12th 20:45, Chris Stokes 22nd 21:32, Oliver Garbas 38 23:08, Barbara Sayers 43rd 23:43, Paul Bowal 66th 25:07, Caroline Thrussell 97th 26:58, Sue Vaughan 98th 26:59, Linda Aird 108th 27:17, Chrissie Davis 165th 30:14, Geoff Pettengell 190th 33:36, Lindsey Lucas 215th 36:58, Johanne Kenlin 232nd 40:24, and Joanne Sopala 238th 43:25.

This Sunday saw the beginning of the cross-country league season.  The first race took place at Croyland Park, Wellingborough with 26 squirrels taking to the course.

Both men’s and women’s teams finished in 2nd, leaving the NHRR team top in the combined competition. It’s a fantastic start to the race series.

Jim, Mark, Adam, John, Ed, Matt, Ryan and Stewart scored for the men and Astrid, Jane, Paula and Sarah were the women’s scorers.

The full list of runners with their positions are as follows:

7, Jim McConnel
9, Mark Vaughan
12, Adam Bowler
15, John Auld
18, Ed Price
21, Matt Sayers
29, Ryan Smith
38, Steward Overton
42, Nick Malpeli
48, Steve Wells
53, James Keogh
56, Vince Wright
71, Adrian Sherwood
101, Astrid Mckeown
112, Jane Clarke
118, Steve Tracey
122, Steve Harris
142, Steve Williamson
157, Paula Adams
162, Lewis Green
163, Sarah Mitcherson
164, Kat Burr
265, Linda Aird
289, Hannah Keeble
317, Christine Sharp
329, Joy Shroud

With Less Mud but a longer distance Chelmsford Marathon saw four squirrels donning their vests.   Naomi Parkinson was the first to finish in a PB time of 4:18:46, Lucy Hurley in her marathon debut time of 4:27:28.  Adam Wilson also making his marathon debut finished in a time of 4:44:38, Alan Hazlehurst in 4:51:50 pretty impressive for someone still recovering from a chest infection!

Jennifer Naisbitt ran her first half marathon in Stevenage doing better than she expected, finishing in 2:13:02.

11 Squirrels settled for the 5k parkrun distance in Stevenage with the following results.
10th Rob MILBURN, 20:27, 20th Chris STOKES, 21:25, 55th (6th Female) Ellie SCOTT, 24:22, 88th Richard FOX, 25:48, 91st Paul BOWAL, 26:00, 94th Jon STOW, 26:05, 126th Verity HAGUE, 27:50, 144th Helen GIFFIN, 00:28:47, 171st Oliver GARBAS, 00:30:11, 202nd Chrissie DAVIS, 00:31:30, 232nd Patrick NORRIS, 00:32:54.

Parkrun Zary saw Chris Poole coming in 69th in a time of 28:58, Tring Parkrun had Stephen Lumis taking part coming in in 53rd with a time of 26:07 and in March Mark Cook was 7th in 21:01.

A scurry of squirrels turned out at the Amptill Trophy to start the Cross-Country season. Described as a fast, challenging course in historic Amptil Park, it was more challenging than fast! With great support round the course, first home for the club and winner of the race was Andrew Leach, closely followed by Jim McConnel who was 2nd. Matt Sayers was 3rd home for the club in 8th place overall. These 3 made up the winning mens team for the event. Other runners were Ryan Smith (10th), John Auld (11th), Stewart Overton (14th) and Vincent Wright (20th). Astrid Mckeown was the first lady in the race and 24th overall. Robert Milburn (51st), David Weston (58th), Johnny Spinks (128th). Linda Aird (129th) was the first FV55.

In the junior race, supported by NHRR was Oliver Brady who finished 2nd U15 and Charlotte Spinks finished 1st FU17.

Nursing an injury from the Standalone 10k fun run, Lindsay Cook ran the Manchester Half in 2:21:11 in the unseasonably warmth of the north.

Two squirrels ran the at the Bedford Duathlon. In the sprint distance, Simon Poole finished 7th in his category and is waiting to see if this merits a GB qualification. Andrew Green (1:03:10) finished 11th in category. In the standard distance NHRR member Katie Harbon, racing for Freedom Tri, finished first lady and has qualified for the Europeans in Ibiza.
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Several squirrels were in Parkrun action this week. Five squirrels went to Bedford parkrun #327. Ellie Scott (23:44) was first home for the club, followed by Paul Bowal (25:56), Sue Vaughan (26:54), Jon Stow (27:07) and Verity Hague (28:17). Cambridge Parkrun #393 had the pleasure of Brian Judkins (34:42). Closer to home, four squirrels ran Stevenage Parkrun #177. First home for the club was Simon Poole (20:29) who was on pacing duty and successfully got a friend round with a new PB. Steve Limmus (22:38) was second home for the club followed by Christian Allen (25:18) and Jo Sherry (27:01). Further afield, Chris Poole ran his 177th Parkrun at Sale Water. Chris has now done 124 different parkruns world wide.

North Herts Road Runners ‘ Nick Malpeli celebrated his debut in an England vest by taking the silver medal in the British Masters Championships for the marathon.
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Competing in the Chester Marathon, Malpeli recorded a magnificent 2.47.28 to slice 96 seconds off his personal best and set a new club record in the process. 
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The Squirrels sent a strong contingent to the Great Eastern Half-marathon in Peterborough, where Richard Fox was delighted to knock 12 minutes off his time in last year’s event, recording 2.21.23 this time. James Drew achieved a new personal best with 1.37.00. Other results from Peterborough: Mark Vaughan, 1.14.55; Darren Sunter, 1.15.44; Ed Price, 1.16.51; Adam Bowller, 1.17.35; John Rayner, 1.17.44; Stewart Overton,  1.22.39; Martyn Annetts, 1.34.33; Suzy Trott, 1.40.15; Linda Aird, 1.53.51.

Sue Foot and Jo Summers both travelled to Suffolk for the Great Barrow Autumn Double marathon event over the weekend, with Sue recording 4.32 on the Saturday and Jo clocking 4.14 on Sunday.

James Keogh was the first North Herts finisher at their regular First Saturday of the Month 5k crossing the line third in 19.05. 127 people enjoyed the scenic and challenging Norton Common course.