Easter Running Bunnies

The Easter weekend kicked off with a very special celebration at Henlow Lakes parkrun, which was the club's April  Run of the Month'. Many Squirrels came together to celebrate Ian Sutcliffe's 80th Birthday. In fact the high number of Squirrels helped to contribute to a record attendance at the event. The 2 and half lap course flew by for most and the celebrationscontinued after the race with tea and cake.

​Happy Birthday Ian!

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On Easter Monday, over in Stevenage there was the Spring 10k and Half Marathon taking place. North Herts had some impressive results at the event, with PBs and Podiums aplenty. Rhia Botha won the lady's Half Marathon event and secured 12th place overall in 1hr32. Hearing Rhia describe her day it sounds like a very successful training run - “The plan was a good effort training run with David Edwards, but when I realised that I was in second place, I really had no choice but to put in a little more effort! I even got to run through the winning ribbon and bagged myself a gold medal. David Edwards was not far behind me.” David finished 2nd in his age category.

Over in the 10k race, James Dalton was an age category winner in a time of 43mins. Dan Mallett achieved his first sub 45min and a highly respectable 4th in his age category.
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Whilst Steve Tracey ran 49 mins to be 9th in his age category.

Further afield, Lucy Robertson completed her first 10km ‘race’ on Friday 18th as part of the Isle of Man Easter Festival of Running. Some 550 runners took to the undulating streets around Port Erin and Port St Mary on a damp and blustery evening. Lucy was hoping for under an hour but smashed out a 50min 57sec PB coming in first in the U17F category winning £20.

On the other side of the Atlantic one of the oldest marathons in the calendar was taking place on its traditional Patriots’ Day, the Boston Marathon. Tash Pitman was representing North Herts and looking to also gain her 6 star medal for completing the 6 Majors. Tash finished in 3hr59 and enjoyed the special course, including the crowd and a helpful bagel at Mile 19 from a spectator which provided a needed boost after the famous Newton Hills.

The journey to get her 6 star medal started in New York 20 years ago - A fantastic achievement!

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​​Parkrun roundup:

Amager: Anna Greetham (27:09), Matt Roberts (27:09)
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Aylesbury: David Brewer (21:10)

Cockermouth Greenway: Emma Sandham (24:36)

Colwick: Helen Marson-smith (39:36)

Hastings: Daniel Wrigley (21:57)

Henlow Bridge Lakes: Steve Mckeown (20:30), Ian Datlen (20:42), Chris Stokes (22:00), Matt Ankers (23:34), Richard Weber (23:44), Richard Harbon (24:03), Astrid Mckeown (24:19), Richard Barker (24:20), James Godfrey (24:27), John Auld (25:04), Michael Over (25:27), Rhiannon Botha (25:28), Natalie Phillips (25:41), Paula Holm (25:42), Caroline Thrussell (26:26), Lucy O'connor (26:30), Dawn Power (27:01), Peter Sibbett (27:02), Andrew Robson (27:44), Jennie Fraser (28:01), Philippa Hardcastle (28:13), Jo Harbon (28:37), Andrew Coates (28:39), Adrian Sherwood (29:06), Michelle Grudzinski (29:44), Adam Wilson (29:45), Andrew Grudzinski (30:01), Alice Noakes (30:02), Karen Dodsworth (30:07), Gregor Bowie (30:23), Helen Harbon (30:35), Katie Harbon (30:36), Linda Aird (30:40), James Berry (30:40), Frances Stanton (30:42), Philip Flack (31:09), Steve Brenton (32:09), Tracey Mccreath (32:51), Ian Sutcliffe (33:05), Amanda Greig (33:06), Helen Giffin (33:28), Helen Cromack (33:50), Sheila Leavy (39:14), Rosie King (39:18), Brian Bailey (45:02)

Hogmoor Inclosure: James Poulton (34:04)

​Hunstanton Promenade: Nick Malpeli (21:34)

Jamaica Pond: Natasha Pitman (27:02)

Letchworth: Oliver Babik (20:17), James Dalton (21:33)

Mersea Island: William Harrison (21:38), Laura Fairbanks (24:24)

Milton Keynes: Kris Whitmore (18:53)

Oaklands college: Tracey Palmer (01:02:24)

Pocket: Thomas Buzzard (20:16)
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Roding Valley: Darren Matussa (21:45)

Sittingbourne: Matthew Sayers (18:06)

Stevenage: Ellie Scott (29:08), Emily Yossarian (31:09), Annette England (39:03)

Storeys Field: Joseph Barker-sherry (28:16)

Tamar Trails: Danielle Lister (31:59)

Westmill: Bev Rimmer (53:33)