Fantastic Feats at Festival of Running

Lucy O'Connor, Vanessa Rolfe and Caroline Thrussell

Several North Herts Road Runners travelled to Milton Keynes for the hugely popular running festival on Sunday, where there was a number of events taking place including a 5k, 10k, half marathon and 20 mile.
Fourteen friendly squirrels took part in the varying distances with Mark Vaughan finishing 3rd overall in the 20 mile in a time of 2:00:07, even though ‘It was a last minute entry into the race and it was a nice way to finish off an 85 mile training week!’. Wow! Alongside Mark were five other North Herts Road Runners who did fantastically well in the challenging conditions, including Adrian Sherwood 2:23:33, Sophie Thrussell 2:25:43, Caroline Thrussell 2:35:02, Lucy O’Connor 3:18:18 and Vanessa Rolfe 3:44:57.

The 10k saw Dervla Downing lead North Herts Road Runners home in a time of 46:48. Kat Gourd and Andrew Coates finished together in a time of 48:45 even though Kat had a bit of a bumpy start with an ‘embarrassing’ trip in the car park before the race had even started, which meant running round with bloody knees and a grazed elbow! Nothing will stop these hardy squirrels!

Other finishers include Tim Banting 53:53, Sue Vaughan 57:22 and Ali Blunt 59:06 in the 10k, and Dave Frampton 1:32:04 and Katrina Dixon 2:20:23 in the half marathon.

Even though both Kat and Mark commented on the ‘nightmare hill at the end’, it does seem like a good event to put in the diary for next year as I heard it was well organised with a decent medal. Who doesn’t love a good medal!

Elsewhere saw John Auld complete his 20th, yep 20th, Silkstone Shuffle- an achievement itself I say. John finished 4th and received the first senior man outside the top 3, winning a bottle of wine. It wasn’t an easy race this time though with John describing it as a great race which was well fought. John told us that there was plenty of water and mud on the course which was very strength sapping (coaches take note- strength work required!), and that whilst the top 3 ran off the battle for 4th was a good one that lasted the whole race, with John out-sprinting his competition in the last 500m.

Dan Mallett attended the Beowulf 10k at West Stow Country park in Bury St Edmunds. Out of 315 runners Dan came 88th in a time of 55:59. Dan described the course as a trail run going through the park and back with a mixture of dry mud, sand and logs among the natural obstacles. And, with no hills and a couple of nice downhill sections combined with sunny(ish) weather, it made for an enjoyable experience with a cracking medal at the end. Another race to enter just for the medal!

Parkrun results;

Letchworth
James Dalton 20:54
Matt Roberts 24:00
Steve Brenton 24:25
Carl Goodrum 29:04
Philip Flack 30:11
Siobhan Walsh 33:24

Stevenage
Chris Stokes 20:48
Ian Datlen 21:57
Rhia Botha 23:2
Kat Gourd 26:59
Andrew Coates 26:59
Jane Clarke 35:23

Wimpole Estate
Naomi Parkinson 49:43
Ally Pally
Carl Haskell 44:26
Abbie Haskell 44:28
Vicky Haskell 44:29

Kettering
Steve Williamson- 21:55

Ellenbrook Fields
Chris Poole 24:07

Mersea Island
Will Harrison 19:08

Great Denham
Jillian Boys 27:28