North Herts Road Runners Reign in Spain

Stewart Overton

Personal bests, grit, determination and plenty of festive cheer mark another extraordinary week for the thriving Squirrels.
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 “The experience of running in the centre of a major European city on closed roads with lots of support is a fantastic one,” said North Herts Road Runner Stewart Overton, who took part in a 10k race, which was part of Valencia’s marathon weekend. “It really does give you that bit extra.”

In Overton’s case, it certainly did. His finishing time was 34:52 ­ a massive 45 seconds off his personal best, and a well-deserved end to a year of hard training and steadily improving results. “If anyone ever wants to visit Valencia I recommend the marathon weekend,” he added. “The whole place buzzes with runners from across the globe but you can also take in the city and everything it has to offer at the same time.”

Stewart Overton wasn’t the only Squirrel running in the Spanish city at the weekend. Michelle and Andy Grudzinski both ran the full marathon. Despite having been unwell the week before, they ran together and finished their last marathon of the year in 5.11.26.

There was also plenty of action closer to home, as Saturday saw scores of Squirrels amongst the 199 runners who took part in the Santa Canta 5k at Letchworth’s Norton Common. Held every year, this fundraising 5k event is the festive edition of the popular First Saturday of the Month 5k series, which is organised by North Herts Road Runners. This year the event raised over £600 for Tracks Autism, a Stevenage-based early years centre for children with an autistic spectrum condition.

The runners didn’t let the rain or the muddy conditions dampen their spirits and ran, sang and cheered their way around the course. Hayley Cocks described herself as ‘super chuffed’ to take four minutes off her previous best time on the course to finish in 32:26. North Herts Road Runner Astrid McKeown was the first female finisher in a time of 20:51, while teammate Tom Webb took first position overall, just dipping under the 17-minute mark.

Meanwhile, John Auld returned to his native Yorkshire to resume his assault on the challenging Silkstone Shuffle series. The weekend’s race was the final event of the series, and Auld went into it with a two-and-a-half-minute lead over his rival in 4th place, but knowing that he was going to have a battle to secure a place on the podium. In tough conditions, it was neck and neck between Auld and his main rival. Things were going well, “I said to myself, nothing can stop you now apart from a fall...” said Auld, and then, disaster: he slipped at a stile and hit the ground hard. Despite a bloodied knee and elbow and some nasty bruises, Auld got back up and showed grit and determination to get through the rest of the race. Not only did he finish tenth overall on the day, but his strong finish guaranteed him third in the series – a podium finish for the second year running.
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​Bedford was the setting for a testing half marathon in which eight North Herts Road Runners ran. Niccolo Bassani’s time was 1:34:30. “Slower than I hoped,” said Niccolo Bassani, “but all things considered a good time given the beating wind and the long uphill sections.” Suzy Trott (1:37:54) was the second V40 woman, and Darren Sunter (1:17:17) finished in fifth place overall, and third V35 man. Also running were Martyn Annetts, Chris Poole, Tom Brownlee and Luke Callan.

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