Rainbows, Elves and Festive Fare

Elf sisters Linsey and Jennie

Christmas came to Welwyn on Sunday when fourteen North Herts Road Runners joined many others and scurried round the Welwyn Festive 5 mile race, many in Christmassy costumes. 

Sisters Linsey Ashley and Jennie Andrews said,“It was the first time we have done a 5 mile race and we loved it. The course was brilliant, the marshals were encouraging and seeing all the Santas, elves and snowmen run around was brilliant. The chocolate Santa at the finish line certainly gave us some motivation to get round!” Caroline Thrussell also ran the race and said, “After a rainy warm up, we started under a rainbow and the sun shone for the rest of the race. I was thrilled with a pb of 35:42, first FV55 and a club record of over 3 minutes. Other finishers for NHRR were John Rayner, who finished 4th in 29:28. 30 Seconds later was Darren Matussa, who nearly took a wrong turn on the course, finishing in 6th position. Pete Sibbett finished in 32:42. Stuart Cocks, following a 1st in age category park run at Jersey Farm the previous day, finished in 33rd place in 36:25. Chris Poole also ran the Jersey Farm Parkrun and finished in 36:45. Babs Sayers finished in 38:35, with Jo Harbon coming in next in 41:31. Sue Vaughan was 95th in 44:42, closely followed by sisters Jennie Andrews and Linsey Ashley who both finished in 46:18. Lorna Chambers was 147th in 49:33 and Jane Tyler finished in 52:48. Finally, Monica Cullen brought up the NHRR tail in a spritely 1:14:16.

The weekend also saw the Milton Keynes winter half-marathon and three squirrels decided to make the journey to compete. Russ Hagan finished in 1:57:53. He said,“This was my very first half at age 58, so I'm very happy to have got round in under 2hrs. Huge kudos and thanks to the training provided by NHRR and the encouragement of my training group. When I joined the club less than 6 months ago I'd only done a few Parkruns so it shows what can be achieved with the support of the club. This was a large, very well organised event with well over 2000 runners. The course was surprisingly lovely on paths around parkland, lakes and by the canal. The positive vibe was certainly helped by the winter sun breaking through and the large number of cheering spectators. I would certainly recommend it as an intro to half marathons.” Jo Kenlin and Kelly Hanlon also ran the race. Jo said, “Our plan for the day was to just finish, but we then decided to pace ourselves with the 3hr pacer. We both had a great run and really enjoyed it. Kelly came in at 2hr 41 and I did 2hr 49 beating my last 1/2 marathon time by 24 mins…” A great race for all three Squirrels.

Further afield, Linda Aird took on the Telford 10k which was an age group qualifying race for England Masters 10k. Advertised as a flat, fast course, Linda said that it wasn’t completely flat and it was quite crowded, but still fairly quick. Linda finished third FV60 in a chip time of 50:48, which was within the qualifying time and 3rd in her category, so is hoping that she might have qualified for an England vest for Birmingham next year.  

Finally, Chloe Lucas did the Keyworth Turkey Trot half marathon (the winners were awarded a frozen Christmas turkey!). It was a rather undulating course round the sunny Nottinghamshire countryside. Chloe was very pleased to finish in 1:43:15.

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