Squirrels at St Neots Half Marathon

Twelve squirrels travelled up the A1M to take on the St Neots Half Marathon – an undulating course through picturesque country roads. They battled a windy morning with strong gusts, making consistent pacing difficult. Richard Springall was the first squirrel home for the club in an impressive 1:29:12 and was closely followed by Rachel Arnott who secured 1st Female in the V45-55 category. Speaking after the race Dave Braybrook commented “I found the race tough due to the wind, but, twelve months ago I had to pull out of this race with a back injury so to complete it today was a huge relief”. Squirrel Jenna Manggos was elated to have achieved a PB of 2:07:52 in her second ever Half Marathon. She paid tribute to fellow squirrel Richard Barker who ran with her, pushing her through every km and to her coaches for their training plan, encouragement, positivity and advice and also to her club mates that she trains with. Alan Hazlehurst completed the course 10 years since he first ran the route! Despite the blustery conditions, Hazlehurst was pleased to complete the race in 2:17:39 considering the lack of long training runs. All runners expressed gratitude to the Squirrels who travelled up to support and appreciated hearing their cheering voices and their cow bells ringing!

Full list of results;
Richard Springall 1:29:12, Rachel Arnott 1:32:47, Paula Holm 1:37:05 Dave Braybrook 1:44:22 Phil Hunt 1:50:33, Laurie Scott 1:55:57, Anna Gibson 2:01:19, Gregor Bowie 2:03:26, Jenna Manggos 2:07:52, Richard Barker 2:07:53, Nick Walker 2:11:14, Ruth Summers 2:11:15, Alan Hazlehurst 2:17:39.

MK Wolverton 5 Miles
Steve and Astrid McKeown, Karen Dodsworth and Linda Aird ran the Wolverton 5 on Saturday. This is known as a fast, one and a half lap race around Willen Lakes in Milton Keynes. The trees were looking beautiful in their autumn colours, and they were looking forward to running around the lakes, despite the drizzle and a strong breeze blowing. Aird comments “we could see during our warm ups that this was a competitive field, with many speedy looking runners getting ready to race (results show the first man home finished in 23:29, impressive for a 5 mile race.)” Those at the slower end soon found themselves running mainly on their own. Aird would have liked more lakeside running and less roadside, but comments that it was a pleasant, traffic-free course around the redways and underpasses of MK. Steve McKeown was first Squirrel home in 32:23, followed soon after by Astrid in 34:05 (1st V50 and a new club FV50 record) Linda Aird finished in 45:18, closely followed by Karen Dodsworth in 45:35.

Brighton 10km
Two squirrels headed to Brighton to compete in the Brighton 10k on Sunday. An out and back course along the sea front should have made for a fast, flat race but the 40mph winds meant a great tailwind on the way out for the first 5k, but a brutal headwind on the way back towards the finish. Pete Sibbett finished in 41:30 and Katie Harbon who was racing for Hertfordshire, finished 4th female in a time of 36:42. Katie commented “the crowds and marshals were great and it was, as always, an honour to wear the county vest!”

---

​Steppingley Step
Andrew Porter, Sue Foot and Jennie Fraser ran the LDWA Steppingley Step. This was a route description event with no signage or marshals. Sue says “It was tough going with some very muddy ploughed fields to cross and plenty of steps to climb, but a lovely route that started and finished in Barton Le-Clay via Westoning, Ampthill and Flitwick.” Porter and Foot completed the 26.5 route in just over seven hours. While Jennie Fraser finished in 5:24:38 exclaiming “I love mud, but this was another level!”

Cross Country Championships
John Auld was the only Squirrel to run at the Eastern Athletics Association (EAA) and Eastern Masters (EMAC) Cross Country Championships on Saturday held at Horseheath Racecourse.

Designed for horses, Auld says that the course is fantastic - a proper cross country course! Up and down hills for no reason other than to make it difficult. The ground was very soft from all the rain. The route takes runners over some of the obstacles for the horses and includes some very short sharp hills and bits through the woods. Another part went up a hill to turn round a cone at the top to come straight back down to another cone - and head straight back up again! Auld’s best part was a huge water feature that you had to run through 3 times! The course climbed a hill into the wind, just to bring competitors back down to go through the water, only to head straight back up the hill again - this time with wet, cold legs!

Auld set off dead last but ran his way up and past 3 people to finish 33rd/36. He ran 2 laps tempo then pushed on in the last lap and had a battle with someone which was satisfying to win.

Conwy Half Marathon
Jo Sopala travel to Conwy to take part in the Conwy Half Marathon in what can only be described as atrocious conditions! Sopala said they were drenched before they even started and the wind gained in strength as the miles ticked (dragged?) by. Describing the course, Jo said, the advantage of the two mile uphill climb on the Orme is usually the two mile downhill run where you can make up a lot of time. But that was not the case this year. Having fought their way to the summit, they rounded the bend to be hit by brutal winds and even more driving rain. The runners could barely stand, let alone run. Sopala commented that for once she was grateful of her very short stature as she could see a lot of tall guys struggling even more! Sopala finished in 2:36, a long way off her planned time, but a course PB. She gave kudos to the marshals on the course, the real heroes of the day, who withstood the storms to keep the runners all safe.

Parkrun
Tim Banting celebrated his 50th Parkrun with fellow squirrels and friends at the muddy Henlow Bridge Lakes course. 

​Eastville: Brian Judkins (34:12)

Henlow Bridge Lakes: Ian Datlen (21:22), Michael Over (21:24), David Edwards (22:05), Mike Phillips (22:18), Daniel Mallett (23:54), Dave Braybrook (23:57), Natalie Phillips (25:34), Andrew Coates (25:47), Ian Harvey (26:03), James Poulton (26:36), Tim Banting (27:51), Georgia Barker (33:09), Richard Barker (33:09)

Heslington: Kris Whitmore (18:34)

Letchworth: William Harrison (20:41), James Dalton (21:57), Steve Brenton (23:57), Alice Noakes (28:50), Helen Harbon (33:02)

Sheringham: Jo Harbon (31:02)
​
Stevenage: Chris Stokes (21:33), Tracy Pitcairn (21:38), Jon Hunt (23:30), Barbara Sayers (26:04), Russell Hagan (28:32)

Teignmouth Promenade: Elwyn Howell (21:11)

Wimpole Estate: Vincent Wright (19:47)

Woodhouse Moor: Tom Barclay (17:53), Emma Sandham (24:47)