Squirrels clean up at County Championships

Wow! What a weekend North Herts Road Runners have had. There were seven events that North Herts Road Runners took part in to claim PB’s, club records, team prizes, long distances and lots of fun in the process.

Hatfield 5k - Race 1
Earlier in the week, NHRR headed over to Hatfield to compete in the 1st of three, flat, fast 2 and a half lap 5k’s. It was also the senior county championships meaning the field was fast and the competition was tough. However, NHRR smashed it, winning both the men’s and women’s races, 1st men’s team and 2nd women’s team. Katie Harbon came in as first woman with a PB and club record of 17:07 and was joined by Rhia Botha and Sophie Thrussell to bring home the team silver medal. Rhia finished 2nd in the V35 category, smashing 20 minutes in a great time of 19:42 and Sophie came in as 7th senior female overall in a time of 20:03. In the men’s race Ben Hadman finished 1st in a huge time of 15:30, followed closely by Tom Webb, finishing just 2 seconds later in a time of 15:32. Matt Sayers dipped just under the 17-minute barrier in a phenomenal time of 16:56 and Shahab Amad closed the victorious men’s team in a time of 17:18.
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Overall, 39 squirrels competed, and all had a great run with incredible times. Elliot Jackson beat 18 minutes in a time of 17:53, followed by Kris Whitmore in 18:03. Micheal Over managed to scrape just under 19 minutes with a PB of 18:59 and Ian Harvey in 19:32. David Edwards and James Walsh also beat the 20 minutes barrier with times of 19:41 and 19:44 respectively. Mike Phillips crossed the line in just over 20 minutes with a time of 20:04, followed by Peter Sibbett in 20:21. Rached Arnott finished close behind in 20:23 finishing 4th in the FV45 category and Jane Clarke in 21:05 and 6th in the FV35 category. Steve Tracey followed in 21:08 as did Andrew Wallis in 21:29, Richard Harbon 21:42, Richard Weber 22:36, Caroline Thrussell 22:48, Andrew Coates, 23:32, Joanne Hoare 23:36, Ian Datlen 23:41, Lucy O’Connor 24:15, Helen Cairns 24:10, Chris Cope 24:27, Ellie Frid 24:51, Anna Gibson 24:56, Susan Foot 26:55, Hannah Keeble 27:01, Linda Aird 27:13, Karen Dodsworth 27:41, Lindsay Cook 28:57, Ian Sutcliffe 29:28, Miranda Morgan 29:28 and Sheila Leavy 39:00.

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Prague - Czech Republic
Hannah Ridley was selected to Represent Great Britain in the European Police Athletics Championships in Prague, Czech Republic in the 800m event.   She raced to a podium place, winning the Bronze medal in a stunning time of 2:23.3  She described it as "The experience of a lifetime and I was delighted to have fulfilled a childhood dream.  To come away with a bronze medal as well is absolutely mind blowing!"

Bedford
There were plenty of events to choose from at the annual Bedford Running Festival over the hot weekend. The festival's first race saw runners toe the line at 3pm on Saturday and four North Herts Road Runners raced, with Elwyn Howell first squirrel home in a new personal best time of 20:55, his first time under 21 minutes. He was followed by Stephen Doran in 29:08 and then by Nicola and Neil Withington with Nicola pacing her husband to a personal best time of 30:53. 

The next race was the Twilight 10k at 5:30pm and again four squirrels took part. Caroline Thrussell finished first in her age category in a time of 47:47. Dave Braybrook clocked 47:27, Steve Brenton 49:02 and Vanessa Rolfe 1:12:51.

Very warm conditions presided over the Sunday races with both the half marathon and 20 mile races starting horn sounding at 9:30. In the half, Ben Ryan was first squirrel home despite a week of jet lag in 1:46:33, Richard Weber 1:53:16, Anna Gibson 2:01:35, Lucy O'Connor second in her age group in 2:02:21 and James Humphreys 2:02:16.

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The twenty mile option was undertaken by Rachel Arnott, Tash Pitman, Elwyn Howell and Nicola Withington who were using it as training runs for Autumn marathons. Rachel was set to be first squirrel home, but was misdirected so ran an extra 1k, but finished in an impressive 2:36:02. Tash Pitman was happy to stick to her pace plan and finished in 2:31:57, while Elwyn Howell ran an impressive 2:54:57, just 17 hours after his 5k best time. Nicola Withington finished with a superb sprint to finish in 3:23:27, cheered on by her coach and family.
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Huge thanks to all that came out to cheer over the weekend, including Karen, Cara, Brian Judkins, Linda Howell and Neil Withington! ​

Baldock Rat Run
Locally, 9 squirrels took part in the annual rat run in Baldock on Sunday. It was a great morning with the race starting in the centre of Baldock, heading out into the local countryside and taking in some of the Greenway under gloriously sunny skies.

​NHRR supplied both female and male winners in Rhia Botha in 18:20 and David Edwards in 17:48. James Dalton came in 3rd in 18:03, followed by John Auld 18:25, Astrid Mckeown 19:14, Alex Robinson 19:57, Jillian Tooley-Boys 22:18, Stephen Doran 29:08 and Kat Hinitt 31:56. 

Dunstable
Sue Foot headed to Dunstable for the Dunstable Downs marathon challenge. Sue described it as an undulating trail marathon with some steep hills over the Down and plenty of recently ploughed fields to plod through. Sue was pleased to finish the scenic route in 5hrs 44 mins. 

Broughton Burn 10km
On what sounds like a similarly hard course, Ian took on the truly multi terrain ‘Broughton Burn 10km’ in North Lincolnshire. The course sounded like it had a bit of everything, with tarmac, a loose cinder river path, farm tracks, two humped river bridges, 1 steep set of steps, a grass field boundary and all topped off with an evil uphill finish. A right challenge! Ian finished in a great time of 40:41. 

Surrey
Further afield, Matt Roberts and Anna Greetham ran the Tribe X Maverick Run Free in Surrey. A hilly trail run with around 605m of elevation over the 22.85km course through an Area of Outstanding Beauty saw around 400 runners complete the long and short courses. They completed the long course in 2 hours 38 mins coming 102nd and 103rd out of 166 runners. Post-race pizza and beer made for an ideal end to a great day. Anna said it was an amazing day and highly recommends the event! 

Duck and Dash
The annual ‘Duck and Dash’ also took place over the weekend. This race consists of a 400m swim followed by a tough 5k run around Letchworth Common.  Sophie Thrussell took 3rd in the female open category, putting herself in the running for an England call up. 

It was a family affair for Shahab Ahmad who persuaded his exceptionally reluctant wife Deborah to take part as a team in the relay event. They came away with the win following a fab performance by them both. Shahab also cheered on his son in his first ever multi-sport event, the Tri-Start for 8-year-olds.

​Anderw Robson competed in the solo event and following a 4-year break from multi-sport was delighted to cross the finish line. The event saw another husband-and-wife duo take part in the solo events, with Richard finishing 4th in his age category and Jo finishing 7th in her category. Katie Harbon and Barbar McNally also took part in the team relay event and finished in 2nd place, just behind Shahab and Deborah.  

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Parkrun Round-up:

Ancholme Valley Way: Brian Judkins (34:27)

Bedford: Chris Stokes (20:46), Jon Hunt (22:19), Elwyn Howell (35:37)

Conwy: Dawn Power (26:32)

Letchworth: Steve Brenton (26:40), Jegan Simon (26:41), Daniel Mallett (29:07)

Stevenage: Matthew Ronayne (18:02), Adam Stout (24:41), Andrew Cooper (28:28)

Wimpole Estate: Vincent Wright (20:07)

Wotton: Kris Whitmore (19:57)