Squirrels crack one of UK's toughest half marathon courses

Adam Wilson and Andy Grudzinski headed off for a nice social half on the roads of Snowdonia and laughed at the Run Wales sign warning - "ONE OF THE UK’s TOUGHEST HALF MARATHONS WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! THIS IS VERY TOUGH! THIS IS VERY TOUGH!"
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Andy reported that "After an evening of hydration in the sunshine, it was an early start to ensure we made it to the coffee shop before the race.  From the moment we crossed the start line, it was up, up and away; up 210m in the first 2 or so miles. The run continues around two llyns with a small hill in between, before descending to the start of the last hill.  If Baldock has the beast, Llanwrst has a Welsh Titan: a 1 in 7 hill rising from the 11 mile mark is a great challenge. But when you get to the top and realise you've got to drop 160m towards the finish line, the fun continues and the quads start to dream of a finish line."  Both crossed the line in 2:22:18 which they were pleasantly surprised by given the 585m height gain. They highly recommend if you like a hilly challenge!

Copenhagen Marathon
Over in Denmark  Karen Townsend completed her 8th Marathon in an excellent time of 3:13:05 in unseasonably hot weather!

Completing Parkruns this week, 40 NHRR squirrels appeared at 12 different parkruns.  At Henlow Bridge Lake Astrid Mckeown set a new club record in the FV50 category and Ian Harvey achieved his 100 parkrun milestone.  Meanwhile in Letchworth Sam Coxon completed his first parkrun and led the field home!

Letchworth parkrun: Sam Coxon 18:26; James Dalton 21:37; Rachel Arnott 22:59; Ian Datlen 23:48; Jennie Fraser 26:33; Georgina Quayle 28:27; Helen Cairns 28:51; Philip Flack 31:10

Henlow Bridge Lakes parkrun: Michael Over 20:53; Astrid Mckeown 21:35; Mike Phillips 22:39; Ian Harvey 23:05; James Poulton 23:21; Dave Braybrook 23:28; Anna Greetham 26:25; Rhiannon Botha 26:26; Matt Roberts 26:26; Lucy O'Connor 26:29; Katherine Gourd 28:22; Andrew Coates 28:56; Natalie Phillips 29:21

Stevenage parkrun: Vincent Wright 19:04; Chris Stokes 21:33; Laura Fairbanks 22:56; Stuart Cocks 24:12; Paul Bowal 26:23;  Adam Stout 28:09; Hayley Cocks 36:55; Sheila Leavy 41:39

Storeys Field parkrun:  Kris Whitmore 17:57; Frances Stanton 24:49; James Godfrey 24:50; Joseph Barker-Sherry 28:23

Amsterdamse Bos parkrun: Anna Priestley 31:10

Leamington parkrun: John Russell 24:46

Lincoln parkrun: Darren Matussa 19:53

Longrun Meadow parkrun: Jim Mcconnel 22:21

Rugby parkrun:Brian Judkins 33:33

Rushmere parkrun: Mike Bullock 43:52

Sheringham parkrun: Stewart Overton 18:51
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York parkrun: Tom Barclay 17:39