Squirrels stampede to 10k success

Going to the zoo proved just the ticket for Elwyn Howell and Kat Gourd at the Colchester Stampede.
 
Howell was full of praise for the ‘beautiful course’ with its unusual ‘start and finish at Colchester Zoo’ after speeding to a new lifetime best performance over the classic 10km distance.
 
He was delighted to scoop third place in his age category with an impressive 47 mins 35, only a short distance behind North Herts Road Runners clubmate Kat Gourd, who brushed aside the ‘showery conditions’ to record 45:42.
 
‘Not a nice run’ was Angeliki Shearstone’s more philosophical verdict after tackling a solo ‘virtual’ race in place of the cancelled Puglia Marathon. ‘I was all up for it’, the loyal Squirrel reported, ‘but it was a very, very tough marathon which hurt from the very first kilometres’. Despite ’swollen calves and aching legs’, Shearstone  ground out a 4 hrs 22:52 result and was happy with ‘the pride of running with my North Herts Road Runners vest’.
 
Ultra-running specialist Sue Foot tackled the ‘Monkey Meander’ at Horseheath Racecourse in South Cambridge and came away more convinced than ever that shorter distances are just not her thing. Foot clocked up 8 laps of the undulating 5.3km gravel and grass track course to record yet another marathon distance in 5hrs 10 mins and said ‘I have never done a Parkrun and having done eight 5k laps I might still never do one!’