Road Runners reset their records

​What a weekend for North Herts Road Runners. Manchester marathon was all the talk, with rumour's that club records were out to be broken and many squirrels out to break their own PB in one of the UK's premier running events, famous for its fast, flat and friendly route. Six squirrels in total headed up to Manchester to see if they had what it takes to defeat a distance renowned to put up the ‘runners wall’. With the current marathon club record standing at 2:32:57, it was a case of go hard or go home for Tom Webb who was the first NHRR ever to clock up a marathon time under 2 hours 30 mins. This was his debut marathon and Manchester served up perfect conditions for Tom who was cheered on by family and members of NHRR who travelled up to support, and he was delighted to clock 2:27:41.
Next in for North Herts Road Runners was Darren Sunter. Considering Darren has had 5 months out due to injury and cramp creeping in at 23 miles, it was a dream day which saw Darren finish in 2:31:58. Darren explained that the hills of Altrincham made the back section of the course tough, and with a superb first 10 miles, hilly mid-section, and then a new lease of life at 20 (albeit complimented by cramp), Darren left everything on the course to finish with a new V40 club record. And that’s not all. NHRR also saw Matt Sayers break his own club record in the V45 category, storming to victory in a time of 2:38:37, and Ben Sewell who blew his PB out the park by a massive 10 minutes, finishing the course in 2:43:58. Shaun Allin and Dave Braybrook defeated the course, both achieving PB’s of 3:25:03 and 3:45:01. Dave exclaimed he had to dig deep after mile 23 and was delighted with his time.

NHRR were also represented at the Reading Half Marathon, where Katie Harbon ran a superb time of 1.20.18, a PB of 2 minutes and sixth women overall in a field of 19,500 runners. Missing the club record by only 2 seconds, Katie enjoyed competing in such a big field and although it was mainly flat, the two hills at mile 2 and 8 were challenging.

Elsewhere saw Russ Hagen compete in the London Landmarks Half whilst raising vital funds for the Brain Tumor Charity. The LLH is an iconic event, passing iconic London sights along the way and priding itself on being the only half marathon to go through both the City of London and City of Westminster. Russ explained that it’s an amazing event with around 17,000 runners making their way through the West End, Westminster and the City; it’s like a London city tour without the open top bus. Running down Chapleside as the Bow Bells peeled out was inspirational as explained by Russ who finished in a great time of 1:50.

Michelle Grudinski got her second best time ever at the Paris marathon and came in in 4:29:02. Following her previous being only 6 days ago, Michelle was delighted with her time and loved the course.

​​Locally, the First Saturday of the Month 5k proved to be as popular as always with 62 people coming out on a cold but beautiful morning to run round the 2 lap course on Letchworth Common. April also saw many children run round the 1k course which is a new, but fabulous, addition to the FSoTM5k. The next 5k will be on the 7th May so see you there! 

---