Sunday saw the very popular but challenging Baldock Beast Half Marathon take place on the rolling countryside to the east of Baldock. 23 squirrels from North Herts Road Runners were up for the challenge in a field of nearly 300 runners.
 
In excellent running conditions, there were some amazing performances. First home for the local running club was James Deneslow in an excellent 1:23:27, first male vet 40 and 5th overall. First lady home for the squirrels was Katie Harbon in 1:29:06 and 2nd lady overall. Also taking home a prize was Sue Foot who was first vet 70 female in an amazing 2:15:38.
 
However, the Beast is much more than the prizes. For many, it's just about finishing and having the bragging rights to having tamed the Beast. Others take part for a variety of reasons.
 
Many ran the Beast for the first time. Paula Holm was celebrating her birthday and chose to run with her friends, all crossing the finishing line together. Others such as Caroline Thrussell and Lindsay Cook ran the event in the buildup to the London Marathon in April. Both ran  excellent times of 1:49:03 and 2:36:08 respectively.
 
All in all, it was another great day for both North Herts Road Runners and the Baldock Beast, where all the monies raised go towards putting on events for the communities of Baldock.
 
Photos courtesy of Dave Braybrook
 
NB:- If you look closely at the First photo. There is a deer in mid air between the runners. They were buzzed by a large herd in Roe Green.

Wet Welwyn 10k
Tim Levitt ran the Welwyn 10k in 39:37 and achieved broke the 40min barrier for the first time, so an impressive PB of . He also recorded a 5k PB with a time of 19:22 for the back 5k! Some other squirrels also ran with: David Edwards clocking 42:39; Rhia Botha 4th female and first FV35 age group 42:52; Phil Seddon 53:23; Jim Marvell 1:14:03 and Ali Mottram 1:25:08.

Cancer Research London Winter 10k
Vicki, Judith, Meyrick, Geoff and Nikki headed to the start at Trafalgar Square to run the Cancer Research London Winter 10k which takes in many of London landmarks, before finishing in Whitehall with views of Big Ben! Really great event, however the weather was pretty brutal! Vicki said she was 'Super pleased I managed a PB….53.37 chip time (52.41 on my Garmin). Celebrated (and thawed out) over a pub lunch!'

​Parkrun:
James and Frances reported on their trip to Valentine's parkrun in Ilford on Valentine's Day along with 2,329 others. Normal attendance is around 400, but the marshals were well prepared for the huge number of tourists. The queue into the finish funnel was around 500m and took around 10 minutes to get through. Very enjoyable and good atmosphere amongst the runners!

To appear in the Parkrun roundup - your Parkrun registration should have North Herts Road Runners as your running club. You then appear in the consolodated results for the club. These are picked up from the following link.
https://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=867
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North Herts Road Runners saw their efforts in this winter’s Three Counties Cross-country League rewarded with a host of individual awards after the last fixture of the season.
 
Lucy O’Connor , Astrid McKeown and Matt Sayers all won gold medals by topping their age categories over the five races.
 
The prizes were awarded after a muddy 5.4-mile race at Wing in Buckinghamshire, on what NHRR Cross-country Secretary John Auld described as ‘a brilliant course that is very challenging - proper
cross-country’.
 
Other NHRR medal-winners were James Warner-Smith (silver) and Brian Judkins and Vince Wright (both bronze).
 
Auld paid tribute to the 70 Squirrels who participated across the season., with seven completing every race. He highlighted Astrid Mckeown and Matt Sayers as ‘absolute legends’ for being part of the NHRR scoring team at each fixture.
 
He also thanked all the club members who had contributed across the season: ‘Thank you very much to all that took part this season - runners, supporters, photographers and drivers.’
 
The North Herts club finished second behind Bedford Harriers in the final league standings. The NHRR ladies were also second and the men third. 

NHRR finishers and positions at Wing Cross-country
Ben Hadman (3), Wayne Bell (7), Matt Sayers (17), Vince Wright (20), Kris Whitmore (25), James Warner-Smith (31), Craig Cartier (33), Mike Banister (36), Ian Datlen (42), Steve Mckeown (43), David Edwards (65), Rhia Botha (73), Michael Over (93), Astrid Mckeown (103), Mile Phillips (112), Hannah Ridley (114), Daniele Socci (116), Andrew Wallis (144), Laura Fairbanks (146), Natalie Philips (148), Hannah Gardner (173), Lucy O’Connor (200), Victoria Markham (206), Dawn Power (226), John Auld (228), Clair Power (248)