Vitality 10k
Daniel Wrigley ran the flat and fast Vitality 10K in London taking in sights such as the Mall, Trafalgar Square, St Paul’s Cathedral and Big Ben before finishing in front of Buckingham Palace.

​Daniel said the event had a great atmosphere with 20,000 runners and plenty of support on the route! He managed a 10k PB of 45:57, beating his time for the same event last year by 2 minutes.

Baxters Loch Ness Marathon
Richard Webber,  Lucy O'Connor and Mel Flynn travelled North, across the border, to take on the awesome Baxters Loch Ness Marathon. They described it as a truly beautiful course, with an amazing backdrop, but a series of challenging undulations and hills which pushed them to their limit. Richard was delighted with his time of 3:55:39 (not quite a PB but very close to his other 2 marathons from 2022).  Lucy finished in an impressive 4:07:18 while Mel, running her first marathon for over a decade, finished in an excellent 4:44:37 (a 43 minute PB!). They all highly recommend the event agreeing it was one of the best races they have ever done, despite being rather sore afterwards. 

River Ness 10k
​Whilst not matching the challenge facing the Loch Ness marathoners, Brian Judkins and Linda Aird took part in the River Ness 10k today. In brilliant highland sunshine, and with stunning views of the surrounding hills, this well organised and supported point-to-point race started from Inverness Royal Academy - an initial uphill had them wondering if more was in store, but the route proved to be a fast one, with lots of lovely downhill running, and a largely flat second half as we headed back into Inverness along the beautiful River Ness. Linda commented that as value for money goes, this race delivers with a very nice t-shirt, medal (with lovely tartan ribbon) and a full goody bag with Baxter's soups, Erdinger beer, Taylors coffee bags and fruit. She was pleased to finish in her fastest 10k time for this year in 58:01. Brian also had an enjoyable run, clocking 1:16:34.

Hitchin 5k
Twelve squirrels stayed local, taking on the twists and turns of the Hitchin town centre 5k in good running conditions.

Saskia Thompson finished first in the F20 Age category and fourth overall with a time of 21:08 while in the team competition Ben Snowden (20:11), Ian Harvey (21:11) and James Dalton (21:12) placed third while Steve McKeown (19:53), Sam Whitmore (20:03) and Darren Matussa (20:09) came second.

Sam Whitmore's 20:03 was a personal best by some margin and also a club record in the MU19 category. Lindsay Cook was one of those who took part in Hitchin 5km today, despite being beaten by all 3 of her children, she was pleased with her fastest 5km since 2016 of 28:33. 

Parkrun Roundup
There were many more excellent performances, with a full club presence across 20 different events, from Brentwood to Buncrana. North Herts Road Runners were once again well represented across the country at Saturday’s parkruns. 

Stevenage Menzies 5k, 10k and Mini Mile
Fairlands Valley played host to the Stevenage Menzies 5k, 10k and Mini Mile on Sunday, with a new course promising speed and excitement. North Herts Road Runner Kris Whitmore confirmed the 5k lived up to its “flat and fast” billing, while the 10k added a twist with Stevenage’s signature underpasses. Runners could choose to tackle either distance—or both—with the children’s Mini Mile providing a well-timed breather for the double racers.
 
In the 10k Shahab Ahmad stormed to second place in 35:20, narrowly missing the win by two seconds and earning second in age grading. Kris Whitmore clocked a season’s best of 37:51, finishing 9th overall and first in the MV50 category. Hannah Ridley made a strong comeback from injury, finishing as second lady in 43:53. Sam Whitmore impressed in his debut 10k with a 44:07 finish and a personal best. Dervla Downing comfortably dipped under 50 mins in 49:39 followed by Tracey McCreath in 70:52.
 
In the 5k, Tom Kingham took on the 5k finishing in 22:28, then four hard core squirrels (James Dalton (21:24 / 45:00), Dan Wrigley(23:48 / 46:31), Danny Alden (36:00 / 46:02 - clearly keeping something back to secure a season's best in the 10k) and Sheila Leavy (38:00 / 78:51)) opted to take on both events.

Hadman strides to victory at Hatfield 5k Season Finale
North Herts Road Runners Ben Hadman ran a personal best time of 15:15 to clinch victory at the season finale held on Wednesday, September 10th and was joined in his celebrations by teammates celebrating a successful series with NHRR collecting an impressive haul of five individual and two team prizes across the three races. In the individual standings, Rhia Botha secured 3rd female overall, Tracy Pitcairn claimed 1st FV35, and Rachel Arnott took 3rd FV45. On the men’s side, Tom Barclay finished 3rd overall, while Matt Sayers earned 2nd MV50. NHRR also dominated the team competitions, with both the female team (Rhia Botha, Tracy Pitcairn, Rachel Arnott) and male team (Tom Barclay, Abdullah Athar, Matt Sayers, Kris Whitmore) delivering strong performances to take home team honours.

Further afield:
David Brewer was happy with his time of 45.41 at the Sandridge 10k, a mainly off road trail run.
Daniele Socci completed the Dunstable Downs Challenge Half Marathon in 1:56:04, commenting, ‘As the name suggests it was a proper challenge.Hills, and muddy plowed fields, where the only option was to walk to avoid injuries— tougher than expected but proud to finish it.’
Ben Snowden raced in the Northampton Half Marathon in 1:35:39, and finished 12th in the MV45 category, just narrowly missing out on a PB by 40 seconds, but was pleased with his time on a tough, relatively hilly course. He said, ‘It’s a well organised event, nice track, some interesting steps at around 8k but you do have option to run round them.’

Duck and Dash 
The Annual Duck and Dash race featured many squirrels, competing both as individuals and relay teams.  As always it celebrates the local Lido and this year was blessed with beautiful sunshine, which really showed it at its best.  The race consists of 400m swimming followed by a 5k run around Norton Common.
 
In the individual event NHRR was represented by Andrew Robson (43:38), Elizabeth Robson (45:18), Lucy Robertson (<37mins), and James Keogh (32:46). Whilst in the team event NHRR took 1st, 2nd and 3rd place - with Katie and Jo Harbon winning in 29:39, 2nd place Jon Hunt and Grant Cameron in 32:30, and Amanda Greig and Andrew Coates came 3rd with a time of 32:34

Bedford Running Festival
The annual Bedford Running Festival over the hot weekend provided plenty of options covering 5km to 20 mile races all starting and finishing by Bedford's beautiful embankment. The half marathon option attracted 6 squirrels with Ian Datlen first home in 1:35:04, followed by Chris Stokes 1:42:15; Rachel Arnott fourth in her age category 1:42:19, Tash Pitman also fourth in her age group 1:45:32, Andrew Wallis 2:11:03; Brian Judkins 3:04:16. 
 
Richard Webber took part in the 20 miler as part of his training for the Loch Ness Marathon and finishing in a time of 2:53:55, Richard was joined by Rhia Botha who clocked in at 2:26:35, Lucy O’Conner (3:30:25) and Mel Flyn (3:48:35).  Elsewhere Conor O'Hara-Barrett did the Bedford Twilight 10k in a time of 36:45.
 
The festival was a brilliantly organised event and a real family atmosphere in the park with face painting and rides to entertain all the children. It was a hot day so it is was great to see so many squirrels have such great races, as quite a few other runners did not finish in the 26c heat.

Finally Vanessa Rolf completed the Northstowe Half Marathon in a time of 2:53:42, which made her 3rd in her age category. ​

5k Racing 
The Vets County Championships took place on wednesday at The Hatfield 5k, and NHRR had some great results both in the individual and team categories.  In the women’s race Rhia Botha was 1st in FV35 with Tracy Pitcairn coming in 2nd.  In the men's race Matt Sayers was 3rd in his age category.  Whilst in the Vets team events the ladies team of Rhia Botha, Tracy Pitcairn and Rachel Arnott finished 1st, and the Men came in 3rd with Matt Sayers, Kris Whitmore, Mike Phillips and Mike Bannister making up the team.
 
Outside of the Vet’s Championships Ben Hadman also won the open race.