December is now upon us, and 45 of you ran a parkrun in an attempt to earn your Yorkshire pudding wrap at Awards Night.
Some of the more far-flung locations included Cherie Hipkins in Minehead (35:15) and Richard Moor in York (20:11). The full results for all our parkrunners can be found here, but other highlights included:
- Martin Owen back on tourist train at Fulham Palace parkrun, in a time of 24:58 and with a bonus celeb spot of radio presenter and avid runner Vassos Alexander;
- Bee Harris and Emma Welham visiting Rendlesham Forest parkrun and thankfully not getting abducted by aliens;
- Dave Jones getting a PB at Colchester Castle parkrun (28:00);
- Birthday boy Paul Davison heading to Alton Water parkrun and finishing in the top 10 (22:02).
A number of our members did Colchester Castle or Highwoods parkruns and then took part in the ‘Run for Gem’ afterwards in memory of local runner Gemma Edgar, helping raise over £1000 in total for St Helena Hospice and Brain Tumour Research.
5 of our juniors also completed Colchester Junior parkrun on Sunday. No PBs this week, but boundless enthusiasm as always, I’m sure!
Meanwhile on Saturday, the Essex Vets (age 40+) Cross Country Championships took place at Writtle University in Chelmsford. Reports suggest there was no water feature for this one!
Tricia Stacey and Inga Hayden-Cooper represented the blues in the ladies’ race, finishing in 43rd and 62nd respectively. Dave Allen was our sole runner in the men’s 50+ race in 56th place. Doug McGilliray, Charlie Keitch, Craig Mitchell and Mike Vincent all completed the men’s 40+ race in 27th, 37th, 40th and 64th respectively. Well done all of you on great performances in a very competitive field.
On Sunday, the Hare and Tortoise ‘Raynedeer’ (see what they did there?) run offered participants a choice between a 6 hour challenge, a marathon or a 10k. 3 of our ladies braved the 6 hour challenge, with Zoe Reynolds completing 2 laps and Michelle Auer and Claire Poole completing 1 lap. Karen O’Grady and Suez Wray completed the 10k (though looks like it was a little further than 10k) in 1:16:29 and 1:27:59. Well done ladies, and it looks like Hare and Tortoise lived up to their reputation for brilliant medals too!
Finally, Chris Warren was lucky enough to run in more temperate climes, finishing the Lanzarote half marathon in 1:31:09. He might have been 4th out of 137 veterans, but I’m not really sure because the results are in Spanish. However, my network of underground running informants have divulged that he still got rained on, which helps the pangs of jealousy a little.
Great Bentley Running Club 