Parkrun participants

Looking back at the Parkrun results from the last couple of weeks it would seem the hot weather has not stopped many of you making the 9am start time of a Parkrun. There has been some serious tourism recently as well:

Charlie Keitch: Keswick Parkrun 312 miles from Colchester

Bee Harris: Severn Bridge Parkrun 197 miles from Colchester

Andrea Markwick: Guildford Parkrun 110 miles from Colchester

Rob and Caroline Dyer: Higginson Parkrun 102 miles from Colchester (118 from Ipswich)

But Mel Parris has it when it comes to longest distance travelled, with Milano Nord Parkrun a mere 839 miles from Colchester, well done Mel that’s some long distance tourism!

THE LONG!

Trek26

Peter Benton completed one of the Alzheimer’s society’s Trek26 challenges, there are 10 courses up and down the country, all of them in some amazing places. You can choose to do either a 13 or 26 mile course at any of their locations.

Peter chose the Suffolk coastline trail for his challenge and naturally went for the 26 mile course which starts and finishes at Thorpeness and takes you through such places as Dunwich forest and Dingle marshes and even Sizewell power station. The route must have been stunning to do and incredibly rewarding as well.

SVP 50

Larina Marsh and Tim Clifton completed another long and stunning trail in the form of the SVP50 or Stour Valley path which is part of the longer SVP100. The SVP100 starts at 6am in Newmarket, the SVP50 begins a little closer to home in Sudbury at the more sociable time of midday. Although half the distance this shorter route (still 32 miles) is not to be taken lightly as it takes you up and down some serious hills and across some tricky terrain having done the route myself, I know that there is little cover from the unrelenting sun, so well done to the pair of you.

Having said all that for anyone out there contemplating an ultra I would highly recommend this race as the scenery is lovely and the checkpoints are spectator friendly and can got to quite easily by car, I will definitely give it another go one day.

Sea2sky 25k

There must be something about this time of year for challenging yet breath taking (in more ways than one) races, as Mark and Donna Harris travelled to Snowdonia for the Sea2sky 25.

The course starts at Barmouth on the coast of Eryri National Park and has stunning scenery from along the coast up Cader Idris mountain. Donna, had this to say about the course  “The ups and down were tough. But overall, a fantastic route. Absolutely beautiful surroundings and lots of great people around. This was my long training run I just love the hills” Do you really love the hills though Donna?

Isle of Man Marathon

One last long lovey run, and the one which is the furthest away as well before we move onto the short stuff and this one took place on the Isle of Man.

This is where Fiona Gosling completed two laps to cover a marathon distance in a fantastic time 5hrs 3mins. Having looked at the course online it appears to go up and down quite a bit making her time even more impressive.

THE SHORT

In contrast to the races I have already mentioned above there were couple of far shorter and far more close to homes races that happened just a few days ago, in order we have,

ATW 5K (Essex Champs)

On Friday at the Northern Gateway sports park, we had ATW 5K Fast, Friday, Five and Essex Champs, not entirely sure that’s what its called but if it isn’t then it should be.

This is where some of the elite athletes of Essex gather to compete against each other, not to be out shone by these athletes six Bentley Blues put on a stunning display of running themselves.

Both Craig Slocombe and Gavin Byrne achieved blistering PB’s of 17 mins 16 seconds for Craig and 17 mins 7 seconds for Gavin. Elite lady Lisa gave a strong performance and got her second fastest time in the 5k of 20 mins 21 seconds. Tom Higgins came in with a time of 22 mins and 2 seconds, which I believe he wasn’t overly happy with, but I think it’s still a really great time and one to be pleased with. Gary and Inga also put in strong times of 24mins 38 secs and 34 mins 7 respectively, a great nights running from everyone!

Geoff Day 5k memorial race

Lastly and by no means least we have our very own Geoff Day 5k race and as the Mercury had already risen past 20’c by 8.30am on Sunday morning it was looking to be a hot one as well. Even though the race had moved from its usual Wednesday evening slot it was still well attended. Gavin Byrne was first home with a time of 17 mins 27 secs, I don’t think his legs had stopped turning from Friday nights effort. The same can be said of Lisa Briggs who was the first lady home in a time of 20 mins 31 secs so congratulations to you both, you both looked super chuffed holding your well earned trophies.

I hope you all enjoy reading this and as always apologies if I have missed some out.