Here is the last 2 weeks race report. Well done everyone, some awesome racing from you all. I apologise if I have left anyone out!
Antrim Coastal Half Marathon- 25th August
Team “ABC” (Auer, Clarke and Balfour!)
Michelle and I travelled to Ireland to stay with Alison for the bank holiday weekend where we completed the Antrim Coastal Half Marathon. What can I say about this race other than it was so disorganised that it made the headlines of the Belfast Times on Monday morning! We parked where we were instructed to and walked the “3.2 miles” to our starting pens where we stood for approximately 1.30hrs in truly awful weather conditions before the race began. The wind was howling around us and the rain at times was hitting us almost sideways. We did laugh when Michelle found an (unused) dog poo bag in her pocket and whacked it on her head to keep herself dry (although worryingly she doesn’t have a dog…!!) When I crossed the finish line, I was hoping to watch Michelle and Alison finish, however I was quickly put into a queue where I spent approx. 45 mins waiting in to receive my medal and T shirt. There was no water at the finish nor at several of the water stations on route, due to half of it apparently being stolen from the organisers warehouse the night before. Finally, we met up again after we each received our medals and then had to walk the “3.2 miles” back to the car, just what we needed having ran 13.2 miles, soaking wet and freezing cold! The route itself was stunning, flat and very scenic and I am sure that with better weather conditions and organisation it would be a completely different experience! It was a superb weekend visiting Alison and seeing the wonderful sights of Ireland, oh and Guinness is now definitely our recovery drink!!
Essex Relays- 1st September
Team GBRC Essex Relay team 2024 were in action on a very hot and humid day however despite the heat they all gave an incredible performance. The results for our Blues were 34th out of 79 teams. Absolutely well done the blues, what an incredible achievement.
Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge- 31st August
A large group of hardy walkers took on the Yorkshire 3 Peak challenge this year organised by Paul Carlisle. 25 miles across the Peaks of Pen-y-Ghent (694 metres), Whernside (736 metres) and Ingleborough (723 metres). Judging by the pictures it certainly looked like everyone had a fantastic time with lots of fun, laughter and plenty of walking and the weather looked glorious for you all too. Well done team Y3P’s 2024.
Clare Castle Park run- 7th September.
A lovely bunch of GBRC runners took on Park run at Clare Castle this weekend which completed the ‘C’ and number 4 for the GBRC park run tourism. Well done all.
Thorpe Perrow Park Run- 7th September
Whilst (and I quote using Phil Presland’s words) the triathlon “weirdos” were out on their bikes completing in the Long Course Weekend Yorkshire Phil Presland, Paul and Debs Hollidge and Yolande Arnold took it slightly easier running the Thorpe Perrow park run in Masham. This route is a nice one lap loop through parks, a woodland area and farmland trail.
Long Course Weekend Yorkshire 7th& 8th September
I have to confess that I have been stalking this group of epic athletes most of the weekend on any social media platform I could find them on! What they all achieved is without doubt simply absolutely bloody incredible (and maybe a little bit crazy!!) Amazing and congratulations to you all, Phil, Vicky and Milly Presland, Dave and Maddy Allen, Debs Hollidge, Paul and Yolande Arnold and Kathy Bishop. Take a huge big bow guys!
This challenge is Long Course Weekend Yorkshire which begins in Masham on the outskirts of Nidderdale and area of outstanding beauty apparently! The event kicked off on Friday where you get to swim in the stunning Grimwith Reservoir deep in the Yorkshire Dales (1.2 mile or 2.4 mile). The conditions were extremely challenging with 153 people starting and only 57 finished either doing just one last or being pulled from the water by the safety boats!
Saturday sees the athletes take on the challenge of cycling from Masham Market Square either the 56 mile or the 112 mile cycle route set in the Yorkshire Dales National Park which also incorporates some of the sections in Tour De Yorkshire over the hills of the Yorkshire Dales with over 1500m of ascent.
Finally, and assuming you survived the past 2 days, you get the pleasure of deciding to run any distance ranging from a Marathon, Half Marathon, 10k or 5k taking in some of the spectacular surroundings and undulating Countryside finally returning to Masham, where it all began on Friday!!
Below is what they all achieved:
Dave Allen – (The Full)- Swim (2.4 mile), 112 mile bike distance and Marathon.
Vicky Presland- Swim (2.4 mile) 112 mile bike distance, Half Marathon.
Paul Arnold- Swim (2.4 mile), 56 mile bike distance, Half Marathon
Kathy Bishop- Swim (1.2 mile) 56 mile bike, Half Marathon
Milly Presland- Swim (1.2 mile), 56 mile bike, Half Marathon
Maddy Allen- Swim (1.2 mile), 56 mile bike, Half Marathon
Yolande Arnold- Half Marathon and support crew
Phil Presland- Half Marathon and support crew.
Debs Hollidge- Half Marathon and support crew.
Paul Hollidge- Head of Support Crew!
I hope I have got all of the above results correct as by the time I had finished trying to find all of your names on the results table I realised that I was at the bottom of a bottle of Bubbles!
Hare and Tortoise Roman River Trail Half Marathon- 8th September
Team Marwick’s were back out on the trail running this weekend completing the Hare and Tortoise Roman River Trail half marathon. Mr and Mrs M (Piers and Andrea) certainly love a trail run and have both become experienced hard core endurance runners that love a challenge. 2:44:59
Great North Run- 8th September
I do not have very much information on who took part in this race however I believe Mark Harris (on his birthday) Donna Harris and Sarah Blewden were flying the blue flags for Bentley. Congratulations guys and hope you all had a fantastic run and an enjoyable day.
Felixstowe 10 mile race 8th September.
Leoni Harvey was a lonely blue at the Felixstowe 10 mile race. Well done Leoni and great to see you back out running and up to that distance already. Well done and thank you for representing the Club there.
Introducing The New Mr and Mrs Gladden
What would you do the day before your wedding, run park run of course which is exactly what Emma and Gerry (by now the new Mr and Mrs Gladden did) The newly married couple were joined by many of their running family from GBRC and CSR (Clacton Sea Front Runners) completing Clacton’s Park run all dressed in their wedding finery of course! Congratulations Gerry and Emma and wishing you both a lifetime of happiness and creating lots of running memories together. Have a fantastic honeymoon in Kos.
I hope you have all enjoyed this race report and on the subject of marriage, I am off to sunny Rhodes in the morning to celebrate 20 years of marriage to the old boy!
Imagine being married to me for all that time!!
Great Bentley Running Club 