Let’s warm up with a moment of gratitude for the lighter mornings and slightly less vicious rain, before moving swiftly on to marvelling the mountain of smiles and medals amassed in recent weeks. I absolutely challenge you to behold the successes below and not want to immediately put on your trainers.
A River Runs Through It
First in the inspiration parade is Jacki Stansfeld who ran the London Winter 10k in 57:02. Judging by the picture below, Jacki followed in Boudica’s footsteps showing London what women from Essex can do!
Flowing from the Thames to the River Chelmer, let’s celebrate the dual performances at the Chelmsford Half Marathon. Taking a tour of the idylic Chelmsford countryside were Katie Collin and Paul Smith, where the former completed her first ever 13.1 mile race, in an impressive time of 2:09:19 and the latter paralleled this success with his first official race back; a victory lap for his return to fitness.
Downstream near the River Crouch (sorry – it was the only link I could think of…) Phil and Vicky Presland completed the Essex Trail Events Smuggler’s Trail – completing 10 muddy miles from the Smuggler’s Den in Hullbridge. They survived unscathed: see above picture of them in a lovely pub!
Shore Footed Success on the East Coast
We all have our bespoke race rituals: some of us like a curated “flat lay” the night before a big race; some of us prefer a shakeout run and some pasta. Some people are rock stars and choose a gig followed by four hours sleep (practically a nap!) before casually running Southwold Half Marathon in 2:13:53. Bravo Tim Clifton!
More success at the half marathon distance was secured in Great Yarmouth where Magdalena Komorowska and Paul Hughes circumnavigated the scenic course. They braved the strong winds and despite the cold conditions absolutely cooked. Paul ran his second fastest time over the distance (firm evidence doing 25 exercise classes a day does improve your running!) with a time of 1:38:08. Whilst Magdalena completed the course in 1:43:35 securing 3rd place in her age category and finishing 20th female overall. You are both inspirational!
Parkrun Round Up
Colchester Highwoods Park Run celebrated its 300th event with a contingent of Bentley Blues; Donna Parker-Evans and Lorraine Adams completed the Christchurch Parkrun, Ipswich; whilst Donna Harris travelled to Norway for a snowy Parkrun in Ekebergsletta.
Equally impressive is Hélène Tyler who is maintaining her Parkrun streak: first running the inaugural Walton Promenade Parkrun in 34:48 and then, a grizzly appetiser, completing the St Marys Parkrun in 35:18.
We all love a weekend with Parkrun for breakfast but some of our Bentley warriors have a larger appetite, indulging in a full “park run sandwich”. Mary Taylor ran pier to pier with a Walton Prom filling, whilst Stephan Hogan-Steele ran from Great Bentley to Clacton Parkrun and the return journey. So much admiration for your grit!
Colchester Half Marathon: Here Come the Girls!
Considering it’s a little over 50 years since women were permitted to run marathons, it was a thing of beauty to marvel at the achievements of some of our Bentley Belles on International Women’s Day: First up, Bev Shortley who came 2nd in her age category, making it look effortless as she worked the camera on the way round the course. She finished in 2:01:43. Next up, the vivacious Daniella Harris ran her first half marathon capitalising on her consistent training to finish in 2:27:28. Another half ticked off for Magdalena Komorowska running for her employer Cloud and making it look effortless with her irrepressible energy and smiles. Finally, Sarah Blewden secured her course PB knocking 10 minutes off her 2025 time and coming in in 2:09:49. To all of the other emblems of strength who ran and didn’t share on the Facebook post: we saw you, celebrate you and if you want me to add your achievements let me know!
Little shout out to the Bicycling Bentley Belles (credit Tim Clifton) for cheerleading, encouraging, galvanising everyone on the course.
Boys on tour…of Colchester
Another array of success from the boys’ team: Paul Smith knocked 2 minutes from his earlier mentioned half, the success of which is fuel to the fire for further improvement. Tim Clifton also represented Bentley and claimed it is the best outing of many completing the course in 2:05:29. Stephan Hogan-Steele chipped 5 minutes from his previous PB getting round in 1:37:44. Malcolm Statham, whose performance surpassed his expectations with him coming in at 1:38:26, is optimistic about what he can do next. Jon Mann set the pace (literally) and thoroughly enjoyed it, although he didn’t write his time so I’m not sure how long he took.
If you have, thus far, resisted the urge to lace up you certainly have the staying power to run a marathon. To all of the runners mentioned above: congratulations and thank you for the inspiration! I hope everyone gets to get out there to enjoy the warmer weather and longer days. And not to worry for those of us who need something to moan about: dehydration, relentless heat and unsightly tan lines are loading…
Great Bentley Running Club 