Pretty In Pink!!

Your fortnightly race report has landed!

Apologies for the delay but I have been busy drafting an application to Thomas Tuchel to see if he needs any of our 5k runners from last night on the wing for the next match!!

Sudbury Friday 5

5 formidable Blues ran at Sudbury on a beautiful summer evening and looking at their times those hills in Sudbury clearly did not cause anyone any problems! Well done, Hein, Steve, Anna, Martin and Paul. Also well-deserved shout out to Steve Bullen who ran the Maldon 5k the night before in 19:03 finishing in 8^th place.

Park Runs-

Scott Young- 400^th

Huge congratulations to Scott Young for completing his 400^th Parkrun last weekend at CCPR. A truly incredible achievement and you took your carer, Claudia along!

Lucca Park Run- Donna and Mark Harris, Laura and Paul Cook did a spot of Parkrun tourism at Luca in Italy.

Paul Smith completed a very wet and cold Parkrun at Highwoods.

Endure 24

I think the race name says it all. Richard Hudd took part in this epic event usually as part of a team of 4 however this year he decided to test himself by going solo! Starting at 12 noon on Saturday you then have 24 hours to complete as many 5 laps as possible. Despite the constant rain and mud Richard crossed the finish line just before 12:00 on Sunday having completed 13 laps achieving his 100km target. Final stats were 65 miles, 105km, 1300m of elevation with 16 hours of moving with only 8 hours of rest!! Wow, Richard amazing well done. Same again next year…!!

Harwich 5k Series

16 Blues were racing on a far less windy and a much more pleasant evening this week for the Harwich 5k series.

Well done to you all.

Harwich Olympic Tri- Sat 13^th

There was a fantastic turnout from the Blues at the Harwich Olympic Triathlon on Saturday with several taking on the event individually and others within a relay team.

“The Planner & The Persuaded” relay team were made up with Donna Harris completing the 1500m epic swim, Lou Balfour completing the 40km bike leg and Andrea Markwick completing the 10k run.

“The Great Bentley Misfits” relay team were made up with Brian Telford and Larina Marsh. Brian completing the 1500m swim and 40km bike and Larina completing the 10k run.

Congratulations to Paul Arnold, Richard Allen, Piers Markwick, Katie Collin and Gerry Gladden for taking on all 3 disciplines and absolutely smashing it. Well done to you all.

Harwich Sprint Tri- Sunday 14^th June

The next day was the Sprint Triathlon where Robbie Lee, Sarah Blewden and Leoni Harvey completed the 300m swim, 25km bike and 5km run. Congratulations to you all and a special mention to Robbie for completing his first ever Tri. See you there next year!!

High Easter 10k- Sunday 14^th

There was another great turnout from Bentley at the High Easter 10k which is also part of the Essex Championship. With not a lot of sleep and rest after the Harwich Tri Donna Harris and Lou Balfour swapped the water and the bike for their trainers and joined the other Blues for a run around the beautiful lanes of High Easter although someone forgot to mention the “hill” half a mile from the finish!! This is a scenic route on very quiet Country lanes with excellent support and encouragement from the marshals. There were also some extremely impressive cakes being served in the hall for afters and a very loud Town Cryer and I must mention the “Tiddle Tent” that both Charlie Keitch and Paul Hollidge visited, sadly Ladies were prohibited!!

Well done to Mags Komorowski (45:36 course PB) Steve Bullen (39:09) Bev Shortley (52:56) Ash Coles (47:01) Mark Harris (01:00:43) Paul Hollidge (48:03) Debs Hollidge (51:02) Chris Thornton (48:04) Jon Mann (38:15) Charlie Keitch (42:00) Inga Hayden- Cooper (48:59) Donna Harris (52:15) and Lou Balfour (53:13)

Stour Valley Marathon/Half Marathon- Sunday 14^th June

Tim “the machine” Clifton completed this race, his 5^th Year in a row finishing in 6:18. Well done Tim that is an incredible achievement on a very tough course.

“Magnificent” Malcolm Statham ran his 245^th marathon (yes 245^th!!) at Stour Valley. As mentioned above this is a tough course featuring hills, mainly off road and self-navigated. Amazing, well-done Malcolm.

Anna Lyon and Tom Higgins ran the half marathon route which was in fact 13.8 miles. Anna finished 3^rd overall female and Tom finished looking his usual pristine self! Well done guys superb running.