Despite very hot conditions, James Graham set a new M65 Half Marathon club best of 1:34:07 at the Leamington Spa Half Marathon on 1 July. James improved on Richard Pitcairn-Knowles 1999 time by just over a minute and provided the following report:
It's the first time that this race has taken place and I only found out about it when I was watching my niece run in the Stratford upon Avon half earlier this year.
Although the overall organisation seemed good, the race suffered from some teething issues in that the start was delayed by 45 mins due to drivers ignoring the road closures resulting in the runners having to wait at the start in very hot and sunny conditions.
When the race eventually got underway the route took us through some lovely Warwickshire countryside and villages, although it was far from flat and the heat made the hills feel worse than they really were.
Although my time was slower than I had anticipated, considering the conditions, I was pleased with my results.
James was listed in the results as second M55, but RunBritain shows that he was first M60/M65 - and 14th fastest M65 over the distance this year. The event results are here.
Five SAC runners braved the hot conditions at the Bewl 15 on 1st July, led by Nick Humphrey-Taylor with a new club 2nd best M45 time for 15 miles.
The Sevenoaks AC results were as follows:
Pos | Gun | Chip | Name | Club | Gen | Cat | Num | GPos | CPos |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
41 | 01:55:56 | 01:55:47 | Nick Humphrey-Taylor | Sevenoaks AC | M | Male Vet 45 | 280 | 37 | 4 |
114 | 02:07:32 | 02:07:26 | Daniel Witt | Sevenoaks AC | M | Male Vet 40 | 548 | 97 | 24 |
134 | 02:11:04 | 02:10:53 | Marion Van Lille | Sevenoaks AC | F | Senior Female | 683 | 20 | 6 |
169 | 02:14:08 | 02:13:59 | Andrew Hutchinson | Sevenoaks AC | M | Senior Male | 332 | 146 | 67 |
524 | 02:54:02 | 02:53:44 | Lionel Stielow | Sevenoaks AC | M | Male Vet 65 | 46 | 368 | 5 |
The full results are here.
Steve Murfet won the June handicap by a big margin. David Lobley continues to lead the series, albeit level on points with Andrew Mead. The details are here.
Heather Fitzmaurice was the star performer as eleven SAC runners contested the North Downs Run 30k on 24th June. Despite very hot conditions, Heather won the W45 category and took 15 minutes off her W45 30k club best in the process. She also becomes the British Masters W45 30k Champion as the BMAF competition was held within the race. For good measure, Jim Fitzmaurice added the BMAF M75 trophy to his extensive list of triumphs in the age group. John Witton led the Sevenoaks team home. The SAC results were:
Pos | Forename | Surname | Num | Chip | Gun | Club | Cat |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
21 | John | Witton | 373 | 2:15:04 | 2:15:12 | Sevenoaks AC | M 40 to 49 |
38 | Matthew | Walker | 456 | 2:22:41 | 2:22:49 | Sevenoaks AC | M 40 to 49 |
50 | Andrew | Ashlee | 467 | 2:27:06 | 2:27:18 | Sevenoaks AC | M 40 to 49 |
56 | Keith | Dowson | 541 | 2:28:46 | 2:28:51 | Sevenoaks AC | M 50 to 59 |
63 | Andrew | Milne | 158 | 2:30:44 | 2:30:52 | Sevenoaks AC | M Senior |
73 | Heather | Fitzmaurice | 562 | 2:33:15 | 2:33:20 | Sevenoaks AC | F 45 to 54 |
79 | Daniel | Witt | 45 | 2:34:54 | 2:35:04 | Sevenoaks AC | M 40 to 49 |
161 | James | Nash | 279 | 2:53:36 | 2:53:48 | Sevenoaks AC | M Senior |
298 | Sarah | Shewell | 330 | 3:20:22 | 3:20:32 | Sevenoaks AC | F 55 to 64 |
342 | Jenny | Austin | 410 | 3:28:09 | 3:28:24 | Sevenoaks AC | F 35 to 44 |
407 | James | Fitzmaurice | 11 | 3:48:42 | 3:48:48 | Sevenoaks AC | M 70+ |
The full results are here.