Its all about the Long Run

This week, the long run played a central role for most of us – whether it was pushing through a long run ourselves, supporting the MTR , or both. It would be interesting to know what the combined total milage of all club runners was this weekend – considering the number of runners posting 20 miles runs on Strava, on their lead up to Marathons and Ultras.

Well done all on another successful MTR

The highlight of the weekend was undoubtedly our 2nd MTR. A huge congratulations to everyone who helped organise the event, with a special thanks to Simon Wallis. The behind-the-scenes effort Simon puts into coordinating the marshalling points is truly incredible! Pulling us all together is an immense and at times frustrating task I am sure.  Thank you Simon!

A huge huge  thank you too,  to everyone who set up, marshalled, tail ran, staffed the water stops, shopped for the tea and cake and contributed in so many other ways to make this run a success. For many local runner this is a regular feature in their winter training plan and what GVH is most known for locally. We had  245 runners signed up fro sunday, and the positive feedback from participants has been overwhelming, as always. While there was no camel this year, we did have a very speedy penguin!

We have many direct messages thanking our lovely marshals similar to this one

 First up for members running events this weekend was parkrun.

We had 30 runners split across various park runs this Saturday, with the standout travel distance being that of Nick Joseph.  He  travelled to Rotorua  a geothermic area in New Zealand to run the Puarenga parkrun. This has to have one of the best course course descriptions  – “Head north along the Sulphur Track and follow the track in an anticlockwise direction. Cross your first geothermal area and over the black stream, follow the Sulphur Track …..”  Unsurprisingly Nick describes this as perhaps the smelliest parkrun in the world.

Teresa Reason takes the prize for best parkrun finish position – Finishing 1st lady hone and 7th overall Dunstable Downs in a speedy 22:10   Great running Teresa!

Congratulations to Matt Chamberlain on a great new of PB 24:06 at Cassiobury Park. Matt has been running park runs since November 2024 and has seen his finish time improve almost week on week since then. Well done Matt.

Russ Jones set a new course PB of 18:30 at Rickmansworth – hopefully this makes up for him being overtaken and beaten to his 13th pace finish by a very speedy 15 year old junior park runner.

For siblings running together we had Max and Martha Woollett also at Cassiobury park.

Seeking out new parkruns , or perhaps seeking the “J” in the parkrun alphabet challenge, we have Roland Kendall and Kim who ran to Jersey Farm parkrun.

But the park runners I think deserve the biggest mentions this week are those 30 min plus park runners. Whether you are a 20 min park runner or a 30 min park runner. you are still going lung bustingly full pelt and it hurts. The difference is that these 30 min park runners are in pain for a lot longer. So congratulations and big well done this week to Dom Hook and Martha Woolllett. Well done both on great parkruns.   (Mary, I hope at 20 weeks pregnant you were not full pelt at GadeBridge) .

Ashridge Boundary

Now that spring is here, this looked like a great event. A 17.5 mile trail, run in a clockwise direction around the boundary of the beautiful and familiar, Ashridge estate. Hilly, with the added pressure of a cut off time. Last year there had been a lot rain and it was pretty muddy. This time around most reported that the trails were very run-able in the sunshine and it was a great, well organised event.

  Chris Dowling was first home for GVH in 2:21:43, in 32nd place overall and 10th in the MV40 Cat. Chris was followed by home Simon Morris. Next in was Darren Burke, in 2:54:42 suffering with blisters but still finishing quicker than he expected. Darren was followed by  Richard Farmer and Daniel Green running together.

Clare McDonnell was next, our first lady in 2:59:00, chuffed to beat the 3hour mark  on what was becoming a warm morning. She was very closely followed by Megan McCreadie and Laura Johnson

Phil Mercer was next to finish with Jade and Tom Evans running together not far behind. Not content with a hilly, 17 mile ish challenge, Tom added an extra 7 miles by running to the start.

Palma Half Marathon

Sticking with our recent focus on destination races, Guy Woollett headed to Mallorca for the Palma Half Marathon. This scenic, coastal race offers stunning views, culminating in a finish in the heart of the city. A big congratulations to Guy Woollett – while his time was slightly slower than he had hoped ( 1hr 33)  it was still a fantastic performance!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lee Valley Half Marathon

Closer to home, Big congratulations to Kitty Cole and Matt Jones on great runs at the Lee Valley Half.  Kitty had been under the weather for a week or so and was both surprised and chuffed with her  2:11:20 finish time.   For Matt it was his first half marathon for a long, long time and again was over the moon with his well deserved 2:12:56 finish.  Well done both

The MTR unfortunately clashed this year with a couple of established 20 mile races that some of our runners had already signed up for and incorporated into their Marathon training plans. These are a great test under race conditions, to judge how your training is panning out:  The Oakley 20 and the Twin Lakes 20.

Bedford Harriers Oakley 20

A 20 mile road race starting in the village of Oakley. With the added incentive that all finishers receive an iconic Oakley 20 hoodie as a race memento. First home with a solid paced run was James Birnie (2hr 23)  He was followed by Gareth Tucker (2hr 31) and then Robert Bowler (2hr 48). Great pace guys!

Twin Lakes 20

 Fast and flat 20 miles race  through the “stunning ??” Milton Keynes countryside. This run was described as “Lapping two beautiful lakes, following the picturesque River Ouzel and the Grand Union Canal”.  Holly Beckett, Ines Trent (running for Fade Valley Harriers) and Chrissy Mooney all had great solid runs, finishing within a few mins of each other in. All three were using this as a training run, holding back on the pace. to finish around the 3hr 3o mark.  Well done!  – you all look set now for great marathons in a few weeks

Well done all on another great week of running!