The 4 day sunny Easter weekend gave us all opportunities for some fun social running. Starting with the ATW St.Albans Easter 10K, along the Alban way on Good Friday.
ATW puts on a few events here throughout the year, using variations of the same route—the Easter 10k and the Summer Solstice are definitely the big hits. So it’s a route a lot of us know fairly well, out of the park, down the hill for a few km’s, round a short loop and back up the hill to the finish.
Leading the GVH pack was the 2024 race winner Matt Ashby. He was on fire – beating last years time with new PB to finish in 2nd place overall in a speedy 33:44. Russell Jones also ducked under the impressive 40 min mark in 39:16. A huge PB for him, a PB on almost every strava section of the run too , showing he can crushing Ultras and 10k’s.
Matt Ashby on the finishing straight to take 2nd place
Great running from Russell
Coming home on the 40 min mark were Roland, Stephen Newing, and James Birnie to finish 4th, 6th and 6th in their Categories respectively.
Andrew Bishop was next home followed by Jack Boughton – starting his best man duties early by pacing his brother to a sub 50 mins 10k.
Our first lady home was Jenny Stubberfield in a very fast 47.05. Well done Jenny ! Victoria Ashby and Jane followed shortly afterwards, all completing under the 1 hour mark.
Jenny – 1st Lady home at the St.Albans 10K
Martin Storrie running his first race in a long time due to injury finished next, followed by Kimberley and Peter Green. Well done all on a great run. Full finishing times were as follows:
Out racing over a longer distance on Good Friday was Phil Mercer who took on the Maidenhead Easter 10 Mile. A fast and flat road race, it was the 70th Edition of the event and the organisers promised a special anniversary medal and t-shirt. Well done Phil on a great run! He finished in a fast 1:20.34 to collect his very nice medal.
Parkrun
We had 71 GVH parkrunners this weekend, which must be close to a record turn out? The vast majority, 33 in fact, were at Gadebridge park helping Andrew Watt mark his 100th Parkrun. What a fantastic turn out ! Great to see you running again Andy!
And great to see everyone enjoying their run and chalking up some great performances. Teresa Reason was not only the first placed female finisher but set a new PB for the parkrun and beat her VW45 club record too. Fantastic running Teressa !
Simon Morris was 6th, and first of the GVH crew home whilst also setting a new PB. There was also new PBs from Imogen, Ines and Jade Evans. Surprisingly, this was the first time that Claire McDonnell had run Gadebridge Parkrun and she not only had a fantastic run but set a new club VW45 record. Well done Claire
Being Easter, I can’t help smiling at the crew demonstrating their Easter bunny hop
Well done and big thank you too, to Helen Cook and Tom Evans for marshalling at Gadebridge.
The Beaconsfield Easter 5 Mile Trail on Easter Monday was a club league event. So points were up for grab.
The GVH crew once again brought out some great running with Jon Roberts and Kim Morgan taking top honours as first Man and Women home.
Kim and Jon, our first runners home
Jon also took 2nd place in the MV50 cat, whilst Guy Woolett was 5th. Kim took 4th in the MV40 Cat. Vince took 4th place in the MV60 and Simon Morris took 5th in the MV40. Well done all! Well done too, to Deborah Fogden, Anthony Fogden, and Helen Pollard for their 1st 5 mile event. Full results are as follows:
Just as important, if you are chasing nice bling, the Beaconsfield 5 Mile Trail Run is a race organised by Burnham Joggers, and it’s part of a series that offers interlocking medals. Completing three races (Beaconsfield 5, Cliveden Classic 10k, and Burnham Beeches Half Marathon/10k) in 2025 will earn runners a set of three interlocking medals.
Club league update
So at just over half way through the club league fixtures, the top end of the leader board looks like this:
Finally, looking forward to next weekend ,we have of course the London and Manchester and Shakespeare marathons. Good luck all! Trust your training, watch your pace and go have a fantastic day! The weather lady on the BBC this morning ( a non runner i am sure) very unhelpfully said – “the weather may warm up by mid afternoon so run fast and get it done!”