Following on from Roland’s weekly themes of “The Land of the Rising Sun” followed by “The island of Love”, this week we have “Viva Espana” as Heather Timmes continues the run of destination events with her Trip to Spain with her family for the Barcelona Marathon.
Always a popular event, because whats not to like about running in a beautiful city, in the sunshine with great views of the sea ? – the course had some changes this year to make it a faster, more central, monumental and lively route. Congratulations Heather on truly fantastic run to finish with a PB of 3:04:30, and thats despite running into a bollard and needing a quick wee stop. She was very rightly “ dead chuffed with her pace and her achievement”. Be proud Heather – 115th Female to cross the line in a big city Marathon and 19th in the W35 category is an incredible achievement! I hope you are enjoying some extra vacation time in Spain.
Megan at the finish in Barcelona
Also “on Tour” this weekend were Anthony and Deborah Fogden. Away for the weekend in Vienna and couldn’t resist the call of the Donaupark Parkrun – even if it was more than a little wet!.
Anthony & Deborah in Vienna
Meanwhile …. Back in the UK the place to be last Saturday was at Cassiobury Park parkrun where there were 23 GVHs with lots to celebrate. Sam Rafferty was celebrating her birthday, Andrea Beattie was celebrating her 25 parkrun milestone and several new PBs were set – despite a detour to avoid a dead tree.
GVH take on Cassiobury Parkrun
Congratulations done Andrea on reaching the 25 park runs milestone (and17 parkrun volunteering badges) and Well Done on your new parkrun PB 30:41 – you are getting closer and closer to breaking the 30 min target! Helen Pollard also had a great run along side Jade Evans setting a new parkrun PB, Jade also set herself a new course PB.
Polly Cripps also had a fantastic run, celebrating her 10th parkrun and her first outing at Cassiobury. She knocked just over 3 mins off her parkrun PB – well done Polly. Similarly Matt Chamberlain was also celebrating his 10th parkrun with a great new PB. Not to be left out Tom Evans also set a new course PB despite running to cassiobury as part of his LSR.
A special well done to Kim Morgan too for her 2nd Female finish and a finish time very close to a new PB.
Finally to round up the accolades at Cassiobury – a huge shout out to Mary, 20 weeks pregnant and running with the buggy finished in a remarkable 43:35! Well done Mary – surely this is a GVH record?
20 Mile runs
Watching strava and race results this week there can be no doubt that Marathon and Ultra marathon training is now in full swing, and with the weather warming those long runs feel more enjoyable. Well done to everyone that completed a long run this week whether it was solo, small group or organised event.
Megan McCreadie had a fantastic 20 mile run at the Milton Keynes Festival of Running on Sunday finishing in 2:44:36 holding a solid pace from start to finish.
Kim Morgan and Roland Kendall ran the Essex 20, a 5-lap course at the disused Debden Airfield. They both had great runs finishing in 2:33:57 and 2:36:07 respectively with Kim claiming a new 20 mile PB, well done Kim!
Essex 20 medal
THE HUNDRED HILLS 50KM
Jono Marvel went a step or 2 further as he took part in the Centurion 100 hills 50k event in the sunshine on Saturday. The route is billed as “a beautiful but challenging 50km trail ultra through the heart of the Chiltern countryside. The route takes in 4000ft of climb, visiting picturesque villages and ancient woodland while traversing some incredible trails”
Jono finished in 5hr 59 saying that “cramp at 25 miles put paid to any kind of of decent time”. I am sure the vast majority of the club would be very happy with that time Jono!
Jono celebrating 100 Hills finish
And finally to finish this weeks round up – a big shout out to Simon Wallis. Returning from long term injury he ran his first 5k this weekend since November 2023. Well done Simon, we all hope this is the start of a full return to running for you.