There was plenty of midweek action across a range on distances and surfaces to start this week’s bumper update.
We’ll start off in the Shropshire fells where Paul Dean took part in the Batch Bash. Organised by Mercia Fell Runners this race was over 5.3k with a total ascent of 305 metres and with the winner coming home in 27.08. Paul had another fun evening crossing the line in 45th place in 35.15.
There was action on the tarmac in the Phoenix Flyer, race 2 of the Sexarathon Series covering three laps around Dawley to make up the 5k distance. Here finishing positions were based on gum times but chip times are what mattered. James Neilson was at the business end up with the leaders finishing in 5th place in 16.08, only 30 seconds behind the winner. Dan Turner was 9th in 16.42, Dylan Illidge placed 15th in 17.25, Alex Kelly placed 19th in 17.43, Paul Marson was 28th in 18.08, Steve Newman 30th in 18.18, Joe Flatley 41st in 18.56, Sundeep Sunar 44th in 18.57, Tony Cheema 47th in 19.05, Dave Newport 48th in the same time, Andy Horton 66th in 19.45, Darren Owen-Jones 114th in 21.07, Simon Calrow 117th in 21.12 to place 2nd M60, Sarah Thurley placed 119th and bagged 1st F40 in 21.09, although placed behind Simon, Sarah was actually faster on the chip time. Sean Rowe was 127th in 21.15, Rob Edwards 148th in 22.03, Maria Calleia 149th in 21.58, Carl James 182nd in 22.59, Ian Thursfield 188th in 23.06, and Danni Braine placed 220th in 24.19.
A small group pushed their comfort zone to the very limits by taking part in the second fixture of the Midlands Veterans League – North, at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium. Paul Clarke took part in the M40 200 placing 4thin 27.00, Greg Asbury was 1st in the M50 200 in 26.2, Paul Rogers was 6th in 34.7 in the M60 version and Dave Guest finished injured but was determined to cross the line after pulling up at around halfway, limping to the finish in 79.2 for the points in the M70 200. On the ladies side of things Louise Webster was 3rd in 30.9 in the W35 event, Julia Condon was 6th in 46.9 in the W40 200. Over 800 Danny Malone was 1st in 2.17.1 in the M35, Dave Norman was 6th in 3.12.5 in the M40 event, Greg Asbury was 2nd in the M50 race in 2.22.4. Louise Webster was 1st in the W35 race in 2.48.2, Emily Simmonds was 2nd in 2.58.4 in the W40. Over 3000 Danny Malone was 4th in 10.48.7 in the M35s, Dave Norman was 5th in the M50s in 12.40.4 and Paul Rogers ran 11.10.4 in the M60s to place 3rd. There was a win for Sabrina Thomas in the W35s race coming home in a time of 11.39.3, Emily Simmonds was 4th in 13.01.1 in the W40s. In the Mile Walk there was a 2nd place for Piers Butler in 13.39.7 in the M35s, Paul Rogers also took the runners up spot with 11.14.0 in the M50s, Julia Condon was 3rd in 14.28.8 in the W35s, and most importantly no DQs this time. In the relays there was a 4th place finish for the mens team of Greg Asbury, Paul Clarke, Danny Malone and Joe Deans in 4.53.4, and a 2ndplace finish for the ladies team of Louise Webster, Sabrina Thomas, Veronika Foster and Emily Simmonds in 5.01.3. In the jumps Greg Asbury was 3rd with a leap of 1.40 on the M35 high jump, Veronika Foster cleared 1.05 for equal 3rd place in the W35s event. Paul Rogers was 5th with a distance of 2.55 in the M60 long jump, Greg Asbury bagged a win in the M50 triple jump with 9.46. And in the throws there was a 5th place finish for Joe Deans with 7.99 in the M35 shot, Louise Webster won the W35 shot with a 9.00 throw, Dave Baggott was 3rd in the M50 discus with 24.46, Joe Deans was 5th in the javelin with 23.28, and Louise won the W35s javelin with a 24.83 metre throw. The men placing joint 2nd in the league after tonight’s efforts with the ladies in 5th place.
On to the weekend where there was marathon action north of the border in Edinburgh, despite the weather turning against the runners with gale force winds and hailstorms there were some impressive performances from Alex Blair who finished in 3.17.24 in 677th place, Dave Joynson was home in 3.28.50 in 1252nd, Ian Thursfield clocked 4.42.33 and Gill Mitchell ticked another one off, coming home in 5.44.14.
Ethan Muirhead took part in the Run With The Wind Open Meeting in Cardiff recording a 2nd place finish over 100 in 11.15 and a 3rd place over 200 in 22.43, although still early to come away with two seasons best performances is a good return.
We were back on the roads on Friday night for the super-fast Mid Cheshire 5k. Jon Hart was up with the leaders to 2 miles before a tight hamstring put an end to his evening, Luke Maskew was 124th in 15.54, Ashley Atkinson placed 306th in 17.19, Tom Pryor PBd in 17.10 to take 312nd place, Derrick Milligan was 315th in 17.11, Gary Worrall ran 17.15 for 320th and Grace Hendy was 474th and 11th U21 in 18.47.
Back on the track where Isobelle Jones placed a very impressive 6th in a PB of 4.16.50 in a stacked 1500 at the BMC Grand Prix World Athletics Challenger meeting in Bury.
And there was some track action in the Midlands Regions North East 1C division of the UK Youth Development League at Tipton where Roshane Gordon was 2nd in 12.4 in the U20 100A, Roshane won the U20s 200A in 24.3 with James Crust winning the B race in 24.7, James also won the U20s 400B in 52.8. There was another win for Roshane in the U20s 800A in 2.03.4, Serge Guy placed 2nd in the B race in 2.33.7. There was a 2nd place for James Neilson in the U20s 3000A in 9.04.9. In the throws Ethan Kendrick recorded 56.02 metres in the U20s hammer to claim a win. In the ladies side of the event there was a 3rd place finish for Nteokan Egopija in the U20 200A in 30.2, over 800 there was a win for Megan White in the U20s A race in 2.18.2, Millie Williams son the B race in 2.26.6. Amelia Hancock was 3rd in the U20s long jump with 2.84, Amelia won the shot with 6.40, the discus with a throw of 22.29, was 2nd in the javelin with 12.72 and took 1st place in the hammer with 41.65, with Georgina Neilson winning the B event with 37.33. In the U17s competition Chyloh McKenzie won the 100A in 12.0, Ephraim Moponda was 2nd in the B race in 12.1, Chyloh won the 200 in 24.1 with Leo Watson placing 2nd in the B race in 25.7. In the throws Tegjot Singh was 2nd in the shot with 11.41, 2nd in the discus with 29.53 and won the javelin with 43.83.
Kayliah Henry was 2nd in the 100 U17A with 14.5, Elissa Rukweza was 3rd in the B race in 14.6. Kayliah was 2nd in the 300 clocking 47.0. Over 800 there was a win for Grace Hendy in the A race recording a time of 2.25.8, Maisie Roberts was 2nd in the B race in 2.37.0, Ronni Read placed 3rd in the 300 A race in 12.00.1, Eleanor Simpson was 2nd in the B race in 12.06.9. Elissa Rukweza was 3rd in the long jump with a leap of 4.12, Alice Baugh was 3rd in the B event with 3.35. In the throws Aisha Abdullah won the shot with 10.88, Eleanor Simpson was 2nd in the B competition with 7.04, Eleanor was 3rd in the A discus with 15.41. Aisha also won the hammer with 45.46. There was narrow win for the team of Elissa Rukweza, Alice Baugh, Belle Willoughby and Kayliah Henry in the 4 x 100 with a time of 56.0, the second-place team of Cannock & Stafford clocking 56.4.
In the non-scoring events Jahzi Tucker ran 11.90, they have him down in the 200 but I’m assuming that’s for 100 unless he’s absolutely world class, and Veinos Abdullah threw 34.82 in the hammer.
And we were on the Birmingham University track again on Wednesday evening where Owen Ulfig placed 4th in 3.56.34 over 1500, just pipping an athlete who had won at the BMC meeting in Bury a few days earlier.
To finish things off there was a nice midweek win for Dan Maskew in the Kinver Summer Dirt Run over 10k, Dan crossed the line well clear in 39.06, Ben Pilsbury was 4th in 47.19, and Jay Patel was 8th in 50.56. Sarah Thurley placed 13th overall and bagged the 1st lady prize in 55.27.
Dave Norman
