Berlin Marathon

by Pete Mackrell

Berlin 2015 was my 11th marathon. I really enjoy Berlin, it’s not for everyone because it hasn’t got the landmarks and amazing support of London, or the glamour and appeal of New York, but if you’re chasing a time there’s nowhere better. And there was one particular time people kept reminding me of: 2:34:43, that being Pete Watkins’ club record. But the truth is it wasn’t on my radar, I’d laboured to a 1:17 half only five weeks earlier, not exactly a confidence booster. read more

Lots of Records at the Stag

The first Stag trophy race of the 2015/16 season saw numerous records set for the event.

  • There were 33 people running: It has been very rare to ever get more than 25, which is what the scoring system is based on so to see so many people out sprinting round the course is brilliant
  • We had 9 people who had never run the Stag before
  • There was a sixty-one year age gap between the oldest and youngest participants
  • There were 21 people who completed the course ahead of their handicap time!

So well done everyone that came along and lets try to keep the numbers high and have a closely fought competition.

On the night, as is often the way, it was the newbies that came home first having managed to convince Dave that they would struggle to even complete the course! Sean Westrope put up the most convincing argument to come home 30 seconds ahead of Stuart Dimmock and the returning Alex Ridout.

In addition to the nine new participants there were also six PB’s on the night from Scott Towell, Chris Norman, Pete Mackrell, Sam Dear, Dominic Grimshaw and Mandy Clay. Chris in particular did this in spectacular fashion by taking 39 seconds off his previous best from 2013. read more

Loch Ness Marathon

by James Bell

The Caledonian sleeper sidled out of Euston at 9.30 pm on an unremarkable Thursday night heading for the capital of the highlands. By 9.31, Alison and I had already drunk half the wine, eaten most of the cheese and had plans to stay up no later than 10:30, such is our rock & roll lifestyle. Tucked in bed, my last though was “why I am doing a marathon?”. For anyone who knows me, I have a problem with marathons. I just don’t see the attraction. However, my inner trainspotter had noticed that whilst I had ticked a few race distance boxes, the marathon had defeated me. The reason for the defeat is that I had run courses that I considered boring, really boring. I needed something stimulating and then, I thought, my moment would come. read more

Let’s Call it a VERY Long Cross Country

Henley Half Marathon

by David Killick

So I am not up with the running terminology so in my mind, trail running is between nice tarmac and mudswamp cross country.  The course at Henley meanders its way from the park at Henley, with the rowers being shouted at by rather large blokes on bikes with megaphones to a place called Hurley where you turn (more about that later) to head back towards Henley where you turn again and then back to the park and finish.  Tarmac, grass, paths, gravel, mud, undulating hills etc etc. read more

Windsor Half

by Gareth Bird

Earlier this year Radio 2’s Chris Evans told his listeners he’d entered the Windsor Half Marathon, so I decided to enter on the spur of the moment. It would have been a good idea for me to check what time the event commenced as the 1pm start meant the risk of it being hot, and it was!

Race instructions were all on the website with just the race number arriving by post. Despite the 4,000 runners the traffic was fine via A-roads and parking was very close to the start in Windsor Great Park.  There were a few traders on site and a good atmosphere with music blasting out. The whole run was on surface roadways, allegedly slightly undulating, but in the words of Chris Evans in his post event interview, ‘that is not undulating, they are hills’! The start/finish is on one of the vistas with a great view of Windsor Castle, the course runs the perimeter of the Park, with no traffic and wide paths so overtaking is easy, just as is being over taken! read more

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