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Beckenham Road Relay
Once again, we were able to field a couple of teams in the
annual Beckenham Road Relay. We were pleased to have new member Soheel making
his competition debut for us. Our men's team finished 29th while our women
finished 47th in what was, this year, a hugely popular race. Well done.
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Paul Marshall |
15:31 |
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Chris Marshall |
17:11 |
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Soheel Bhandari |
20:04 |
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Karen Samuel |
21:34 |
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Connie Jackson |
19:03 |
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Becky Pizer |
22:23 |
The full list of teams
is included in the results
here.
Virgin London Marathon
Paul Marshall
3.15.17 running for Kidney Research UK
James Winbourne
4.02.39 running for Children with Leukemia
Tom Stevens
4.53.24 running for Bromley Mencap
Rose McGuire
4.53.26 running for Kidney Research UK
Les Humphrey
5.11.33 running for British Heart Foundation
The first recipient of the new Founders Cup,
donated by current and original founding members of the club Joan Burns, Nan
Cross, Jnue Hartley, Maureen Farish and Helen James, as fastest first claim
member is Paul Marshall.
It’s amazing how close Tom & Rose were together
after 26.2 miles only TWO SECONDS separating – sorry Tom, the lady should have
come in before you but great you ran together.
Tina Northwood had to withdraw due to
injury, so we wish her success for the 2011 event.
On Tuesday 27 April 2010 Shirley Poole and Linda Whiteley organized a celebration
evening in the crèche at the Parklangley Club with the purpose of issuing to the
marathon participants the £10.00 BVAC cheque to the runner’s nominated charity.
Well done to you all and to Les who
ran the Virgin London Marathon as a VIRGIN [runner of course]
Paddock Wood half marathon
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Karen Samuel |
1:56:34 |
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Linda Whitely |
2:07:09 |
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Les Humphrey |
2:07:44 |
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Kathy Morris |
2:08:46 |
Worthing 20
Les Humphrey 3hr 25mins 53secs in his ‘first
attempt at this distance’
Tunbridge Wells Half Marathon - by Les Humphrey
199 Mike Turner 1hr 35mins 23secs
1085 Tina Northwood 1hr 58mins 24secs
1176 Karen Samuels 2hr
00mins 04secs
1548 Les Humphrey
2hr 15mins 25secs
Entries 2000
Finishers
1792
Fastest 1hr 09mins 11secs
Slowest 3hr 08mins 38secs
The course in the Race
Instructions is described as one of the most testing and picturesque on the
racing calendar. The one lap circuit through some of Kents finest countryside
includes a few notable hills which will "interrupt conversations", these including
Smarts Hill at about six miles and the longer and steeper Spring Hill at seven
miles.Personally they did more than "interrupt conversations" but rather brought
on the need for a sniff of oxygen.
The weather
forecast for the weekend had been for strong winds, heavy rains and very low
temperatures and for once the forecasters proved correct. Travelling down to the
event in torrential rain it was tempting to do a u turn but not to be deterred I
pressed on to the event Headquarters. Fortunately the organisers had hired the
Tunbridge Wells Sports Centre, however as the start time drew nearer there was a great reluctance on the
part of the competitors to leave the warmth of the Centre and emerge into the
rain and make their way to the start despite requests from the organiser.
Ponchos were given out to many of the runners to combat the weather.
Nevertheless
the event, started by Dame Kelly Holmes, did get away on time. Some parts of the
course resembled a cross country event with flood waters above the ankles and it
was not helped by a minority of motorists taking delight in driving through the
floods at a fast speed and spraying the runners with icey water.
All in all a
day when the weather was as much of a challenge as the hills.
Trinidad
Marathon
- Ashley Smith
We have a friend who is now living in Trinidad
and who invited us last year to join him running the 2010 marathon.
Unfortunately though the 2010 event was canceled due to the Global recession and
the collapse of the events major sponsor. We decided therefore to enter
Edinburgh instead in May and so planed our training accordingly eg.
Increased early nights in and more chocolate and bottles of wine in the
autumn\winter months.
In early November however the Trinidian Government decided in line with many other
Governments around the world to Bail out the main sponsor who in turn decided
to reschedule the event at the last minute.
So ill prepared (due to no training and the snow in December and January), off we set for
our mammoth journey via New York (where the Immigration officer advised us to be careful
because of the crime in Trinidad). We
were pleasantly surprised and pleased however to be greeted by the Trinidadian
Immigration Officer on our arrival who said “Welcome we are so pleased to have
invited you to Trinidad for the
Marathon”, what a nice welcome we thought... That is until we met
Dave outside the airport who waving the National Newspaper advised we had made
the Sports section being quoted as the main contenders to beat the three times
winner from Nigeria to scoop the top prize of TT 250,000.
With a total lack of training and temperatures around 34C we decided to join the Walkers
start group at 3.30am with the intention of covering as many miles as possible before sun rise
when it starts to get really hot! We were not the only ones with
this intention but by the end of mile one Lynda and I were the lead runners. It
was interesting to finally have an appreciation of what it must be like to be
Paula Radcliffe with open roads, fields to either side, no runners in front (or
anywhere visibly behind) and with the only sound being the Police Escort on a
motor cycle riding beside us. It was also interesting to be asked by the Police Escort to take photos of him on his bike
escorting Lynda rather than the other way around for a change!
As the miles ticked off and we passed the odd dead horse laying by the side of the road the
fields finally gave way to a small village where despite there only being a
handful of houses the locals were still in the street outside the only bar in
village partying.
We got to Mile 15 as the sun started to rise, the humidity fell and a welcoming cool breeze
washed over us, unfortunately this only lasted for around 5 minutes before the
sun started to burn and we found ourselves on the edge of the Port of Spain (the
capital). We managed another two miles of run\walking but by mile 20 it was
simply too hot and the lack of training had brought us to a stroll. Still a
great effort and it was only the sound of the Lead Marathon Runners now catching
us up (they started at 5:30am) that brought about a last desperate attempt to
run but after a couple of minutes and watching the TV crews disappear around the
corner in distance we decided it was time to walk the rest of the race while
taking in the sights of the town and interact with the locals, all of whom were
very friendly.
The last six miles of the course snakes past the New Opera House - an imitation of the
Sydney Opera House and one that has caused a huge stir amongst the locals as it
cost more to build than a couple of hospitals. We passed around the main
Park where you see a tantalizing glimpse of the National Athletics Stadium, home
of the finish line before being sadistically directed three miles in the
opposite direction and out of town.
This latter part of the course goes through what our friend had advised was a NO GO area
(You don’t stop at Traffic Lights for fear of being mugged in your car), yet put
on a pair of trainers, (thoughts of Lee Evens sketch about running through Moss
Side spring to mind!), wear a Marathon number and suddenly you are
escalated from Potential Mugging Victim to Demi God by the locals.
As we walked through the streets and past some very unsavoury characters we were cheered
and welcomed by many we would normally cross the road to get away from being in
fear for our lives.
Finally and in soaring temperatures of around 35C and under a fierce sun the Stadium
appeared before our eyes, the finish line at last... But no we were directed a
further half mile in the opposite direction before being allowed to turn around
and join the finishing 5k’ers (around a 1,000 of them).
Finally the National Stadium entrance appeared and as we ran the last 300m hand in hand to
the cheers of locals we heard the PA announce that the
UK
newly weds had finished (I don’t remember proposing to Lynda but maybe the sun
got the better of me ...)
In all a very well organised event with plenty of water\gator aid stations, great support
from a small country and a race to be recommended.
Galilee Marathon – Pat Collins
This is a transcript of a card from Pat Collins in
Israel
Warm greeting to Bromley Vets from a reasonably warm Tiberias
where I did the Galilee Marathon in 3.51 – my best time for over two years.
The 26 heat did not go well for many with a few
being brought home on stretchers.
This is a lovely place and I enjoyed a couple of
days before recovery before heading back to the harsh winter we are experiencing
at home.
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