Category Archives: 2024

Record-Breaking Moments: Reading Roadrunners at the 2026 London Marathon

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Volunteering, world records, and a welcoming club spirit

For more than three decades, Reading Roadrunners have proudly supported the London Marathon by providing volunteers to help keep runners safe and the event running smoothly. It has become a tradition that brings our club together, with many members returning year after year to marshal and cheer on their fellow runners.

This year’s marathon was truly one for the history books. Organised by Carl Woffington, we had around 60 club volunteers stationed at two iconic points: Rotherhithe (Mile 11) and Tower Bridge (Mile 23). Alongside them were about 20 Roadrunners taking on the marathon themselves, sporting the club’s green and blue colours.

But 2026 was not just another year—it was a day packed with extraordinary achievements. Our marshals had front-row seats to two world records. First, Sabastian Sawe stunned the running world by completing the marathon in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 37 seconds, becoming the first person ever to run a marathon in under two hours under official race conditions. As one marshal remarked, “When people talk about the first sub-2-hour marathon, I will be able to say, ‘I was there.’” The excitement did not end there; Tigst Assefa set a new women’s only marathon record, finishing in 2 hours, 11 minutes, and 12 seconds—a feat that inspired everyone watching. Carl summed it up perfectly: “Being part of a day when history is made, it’s something you never forget.”

After the marathon, the ballot for next year’s race closed with a staggering 1.3 million applicants vying for 60,000 spots—a record-breaking response. Our club usually receives two extra places each year, and we run a club ballot giving our marshals another shot if they were not successful in the main draw. It is a great way to reward those who give up their time to volunteer.

Many of our members are enthusiastic marathon runners, and joining Reading Roadrunners is a brilliant way to prepare for your first marathon or smash your personal best. Whether you are keen to volunteer or take on the 26.2 miles, you will find encouragement, camaraderie, and plenty of support. Why not come along and see what makes our club so special?

England Calling For Caroline

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It’s not every day you accidentally qualify to represent your country… but then again, not everyone is Caroline Monaghan.

Known across Europe’s marathon circuits (and pub gardens) for clocking up finish lines like most of us clock up excuses, Caroline and her equally marathon-mad husband Paul (both proud members of the 100 Marathon Club) were recently spotted not running 26.2 miles. Yes, you read that right.

A couple of weeks ago, while enjoying a weekend in the picturesque town of Bideford, the duo decided to “just do a little 10K” — as you do on a casual getaway. Caroline, being the organised and quietly ambitious runner she is, figured she’d register the race with the England Masters Programme. You know, just in case.

Well, turns out it wasn’t just a jog by the sea. Caroline only went and finished 2nd lady in the V45 category… out of over a thousand runners! Then she went off to enjoy the rest of her Devon weekend with Paul, Pete, and Giggsy — probably with some well-earned chips and maybe even a cider.

That was that. Or so she thought.

A week later, an email landed in her inbox with the words:

“Huge congratulations on qualifying to represent your country as a master’s athlete…”

Cue shocked silence, confused frown, brief suspicion of fraud, and then sudden realisation:
“I was gobsmacked,” Caroline said. “At first I thought it was a hoax… then I remembered I actually did apply.”

And just like that — Caroline Monaghan is officially an England athlete!

She adds, “I told Paul immediately, and he was over the moon. Looks like I need to put the marathons on pause and start getting serious about 10Ks. My new training regime has (accidentally) paid off!”

Congratulations Caroline

Go smash it in the England vest!

She’s back… but where has she been? Inside story of the shock return of a Roadrunners superstar

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Long-serving members of Reading Roadrunners were stunned — and delighted —to learn of the return to racing of Sarah Gee after an extended sabbatical
of 14 years.

Basically the absence of the club’s best-ever lady competitor can be explained by the old problem of life getting in the way of running.

Now Sarah, who has held RR records at all distances from 10k to marathon since 2010, has made a winning return.

First she knocked 41 seconds off Jane Davies’s club V60 record for parkrun. Then she led our V50 squad to silver medals at the SEAA relays at Aldershot.

So what has she been up to all this time? Let Sarah tell her own story… 

“A big hello and thank-you to everyone who has made me feel so welcome on my return to RR after so many years.

“I hung up my running shoes in October, 2010, having had my most successful year at the age of 46. I had started running at 40.

“Following winning the Edinburgh Marathon in May that year I achieved my goal of being selected for the full England team at the Toronto Marathon, and received my full England kit. My Edinburgh Marathon time had missed the Commonwealth Games qualifying time by 16 seconds.

“However, both my personal and professional life took new directions at the end of that year and my daughters — then aged eight and nine — needed more input and help in their school work.

“So it was the right decision to step back from running, but a difficult one. I loved my time at RR and I adored running; however, it was becoming very time-consuming.

“Now, 14 years on, having turned 60 and retired, and with daughters focused on their own paths, I have thrown myself back into the fun, addictive and exciting world of running. It was always on the bucket list to return at some point.

“In the 14 years of being away I carried on jogging five miles in the mornings, on my own at easy pace, but completely stopped running for five years from 2019, through Covid, and to 2023.

“During this time I was working long hours in medical writing in the Biotech world, including a Covid medicine.

“The stimulation to start running again was twofold … to do with my own health (high blood pressure) and being involved in a Uni project for my youngest daughter, who is studying veterinary medicine.

“Alyssa added a sixth year to her Uni life by doing a intercalated year at Loughborough in sports science and needed to do a psychological profile on an athlete preparing for an event.

“We live in the same road in Warfield as the GB marathon runner Charlotte Purdue but she was away and not available for interview at the time. My daughter panicked and tweaked her plan and said the profile had to become an (old) athlete preparing for a return to athletics. That was me!

“I did my first-ever parkrun a couple of weeks ago — I never recorded a 5k time in my 40s. Then I joined one of the teams at the relays at Rushmoor.

“A big shout-out to ladies’ captain Chloe Lloyd, who sensed my initial reticence when I suggested I should be a reserve. She insisted I “get out there!” And she was right.

“I enjoyed my leg of the relay and everyone from RR was welcoming, chatty and supportive.

“I wouldn’t have expected anything else, as I have always had fond memories of the club and its great members.”

Next target for Sarah — who back in the day was ranked age-group No.1 in England at 10k, half marathon and marathon — will be representing the club in the Hampshire League when cross-country resumes next month.

Other targets include British Masters championships at both 5k and 10 miles in December.

Don’t rule out England Masters vests next year… her training times at both 10k and half marathon are comfortably inside the national qualification marks.

Welcome back, Sarah!

  • Pictures show: Sarah finishing the 2009 Reading Half Marathon; with daughter Alyssa; representing England in an XC international; at the Aldershot relays; and in England kit again at the Toronto Marathon.

Gee whizz! Sarah’s back at last and still has the old magic

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Following the first big team event of the autumn, SAM WHALLEY reports on an astonishing comeback by one of Roadrunners’ all-time greats…

Reading Roadrunners V50 women’s were silver medallists at the SEAA Road Relays in Aldershot, one minute behind Brighton and Hove AC, and second out of the nine V50 teams.

In a different format to previous years, the Masters women (V40 and V50, three to a team) ran a shorter course of 4.6k, setting off with the Under 17 women. 

The team was led off by Sarah Gee (17.55, left), who has made a recent return to running and still holds every female club record at 10k and over. 

Andrea Greenfield (pictured with Sarah) took the middle leg (19.35), maintaining second place, before handing over to Carrie Hoskins to finish with the third fastest leg of the V50 teams (17.39). 

The men’s V50 teams (four to a team) ran the usual 6k course, with the A team of Lance Nortcliff (21.58), Dave Parton (21.44), Alex Harris (22.37) and V60 Pete Jewell (23.04) finishing only 13 seconds outside of the medal positions in fourth place, out of 13 teams. 

Other results from the afternoon of racing, which started with rain and ended in sunshine:

Senior Men’s (6x6k) – Callum Evans (right), Chris Burt, Chris Lucas, Dave Boulton, Steve Ridley, Tom Griffin – 59th out of 103 teams

Senior Women (4x6k) – Sophie Mures, Kat Charles, Holly Sedgwick, Chloe Lloyd – 27th out of 55 teams

Men’s V60 (4x6k) – Clive Alderson, Alan Freer, Mark Allen and Nigel Hoult – 8th out of 10 teams

Women’s V40 A (3×4.6k) – Lisa Steele, Sarah Dooley, Kate Williams – 9th out of 19 teams

The women’s V50 B team was disbanded due to injury, and both the women’s V40 B (Claire Seymour and Sam Whalley) and the men’s V50 B teams (Tony Page, Eoin McLeod and David Fiddes) were incomplete for a similar reason.

Here’s your link to all the times and data: https://results.sporthive.com/events/7242834360355782656

Promotion plus another super Bramley makes it double joy

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Last weekend was a double success for Reading Roadrunners, with the Hampshire XC League promotion and the faultless staging of another exceptional Bramley 20/10 event. Men’s captain TONY PAGE tells how we did it…

Reading Roadrunners’ men have been confirmed as winners of Division 2 of the Hampshire Cross-Country League and will be promoted back to the top division for next season.

This was all but guaranteed after our third consecutive win at Prospect Park last month and it was finally secured with a third-place finish at Bournemouth on Saturday.

Outstanding on the day was Lance Nortcliff, in 31st place, fourth veteran and individual gold medal winner in     the V50 age category across the four races in the league. 

Next month, Lance will be representing Berkshire at the Inter-Counties XC Championships in Nottinghamshire. His performance was closely matched by Pete Jewell, with individual series gold in the V60 category.   

Six men made up the squad for the race. The team were led home by Ryan O’Brien (22nd), Lance Nortcliff (31st, fourth vet, first V50), Pete Jewell (73rd, 21st vet, first V60), Tony Page (104th, 40th vet, 14th V50) and Ian Giggs (120th, 51st vet). Gary Clarke (174th, 97th vet) also had good run. 

Lance, Pete and Tony made up our vets team, which finished in fifth place on the day and also fifth best team across the four races. 

This 23-24 season saw a great RR team effort, which saw 23 different runners across the four fixtures and nine different runners making up the scoring team in our best three races, each of whom will be getting a winner’s medal. 

Ryan was in the scoring team in every race and finished in 16th place overall, in the highly competitive, senior men’s category. Second-claim member Jacob Atwal, running for Southampton University, came in second place (first U20).

In the women’s race, Sam Whalley (89th, 48th vet, 16th V50) and Claire Seymour (95th, 52nd vet, above) both ran well, but sadly we fell short of the required number of runners to make up a senior or vets team. 

For full results see https://www.afd.org.uk/hampshire-cross-country-league-results-2024/

There was a rather better turn-out from the women’s team at the Bramley 20/10 yesterday, with our ladies finishing on top of the podium in both the 20-mile and 10-mile races. 

The two-lap race was another triumph for Katherine Streams, (above) who won the V50 age group with a four-minute PB and an age grading north of 88 per cent.

She was followed home by training partner Nikki Gray, who also ran a huge PB and was first senior lady to finish. Mary Janssen (right) completed the winning team.  

Roadrunners also had the first V50 home in the 10-mile race — Saba Reeves, who carried off  the team prize with ladies captain Chloe Lloyd and Pip White, who ran a PB.

The two team prizes were the icing on the cake for the club after the organisational triumph of race director Adele Graham, her committee, volunteers and marshals in staging our flagship event despite last week’s Noah’s Ark weather — see picture left for the bit we missed out!

The forced farmyard detour in mile five might have added a handful of seconds to runners’ times but there were still plenty of PB’s. Here’s where to find the data… https://results.sporthive.com/events/7161372179512076288

Roadrunners going up… now for a fun day out in Bournemouth!

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The Green Vests defied the mud and cold to clinch cross-country success yesterday. SAM WHALLEY reports on how our men kept up their perfect record… 

The Reading Roadrunners men are destined for promotion back to Division 1 of the Hampshire League after they topped Division 2 for the third time this season.

With one fixture to go, and the best three results to count, the team that travels to Bournemouth on Saturday, February 10th, will have something to celebrate.

Lance Nortcliff and Pete Jewell are currently leading the individual V50 and V60 age categories.

Fifteen men made up the squad for the race in Prospect Park yesterday. Second-claim member Ben Paviour (25th, sixth vet, first V50, left) led the winning team home, followed by Ryan O’Brien (34th), Callum Evans (60th), Lance Nortcliff (72nd, 17th vet, second V50) and Keith Russell (80th, 22nd vet). The vet men were third.

Pete Jewell (1st V60, below right), Tony Page, Jon Lloyd, Mark Andrew, Tom Wright, Jon Green, David Fiddes, Antoine Chabran, Steve Cunningham and Gary Clarke also had really good runs over the tough 10k course.

Last week’s TVXC winner, Jacob Atwal (below left), was fourth (second U20), albeit running for his first-claim club, Southampton University.

Eleven women lined up for the start of the most local of the league fixtures, with Kayleigh Forbes calling it a day at the mid-way point, not quite recovered from a heavy cold.

Helen Pool (49th, 18th vet) led the women home, with Kaja Milczewska (59th) and Hampshire League debutante Charlie Siveter (60th, 26th vet, sixth V50) completing the team. 

Charlie’s first XC outing had been at the club’s home TVXC race in Ashenbury Park the previous week, which she said she had found hilarious! The women’s team was eighth overall.

The vet women’s third scorer came in the shape of Angela Burley (90th, 39th vet, eighth V50). The vet women were seventh.

Pauline Bravet (72nd), league newcomer Liz Gantpatsingh, Alex Bennell, Sam Whalley, Claire Seymour and Becky Mellor also toughed out the 6k race, which for the first time included an extra hill (twice!), to finally make it the advertised distance.

Well done to everyone who ran and thank you to those who supported.

The results are here: https://www.afd.org.uk/hampshire-cross-country-league-results-2024/

Don’t forget the two remaining TVXC fixtures at Handy Cross next Sunday and the TVT race on February 4th.