Category Archives: Dibben Report

For Pete’s sake! Roadrunners vets so close to relay glory at Aldershot

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After some interesting internal politics involving the South of England AA and their member clubs, Reading Roadrunners found themselves contesting a new-look road relays event on Saturday. Men’s captain TONY PAGE reports…

This year’s men’s six-stage, women’s four-stage and vets’ road relays were all run over a 6k course at the Rushmoor Arena, Aldershot… and, wow, what a great venue!

Roadrunners had a super turn-out, with eight teams competing. And we had some great results, with top-three finishes for the men’s vet 55 team (right) and women’s vets team.

As a southern qualifier for the men’s national road relays, the day’s racing attracted 80 men’s teams and 25 vets as well as 55 ladies squads and 14 vets. Throw in all the junior events at under 13, under 15 and under 17 levels and that made it a total of over 450 teams representing more than 1700 runners.

There were some very high-qualify fields, including the Diamond League runner Jack Rowe (who ran the fastest leg of 17:30) and Ellis Cross — renowned for beating Mo Farah over 10K — running for Aldershot Farnham & District. Not surprisingly, the home team won, ahead of Tonbridge and Cambridge & Coleridge. 

The women’s race was also won by AFD, with Bracknell AC in second. The fastest women were Amelia Quirk (Bracknell), Steph Twell (AFD) and Jess Gibbon (Reading AC), all with times under 20 minutes. 

There was an amazing third place for our women’s vets team (left) of Katherine Streams (22:49) , Helen Pool (25:18) and Sarah Dooley (24:43). Katherine put us in third place after an excellent first leg — fourth fastest in the vets race — and that was held by Helen and Sarah, who brought the team home in 1:12.50.  

Our second vet ladies team of Wendy Davies (33:36), Toni McQueen (33:54) and Sam Whalley (29:33) finished in eighth place.

Our senior ladies team of Hannah Green (24:32), Ann Rostern (26:20), Liz Johnson (27:56) and Pip White (25.29) came home in 35th place.

The closest finish of the day was in the men’s vet 55 race, where our team were just pipped for the victory. The team of Gavin Rennie (23:51), Pete Jewell (23:21) and Chris Webber (23:36) — all from the winning team at Ridgeway Relay this summer — were joined by Terry Dowling (23:39). 

Pete took us in to the lead with the fastest second leg, gaining three places after Gavin was fourth fastest on the very competitive first leg.  Chris was second fastest on his leg, before handing over to Terry, who was passed in the final 100 metres by Brighton Phoenix, whose final runner ran an amazing 22.03.  This was a great achievement for us… well done team!

Our senior men’s team finished in 2:08.59 for 51st place.  We welcomed back Ryan O’Brien (right), who recently re-joined RR and whose time of 20:37 was 37th fastest on the fifth leg, gaining 12 places. The other members of the team were Matthew Sarjent (21:26), Ollie Watts, (22:25), Jacob Atwal (21:25), Matthew Davies (22:00), and Mark Worringham (21:03).

Our second fastest runner on the day was Brendan Morris, with a time of 20.41, gaining ten places for our B team, who finished 59th. Other members of the team were Sean Hancox (23:00), Chris Burt (22:23), Jamie Smith (23:36), Dimi Gospodinov (22:36) and Chris Moseley (22:04).

We also entered two teams in the men’s 40s category. The first team of Fergal Donnelly (22:17 for 12th place), Tony Page (23:08) and Lance Nortcliff (23:06, gaining two places) was brought home by Dave Parton (21:50), the sixth fastest on leg four. That gave us a creditable tenth-place finish. 

Our second vets 40 team of Tony Streams (26:49), Paul Bandy (27:24), Colin Cottell (26:28) and Jon Kew (24:20) finished in 17th. 

Thanks to everyone who took part and stayed to the end to support all our runners and see the presentation ceremony for our men’s V55 team.

Here’s your link to the results on an Excel spreadsheet…. https://www.afd.org.uk/aldershot-road-relays/

Gavin and pacy! Roadrunners vets prove the old ones are the best

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Sunday’s Ridgeway Relay ended in triumph for one Reading Roadrunners squad… it just wasn’t the one you might have expected! Club chairman SAM WHALLEY tells the inside story..

Roadrunners’ Vets walked away with first place at last weekend’s Ridgeway Relay, for the first time since 2015. Then they were the only vets team, and finished last out of 42 teams, so also took home the wooden spoon!

This year’s over 50s were in a league of their own, coming 13th overall, out of 37 teams, and completing the 86.5 mile race from Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire to Marlborough in Wiltshire in 12 hours and 46 seconds. The second placed vets team was 24th, one hour and 40 minutes behind.

Gavin Rennie got the vets into a strong position from the off, finishing leg one in 16th place, and first vets team. The vets position was never in doubt, but the overall placing moved up to 11th and 12th after strong runs from Julie Rainbow (leg four, tenth fastest for that leg), Chris Webber (leg five, seventh fastest), and Ian Gosling (below, leg seven, ninth fastest), before settling into 13th until the end.

The remainder of this superstar vets team was made up by Eoin McLeod (leg two), Ann Rostern (leg three, gaining four places), Alan Freer (leg six), Peter Rennie (leg eight), David Fiddes (leg nine) and Pete Jewell (pictured below, leg ten). Congratulations to them all – truly inspirational.

Meanwhile the Mostly Men’s A team had to settle for second place behind Newbury AC after switching between first and third since Dave Boulton set the team off in the lead on leg one.

There were some fantastic runs throughout the day, most notably from Carrie Hoskins (leg four, gaining one place, second fastest for that leg), Ben Paviour (leg five, gaining one place, third fastest), and Chris Lucas, who ran the fastest time for leg six. 

The rest of the team was made up of Sarah Dooley (leg two, sixth fastest), Tony Page (leg three, fourth fastest), Matthew Sarjent (leg seven, third fastest), Dave Parton (leg eight, third fastest), Mark Worringham (leg nine, second fastest) and Sibrand Rinzema (leg ten, fifth fastest). Sibrand was running his last race as a Reading Roadrunner before returning home to the Netherlands.

The Mostly Ladies team managed its highest ever placing with 19th, and third ladies team, thanks in particular to excellent runs from Dimi Gospodinov – one of the two permitted men – finishing in 11th place on leg one, Holly Sedgwick (leg seven, gaining three places) and Aga Faulkner (leg eight, gaining two places) and despite a couple of fallers among the rest of the team, made up of Mel Shaw (leg two), Sam Whalley (leg three), Alice Carpenter-Cave (leg four), Belinda Tull (leg five), Swinda Falkena (leg six – also returning to the Netherlands soon), Brooke Johnson (leg 9) and Liz Johnson (leg ten).

The Mostly Men’s B team finished in 30th, with Jamie Smith getting the team off to a great start in 15th and brilliant runs by Mike Worsfold (leg two, gaining three places, ninth fastest for that leg), Sophie Mures (leg four, gaining six places, fourth fastest), Lance Nortcliff (leg seven, gaining one place, seventh fastest), Fergal Donnelly (right, leg nine, gaining two places, sixth fastest) and Alix Eyles (leg ten, gaining one place).

Completing the team were Peter Higgs (leg five), Pete Morris (leg six), Claire Seymour (leg eight) and Jon Green, who added two miles to leg three by taking the wrong path through a corn field.

Congratulations to all those who took part and many thanks to the captains for putting the teams together. Thanks also to Barry Cornelius for the images of our guys toughing it out.

For more information on the route of the Ridgeway Relay, and to whet your appetite for next year, read this: http://www.marlboroughrunningclub.org.uk/uploads/files/documents/RidgewayRelay/Ridgeway_relay_information_pack_2022.pdf

Draft results can be found here: http://www.marlboroughrunningclub.org.uk/uploads/files/documents/RidgewayRelay/MRCRidgewayRelay2022DraftResults.pdf

Photos from leg five onwards can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrycorneliusox/sets/72177720300127853/

Battling Roadrunners survive the Hampshire League mudbath

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Our flagship 10/20 event at Bramley was cancelled because of the weather but the driving rain and high winds were no match for the Roadrunners’ Hampshire Cross-Country League team at Popham, writes men’s captain TONY PAGE.

In the fact our ladies team seem to be enjoying themselves, though to be fair that was before the race had started!

All of the results are now in and the great news is that the RR men’s fifth place on Saturday was enough to secure our place in the prestigious First Division for another season as we climbed out of the relegation zone up to eighth.

This included an excellent 40th place from new member, Dave Boulton, who was second to Ben Paviour (31st and third vet). Our men were the first-placed vets team at Popham, and fifth over the season.       

The remainder of the scoring team for the men were Sibrand Rinzema (43rd), Mark Worringham (51st and sixth vet) and Tony Page (59th and 10th vet). 

The ladies had a strong finish to the season too, with tenth place at Popham, led home by Hannah Green in 27th. This was enough for ninth place over the season.  

Most pleasing was the day’s sixth place which saw our vet ladies secure a bronze-medal finish to the season. The remainder of the scoring team were Helen Pool (47th and 12th vet), Chloe Lloyd (61st), Emma Paton (66th and 23rd vet) and Sam Whalley (39th vet). Well done ladies.

Both Helen and Sarah Dooley clinched places in the League’s vet ladies top ten with their efforts over the season.

There were lots of excellent performances across the teams, in very challenging conditions. Roadrunners have gone from strength to strength in the final two fixtures of the campaign and we want to keep the momentum up for the Nationals at Parliament Hill Fields this coming Saturday… and for next season!

I would really encourage everyone to try the Hampshire League and experience the excellent team spirit for themselves. 

As is traditional, we rounded off the season with great night out at the Market House in Reading on Saturday night. A good time was had by all, and there were a few late starts on Strava today!

The Hampshire League results and final placings for the season can be found here:

https://www.hampshireathletics.org.uk/results/2022/20220219_hlmen.html

Meanwhile those of us who slogged through that mudbath aren’t in the least bit jealous of our team-mates who enjoyed great runs in the Spanish sunshine, chalking up five PBs in the Seville Marathon. Well, just a bit…

Many congratulations to Paloma Crayford, Carmen Fuentes, David Clay, Sarah Dooley and Chris Webber, as well as all the others who did us proud there.

Double Dutch successes as Roadrunners snatch victory

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Roadrunners saved their best until last in the Thames Valley Cross Country League, our men clinching a dramatic victory at Handy Cross. Proud men’s captain TONY PAGE reports….

Roadrunners’ men pipped both Datchet and Finch Coasters by just one single point to snatch first place at the final TVXC League race of the season. While this wasn’t enough for us to retain the men’s title, nevertheless it was a pleasing result with several new members stepping up.

That’s a good sign for the future and will leave champions Datchet looking over their shoulders next season.

The League had saved this season’s hardest event to last, with hills aplenty through Bradenham Woods and stunning views over the Chilterns in the morning sunshine.

But before we hit the hills, there was a fast downhill start. No surprise to see Sibrand Rinzema (left) leading the way, looking to cement his No.1 position in our TVXC club champs. He was closely followed by Ben Paviour — our leading M40 — who had to hot-foot it to the start having been delayed en route. 

Sibrand and Ben (right) battled it out at the front, eventually finishing in seventh and eighth places, with Tony Page in 15th.

Our victory was secured further down the field with ever-present Jacob Atwal (20th), Matthew Sarjent (28th) and Lance Nortcliff, returning to the scene of past glories, in 33rd, each just edging out our rivals to make it count. 

Special mention goes to Matthew for an excellent result on debut, clearly a chip off the old block. No wonder Bruce struggles to keep up! 

Our first lady home was Swinda Falkena (46th, left), followed by Liz Ganpatsingh (54th), Sam Whalley (71st) and Gemma Higgs (78th), which earned the team tenth place on the day.

There were many other excellent performances, with members fighting it out in the final round of our TVXC club championships. Watch this space for the final individual results, which will be published soon.

The season finished with our men in second place in the league table, the ladies joint fifth and the club fourth overall.

In the meantime Sunday’s provisional results can be found at http://www.tvxc.org.uk/results/team?race_id=102

Our focus now switches to the final Hampshire League fixture of the season at Popham airfield on February 19th.

It would be great to have a strong team out for that one to maintain our position in the top division.

Races are back… and Apsey’s so quick to beat the Easter traffic

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Post-lockdown racing resumed over the Easter weekend — and immediately there was plenty of success for Reading Roadrunners.

Although neither of the usual Easter favourites, the Maidenhead 10 and Beaconsfield 5, took place there was a new-look Mortimer 10k over a multi-terrain course which finished with victory for Mark Apsey.

Mark survived a near-miss with a swerving car near the finish before pipping Reading Joggers’ star Alex Whearity in the last few metres to win in 36mins 48secs.

A delighted Mark said:  “What with being overworked and a mix of aches and pains, I have not trained much in the last month. I didn’t expect anything under 38 or 39 minutes so I was pleased to run the time I did on a gruelling woodland trail route that included plenty of dog-lead dodging and, on the second lap, runner congestion.”

The RR glory weekend had kicked off with Super Sarah Dooley braving the vicious Dorney Lake headwinds to clinch a place in the London Marathon Championship with 3:14.00.

PBs there, too, for Paul Morrissey and Lorna McLeod and a V60 third-place for Alan Freer, while Ben Fasham improved his half-marathon PB at Kempton Park.

Some of the south’s best 5k runners were out in force in Sussex on Easter Monday for the Ardingly PB5k and Alex Harris duly obliged by taking four seconds off his best and improving his club V50 age group record to 17.33.

To give you some idea of the quality of the fields at this graded meeting, Jack Gregory ran 15.14 in the elite race where you had to run sub-16 to finish in the top 100.

Despite the cancellation of this year’s Shinfield 10k there will soon b    e plenty of other local races taking place soon, although for the next couple of months they will still all be staged under Covid restrictions (see Roadmap, below).

Step 2 of the Government’s roadmap expires on April 12th and the club plans to restart track sessions at Palmer Park from Wednesday, April 14th.

Below is a new-look calendar of events for the rest of the year. It doesn’t claim to be comprehensive but should cover most of the races which have proved popular with our members over the last few years.

Some of them have been postponed from their traditional spring dates to later in the year, making the autumn particularly busy. There should be a big race round here for everyone in October, but that won’t stop Roadrunners rocking up mob-handed at the Boston Marathon.

One of the anomalies thrown up by the modified schedule is the Farnborough Winter Half Marathon taking place on July 4th. Hopefully there won’t be a blizzard during the race this year!

Another new date is May 23rd for the 2020 Gutbuster. Normally a Christmas highlight, it was called off in December and again in February but is sure to be a sell-out whenever it’s staged.

There are more reasons to be cheerful in May, particularly with the return of the Barnes Fitness Summer Series. Events run by Ellie and Ian Gosling (left) always have a great vibe and this year the Dinton runfest comes with a virtual option (barnesfitness.co.uk).

May 16th sees the staging of the RunReading Half Marathon (racesolutions.co.uk) round the Caversham/Mapledurham loop as well as a full marathon and 50k ultra through the Goring Gap.

These two longer races are already sold out and the start lists include plenty of Roadrunners, as well as a certain Bradley Cooper. Not the Bradley Cooper, surely?

Hollywood A-listers have been the least of the worries during the lockdowns for race directors such as Racesolutions boss Chris Sumner.

“The problem for organisers is that we require enough notice to make arrangements for the races,” he said. “So it’s one thing being told potentially that all restrictions will be lifted by June 21st and that some events can take place from March 29th but, without having certainty about this, booking the various services and paying for them is a big risk.

“If we do this and they then say we cannot go ahead then we potentially lose tens of thousands of pounds.”

That was why Chris set a stand-by date of the weekend beginning July 23rd for the southern version of Endure 24 and was able to accommodate a late switch from June and a move from Wasing Park to Henley.

Another huge event from the Racesolutions stable is the Wokingham Half Marathon, which has transported from its traditional February slot to September 19th. This version promises a new route through the town centre.

Before that comes the putative return of parkrun on June 5th. Good luck to the volunteers trying to keep that socially distanced!

Conspicuous by its absence from my list is the Vets Track and Field League. Club organiser Chris Manton tells me he has yet to hear of any fixtures for that series. 

I’m sure Roadrunners will be entering some strong squads for the British Masters Road Relays at Sutton Coldfield in September, although there’s no news yet on the 12 and 6-stage Road Relays.

Track Friday supremo Fergal Donnelly tells me that he and Tony Canning are confident of staging some of their popular 5k events after the summer holidays period. Here’s the list of selected races:

APRIL

25: Goodwood Festival of Running

MAY

 1: Newbury Racecourse 5k, 10k, HM

 2: Henley Trail 10k and HM

 9: Oxford Town & Gown 10k

 9: Jigsaw 10k

13: Dinton Summer Series (race 1)

16: Reading Riverside HM, Goring Gap 26.2m & 50k

23: Gutbuster

JUNE

  5: Return of parkrun

10: Dinton Summer Series (race 2)

20: Hampshire Hoppit HM & marathon

JULY

 4: Farnborough Winter HM

4: Sonning 5k, 10k

 7: Yateley 10k (race 1)

 8: Dinton Summer Series (race 3)

10: Race to the Stones

21: Yateley 10k (race 2)

23: Endure 24

25: Down Tow Up Flow HM

31: Round Reading Ultra

AUGUST

  4: Yateley 10k (race 3)

12: Dinton Summer Series (race 4)

15: Burnham Beeches HM & 10k

29: Englefield 10k

SEPTEMBER

 5: Maidenhead HM

12: Brighton Marathon

12: Great North Run

18: British Masters Road Relays

19: Wokingham HM

25: Windsor Women’s 10k

26: Windsor HM

26: Berlin Marathon

OCTOBER

 3: London Marathon

 3: Basingstoke HM

10: Henley 10k & HM

10: Chicago Marathon

11: Boston Marathon

17: Great South Run

17: Oxford HM

17: Paris Marathon

24: Abingdon Marathon

24: Water of Life HM

NOVEMBER

 7: Reading HM

 7: Marlow 7 & HM

 7: Rivermead 10k

28: Mapledurham 10k & HM

  • I have kept December clear for a full programme of Hampshire League and TVXC fixtures. In 2022, why not pencil in the Woodcote 10k on January 9th? It’s a great warm-up for the big one — Bramley 10/20 — on February 20th.
  • Yesterday’s action picture: Peter Cook

Miles of smiles as Eddie rolls back years to prove old ones are best

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Eddie Thorpe has surprised himself with the club’s best age category performance in the British Masters Virtual  one-mile road relays,  writes Sam Whalley.

In the competition for those aged 35 or over, M75 Eddie finished fourth in the 75-84 age category, with a 77 per cent age-graded time of 7 minutes and 19 seconds.

A 4:40-miler back in the 80s, Eddie was still pretty pleased with his time, having shielded for many months, and not having done any speed work since the track first closed a year ago, maintaining his fitness initially with many miles on a Wattbike. 

He waited with bated breath though, to find out if he would make the top three, with the top runner also listed as an M65, for team purposes.

The event attracted over 1200 masters athletes from around the country, and 24 Roadrunners, who were led home by M40 Mark Worringham in a speedy 4:50 (83% age grade).

W60 Jane Davies achieved the top age grade, though, with 87% for her time of 6:42, followed by M55 Brian Kirsopp (81% for 5:38), and W45 Helen Pool, who was paced to a PB of 5:57 (her first sub-six, 80%) by Tony Page, who had already logged 5:20 for himself before knocking ten seconds off in another attempt.

The fastest female Roadrunner, though, was W35 Jane Copland, whose 5:48 earned her ninth place in her age category.

Well done to everyone who took part.

Here are the team scores:

M35-44 (46th): 36: Mark Worringham (4:50), 633: Ben Fasham (6:15), 869: Chris James (6:56).

M45-54 (37th): 177: Tony Page (5:20), 769: Chris Manton (6:38), 878: Art Atwal (6:57).

M55-64 (14th): 314: Brian Kirsopp (5:38), 698: David Caswell (6:24), 964: Peter Reilly (7:19).

W35-44 (21st): 398: Jane Copland Pavlovich (5:48), 845: Caroline Jackson (6:50), 1099: Nicola Gillard (8:04).

W45-54 (21st): 490: Helen Pool (5:57), 969: Elizabeth Ganpatsingh (7:20), 1063: Saba Reeves (7:48).

Here’s all the Roadrunners’ positions:

National treasures Jane and Mark lead the Roadrunners Fast Show

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Jane Davies and Mark Worringham were the headline acts of a superb performance by the Reading Roadrunners team in the final of the England Athletics Virtual Road Relay competition.

Jane was the winner of her V60 age group in a fiercely competitive national round, returning a time of 37 minutes and seven seconds for the five miles. That was despite being forced to change her planned route at the last minute due to local flooding and having to run a more undulating course.

Nevertheless the England masters marathon star achieved the astonishing age grading of 87.84 per cent… while Mark did even better with 87.96 per cent!

Mark was the fastest Roadrunner in the event with a stunning time of 25:53. It won’t be recognised as a personal best but it eclipsed the 26:03 he ran five years ago when smashing the course record at the Headington 5.

The former club men’s captain is a modest guy who lets his times do the talking for him. So here’s his splits… 5:10, 5:11, 5:10, 5:14, 5:07.

The time-frame for the competition had been extended due to poor weather and Roadrunners saved their best until last, the speedy council planning officer racing just a few hours before the final deadline.

Current club men’s captain, Jamie Smith, hailed his predecessor by saying: “That’s a fine performance by Mark, beating his time in the previous qualifying round by 17 seconds.”

Jamie added: “It was a superb team effort and it was great to see new names taking part and giving it a go.

“A note of thanks to Rob Corney, who went out of his way — having been injured recently — to meet up with one of our youngest club members, Jacob Atwal, and pace him for his five-mile effort round Green Park. What a tremendous show of team spirit!”

Second fastest Roadrunner was Brendan Morris, whose time of 26:34 improved his best — run in the previous round — by over a minute. Tony Page (28:52) and Matthew Davies (29:14) were our other scorers, just ahead of new member Adam Lewis, who ran 30:18 on debut.

Leading our ladies home was Jane Copland (33:26 despite being just back from injury), followed by Sarah Dooley (33:36) and Helen Pool (34:04), with Jane Davies completing the scorers. That’s Jane Copland pictured with son Sam, a potential future Roadrunner.

Proud women’s captain Sam Whalley said: “It was great to see so many different people turn out for this round. Jane Copland managed a great time following some calf issues and Jane Davies proved to be the fastest F60 in the land.

“Sarah Dooley and Helen Pool performed at their usual excellent standard, while Sara Lopez continued her recent run of form with a superb time.

“Thanks to Katie Gumbrell and Alex Bennell for uploading their efforts and well done to Gill Manton, who recorded an unofficial PB.”

Roadrunners were today confirmed as finishing 45th overall, an improvement of two places from the qualifying round. Wirral AC were the overall champions and will represent England in next month’s international final.

Our graphics show all the RR finishing times:

Now for round two! Roadrunners show they’re really relay brilliant

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SOME fantastic performances in round one of the England Athletics Virtual Road Relays meant Reading Roadrunners have clinched a place in next month’s National Round, writes Sam Whalley.

The competition, which required entrants to run a five-mile road leg, was initially scheduled to take place from Boxing Day to  January 10th but was extended to January 13th to allow more time for those clubs whose local areas had been affected by adverse weather conditions to participate. 

Club members aged 15 and over were invited to enter, and asked to run either out-and-back courses or lapped courses of no less than 1km per lap. Track laps were not permitted, and competitors were reminded to comply fully with government guidelines regarding exercise.

Team numbers were uncapped, and scoring teams were made up of the fastest four men and four women from each club, with the top 50 teams to progress to round two. With a total time of 4hrs 5mins and 51secs our eight scorers bagged a provisional 47th place in a competition which attracted 128 teams.

As usual the standard was exceptionally high, with the fastest times overall being 23:57 for the men and 27:36 for the women.

21 Roadrunners – 12 men and 9 women – rose to the challenge during the competition period. 

Scoring for the men were Jack Gregory (26:01 – 54th overall), Mark Worringham (26:10 – third MV40), Brendan Morris (28:26) and Tony Page (28:49). Mark’s time was over a minute faster than the club MV40 record of 27:25, set by Lance Nortcliff at Overton in 2016, while Tony’s was a PB by more than four minutes.

Counting for the women’s score were Katherine Sargeant (fourth FV50) 31:51), Sarah Dooley (33:53), Mel Shaw (34:41) and Liz Johnson (36:00). Katherine’s time was almost two minutes faster than the club FV50 record of 33:45, which was set by Lesley Whiley at Peasemore, and has stood since 2011.

Other notable performances were recorded by Rob Cannings (31:19) — a brave competitive comeback after he was hospitalised during the first wave of Covid — and Jane Davies (36:13), who was third FV60. Jane, Katherine and Mark all achieved an age grading of 87 per cent for their performances.

Racing solo is no easy task, so well done to everyone who took part.

Here’s confirmation of the results, which means we can now prepare for the National Round, which will take place between and February 10th and 15th:

https://www.englandathletics.org/athletics-and-running/news/virtual-road-relay-competition-the-results-are-in

 

 

 

Katherine and Brian are Masters of the universe… just like Eddie!

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Tony Page and Katherine Sargeant have topped the club’s results in the virtual 10k challenge set by the British Masters Athletics Federation (BMAF), writes Sam Whalley.

Aimed at getting masters athletes (those aged 35 or over) back into action after Christmas, the challenge required entrants to run one or more circular or out-and-back road loops totalling 10k, or a full 25 laps of a track.

The standard was predictably high, with the fastest man running 30:59, and the fastest woman 37:26.

Tony’s time of 36:20 earned him 16th place in the MV45 category, while Katherine (left, with Tony Streams) won the FV50 age group with 40:10, over 90 seconds ahead of her nearest rival.

Also triumphant in their five-year age categories were Brian Kirsopp (MV55) with 38:06, and Eddie Thorpe (MV75) with 52:52. Eddie is pictured, right, enjoying a well-deserved pint.

Jane Davies was third FV60 with 46:45, while David Parton was fifth MV50 with 36:49 and Helen Pool was fifth FV45 with 42:36.

There were reports of (unofficial) PBs across the club, including Becky Mellor running her first 10k, and Andrew Small beating his previous MV70 time by seven minutes, so well done and thank you to all of those who took part.

Full results are here: https://data.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2020/GBR/bmaf-virtual-10k/event/1/1/1/

For those aged 15 and over, EA is currently hosting a virtual five-mile road relay, with four men and four women to score for each team. The deadline is January 10th, and full details are here: https://data.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2020/GBR/earr/

Roadrunners ‘virtual’ heroes? Nonsense, they’re the real deal!

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Following the cancellation of the National Road Relays, Reading Roadrunners have been competing in the inaugural ‘virtual’ competition which replaced them… with stunning results! Here’s the inside story of our success, told by ladies captain SAM WHALLEY and the fastest Roadrunner in the event, JACK GREGORY. First here’s Sam’s report…

With race calendars empty, 20 female Roadrunners jumped at the chance to pull on their green vests and represent the club in the Virtual National Road Relays. The wearing of club kit was not even a requirement for this race, but it just felt right, and certainly helped get the adrenalin flowing for what was essentially a 5k time-trial.

The beauty of this race, while being pretty tough to run solo, was its convenience, with no choice but to run loops or an out-and-back from your own front door, including warming up and down, of course. Routes were carefully plotted in advance, taking into account the negative elevation limit of 30ft. 

We also thought about the most suitable time of day, the number of road crossings, and any potential obstacles — wheelbarrows, toddlers, barriers — to try to ensure our best performance. In hindsight, some might have chosen differently, and some did indeed have another go, before uploading their fastest attempt. I don’t think anyone had bargained for this week’s sub-tropical weather either.

Still on her way back from injury, Gemma Buley led the women’s team home in a great time of 19:21, just ahead of Carrie Hoskins, in 19:39 (fourth FV50). Just missing out on a sub-20 were Nikki Gray, in 20:01, and Katherine Sargeant, in 20:05 (seventh FV50). With Sarah Dooley in 20:16, and Jane Copland in 20:46, this put the women in 31st place in the six-stage competition, with a combined time of 2:00:08. Apart from Gemma, all of these were also FV35 scorers, and just needed Mel Shaw’s 21:18 to achieve an excellent fifth place out of 47 complete vet teams — amazing  — with a combined time of 2:02:05.

Making up the remainder of the women’s 12-stage team were Chloe Lloyd, with a huge PB of 21:42, Julie Rainbow, in 21:58 (ninth FV55), Swinda Falkena, in 22:17, Liz Johnson, in 22:45, and Claire Woodhouse, in a post-baby PB of 23:29. 

The 12-stage team was an incredible 13th, in a combined time of 4:13:37. Well done!

Once the results were in, an FV50 category was added, with four to score. Had we had one more runner in this age category, I think the club could have won! Our three FV50s ran a combined time of 1:01:42, with the winning team of four coming in at 1:36:25. Someone please check my maths!

Another great thing about this race was that there was no limit to numbers. Just run, and the fastest 12 would be counted.

So, also running like they had stolen something were Caroline Jackson, 23:31, Claire Raynor, 23:33, Claire Seymour, matching her track 5000m PB, in 23:53, Angela Burley, 23:58, Sam Whalley, 24:17, Liz Ganpatsingh, just days after her three-day Paris Marathon, in 24:48, Alex Bennell, 25:44, and Katie Gumbrell, in 27:48.

Well done to everyone who represented the club and put in 100 per cent effort. It was so nice to hear about your experiences, pre-race nerves, and near-vomit finishes. That’s what it’s all about. I hope you enjoyed being part of the virtual team, and, who knows, maybe we will take an actual team to the Nationals next year?

And here’s the in-depth report from hugely enthusiastic speed merchant Jack:

The National 12 and six-stage Road Relays are a staple of the UK racing season, providing a competitive transition from cross-country to marathon/road (and track), while also truly showing which club can boast the most depth of distance talent.

Personally, it is an event I have been trying to compete in for years both in my time with our rivals (Reading AC) and more recently since I made the jump to Reading Roadrunners (more controversial than Spurs to Arsenal). 

It does though involve some considerable organisation from team captains and also having 12/6 runners available to help you qualify at the Southerns, and then represent at the National at Sutton Park in Birmingham. This is far easier said than done as it does often clash with popular road races and seems to be a common time to get injured.

Having seen the success of the club in the Southern 6/4 stage in September, Jamie Smith, Mark Worringham and myself on the men’s side, and Sam Whalley on the ladies, had been pushing for our first appearance in the event. 

This was sorted, with almost two full teams registered on both sides, ready to head up to Milton Keynes. Unfortunately, as with every other event, it fell victim to Covid-19; leaving us rather disappointed.

Talk had begun a few weeks back on various forums and groups of the organsiation of a virtual event. Fortunately our sport has many great characters and volunteers and the Virtual National Road Relays were created by the small team at Opentrack, who have done an outstanding job at short notice with almost seven times the amount of entries they were expecting.

Jamie and Sam quickly went to work in drumming up interest among the members and the regulars quickly made themselves available. What I have been particularly happy about though is members who maybe don’t always feel “quick” enough or have not competed in club team events before getting involved. It has paid dividends as we have seen a number of “PBs” (very unofficial) from top to bottom.

The brief for the race was very simple: run a 5k as fast as possible, while following all social distancing guidelines, and then upload to Strava and the Opentrack website. This obviously means some will take liberties here and we all know the slight limitations of GPS; but did mean everyone could access safely and close to their homes, while providing a fairly accurate 5k time.

The standard of the racing has been sky high. Based on entries, over 60 current or ex-GB internationals signed up and this can be seen in the results.

On the men’s side, notables include Marc Scott for Cambridge, a Nike professional who recently broke Mo Farah’s European Indoor 5000 record in 13.08. He was only third fastest (although the athlete in first has a slightly suspect time), in 13.43. To get into the top 50 times you had to run 14:43, 15 flat would get you 97th, 16 minutes 394th and 17 dead 798th!

At the front end of the men’s race there was an epic battle with the lead changing hands regularly over the last 48 hours as each of Tonbridge, Leeds, Bedford and Cambridge added rapid times to their fastest 12. It was eventually Leeds, who crept ahead of Cambridge in second with Tonbridge taking bronze. Bedford were fourth. I mention four teams as they all went under three hours total. It does not take a maths graduate to work out that these teams therefore averaged under 15 minutes per leg, Leeds getting exceptionally close to 14:45.

The Roadrunners were not put off by the competition, rising to the challenge of the top athletic distance clubs in the country. Friendly rivalry between the guys meant many ran ‘PBs’ in their efforts. As results were compiled together, the men finished a highly respectable 41st out of 118 complete A teams in a total time of 3:21:05 (for comparison, Leeds were 2:57), averaging 16:45 per leg.

Scoring legs were: Jack Gregory (15.34), Mark Worringham (15:52), Stephen Ridley (15:59), Chris Burt (16:41), Mark Apsey (16:51), Ryan Faulkner (16:52), Matthew Davies (16:53), Sibrand Rinzema (17:13), David Parton (17:16), Brendan Morris (17:16), Callum Pratt (17:19) and David McCoy (17:19)

A key feature of the team was the excellent depth. All 12 of our scorers were in the top 1000 finishers, something not common in many teams outside of the top 20. Motivation is there to bring all of those times down by just 30 seconds and suddenly we would move up 10-15 places.

Special mentions in the scoring team must go to Stephen Ridley, who dipped under 16 minutes for the first time. He should probably scrap that triathlon stuff! Also, I believe there were ‘PBs’ for Chris Burt, Matthew Davies and Callum Pratt, while also excellent efforts from Sibrand Rinzema and Brendan Morris, both coming off injury but delivering solid runs. While part of the challenge of a 12-stage relay is to get your 12 strongest runners out, it is worth noting RR were missing Rob Corney, Matt Richards and Seb Briggs, all of whom would likely have scored.

As mentioned, RR’s depth is certainly a strength and this was shown by an excellent showing by the B team, finishing ninth among B teams in 3:51:36. Lots of the guys here were knocking on the door of the A team, with sub-18 performances from Jamie Cole (17.22), Jamie Smith (17.28) and Tony Page (17.47). 

Backing them up were Alex Harris (18:18), Brooke Johnson (18:51), David Clay (18:53) and Pete Jewell (18:56), who was the first Roadrunner to complete a leg, early on Saturday morning. Next up were Stuart Hyslop (18:59), Rob Thompson (20:21), David Caswell (21:13), Chris James (21:40) and finally Ben Fasham (21:48).

And if these 24 runners were not enough, there were outstanding efforts many more men. A shout-out must go to our youngest runner, Under 17 Jacob Atwal who ran an excellent 17:49 but due to age restrictions could not be slotted into our B team. Further top efforts came from Peter Cave (22:07), Clinton Montague (22:14), Chris Barkus (22:28), Alan Williamson (22:59), Stuart Wylie (23:31), Roger Ganpatsingh (24:11), Paul Monaghan (25:30) and Peter Reilly (25:41).

As well as the 12-stage race, there were the veteran six-stage competitions, categories that RR tend to perform particularly well in. This was no different with the vet men (V40 and above) 13th, counters being Worringham, Parton, Cole, Page, Harris and Jewell. The V50s were also an outstanding fifth with David Caswell adding to Parton, Harris and Jewell.

Thank you as usual to our team captains Jamie and Sam for drumming up interest and continued encouragement to get more and more RR out of their comfort zone and competing for the club. We continue to grow and improve and this can be seen in our results. 

It’s great to see over 50 runners coming together during this difficult time and has been a welcome distraction alongside the many other excellent initiatives and activities going on (virtually) at the club. Well done and thank you all

Finally, following on from my above point on our continued improvement, I thought this would be a good way to sign off. There was an overall 12 stage competition including men and women based on age grading. I won’t go into details, as most will be familiar with parkrun, however I feel this is an excellent way of bringing together the overall performance standard at a club. 

We averaged an exceptional 83.06 per cent across our top 12, finishing 31st out of 148 clubs. This included beating local rivals Reading AC, Windsor and Newbury and national powerhouses Belgrave and Serpentine. An incredible achievement! Below are the scorers (ordered by highest age-grade score):

Mark Worringham, David Parton, Carrie Hoskins, Jamie Cole, Jack Gregory, Pete Jewell, Stephen Ridley, Katherine Sargeant, Alex Harris, Tony Page, Julie Rainbow and Chris Burt.