Category Archives: Race Events

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.

Hannah and her sisters become county Christmas crackers

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Reading Roadrunners’ senior women’s team captured first prize at this year’s county championships, writes Sam Whalley.

 Hannah Green (fifth), Katie Rennie (17th) and new Roadrunner Mireia Garcia (19th) picked up gold medals for their efforts, and will also collect the first ever senior women’s trophy, recently acquired to match that awarded to the senior men.

Hannah has also qualified to represent Berkshire in the Inter-Counties Championships in Loughborough in March.

In the men’s race earlier, Jack Gregory finished eighth to secure his qualification to run for Berkshire in the Inter-Counties.

Some results remain provisional but list Chris Lucas as tenth — just missing out on a county vest — with Fergal Donnelly and Ben Ashby battling it out for 24th (sixth vet) and 25th, respectively.

Both men and women competed over a 10k course around the Copas PYO fruit farm in Cookham.

Official results can now be found at https://www.thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=439608

Our pics show golden girls Hannah, Mireia and Katie plus Fergal and Ben battling it out with the Wargrave runner Richard Bookless.

Summer Relays 2021

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2021 Results Now Available!!

Summer Relays Are Back!

2021  Summer Relays now available for booking.

Please visit our Summer Relays page here for more info

Alternatively entry can be made via WebCollect here 

2021 Results
Team Results available here
Individual Results available here
Pics courtesy of Ed Thorpe available here

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: