Race Reports, April 2007

Blyth Valley 10K, 29th April

Pos Name Club Cat Pos Time
1 BROWN, Mark Morpeth Harriers 32:04
37 NOBLE, Louise Sunderland Harriers F 37:59
217 Dave Robson MV50 48:44
306 Christine Farnsworth FV55 54:43

382 finishers

Hawkshead Trail Race, 28th April

Dave Robson

A lovely sunny day in a glorious location just outside Hawkshead. There were various events and I had entered the 15K Trail race. I met Liz at the start and we ran together for a while, but I could not keep up with her. The race started in the centre of Hawkshead on road and then moved very soon on to a steep track. Almost all of the rest of the route was on tracks with very few flat sections. There were three big climbs in all and at the base of the third and biggest climb the organisers had put out a skeleton with a race number on it which was not encouraging. A tough but enjoyable race.

Pos Name Club Cat Pos Time
1 VERNON, Steve Stockport Harriers 55:34
22 LEAH, Candice Clayton Le Moors Harriers F 1:09:50
301 Liz Lamb FV50 1:36:49
346 Dave Robson MV50 1:40:29

513 finishers

London Marathon, 22nd April

Pos Name Club Cat Pos Time
1 Martin Lel Kenya 2:07:41
14 Chunxiu Zhou China F 1 2:20:38
7322 Mandy Dawson W40 205 3:51:48
8732 Alan Smith M60 95 3:58:01
11757 Louise Bilcliffe W40 381 4:12:39
24023 Jean Bradley W50 289 5:02:27
27782 Margaret Thompson W55 151 5:22:02
28182 Jill Hall W45 706 5:24:32

Lots of finishers, but not as many as started.

Lochaber Marathon, 22nd April

Shaun Roberts

Hi folks - many thanks to everyone enquiring how I got on, and first off well done to everyone doing London in the heat. I saw the start on the telly before setting out into cool drizzle for my race, and thanked my lucky stars ...

Some 400 or so lined up in the rain on Fort William shinty pitch to be piped off at 11:00 - mainly Scots, but also a large group of Portsmouth runners who were in my hotel, an extremely mature chap from Nevada ("should have brought the weather with you ..." I quipped), and a lone Sunderland Stroller - I told him I was looking forward to my beach towel. Off we went along the northern bank of Loch Eil, on an out & back course, in a light breeze, in light traffic - no, they didn't close the road to Skye, Nigel! Not too bad, though ...

My 'plan' such that it was, was to go out and do a steady 75-minute 10 miles, followed by another one, and then see what was left in the tank for the last 10K. Not much of a plan, you may say, but there you go ...

Started off just a tad too fast, but soon settled down, and did 10 miles in 74 mins. The next 10 became harder and harder, but I was more than pleased to do the 20 in 2h33m. Also, I wasn't running out of energy - the gels worked an absolute treat. At this point, the only hill of any note arrived - rather unhelpfully, I felt - I hadn't noticed it on the outward leg! Then all sorts of aches and pains started working their way round my legs - calves, knees, quads - all sorts of grief, none of which had turned up in training, and the time for each mile was getting longer and longer. Kept plugging away, though, did the 6.2 in 53m or so, ending up with 3h26m23s - which I was well pleased with.

Nearly got a prize, too! I was 98th of 402, 10th 50+ gadgie - and for some reason they had a prize for coming 100th. Loads of other prizes on offer ("3rd most improved local" etc) - most of which took the form of Tennants lager and McEwans Export. Anyway, a very well-organised race, low-key but very friendly.

Pos Name Club Cat Pos Time
1 CAMPBELL, Ruairidh Arbroath Footers 2:35:30
98 Shaun Roberts MV50 3:26:23

403 finishers

North Tyneside 10K, 8th April

Pos Name Club Cat Pos Time
1 James Buis Heaton Harriers 33:18
48 Helen Lawrence Wirral AC F 36:17
123 Shaun Roberts MV50 42:03
376 Dave Robson MV55 47:24
446 David Thompson 48:44
606 Mike Elliott MV60 51:59

1405 finishers

Marske Mermaid 10K, 6th April

Pos Name Club Cat Pos Time
1 Lewis Gamble-Thompson New Marske Harriers 32:49
45 Michelle Holt Sunderland Harriers F 40:26
114 Dave Robson MV50 46:45

200 finishers