Sunshine Coast Marathon – Sunday 30th August
Patrick Bareham took the award the furthest travelled Harrier competing in the Sunshine Coast Marathon in Queensland Australia. The stunning coastline of Alexandra Headlands, Mooloolaba and Maroochydore formed the base of the course, with amazing views and stunning beaches. Patrick finished in 27th out of 503 finishers in a time of 3:06:02, a PB by 5mins.
Sevenoaks 7 Monday 31st August
On a very wet and damp Bank Holiday Monday seven Tunbridge Wells Harriers (very appropriately) ran in the Sevenoaks 7 in Knole Park.
It seemed that very reluctantly all the runners left the warmth of the Sevenoaks Rugby Club headquarters to walk down to the start in the valley below in Knole Park. At this point in time the rain had stopped and it quite pleasant with temperatures ideal for running. The run started with a run along the valley floor before climbing up to go round Knole House where it started to get misty. A bit further on the course along the perimeter road with a climb to the water station which led up into the clouds before dropping down the bank back into the valley floor. Along the valley there was light misty rain before the course turned right and went back up the bank to re-join the out route and complete another lap up to the water station and back along the valley. After the second lap and climbing out of the valley the course took a left turn and the route followed the out course via a switch back round Knole House before going downhill to the finish along the valley floor once more. During the second lap the rain returned and by the runners reached the finish it was raining quite hard and steadily. As a consequence on finishing not many runners lingered at the finish area all making their way quickly back up to the warmth of the Rugby Club as soon as they had crossed the line.
Terry Everest (SM) was the first Harrier home in 32nd place completing the course in a very respectable 46:33 which he was very satisfied with. Terry was followed home by Matt Clements (M40) in 41st place in a time of 47:55 another good time since Matt had not run the course before. Following Matt in 62nd place was Mark Taylor (M60) in 50:35. Freddie White (JM) in 75th place with a time of 51:54 was next. It was then the turn of the Lady Harriers with Suzannah Kinsella (F45) finishing in 153rd place in a time of 59:29. Sonja King (F35) followed Suzannah finishing in 156th place in 59:44. For both Suzannah and Sonja it was their first race at the Sevenoaks 7 so to finish in under an hour on the challenging course was excellent. Last but not least was Lucille Joannes (W55) a veteran of the course who finished in 1:05:59 in 215th place. The race winner was James Mason (SM) of Sevenoaks AC who finished in 40:46 and the Ladies winner was Maria Heslop (F45) who finished in 45:10. Mark Taylor won the M60 trophy. There were 273 finishers.
Mark Taylor
Kings Head Canter 5k – Monday 31st August
Deb Stamp and I braved the elements to go to the Kings Head Canter 5kin Chiddingly/East Hoathley on Bank Holiday Monday. Being a point to point race (starting and finishing at two different pubs….) we decided to park at the finish and follow the easy to follow footpath to the start. We had left plenty of time and soon caught up with another runner following the same route. Feeling reassured that we were heading in the right direction the three of us carried on armed with maps and following the footpath signs as we crossed various styles and fields. We were starting to query our map reading ability when we came across another runner coming towards us who was, it transpired, even more lost than we were. After several more wrong turns, we carried on in vaguely the right direction through fields, hedgerows and muddy farmyards until we eventually hit a road.
At this point we were still a mile away from the start, having taken about 45 mins to cover what should have been just under a mile – and we were less than 10 mins away from the cut off time for entering the race. Our gentle warm up jog therefore took on a slightly more hurried air as we ran to the race HQ, arriving just in time for Debs to enter the race.
So we arrived on the start line hot, sweaty and covered in mud. At which point the heavens opened and the rain started to pour down. It was nice to spot another Harrier Christopher Avis and several familiar faces from other local clubs on the line.
The race itself was very friendly and had a lovely atmosphere. The route seemed to be a long gentle (ish) incline for the first 4200m with the last 800m down to the finish where you could exchange your race number for a free drink at the pub.
Results:-
61 0:21:35 MORRIS, Nicola Tunbridge Wells Harriers 72.41%
121 0:25:51 STAMP, Deb Tunbridge Wells Harriers 60.46%
128 0:26:16 AVIS, Christopher Tunbridge Wells Harriers 58.67%
Debs and I managed PBs – mainly because we’d not run a 5k road race previously.
We’d highly recommend this race which is held every August Bank Holiday – very friendly with about 200 runners of a wide variety of ages and abilities. Next time we would still park at the finish but would probably pay more attention to the route to the start to avoid the pre-race adventure! On a sunny day it would have been lovely to stay and take advantage of the BBQ and free drink at the end – but as we were soaked to the skin by the time we reached the finish, we made a hasty exit back home.
Nicola Morris
Tonbridge Track Open – Monday 31st August
Not to be outdone by the efforts of other Harriers on Road & Multi-terrain courses two of our ladies made their way to Tonbridge School Track to take part in Tonbridge AC’s final Open Meeting of the year.
Being accustomed to the track through their Monday night training sessions ‘home’ advantage was going to see them at their best chasing the Club Records that they each sought. Carol Tsang tried a completely new method of ‘warming up’ by the use of copious amounts of alcohol the evening before, hoping to quell the nerves that may have been her undoing in the past while Stella Richardson was following the more traditional method of preparation and was warming up as per our Monday sessions. Both, however, had taken the time to use the services of The Running Hub to purchase the correct footwear to give them both the best chance of reaching their personal goals and they both succeeded. Both had decide to run 800 mtrs and were in the same race. Carol ran a perfectly even split race to knock 4 seconds off the existing F35 record to finish in 2:50.26. Stella beat the existing Club Record for her Age Group by an even greater margin to finish in 3:13.11. Both ladies were rightly very pleased with their efforts on a day not made for fast times and left the track to try Carol’s tried and trusted method of warming down.
Well done ladies.
Bob L
