Folkestone 10
It was 11 years ago that Dean Lacy last ran (and won) the Folkestone 10 so it was something of a surprise to see him turn up for this, its 39th year. It is an out-and-back route run along the shore-front promenade; while no runner particularly likes having to do a uey round a traffic cone it does mean that you get to shout encouragement at those that are ahead of you as they run past, and then to do the same to those that are behind you after you have turned round and are heading for home. First you get the bicycle outriders telling everyone to keep to the left and alerting you to the fact that the leaders are coming through. Would the first runner be Dean? Of course it was! He had already opened up a sizeable gap at that point which was to grow to a minute and a half by the finish.
But it wasn't all about Dean (pictured above); this race was a counter in our road running Grand Prix competition and twelve others from the club also ran and there were many excellent performances including PBs for Greg Hills, Sue Dixon and Sally Carr and an age category win for Sue too. There could have been an age category prize for Maria Macdonald, and perhaps for Mick Ellsmore too, both are 70 but the highest age category they use here is 65+. Our first three male runners, Dean, Greg and Christian Poulton, narrowly missed out on the team prize with 48 points to Tunbridge Wells Harriers' 43. Our Grand Prix is based on age graded performance, a metric that gives a level playing field across age and gender and it was Sue who scored highest with Dean second and Christian third. The league table and list of future races can be found here: https://www.cambridgeharriers.org/road-gp
Results aside, we all enjoyed a good run by the sea in lovely spring sunshine. The wind can be an issue on this course, usually after the turn when you start running Westwards and suddenly realise why it was that you found the first 5 miles so easy, but what little wind there was this year was from the North and was almost welcome. It was good to see Keith and Glynis Penny out and about cheering us on after their recent bouts of Covid.
Results: 1. Dean Lacy 51:40, 15. Gregory Hills 59:01, 34. Christian Poulton 1:02:17, 44. Ray Ramsay 1:04:04, 69. Mark Penny 1:06;53, 71. Tom Coghill 1:07:08, 99. Susan Dixon 1:09:37, 194. Sally Carr 1:16:08, 235. Clem Dixon 1:18:55, 322. Michael Ellsmore 1:24:32, 364. Joanna Parke 1:25:54, 377. Ian McCarthy 1:27:08, 444. Maria Macdonald 1:31:41.
RunThrough Victoria Park, Hackney
At the RunThrough races in Victoria Park, Hackney, Phil Dickens finished third in the 10k with a time of 33:39 whilst Tom Loia tackled the half-marathon finishing in 35th place overall with 1:27:23.
Norman Fowler Memorial Easter Monday Open Meeting, Tonbridge School
Tonbridge Athletic Club hosted their traditional Norman Fowler Memorial Easter Open Meeting , which attracted around four hundred entries, from across the range of track and field events on offer. After fine weather over the Easter weekend, heavy rain and strong crosswinds descended on Tonbridge School track for much of the day, although there were still some good early season performances.
Sophie Fenner won the ladies hammer with a season best throw of 34:02m, with Natalie Mann also achieving a SB of 31.78m. In the 150 meters Osagie Imanswuomo was the fastest U20M on the day with 16.72s and there were personal bests for Immanuel Jegede (19.65s) and Derin Aderinto (20.03s). There was a PB for Lily Gayle (U17W) of 12.13s in the 80 meter hurdles.
Hannah Hopper won the 3000 meter race walk, how she pleased, clocking 15:07.78s with Mark Ashby (M60) finishing in eighth overall with an outdoor PB of 18:09.45s. In the 3000m run Olly Buck (U17M) recorded a PB of 9:26.09s.
The club had a good showing in the 1500 meters with Sam Scrase-Field (U17M) the fastest with 4:25.72s. Aidan Newton (U17M) produced a PB of 4:35.45s. Oliver Cook (U15B) clocked 5:01.19s and Celia Yeatman (U15G) 5:28.37s.
A second personal best on the day for Immanuel Jegede, this time in the 300m, where he recorded 39.81s. Raphael Akinbolu (U15B) also chalked up a PB over 300m with 47.15s.
Photographs from the day can be viewed at Tonbridge AC Easter Open Meeting, 10th April 2023 | Flickr
World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships, Torun (POL)
Missed from last weeks report was acknowledgment of Barry Ferguson's relay gold. Barry stepped into the British M80/W80 mixed 200m relay squad following the withdrawal of another athlete due to injury. This is newly introduced event and the British team took gold in a inaugural CBP of 2:46.69s.
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