Beckenham Running Club

Thanks to Helen for arranging for Beckenham to take part in Blackheath and Bromleys club 1 mile race last night. Running a solitary mile for hardened 5k to marathoners was abit daunting for most, which was obvious from the sidelines, about half the club turned up but only to spectate! The competitors were Helen, Alice, Ok now WAVA King Chris, Simon, Steve Farrah, Andy Smalls, Steve Elliot and Ian McCarthy..(have I missed anyone?) who all gave a magnificent account of themselves… the results aren’t up yet but 1st Beck Lady Helen in 5:55 and 1st Beck Man Ok now WAVA King Chris in 5:05. Quote of the night…Ian McCarthy “where’s the water station?”

Well done to the runners who’ve put the rest of us to shame but we will definitely be there in running force next time!

WAVA Chris doing his 5:05

Yesterday, seven of us headed down towards the south coast to take part in the Henfield Half marathon.  The sun was beaming down, so the sun cream was being applied liberally on all exposed areas ready for the 10:30 start.  We got off on time, and headed round the 13 mile figure of eight circuit, making full use of the various water stops.

Although 7 of us started the race, only 5 were classified at the finish.  Our leading 2 runners, OK Chris and Stuart were misdirected by an arrow marker, so they went from mile 8 to mile 12 without passing 9,10,11 or collecting £200.  They entered the grounds of the leisure centre finishing point having only done around 10 miles so didn’t cross the finish line or collect a medal.  Well done to Debbie on her first half marathon, not the easiest of temperatures or terrain so they can only get easier!.

So the results were:

Pos 9 – Simon Carter 1:31:32
Pos  60  – Paul Fletcher 1:48:00
Pos 81 – Andy Hinds 1:55:29
Pos 111 – Nicky Howard 2:01:39
Pos 155 – Debbie Ford 2:21:31

Now I know what that mean when they say the course was short!

Full results are available at http://henfieldleisure.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Half-Marathon-21-8-2011.pdf

Kens “boy” Peter Baksh completed the Davos marathon, allegedly the highest marathon in Europe climbing 1600 metres to approx 2800 metres at peak…(like climbing Canary Wharf 5 times…but more scenic, complete with snow) Provisional results show overall position 143 from 1154 runners,6th Briton from 58 Time 4 hours 41 mins …winner 3 hour 21.When quads recover ,he swaps running shoes for swim trunks and tri-bars for next challenge Detail

Simon Harris reports on the British 10k

British 10k 10/07/11 London –

After being advised to get there early for this race I was up yesterday at 5am to ensure getting to the baggage drop off point at 7.45am – Way to early for a Sunday morning !!

After walking up to the start i was amazed to find a few hundred other people already there for a race that was billed to start at 9.35am..Far to much time hanging around although the general banter was very good amongst the other runners. However I was glad that I did as I was reasonably near the front. There was another 25,000 other people there as well all waiting for the race to begin which finally started at 9.45am.

To say that a fast start was needed to avoid being trampled would be a understatement and I was virtually sprinting for the first 500 metres just to get a bit of space. However once we got past the 2k mile things settled down a bit. I was bang on target and was started to enjoy it. Mission on the day was a Sub 39.30 Mins. I got the first 5k done and then pushed on for the second half which started to become a bit harder. The time was starting to slip on the sat nav but thankfully a bit of determination kept me going and running down The Mall with a big smile on my face felt oh so good…Fnished in 39.18 and then straight off for a few well earned beers

I would do this race again as the course is great and a traffic free route with a huge suppor tmakes all the difference but the start is hard going.