Race Report W/E 1st March & W/E 23rd February
A lot happens when you leave your keyboard alone for a fortnight, not least the sky has nearly turned blue again. We’ve also had two fantastic weekends of racing. For the most part half marathons, they also included more Crit racing and our first TT event of the season.
To help share what your race plans are with the rest of the club, do please visit our Calendar and update any events you’ve entered by adding your name. This is an important part of developing reach and engagement in the Club. A post about a race on Facebook stays relevant for a few days at best before it’s lost in our busy Timeline. A conversation at training or in the Rylston only reaches your own limited circle of training buddies. Using the race calendar means events are easy to find for all on a universally accessible platform – one which is independent of network bubbles. So, if you care about people you don’t know in the club feeling comfortable to enter a race because they see others from the club have entered – use our calendar. Again, if using it isn’t clear, email me or view the how-to guide: https://youtu.be/v3thy5JbYpw
Results from the weekend of 22nd/23rd February
Full Gas Criterium Race – Lee Valley
Our Kit maestro, Joe Coleman, was back at it, racing 19 miles of the lapped Crit course at Lee Valley Velo Park. It was “windy af and painful” – but looks like a great performance!
Old Ghost Ultra
In the Southern Hemisphere, Katie Wright was somewhat surprisingly running a long, long way.
The Old Ghost Ultra features 85km of trail running with over 2,600m of climb!
Katie finished the gruelling course in an awesome time of 9hr 54min, crossing the line in the top 25% of the field and top third of female racers!
Hampton Court Half Marathon (not the Palace Half)
The big club race of the weekend was the half marathon around the riverside near Hampton Court (there is confusingly also a Hampton Court Palace Half Marathon in March). We had a large turnout of 21 club members: Krista Kojecky; Rob Carder; Milla Rogers; Christina Archer; Sapna Sekhri; Xavier Faux; James Wanless; Celeste Gardner; Emma Robertson; Emily Carpenter; John Church; Jose Miguel Cortes; Richard Harper; Adam O’Rourke; Alexander Naudi; Mark Benton; Tim Hamer; Johan Olivier; Gemma Pugh; Leanne Kelsall; and, Victoria Eden.
We had 7 sub 1:30 finishing times from Xavier, Adam, Richard, Alexander, Mark, Jose and, James. Fantastic running, including PB’s for Xavier, Jose and James!! The group amazingly even included a self-proclaimed plodder.
Christina, Krista, Rob and Tim all succeeded in grabbing sub 1:45 finish times, with Leanne seconds off, including a PB for Rob!
Celeste and John practically completed the race together, before the remainder of the sub-2hr finishing set (Milla, Emma and Victoria) crossed the line!
Emily, Sapna and Gemma rounded things up with some strong and well-paced running – excellent middle-long distance training for the upcoming triathlon season!!
Results from this weekend – 29th Feb / 1st March
305 Miami Half
Racing in slightly warmer climes – a balmy 22’C – Jonathan Furuya was treating himself to an early birthday present at the Miami Half Marathon.
Jonathan was on good form, cross the line in 1hr 29min and coming 5th in his age group!
Kentish Killer Sportive
Starting at Brands Hatch race course, this is a 70 mile sportive through the tough Kent countryside (think Surrey Hills on steroids). Taking part were Dan Mertens and Lee Davies.
Despite the slightly shorter course (due to the weather), Lee finished strongly in 3hr 31min, coming 4th overall!! Dan was slightly further back, but still in the top of the field, completing the tough course in just over 5 hours!!
10 Mile West London CC Time Trial
A decent turn-out for a first TT of the season, and fantastic to see some new names/faces in the mix!
Out riding were: Jane Osborne; Will Averill; Steph Wise; Ed Dale; and, Phil Roker.
Phil completed the 10 mile course first (for the club) in 24min 42sec, followed by Will, a mere 24 seconds behind! Steph and Ed finished a little over 29min and only 5 seconds apart, with Jane, for whom this is far too short a course, completing in 32min!! Great cycling everyone!
The Big Half
Taking in the beauty of London’s former docklands, the Big Half was back and popular again this year.
Tracking down who raced for the club wasn’t easy – the results omit club names – so, the following is the list of those runners who posted to the club Strava Group, contacted me directly, came up in a random name search, or used the Race Calendar: James Ellis (unofficially, pacing Sian); Sian Morgan; Francesca Hunt; Lana O’Kirwan; and, Enrique Pinel.
Enrique flew home in just under 1hr 26min (and was apparently 2min faster than last year)!! Sian, paced by James (who ran the full course too), notched up a fab 1hr 42min, with Francesca barely 10min behind her!! Lana, still recovering from illness, did well to finish (hopefully not hampering her road to being well again!?!) in a little over 2.5hrs. Great endurance running by all!
And that’s your lot for now.
Don’t forget that the first London League Race is coming up next Sunday – The March Madness Duathlon at the Olympic Velopark! We win club points in these League races, but only if we have a minimum of 3 men and 2 women!!
Also, if I’ve missed anything at all, or you want to tell me about upcoming races, email me at fixtures@fulontri.com
Stay speedy y’all!