Race Report W/E 17 March

Gear up for a lot of racing news, as the high winds, rain and hail did nothing to deter the 36 club members out racing this weekend. And we’ve had some seriously fast racing to boot.

As it’s not quite spring (but only 3 days to go!!), be prepared for a lot of half marathons, a 10k, a duathlon, and a spot of cycling – oh, and a last minute marathon spot from across the pond!

Omissions and Disasters

Firstly, an omission from last week’s racing news, as new member (hopefully I haven’t jumped the gun on this) Julen Diez raced a Duathlon somewhat under the radar. Thanks to Paula Rutherford for spotting. Julen took part in the Bedford Autodrome Sprint Duathlon, coming 3rd in his Race Category and 3rd overall, with some rocket-like times. Welcome, to the club Julen! Looking forward to seeing some fresh competition for medals now.

And…. our very own Pierre-Elliott Roussel was off racing in Paris last weekend. Possibly spurred on by Les Gilets Jaunes burning / throwing things, he finished it in a great time of 1hr 43min.

Windsor Winter Half Marathon

Going great guns with her Marathon training, Sally Benton was out on this half marathon course in Windsor (organised by F3 Events). She finished in a cracking time of 1hr 36min, coming 2nd in her race category, and gaining a PB in the process!

ELCTS Sussex

From Windsor to the blustery cliff tops of East Sussex, where 7 of the club (Rob Gray, Jose Lopez, Cristian Marcos Ayuso, Emma Swinnerton, Jane Osborne, Stefi Woodward, and Walt Rothon) battled their way around the Half Marathon route, whilst Eimear Toomey tried to avoid blowing away across the Channel on the 10k.

Some truly brutal conditions to be running in. On a good day this is a course that is a tough walk. So, well done all. Special mentions to: Rob for coming 4th overall (and in a very respectable flat half marathon time); Eimear for pushing through some calf pain to complete the 10k; Stefi for her first race as an FoT member; and, Walt for guiding a ELCTS newbie around the course whilst racing.

Mad March 10k (Battersea)

Finally, on Saturday, three of the club whippets were out racing a flat 10k in Battersea Park. James Ellis, John Borton and Julen Diez all finished within the top 10, with James scoring a 2nd place overall.

Bath Half Marathon

Two speedy racers from the club (Martin Bruwer and Gareth Davies) entered this fantastic, flat half marathon course (and who doesn’t like spending the day in Bath afterwards?). Martin belted out a pb time of 1hr 26min. Gareth was close behind in 1hr 33min. Fantastic work, and a sign of some great racing later in the year!

Hampton Court Palace Half Marathon

The club race calendar suggested we would have 5 intrepid souls running the Hampton Court Palace Half. As it turned out, we did still have 5 racing on Sunday, but only, sadly, because Lizzie Matthews is still on the mend after February’s bike crash. So out on the course were: Adam O’Rourke; Rich Harper; Katie McCreadie; Helen Fagan; and, as a bonus extra, Alistair Chappelle.

Alistair came home first for the club in a time of 1hr 23min. However, we had 2 more sub-90min results from Adam and Richard – with Rich gaining a pb!

All finished well under 2 hours, so some great running – and good prospects for all that Middle Distance racing the club seems to have entered.

Lisbon Half Marathon

Over in Portugal, Jonathan Furuya was out racing another half marathon course in Lisbon. It looks like a great course to run, and apparently has the world record time.

Jonathan finished in a great time of 1hr 31min.

Reading Half Marathon

The Reading Half Marathon has been going for some years now, and must be one of the biggest (in terms of entry numbers). We had 3 club runners taking part this year: Nick Crandon; Rachel von Maydell; and, Louise Garlick?). Some great running and solid finishing times all round.

Richmond Half Marathon

This half marathon, starting and finishing in the Richmond Old Deer Park, has a great mixture of path and trail, following the tow path by the river, with loops around Ham Lands and Kew Gardens / Old Deer Park. Somehow, this didn’t make it onto the Race Calendar. It does look like a good event for 2020 though.

On Sunday, we had 4 club members out racing (Thomas Claracq; Mark Parrett; Ana Berenguel Anter; and, Lucy Orhnial). Thomas came home first for the club, with a time of 1hr 22min, and a 2nd place in his Race Category. Great racing on this mixed terrain course by all four!!

Windsor Duathlon – Standard Distance (F3 Events)

Moving away from running now, and off to Dorney Lake near Windsor for the Windsor Winter Fun Run Duathlon (which does sound like false advertising). Like many of the events organised around Dorney, this race involves the flat paths / roads around the lake – often featuring a challenging headwind to make things interesting. Duathlons involve running, cycling, and more running. The Standard Distance sets each leg as 10km, 40km and 5km.

Our 4 club members racing the event were Charlie Muir-Sands, Lindsay Aqui, Jose Miguel Cortes (racing as ABCpure), and Ruth Macdonald. It looks like there was a good battle for top club spot, as both Lindsay and Jose posted the fastest run times for leg 1. However, Charlie was just too quick on the bike and came home first of the 4. Given how windy it was, everyone posted some great run and bike splits.

WLCC Time Trial – 40km

(Nearly) finally, this weekend saw the second cycling Time Trial of the year, but the first to actually be officially run. This 25mile (40km) event starts and finishes out near Great Missenden and is a great test of speed over a fairly flat course.

We ended up with 6 riders on Sunday morning – Jon Green, Ruth Purbrook, James Ellis, Mark Sempers, Richard Huntrods, and Sybille Schorm. Jon and Ruth both delivered sub-hour times, with Jon casually starting 2 minutes late and winning the whole event. A very tight range of finishing times – with speeds no lower than 35kph. So, a quick bunch!!!

Kingston (Jamaica!!) Marathon

Very last minute spot – and apologies to Matt Phillips for making it even harder to get his race into the report. Matt’s work persuaded him to run the Inaugural Kingston Marathon in Jamaica on Sunday. I think this may be the inaugural marathon under new branding, since previous years have also held a marathon, but Matt’s employer sounds a bit harsh either way. Despite this – and struggling with injury in the run up – he assures me that he ran 19 miles of the 26 in absolute agony but was rewarded with 8th place overall. Firstly, this sounds like a “please don’t do this at home” race performance. Secondly, well done, and we’ll make it official in the race log once the results are live (presumably they’re on Caribbean time)! – UPDATE: The previous Kingston Marathon was in fact a half; Matt’s employer is Lonely Planet – so this was a rather harsh travel write up recce; and, Matt finished in a highly respectable time of 3hr 27 min!!

And finally…

Great racing all – probably the biggest weekend to report on yet.

As usual, please email fixtures@fulontri.com if you, someone you know, or a story has been missed out on.

I think this is possibly the weekend I’ve had to do the most detective work to find the results, so please do keep badgering me about the race calendar – and if, like some of the more established club members (ahem), you still have not looked at it, I am here to help you figure it out.

Remember – you do need to type your name when adding yourself to races – otherwise you will appear as an anonymous number – something one of the Duathlon crew managed to achieve.

Also, most races give you the option to specify your club. It would be fantastic if you keep remembering to add Ful-on-Tri. This becomes more and more important as we race point-scoring events (e.g. London League).

I’m going to look through the race calendar this week, and pick out some unusual races to get race stories from, as well as those we have FoT hordes entered into, and perhaps reach out to those embarking on their first Ironman, Half, or even first triathlon. Watch this space!