Wilmslow Half-Marathon – Sunday 22nd March
Full Results HERE
Two athletes training for Marathons went over to this very popular and always sold out Half-Marathon at Wilmslow featuring 4079 finishers on the day. The Race, won by Ben Siaw in 64.57 saw Ben Fish – who is competing in the Manchester Marathon shortly – take 8th place overall in a time of 67.45 and afterwards he said “I was expecting to be a minute quicker, but feel I’m still making progress. Definitely more better results to come”.
Chris Davies who is preparing for his second ever marathon when he runs London, has had a good build up in his training and finished 66th in 76.52 and a new PB by eight seconds. He later said that he “Was looking for a strong run and managed to knock a few seconds of the PB so I’m really pleased and things looking good so far for London at the end of April”.
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Down at the Eastleigh 10k, Karl Billington continues to show improvement in his form after finishing the Cross Country season on a good note with victory in the London Colleges League.
Full Results HERE
Two thousand one hundred and fifty one runners completed this Race and Karl came 2nd (30.50) in a very competitive Race, finishing just three seconds behind the winner and just 8 seconds separating the first four. Karl was “Very pleased with today’s 2nd place, would have liked to run quicker then 30 50 but it was quite windy and the course isn’t as quick as the course my PB is on. But this race gives me confidence heading into track season”. Running as part of the St Mary’s Team Karl and his Team mates picked up second Team prize which was a good end to the day and for them.
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Another athlete training for the Manchester Marathon was Kaylie Panaro and Coach George Woodburn sent her over to the Trimple 20 as part of her preparation. And she didn’t disappoint. Having set new PB’s recently at the half-marathon and 10 mile distances, Kaylie was going into this in good form with her target for the Marathon of breaking four hours. Finishing 217th in a field of 531 and in a time of 2.45.29 – a full ten minutes faster than her last 20 mile run in 2014 – puts her well on course to break the four hour barrier. Delighted, Kaylie told the Club that “I’m really pleased with how I ran at the Trimpell 20, it was great practice for the marathon and went to plan, I just hope the weather is as kind on the day”.
Full Results HERE
The writer of this report learned a very valuable lesson when assessing the Race of Brian Fogarty at the Trimple 20. Brian finished 22nd in 2.11.16 and I thought that may be a little under par for him. Until, that is, I found out what he had actually done that day. When I asked Brian how he viewed the outcome of his Race he said this “The race on Sunday went absolutely to plan. I rode to Lancaster hard to fatigue the legs on top of a big week. I wanted the race to replicate the feeling of the Ironman. I paced around 6:40 for the 1st 10 and then slightly increased to around 6:20 pace. it was all comfortable and I felt really strong. This has given me good confidence that i’m well on track for my 1st big race Ironman Lanzerote in May”. Two lessons. Never make assumptions and if you want to make it to the top at any event in athletics, Brian’s hardwork is the kind of thing that you have to commit yourself to.
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In the same vicinity Joe Monk tackled the Garstang Gallop, a seven mile road race and had an excellent run to finish 2nd overall and 1st Junior Man in a time of 40.24.
Full Results HERE
Joe wanted to be part of the Clubs Relay Team at Sefton Park this coming weekend but is agonisngly weeks away from being eligible to run in terms of his date of birth. After the Race he said that “I’ll definitely do the relays next year” and went on to comment about his Race “I was really pleased today kept strong until the end, it was a very undulating course so it constantly kept you working”.
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And down at Reading in the Half-Marathon Charlotte Atkinson ran her first Race of the year and did really well in setting a new PB (1.37.49) over the distance. She knocked five minutes of the time she ran in the same Race in 2014 so looking like there is a bit more to come yet.
Full Results HERE
Charlotte was “really happy with it! The course was really fast and there was such a great atmosphere it really helped drag me round! Will definitely be running next year aiming for another pb!”
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