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Running Roundup

There's been a flurry of parkrun activity this past two weeks with several members putting in appearances at Pontefract, Thornes and Nostell Priory. Best performance of the past two weeks was an age group win and 5th overall for Mick W at Nostell in a very good time of 20:38. No mean feat on this twisty and hilly course.

Members have also been involved in a couple of 10Ks with Claire Whitwell competing in the Leeds Abbey Dash and Rosie Wigg racing in the Barnsley 10K. Claire has only done a couple of 10Ks previously and wasn't sure how the Dash would go as she hasn't run that much recently. Happily though, she quickly got into her stride and beat her own time in last year's running of the event by about a minute. Claire has an eye on the Dewsbury 10K early next year and is also thinking of upping her distance and going for a 10 miler, or maybe even a half marathon.

Like Claire, Rose also hit a pretty good rhythm in the Barnsley event and managed a superb12th/57 position in her age category. The Barnsley event has a few killer hills which made Rose's time of just-into-the-50-minutes-slot very credible indeed.

Inspirational Marvel

Jon Z is an inspiration.

Jon has competed in triathlon to a high standard for many years and is our resident Ironman. For those who do not know, the 'long course' triathlon distance comprises a 2.4 mile swim followed by a body-breaking 112 mile bike leg - and then concludes with the small matter of a full marathon distance run of 26.2 miles.

These events are truly tough and require incredible physical and mental endurance.

Jon has entered two half distance and one full distance event in 2015, and in doing so makes the truly tough almost incredible. Why incredible?... well; Jon has had a few health issues this past couple of years and in the summer of 2014 had to have major heart surgery.

The two half-ironman distance races scheduled are for next May (Belvoir Castle and the Outlaw Half), and the full distance event is the prestigious Challenge Weymouth - due to be run in September.

If he can complete the full distance Challenge Weymouth event, Jon could make medical history by becoming the first person with a pacemaker and artificial heart valve ever to do so.

The inspiration that comes from Jon's determination cannot be overstated. An enforced early start on the occasional Saturday morning to do the local parkrun just doesn't seem that big a deal any more.

Awesome stuff!



English X-Duathlon Championships

Spurred on by his recent cross-duathlon début, Mick W took to the start line of no less an event than the English Cross Duathlon Championships on Saturday (8th November) and - at the Sherwood Pines venue - found himself surrounded by a lot of very thin people and about two million pounds-worth of carbon.

His enthusiasm obviously proved contagious as - somewhat surprisingly - older sibling Steve broke his winter hibernation and also gave the event a go.

Because of the numbers involved (more than 500) the race, which comprised a 5K run / 20K bike / 3.6K run, was split into two age-group-dictated waves.

Mick's race started at 8.00am and conditions were ideal. Overnight rain had quickly drained away in the sandy soils of the Sherwood Pines forest and left the going fast and good. Mick showed he meant business right from the off with a middling 6-minute-per-mile pace seeing him in a decent position at the first transition. His bike leg was - as in the last race - super fast and it saw him steam past loads of fellow racers and well up his age group ranking into10th position. Showing that he's getting the hang of it, he even managed to maintain a low 7-minute-per-mile pace for the second run leg and - highly credibly - held on to his 10th place in age group until the finish. Given that Mick's just started out in duathlon, and the level of competition at this English Championship event, that's some good going.



Steve's race started at 10.30am, about an hour after the heavy and persistent rain did. Conditions for this second wave were atrocious, described by the organiser as the worst they'd ever encountered in the many years of running this event. Fair to say, before Steve's start, much sibling banter went back and forth complete with some fairly forceful instructions to 'man up'.

Steve begrudgingly, but dutifully did. An intentionally steady first run saw him retaining enough energy to hammer the energy-sapping quagmire-like bike leg and hang on in the second run for a splendid 2nd place in age and the booty of a Triathlon England silver medal.

Fair to say the conditions were contrary to the brothers' strengths. Mick is a very accomplished bike handler and would have undoubtedly gained even more places in the atrocious 2nd wave conditions. Steve, on the other hand, may well have prioritised attempting to keep his bike clean over his championship chances.


Parkrun Proliferation

A few members have been active in parkruns this past few weeks - these are (for the uninitiated) fantastic, totally inclusive, free 5K runs that cater for everyone from people starting on the road to a more active lifestyle to super-fast elite athletes looking for a bit of top-end training.

Mick and Steve W have turned out for the past few weeks at Thornes and Nostell Priory respectively whilst Emma S took a break from an otherwise recreational weekend away and made efforts to spread the Veggie message in Brighton.

Some good age group performances and decent overall positions have been recorded, but most importantly quite a few fellow parkrunners at the 'new' venues have been asking questions about being veggie and running...


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