Sixty-one ESM athletes completed the Ealing Half Marathon on Saturday. Illness and injury inevitably stopped a few from lining up on the day, but all those who started the race completed it successfully.
Highlights included the commendable 15th place finish for Jon Ellis, who trimmed his personal best still further to 75:47, and the age category win for W55 veteran Lynn Wilson.
We had formed a special training group to prepare for the event, and it paid dividends. Almost one in three achieved personal best times, Paul Tavener, Louise Prince and Alan Outten in particular knocking around 20 minutes from their previous efforts. Nearly a quarter of the squad were tackling the distance for the first time, including 17 year olds Kirill Kondrasin, Stan Perrin and Martha Hayward. It also inspired some of the club’s long-standing veteran members – Rob Howells along with husband and wife team Lynn and Martin Wilson – to tackle a half marathon for the first time in years. Archie’s dad Martin Allen also resumed his competitive running career at the age of 60. George’s dad Tom was spotted, and there were no doubt a few other parents in the 4,600-strong field.
For the men’s team, triathlete James Hughes was second to show, also with a PB. Three veterans – James Steel, Mark Kencroft and Chris Dettmar – cracked the hour and half, as did Tom Yates.
New member Leanne Smith brought the women home in a promising debut time of 96:26, but she was chased hard by Sarah Harris who sliced 46 seconds from her own PB. Another to impress was Olivia Howes, third ESM woman, who improved by five minutes on last year’s time.
So many personal goals were achieved, whether it was just to complete the race, to be faster than last year, to clock a course PB, or to get an all-time PB for the distance. The atmosphere around the club after the race was buzzing, so there’s a fair chance we’ll be doing it all again next year!
A big thank you to those club members who volunteered at the event: Bob Stanbrook, Christine Meek, Debbie Gorman, Laurence Messer, Liz Horsley, Maria Lancaster, Natalie Willhoft, Santosh Rai, Sarah Percival, Shona Cowper. And of course to those who lined the streets to clap and cheer.
1:15:47 Jon Ellis (SM); 1:20:29 James Hughes (SM); 1:26:54 James Steel (M40-49); 1:27:38 Tom Yates (SM); 1:29:43 Mark Kencroft (M40-49); 1:29:54 Chris Dettmar (M40-49); 1:30:09 Ian Leslie (M50-59); 1:29:53 Rob Brown (M40-49); 1:31:10 Daniel Williams (SM); 1:31:36 Alex Perrin (M40-49); 1:32:18 Kirill Kondrasin (SM); 1:36:26 Leanne Smith (SW); 1:36:44 Sarah Harris (W35-44); 1:36:34 Charles Trotman (M50-59); 1:37:38 Steve Curd (SM); 1:37:50 Darren Halford (M40-49); 1:38:44 Keith Freegard (M50-59); 1:39:05 Paul Tavener (SM); 1:40:34 Olivia Howes Smith (W35-44); 1:42:58 Stanley Perrin (SM); 1:42:14 Michael Duff (M40-49); 1:46:08 Dan Noraika (M50-59); 1:46:26 Lynn Wilson (W55); 1:47:06 Catherine Gunnewicht (W45-54); 1:48:23 Robert Howells (M60); 1:48:49 Alan Outten (M40-49); 1:50:39 Stephen Cliff (M40-49); 1:51:50 Martin Wilson (M60); 1:52:34 Beverley Packwood (W35-44); 1:53:08 Davinder Sohal (M50-59); 1:53:32 Stacey McManus (W35-44); 1:53:39 Sharon O’Neill (SW); 1:54:20 Kate Fraser (SW); 1:51:48 Martha Hayward (SW); 1:56:04 Jacqui Akinlosotu (W45-54); 1:52:59 Philip York (M50-59); 1:58:17 Andrew Neary (SM); 1:58:23 Sophie Pesticcio (W35-44); 2:00:01 Aneta Neumann (W35-44); 1:58:15 Martin Allen (M60); 2:00:09 Katrina French (SW); 2:03:02 Annette Galloway (W45-54); 2:03:21 Seady Van Der Graaf (W45-54); 2:02:58 Katie Di Paolo (SW); 2:02:58 Sarah Holroyd (W45-54); 2:03:19 Louise Prince (W45-54); 2:08:43 Claire King (W35-44); 2:06:03 Jennifer Jones (W45-54); 2:09:40 Beata King (W45-54); 2:10:13 Sally Murnaghan (W45-54); 2:11:25 Susan Southwood (W35-44); 2:11:30 Virginia Lee (W35-44); 2:16:20 Philip Prince (M50-59); 2:19:51 Robert Biegala (SM); 2:22:18 Jo Bradley (W35-44); 2:26:24 Nirmal Sohal (W55); 2:28:31 Anne Carey (W45-54); 2:31:12 Rosalind Hodgkiss (W45-54); 2:40:20 Laura Leung (W35-44); 2:43:29 Neil Willmott (SM); 2:51:15 Bridgette Job (W45-54)