Hampton Court Palace 1/2M – Hampton Court – Sun 20 Mar 2016

Twenty-five ESM road runners took part in the Hampton Court Palace Half Marathon on Sunday. It’s a flat course although the stretch along the river is on gravel with the usual potholes. It wasn’t a closed circuit either but the marshals did their best to hold back the cars at crossing points. In spite of this (and the nagging, deceptively keen north wind) some very good times were clocked, with twelve PBs recorded.

Marathon-bound triathlete Malcolm Woolsey was first to show for the club. Steve Curd and our first female Sarah Gerrie were just over a minute behind, and all three ran their fastest half to date. Beverley Packwood is clearly also benefitting from marathon training, with a very significant PB despite all her years of experience. Sarah Holroyd knocked seven minutes off her previous best, while Kate Fraser smashed hers by an equally impressive six.

To the best of our knowledge, Ian Carveth, Walid Fawaz, Jennifer Jones, Margaret Duffy and Alyson Cox had never raced this distance before, so congratulations to them.

An ESM results summary is here. Please let Fiona know if any of the attached is incorrect – we think we tracked everyone down, but some were competing as Ealing Triathletes… Steve Barrington was competing for Shepperton Running Club… some of you had entered the race before joining the club… and of course there was the usual hotch-potch of club names. (It’s always safest to enter races using the full official name: Ealing Southall & Middlesex AC!)

Full race results here

This was the second of this year’s Club Championship races, following the Northala Fields 5k at the beginning of March. The next championship race is the Thames Towpath 10 on Sunday 17th April. After that, we have the One Mile Madness in Lammas Park at 7pm on Friday 22nd April. It will be followed by drinks at the Rose & Crown pub in south Ealing, and the medals/trophies for the cross country season will also be awarded, so come along for the social, even if you aren’t able to race.

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