Thanks to Simon Turrell (back of the photo in ESM hat) for this report
A short trip down the M4 for the first ESM road running club race of the year – to the extended ring of car-parks that seemed to make up much of Wokingham – saw a fine turnout of over 20 clubmates and some Northala Fields parkrun regulars too (Bruce, Vincent and Nilu).
For many of those racing, this half was another step towards their spring Marathon goals. For others, not least Bill and Cath, this represented another good step in their recoveries. All in all, the results on the day showed the good progress being made, or (where the times weren’t quite PBs), the effect of so many miles accumulated in the legs already in 2018.
A field of almost 2,000 runners took on this course which was fast but not as flat as advertised. It was however straight, well surfaced and closed so the strong field was there to achieve good times. A 2012 Olympian, Scott Overall, won the men’s race by some margin in 65:11 and Naomi Mitchell won the women’s race in 77:52.
Elliot and Mark D delivered very impressive performances to lead ESM home. Pete ran 85 minutes, a new PB and set the highest ESM age-graded result of the day (79%). Malcolm pipped Jav in the race of the fun bus. Andy beat Clive to the line but Clive ultimately holds the bragging rights with the faster chip time.
The ladies were led home by Annette with a PB, followed in by Bev, while Barbro had the best age graded result for the ESM women.
Amongst some excellent times and achievements there were also PBs for Mark F and Sughra.
ESM were the ninth biggest team present – playing our part in a very green looking field of vests (Reading and Bracknell Forest being the big two at the event). Our men’s team (Elliot, Mark, Pete and Malcolm) placed 14th of 29 and the ladies’ team (Aneta, Bev, Barbro and Annette) placed 13th of 16.
We were well supported too with Alison, Iskandar, Marien, Mary, Olof and Philip all there to cheer the runners along. The weather was good for racing and it all made for an excellent start to the road club championship season.
Clockwise from top left: Cath/Bev/Aneta; Bruce/Gary/Andy; Margaret/Anette/Aneta/Sarah/Bev; Bruce/Gary
ESM results summary:
Note: These results are provisional and the women’s results show their positions within the total field; we’ll edit this when we get their positions within the women’s field.
Men: 91 Elliot Jones 1:18:51; 111 Mark Delahunty V40 1:20:23; 212 Peter Drew V50 1:25:26; 361 Bruce Li V40 1:30:20; 444 Malcolm Woolsey 1:33:25; 451 Jav Sondh 1:33:54; 512 Vincent Cheung V40 1:35:19; 609 Andy Leung V45 1:38:58; 611 Clive Richardson V40 1:38:30; 674 Rodney Ebanks V40 1:40:30; 753 Simon Turrell V45 1:42:52; 1086 William Lonsdale V60 1:51:53; 1370 Mark Fuller V50 1:59:08
Women: 994 Aneta Neumann W40 1:48:51; 1075 Beverley Packwood V45 1:50:55; 1235 Barbro Julin W50 1:55:19; 1261 Annette Galloway W40 1:56:11; 1383 Sarah Holroyd W50 1:59:40; 1395 Cath Gunnewicht W40 2:01:58; 1412 Louise Prince W40 2:02:30; 1550 Margaret Duffy W50 2:07:34; 1668 Annick Hooge W60 2:15:38; 1702 Sughra Mohammedi 2:18:41; 1804 Nilu Dewan W40 2:29:08
Full results to follow on powerof10