Easter Weekend Race Roundup

The long Easter weekend brought a selection of races attended by club members. First up was the 10K and half marathon along the scenic Pendine Sands on Easter Sunday followed by the notorious Gilwern Grunt and Boston (UK) Half and Full Marathons on Easter Monday.

Pendine Sands 10K and Half Marathon

First up was a series of races along the scenic Pendine Sands. There were two races options (well, three but nobody was brave to compete in the ultra), a 10K and a half marathon. Sam Jackson, Sam Standerwick and Pete Jackson entered the 10K and Katherine Collins and Hayley Jackson.

10K 

Sam Jackson performed excellently in this race managing to cover the first 5K in 20:06 which is a superb time for a beach race and one with a headwind! He finished the race in 47:23.

Sam Standerwick finished the race in 57:52, another great time. Recovering from injury, this was the “first run back where it felt like I was properly pushing it but in control”. Well done Sam!

Pete Jackson finished closely behind Sam with an unofficial time of approximately 01:00:00.

Half Marathon

Both Katherine Collins and Hayley Jackson performed well completing the race in 01:57 and 01:59 respectively.

Gilwern Grunt

The infamous Gilwern Grunt – a race that sorts the men and women from the boys and girls.

This tough 7.5 mile race features some incredibly tough terrain including some extreme climbs. You’re going to get dirty, it’s going to hurt, but there’s cake at the end.

There were a couple of team members running the race with Danielle Phillips beating last year’s time by a whopping 10 minutes (01:09:23) and securing 5th lady in the process.

Terry Vaughan managed to pick up a few cuts and scrapes and picked up the pace when he learnt that Rogue Runs are known for providing a huge selection of cakes at the finish line.

 

Boston (UK) Marathon and Half Marathon

Billed as one of the flattest marathon in the UK, the Boston (UK) Marathon, and half marathon, takes place on the same day as the famous race in the US city. With a maximum entry limit of 800, this race is far smaller. Ladies team captain Rachel Burr-Lewis and her partner Tony Lewis, travelled over to the Lincolnshire town to take part in both races.

Rachel, who has been training diligently all year, entered the race with the aim of beating her 04:03:53 result at the 2016 Yeovil Marathon. Being a small race there were no updates throughout the race so we had to wait patiently until she crossed the line. The news was finally broken by a club member who had their eye on the results page and reported that she had crossed the line in 03:38:42! What a result and a new PB and it also give her a ‘Good for Age’ entry into the London Marathon.

Tony Lewis, who had been entered into the race by Rachel to ensure he had something to do whilst she was running her race, also performed superbly securing a PB of 01:47:25.

Shapwick Runners Bunny Hop 2017

Michael Lewis was flying the flag for PBB at the 10th Anniversary Shapwick Runners Bunny Hop in Somerset. Michael finished in 01:13:48 and was second in his age category.