D&T runners head to Bournemouth Festival

First up was the supersonic 10K on Saturday afternoon which had 10 members looking to race on the flat but very windy route along the promenade which takes in Bournemouth and Boscombe Pier.

With a late entry, Steve Russell was first back in 42:29 followed by a PB from Tim Churchill in 43:14. Becky Fawcett raced the tough conditions to cross the line in 46:50 with Bruce Baker behind in in 47:38 with Jim Mason in 50:50 and Victoria Thornley, in her first race of the day (not including parkrun!) not far behind in 54:58.

Andy Wass ran with wife Karen to finish in 55:14, with Barbara Baker in 56:04, followed by Rob Deane who, despite battling a hamstring injury ran a superb 58:20. Julie Stears continued to improve, running home in 1:07 with Andy Guilder hot on her heels in 1:08. Ant Gomm also stepped up and ran his first ever 10k, speeding over the line in 1:27:19. As the light faded on Saturday night, six members donned their head torches and lined up for the Supernova 5K. Amidst glow sticks and fairy lights Michelle Ashwell and Victoria Thornley paced each other to a 29:41 and 29:42 respectively.

Rebecca White and Jim Mason also ran together to finish in 30:13 and Tim Churchill and Emma Donovan walked the course in an impressive 48 minutes.

Sunday morning was the half marathon event where the largest contingent of Dacorum and Tring runners set off from Bournemouth’s Vitality stadium.

Thankfully the wind had dropped and conditions were favourable for some fantastic PBs. First home was Chris Marriott in a fantastic 1:25:44 followed by Richard Brawn in 1:34 who joined his old team for one more race. Kelly Du Buisson was first female home in 1:35:06 followed closely by new member Mark Howes in 1:36:07.Martin Kerr smashed two and half minutes off his PB to finish in 1:37:20 with Rob Davies also knocking a massive five and a half minutes off his PB to finish in 1:39:23. Richard Blaxhill scored a one minute PB of 1:43 and yet another huge PB came from David Stears who knocked five minutes off to cross the line in 1:46.

Next up was Phillip Pugh who ran home in 1:51:41. In her first half marathon ever, Louise Flower smashed her sub two hour target, speeding home in 1:52:21 with Jessica Morrison hot on her heels in 1:53:20, then Robert Lewis in a new PB of 1:54 and Simon Evans not far off in 1:57:15. Gary Sturdy dipped under the two hour mark for the first time in a huge 10 minute PB of 1:58:15. Erica Klein ran a superb 2:00:08 followed by Michelle Ashwell in 2:08:23.Janice Briggs, running on her birthday celebrated by taking 10 minutes off her PB to finish in 2:14:17.Janice was followed by Kirsty Russell in 2:19:57, Angela Aikman in 2:20 and Jason Hawkridge in 2:34:44 who all had great runs after returning from injury.

The full marathon was the final event of the weekend and there were three club members taking part. After not running for a few months due to picking up an injury, Jamie Marlow took a late entry to the event and despite placing himself in the 3:20 category, put in a sprint finish to dip under the three hour mark in 2:58:37. Rasmi Nanda also put in a stunning performance to dip ​ under his four hour target for the first time with a PB of 3:55:42 and Samantha Hawkridge looked strong all the way, crossing the line in 4:57.

Whilst many club members were running various races in Bournemouth, D&T still had a turnout at the annual Abbots Langley Tough 10 race on Sunday with its infamous hills towards the finish. Paul Christie was first club member to cross the line in 10th position in 41:07 with Daniel Griggs not far back in 27th place with a time of 43:42. Samantha Sullivan finished in 48:45 and Danny Wells earned himself a PB by completing the course in 52:45.In the 5km race Annette Howard ran with her sister and nephew and completed the route in 32:52. D&T member Emma Cresswell finished the 3km event in 19:58.

Former England football team manager Graham Taylor was there to present the medals and remarked to Paul Christie that he was impressed with his sprint finish.

At Hemel Hempstead’s newest triathlon on Sunday the aim was to encourage as many new people as possible to give Triathlon a go.

Penny Wallduck and Kevin Moore fitted this criteria. Not only did Penny Wallduck successfully complete the distances, she won her age group, F50-54.

Penny swam 8:38, biked 22:02 and ran 25:15 to finish in under an hour, 58:18. Kevin Moore has been training hard for his first tri, even attending the novice training session at Sport Space last month. Kevin swam 12.17, biked 31.09 and ran his fastest 5k to date finishing under the30min bracket in 29:47 giving him an overall time of 1:16:27.

Also taking part was more experienced multi-sporter Kate Crossland. Kate, who is known for her love of outdoor swimming, finished the swim in 8:24. Kate doesn’t actually own a road bike but still managed to fly round in 20:51 and ran 25:25 to also finish under the hour in 57:18. This fabulous time earnt her an age group win of first in F30-34. Also winning his age-group and coming second overall was Matt Hamilton who has a wealth of triathlon experience to draw on. He swam 7:20, biked a blistering 15:48 and then ran well in 18:22 to finish in 42:31.

parkrun

Whilst down south for the Bournemouth Marathon Festival, some of D&T ran Moors Valley parkrun. Chris Marriott sped round the one lap woodland course in 19:10 closely followed by Steven Russell in 20:39. Driving down early that morning as never one to miss out on a parkrun tourism opportunity was Rasmi Nanda in 23:23. Jim Mason finished in 25:15 with Victoria Thornley just behind in 25:39. Gary Sturdy completed in 27:48 with Michelle Ashwell and Kirsty Russell finishing comfortably in 31:14.

Despite having a marathon to run the next day, Jamie Marlow still beasted Gadebridge parkrun to be first finisher in 19:01.

Michael Irvine earnt himself a new course PB finishing in 21:47. Next was Richard Stevens in 24:11, first lady for the club Wendy Pearson in 24:13 and Tony Reeve also bagging himself a course PB in 24:19. Gwen Mostyn crossed in 27:39, Jessica Morrison and Martin Kerr both ran before jumping in the car to join the others in Bournemouth finishing in 28:00 and 28:01 respectively.

John Cooper completed in 28:49, Charlotte McGahern in 34:40 running with Louise Tainsh in 34:41 and Louise Flower in a comfortable 44:13 acting as the tailrunner as saving herself for her half-marathon debut the next day. Volunteering were Erica Klein, Karen Wishart and JJ.

The younger D&T members were out at St Albans with Rhys Rowlands finishing 4th overall in 17:28 with Joshua Van Heinigen just behind to take 5th overall in 17:56. Michael Lamb ran 20:47 with daughter Star Phillips finishing in 27:14. Annette Howard was flying solo at Tring finishing in a sparkly new PB of 31:24 knocking a massive 3mins 22secs off her previous course PB there. Over at Cassiobury, Tim Coysh flew round to be first SM20-24 in an overall new PB of 20:22. Making his debut at Aldenham parkrun, Robert Salt finished in 23:40 taking first VM50-54.