Record-breaking turnout for D&T at Hatfield 5

The ladies team numbered 28 and they all put in stellar performances with plenty of PB’s and a superb ladies team trophy to top it all.

Sam Fawcett was first D&T lady home and a superb second lady overall in a new pb of 31:40, closely followed by Niamh Dempsey who finished third in a huge new pb of 31:42 with Ania Gabb only seconds behind to finish fourth in another pb of 31:45.

Sam and Niamh took home gold and silver in the Herts senior five mile championships, whilst all three ladies smashed the club five mile record with Sam now the overall record holder.

They also took home gold, silver and bronze club five mile medals respectively to boot. Kelly Du Buisson was fourth D&T lady in eighth position, knocking a couple of seconds off her pb to finish in 33:52, completing the ladies winning team quartet.

Bridie Macdonald, running her first five miler, scored 35:20 followed by a new pb from Kerry Ardley in 36:29 with Celia Findlay in a course pb of 36:37, Karen Wishart in 36:39 and Wendy Pearson in 37:08. Celia Findlay was also second in the V50 catagory.Louise Flower smashed her pb by 4 minutes to finish in 37:51 with Michelle Rothwell in 37:40 and Tina Le in 37:57, Clare Hunt (38:49) and a new pb for Gwen Mostyn by over a minute in 39:21.

Up next was Jessica Morrison (40:19), Barbara Baker (42:26) in her first ever five mile race, Rachel Hamilton (43:06), Karen Wass , running her first ever race for the club in 43:15 and Gemma Mosely (43:29) also running her first five miler.Janice Briggs smashed her pb to cross the line in 43:37 compared to her previous five mile at Marlow this year where she finished in over 47 minutes, new member Katy Wolstencroft was hot on her heels in a pb 44:26 and Rebecca White was not far behind in a 3 minute pb of 44:39.Annette Howard scored a new five mile pb with 45:28, with Leah Sill also smashing her pb by two minutes to speed over the line in 46:13. Running her first Hatfield five was Helen Reardon in 48:18 with Emma Edmends-Fahey also running her first five in 49:10. Alison Clooney cracked another club record in the VF60 age group to finish in 49:15 (her third club record this year!) with Hayley McNeil running her very first five mile in 54:42.

The 43-strong men’s team performed admirably with a magnificent seven running sub 30 minute times. Jamie Marlow was the first D&T runner home in a personal best time of 27:28 to be seventh man overall. Rhys Rowland was next in a pb of 28.54, smashing his own U20 club record for the distance by 1:08, and he was followed by Jamie Saunders, scoring a pb of 29:14 who in turn was pushed all the way by Chris Marriott - also getting a pb in 29:17.

Mike Kazer and Joshua Van Heiningen were given identical times of 29:21, with Joshua earning the added bonus of a new U17 club record by a whopping 21 seconds. Matt Hamilton completed the septet of D&T men breaking the 30-minute barrier running a pb time of 29:47.

New member Lewis Jones came in next in a pb of 30:55 with Simon Walker a minute behind in 31:55 for a pb. James Wass was another runner getting himself a pb of 32:02 with Mervyn Dempsey not far behind in 32:12. Paul Christie and Steve Russell both ran pb times to finish in 32:28 and 32:30 respectively. Bruce Milligan, in his first D&T run, also got a pb of 32:58 with Chris Kitchener following in 33:08. The two Tims , Churchill and Coysh, both achieved pb times of 33:20 and 33:48. Duncan Hamilton, pacing for another team member, cruised around in 33:52, Robert Jackson ran 34:00 with Andy Wass gaining a big pb to finish in 34:10. Michael Irvine and Rob Davies both ran personal bests, completing in 34:21 and 34:36 respectively. Bruce Baker had a good run and finished as third-placed VM60 in 36:55 with Rasmi Nanda right behind him in 36:56, Rob Salt close behind in 37:00 and Keith Wishart running 37:25. Matthew David Stears was another to get a pb, achieving a time of 37:26 just ahead of Vince Clarke (37:28) and Tony Reeve (37:30). Andy Mitchell and Benjamin Tang joined the pb club crossing the line in times of 37:49 and 37:55. Phil Pugh put in a strong finish to log a time of 38:52 whilst Mustafa Readdie and John Stevens were close together in 40:17 and 40:22. Jim Mason was next man home (42:25) just edging Robert Lewis (42:28 - pb), Luke Waller (42:30) and Gary Sturdy (42:53) for a personal best. Kevin Moore had a good D&T debut and got a personal best time of 44:52, Robert Wright also gained a pb with 46:52. Chris Keen making his comeback after some injury issues finished in 47:13 with Andrew Guilder completing the men’s team line up crossing the finish in 47:59, also earning a pb.

Michael Lamb and his 2 daughters headed to Northamptonshire to run The Stanwick Lakes races. Each distance had representation from D&T as Star ran the 5k finishing well under 30mins in 29.16 to be third in her age group, Calypso ran the 10k breezing in under the 1hr mark to finish in 55.55 and first in her age group. Michael ran the half marathon in a brisk 1.38.15 to be 6th male overall.

The Manchester Christmas Pudding Dash in Wythenshawe Park, South Manchester is a 2 lap, 5 mile off road run using footpaths, fields and trails in the park. Helping to get her into the festive spirit, Kate Crossland took part running 44.52 to earn herself a mince pie, a Christmas pudding and a fabulous Christmas themed medal.

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Chicago’s famous Grant Park hosts the Grant Park Turkey Trot. Publicised as an opportunity to work off your thanksgiving feast, a huge field of almost 2,500 runners take part. Denise and Luke Burford took part in this 5k whilst visiting Denise’s sister who lives in America. Luke finished in a speedy 23.16 to finish 14th out of 41 in his age group and 121st out of 2,479 overall finishers. Denise crossed the line in 27.51 to be 14th out of 167 in her age group and as 417th overall.

parkrun

This month saw the inaugural ‘D&T parkrun tour’. Once a month, a different parkrun is identified and club members are encouraged to come along to test themselves on a new course and run with their club mates, this months chosen parkrun was Panshanger near Hertford. This parkrun doubled up as David Stears milestone of his 50th parkrun and an extra excuse for celebration cake,

With most of the D&T crew being first timers on the Panshanger course, technically they all got course PB’s. Chris Marriot made light work of the woodland course and finished as first D&T in a time of 19.52. Duncan Hamilton was next in 21.18, closely followed by Chris Kitchener who despite only running a marathon less than a week ago still put in a stellar performance to finish in 21.25. Robert Davies ran 22.48, David Stears 24.09 and Rasmi Nanda, who also has a marathon in his legs, in 24.34. First lady home for the club was Louise Flower in a new course PB of 24.47 with Michelle Ashwell next also in a new course PB of 26.21. Young Thomas Ashton ran 27.37, Alan Grover in 27.45, William Ashton in 28.04, Henry Ashton and mum Charlotte in 28.20 and 28.26 respectively, Jessica Morrison in 28.26, Kevin Moore in 28.37, Robert Wright in a new course PB of 28.56, Kirsty Russell in 30.22, Alexis Bunce in 32.18, Charlotte McGahern 32.40 and Annette Howard is 37.28.

Gadebridge still had a handful of runners with volunteers JJ, Erica Klein, Patrick Mostyn, Penny Wallduck, Karen Wishart, Andrew Van Heningen, Philip Pugh and Tony Reeve to keep them company. Bruce Milligan was first D&T home, 11th male overall in a time of 21.48. Making his parkrun debut was young Ben Goslett in 23. 58 with Mustafa Readdie in 25.34. First lady for the club, 2nd lady overall was Gwen Mostyn in 26.04, Alison Clooney in 33.21 and Andy Mitchell running as tail runner in 44.58.

St Albans just had two runners, father and daughter Michael Lamb and Calypso Phillips who finished in 21.36 and 26.47 respectively.

Dan Rollings ran Tring in 26.23, trimming off 1.43 off his previous PB on this course.

Cassiobury had three runners. Danny Wells in a new overally PB of 35 secs to finish in 23.22 , Tim Coysh and Bridie Macdonald crossing together in 24.05 and 24.06.

Worsely Woods parkrun in Salford saw Kate Crossland run 28.29. Phil Oddy ran for the first time at Norwich parkrun in 17.34 to be sixth overall. York parkrun had Sarah Grover running a very impressive 18. 47 to be first lady and earning her a new PB.

The Hopper Family all attended Warrington parkrun. John was the first family member home in 22. 37, Edward in 25.43 closely followed by Daniel in 25.48 with Kate and Louise running together finishing in 31.41 and 31.42 respectively.