Sam storms to second in 5k midweek series

The route is a two and a half lap, flat course on pathways which suited Sam who was first club member across the line to claim second lady overall in a time of 19.09, a mere 14 seconds behind the first female finisher.

Close behind was Niamh Dempsey who was 4th lady in 20.11.

First male club member home was Tony Reeve in 22.44 with Rasmi Nanda hot on his heels finishing in 22.49. Philip Pugh finished 8th in MV60 age group in 23.07, Louise Flower in 23.55, Leah Sill in 27.47 and Annette Howard in 34.14 to also take 8th in her age group, FV45.

The series incorporates the Hertfordshire Open Championships. Sam’s time and placing earned her the prestigious title of 2nd Herts County Champion and along with Niamh and Louise, D&T won 3rd ladies team prize and they all walked away with an extra medal for their collection.

The annual 5,000m club champs is a chance for D&T members to showcase their talents and see how their training is going before we hit the winter cross country season. This year 10 members took on the challenge which involves 12 laps of the track in the fastest time possible.

Jamie Marlow sped round the track in a blistering 17:37 whilst Jamie Saunders scored a new 5k PB of 17:54. Rasmi Nanda smashed a 22:35 followed by Sam Sullivan in 22:54.

Tina Le raced over the line to a new PB of 23:04, closely followed by Phillip Pugh (23:19) and Charlotte Ashton (23:37) with Gary Sturdy speeding to a 24:59 finish, with Ken Perry and Malcolm Seargeant also taking part!

Whilst Mo was celebrating his hat trick of wins at the Great North Run in Newcastle this weekend, a group of D&T runners were ably following in his footsteps.

Jack Parslow gave Mo a run for his money finishing in a staggering 1:07 whilst Chris Marriott, back to his best, ran a super speedy 1:27.

Richard Stevens raced home in 1:53 closely followed by Jim Mason and Luke Waller in 1:59 and 2:01 respectively. Penny Wallduck had a super run to finish in 2:04.

Chris Keen crossed the line in 2:44 as did Jason Hawkridge who despite battling recent injuries, ran the race with a friend who had previously raced no further than 7k!

Victoria Thornily and Carol MacDonald conquered the Vitruvian triathlon – a two lap 1900m swim, a double lap bike course covering 85km and a 21km run to finish it off.

Carol finished in 6.09.23 whilst Vicky, a relative newcomer to triathlon and making her debut at this distance, finished in 7.06.17

Respect to both ladies in weather that would test the resolve of any athlete with less mental and physical tenacity.

Dacorum and Trings’ multi sport team continues to impress with Richard Belsey taking on the HSV Sprint Triathlon this weekend.

Richard regularly attends the sprint events in Hatfield and this time he managed to knock three minutes off his PB.

Officially 29th out of 121 competitors, Richard completed the course (which includes a very hilly cycle route!) in 1:13 with splits of 8:09 for the swim, 40:04 for the cycle and 23:37 for the run.

Hannah Bennett has swum the channel and run marathons and this weekend she decided to take on the Scilly swim challenge, braving cold water and lots of undulated walking.

Starting on St Mary’s Island, the Scilly swim challenge takes in six different islands with varying swim distances averaging 2.5k and totalling 15km and six different walks equalling 10km before finishing on St Agnes. Hannah completed the 1 day course (the harder option!) in 12 hours

They may be keen members of D&T Road Runners but Michelle Ashwell, Rebecca White and a late entry-on-the-day of David Stears, deviated from road running to take to the trails in the Farnham Pilgrims Half Marathon.

The glorious weather made for an enjoyable race with Michelle and David making their trail half marathon debuts. David finished in 1.59 whilst the ladies took it leisurely, stopping to take selfies en route, to finish in 2.35

After months of fundraising and campaigning for Cancer Research, Claire Copperwhite headed to the Brecon Beacons to take on the Aim Higher Charity Challenge.

Competitors, all employees from Premier Foods walk 25 miles through the Beacons, over steep rocky terrain and through driving winds Claire stated it was ‘tough, scary and fun’ whilst also being the wildest and windiest course she has ever attempted.

The weather was so bad that once at the top they couldn’t see a thing and could hardly stand due to high winds and heavy rain. Despite this, Claire’s team battled on and completed the course with combined efforts of all participants helping to raise £42,000 for Cancer Research!

Alex Bayliss and Tina Searle took on the Two Arms and Two Legs challenge this weekend, a half marathon along the Grand Union Canal taking in two arms from Wendover to Aylesbury. The pair ran together finishing in 2:22 on a multi terrain course in what doubled as Alex’s first race after returning from injury.

Parkrun

Over the mud and hills of Gadebridge, Michael Irvine was first D&T home in 22:57 followed by yet another PB from Rasmi Nanda in 23:22 and a PB from Matthew David Stears in 24:10.

Patrick Mostyn (24:19), Robert Salt (25:09), Andy Mitchell (25:12), Wendy Durrant (25:14) and Gwen Mostyn (26:03) all finished in quick succession followed by Louise Flower, who continues to improve almost weekly as she knocked more time off her PB in 26:05 and Andrew Guilder close behind in 32:53.

The slightly less muddy course of Cassiobury saw Tim Coysh speed home in 21:21 with Robert Davies hot on his heels in 21:44. Danny Wells bagged a new PB of 23:55 followed by Rebecca White in 26:47 and Debbie Kennard, also with a new PB of 26:54. Rachel Lewis (28:25), Kirsty Russell (30:50), Lorraine Ellis (35:23), Louise Tainsh (35:33) and Danielle Kerr (40:00) all put in superb performances despite the conditions.

Annette Howard and Peter Bailey headed to St Albans, coming home in 28:52 and 36:31 respectively.

Michael Lamb and Star Phillips represented D&T at Ellenbrook with Michael racing home in 21:36 and Star speeding to a 29:33 finish.

Mustafa Readdie travelled to Gladstone in London taking on the partly trail, partly road route in 25:40 and Tim Churchill was our sole member at South Oxhey speeding home as third male finisher in 21:14.