Dacorum & Tring runners make their mark for Hertfordshire

Jamie Bailey and Freddie Truman-Williams represented Hertfordshire at the SEAA Inter County Cross Country Championships

In the U13 girls’ race, Evie Clilverd ran well to finish as fourth scorer for Hertfordshire, with the county finishing 12th overall.

In the U13 boys’ race, Freddie Truman-Williams was 52nd overall out of nearly 100 boys, and was third scorer for the Herts team, which finished 10th. Jamie Bailey, in his first year in the U13 category, finished strongly just outside the scoring.

In the U15 girls race, Indira Patel finished 45th out of 99 girls, and was second scorer for Herts, helping the county to a 10th place finish.

Some of the Dacorum & Tring AC Gadebridge parkrun crew

On the boys’ side, Kristian Imroth had a standout race, finishing ninth overall, only 32 seconds off first place. As second scorer for the team, he contributed to a brilliant third-place finish for Hertfordshire, the county’s only team medal on the day.

Rhys Rowlands was fourth scorer for the U17 men, helping the county to a 10th place finish while Grace Birdseye was just outside the scoring for Herts in the U17 women’s team.

Sam Fawcett was selected to represent Herts in the senior women’s race and ran strongly in what she said was the hardest race she’d ever done, but as there were only two Herts runners, the county didn’t feature in the team standings.

Michael Armstrong and Maddie Perry were also being selected to represent Herts but were unable to take up their place.

Leah Sill won bronze at the British Indoor Rowing Championships

In other club news, Leah Sill competed in the British Indoor Rowing Championships, finishing a fantastic third in the women’s 30-39 500m lightweight category.

The event was held at the London Olympics velodrome and Leah was competing against some of the very best in the country.

Her bronze medal time of 1.50.9 was only 0.3 seconds off second place and 2.2 seconds behind the winner, Kirsty Pittman of Seal PT.

Rebecca White, meanwhile, took part in the Olympic Park 10km race, coming in with a new PB of 57.50 as she ramps up her training for the spring marathon season.

In parkrun news, the club descended on the event at Gadebridge in Hemel to accompany club member Kirsty Russell as she completed her 50th parkrun – a record 28 fellow D&T runners and seven volunteers were on hand to cheer her across the line.

First to finish on the day was 16-year old Joshua van Heiningen, in an unofficial 19.37 as he forgot his barcode to register his time.

Next was Matt Hamilton, who was running a tempo 5k in the middle of a longer training run but who still managed 21:31, fast enough for fourth overall (second SM25-29); he was followed by Richard Brawn in fifth in 22:07 (first SM30-34), Chris Kitchener in 10th (23.33, first VM45-49), Michael Lamb in 23.53 (third VM40-44); Daniel Belsey, 14th overall in 24.45 and first JM10 and Michael Irvine in 24:48 (second VM45-49).

Tina Le was the first lady to finish, in her first outing at Gadebridge, in a speedy 24.54, with Sam Sullivan second lady in 25.19, and both were of course first in their age categories.

Daniel’s dad Richard was next in 25.21, followed by David Stears in 25.29 (first VM55-59), Andy Mitchell in 26.06 (third VM50-54), Charlotte Ashton in 26:12 (third lady and second VW35-39), Victoria Thornley in 27.43 (first SW30-34), John Slack in 28.08 (first VM65-69), Calypso Phillips in 29.24 (first JW15-17), Erica Klein in 29.32 (third SW30-34), Penny Wallduck in 29.42 (second VW50-54) and Louise Flower in 30.08 (first SW25-29).

Next over the line for the club was Kirsty herself, with an entourage of six club members: Casper Du Buisson, Duncan Hamilton, Esther Hamilton, Rachel Lewis, Denise Burford and Michelle Ashwell, all finishing within 30s of each other.

Kodie Mitchell was right behind after in 32.48, with Janice Flowers (third VW35-39) and Alexis Bunce crossing together in 34.33 and 34.35.

Over in St Albans, Alex Eykelbosch was tearing up the field en route to a huge new PB of 17.25, fully 1.19 faster than her previous best. Not only was she first woman in the event, she was third overall, with only two men finishing ahead of her.

At the Cassiobury parkrun in Watford, Tim Churchill was 15th overall in a PB of 21.16, fast enough for second SM30-34, while partner Emma Donovan ran 27.39, finishing third in her SW25-29 age group.

Alan Grover ran again in Tring, finishing in 33.58 while Kate Crosslands nipped over to Oxford to run the parkrun there and came home with a fab new PB of 24.09, fast enough for fifth lady overall and second in the SW30-34 age group.