D&T runners earn medals from Awesome 100 mile challenge

With many members logging more than the minimum 100 miles, a whopping 1,968m were covered. Aptly,that’s the distance between Hemel Hempstead and the home of the Olympics, Greece.

Charlotte Ashton, Rasmi Nanda, Luke Waller, Victoria Thornley, Michelle Ashwell, Penny Walduck, Kelly and Casper Du Buisson, Tina Thuy, Annette Howard, Louise Flower, Sam Hawkridge, Jan Strachan, David Stears, Chris Kitchener, Jess Morrison, Rebecca White, Clare Hunt and Angela Aikman successfully completed the challenge and are now proud owners of an impressive medal emblazoned with the Olympic rings.

Saturday morning at Tooting Bec Lido saw Kate Crossland line up for the second annual Ickle Pickles Tooting Aquathlon. The race started with a 450m swim, just five lengths of the iconic Tooting Lido, the largest open air pool where upon exiting the swim they then headed out on the two lap run of Tooting Common.

Kate placed sixth female and 23rd out of a small overall field of 42. Her swim time was 12.34, run time 26.08 and with a 1.41 transition time to give her an overall time of 40.23

Andy Guilder donned a hot, heavy gorilla suit to take part in The Great Gorilla Run in aid of The Gorilla Organisation. This bizarre 8k race passed some of London’s most iconic landmarks. Andy was pleased to cross the line in under the hour.

Rebecca White is in her final week before the Loch Ness Marathon and finished her hard training with the eighth English Half Marathon in Warrington, Cheshire. Just one minute off a PB, Rebecca finished in 2.06.07.

On the day Rob Deane was presented with a surprise entry into the 10k to keep him out of mischief whilst Rebecca ran. With only his second race since injury, Rob completed easily under the hour,coming home in 58.01. Once their individual races were over, they ran together in the family WireFM mile to earn them a second medal and then a bonus third medal for doing two races.

Six rugged male D&T runners braved the Shardeloes 10k multi terrain course in the picturesque Chiltern Hills. Paul Christie was the only runner from the group who had run this course before and produced an excellent result by becoming the 30th male runner to cross the finish line in 45:38 and 34th overall runner out of a total of 274.

Rasmi Nanda was the 77th male out of 171 finishing in 51:26 and was 92nd runner overall. Andy Mitchell crossed the finishing line in 56:37 and became 111th male finisher, 143rd overall. Rob Lewis completed the course in 58:21 with Gary Sturdy hot on his heels to finish in 58.50. Andy Guilder, who undertook the tough Great Gorilla run just the day before, crossed the finishing line in 1:17:65. The mens combined times team won them third place in the male team prize category.