No let-up for Dacorum & Tring road runners as PBs are smashed yet again

Kate Rennie was in great form as she finished as first lady and took eighth place overall – over six minutes ahead of the next female finisher in an impressive 1:56:55.

Dan Griggs also ran a very good race and managed a top 100-finish with a time of 2:27:45.

Elsewhere, the milder weather tempted D&T members out to various parkruns across Herts, Bucks, Gloucester and Bushy Park.

Gadebridge parkrun was well represented, with Jamie Marlow tearing up the course to be the first person across the line in 18.14; a new course PB. Michael Irvine and Robert Salt ran shoulder to shoulder, crossing the line in 23.51 and 23.53 to take first and second in their respective age groups, VM45-49 and VM50-54, with Michael also bagging himself a new course PB.

Michael Lamb was hot on their tails in a time of 24.06, placing him third in the VM40-44 age group.

Rasmi Nanda, David Stears and Gwen Mostyn ran collectively, with Rasmi getting a new course PB of 25.43, Gwen trimming a phenomenal 2min 1sec off her previous PB, with David a few seconds behind having done a brilliant job of acting as the pace-setter.

Jess Tanner took first place in the SW25-29 category in 27.10, followed by sisters Star and Callypso Phillips who ran together to finish in 29.04 and 29.07 respectively.

Annette Howard, acting as tail runner, finished comfortably in 47.37, while Niamh and Theodora joined their fathers David and Michael to cross the line together in 31.55.

With April 2 earmarked as his milestone 100th parkrun, Cassiobury parkun saw Chris Kitchener complete run number 98 in a time of 20.52 .

In her third showing at Cassiobury, Stefanie Harding improved from her first showing by 1min 5 sec to earn herself a new overall parkrun PB of 27.50.

St Albans saw Andy Mitchell complete his 20th parkrun in 25.07. Mother and son Charlotte and Henry Ashton ran, with young Henry sprinting ahead to finish in 26.02 with Charlotte in 26.33.

Alan Grover ran 28.27 with Janice Briggs close behind in 28.43 and Peter Bailey finishing in 32.27.

Further afield in Buckinghamshire, taking in a spot of parkrun tourism en route to her forthcoming milestone 50th parkrun, Louise Flower ran Wycombe Rye in a brilliant new PB of 24.11.

Kingsway parkrun in Gloucester saw Tim Coysh finish in 23.16 to finish first in the SM20-24 age group, with Esther Hamilton travelling to the birthplace of parkrun, Bushy Park, and finishing in 31.47.

Sunday saw half marathons being held around the country and the D&T Road Runners were represented at three of them.

A team of nine headed to Surrey to take part in The Hampton Court Palace Half Marathon and five of them bagged impressive new PBs.

Hannah Bennett was the club’s fastest finisher in a new PB of 1:34:20, closely followed home by Kelly Du Buisson in 1:35:34.

Next club finishers were Samantha Sullivan (1:41:48) and Clare Hunt (1:43:53), both with personal best times.

Rebecca Fawcett completed the course in 1:45:28, while Alison Richardson (1:47:44) and Matthew Stears (1:48:52) were next home, both earning superb new PBs.

Martin Kerr clocked a time of 1:49:53, with Casper Du Buisson completing the D&T line-up in 1:51:39. Martin was pacemaker for his cousin Jo and they were running on behalf of the Hospice Of Saint Francis; between them they raised over £600.

Nearer home was the Welwyn Half Marathon, with three D&T representatives all gaining personal best times.

Russell Morris and Paul Christie both broke the elusive 1:30:00 barrier for the first time, Russell finishing in 36th position in 1:29:21 with Paul hot on his heels in 38th with a rapid 1:29:56.

Luke Waller, who will be running the Paris marathon in two weeks’ time, was using this run as part of his tapering and managed to knock over 12 minutes off his previous best time to finish in 1:53:39.

The North London half marathon started and finished at Wembley stadium and included a lap of Allianz Park at the halfway mark. Chris Kitchener used this as part of his marathon training and finished in 1:38:02.

With marathon season rapidly approaching, Sunday saw the final GVH-organised training run take place, and 17 Dacorum & Tring road runners were in action.

Among the early starters were Michelle Ashwell, Kirsty Russell, Jess Tanner, Esther Hamilton, Alex Bayliss and Tony Reeve.

Setting off shortly after were Tina Le, Angela Aikman, Jules Robinson, Tamara Frenchum, Ania Gabb, John Stevens, Duncan Hamilton, Steve Russell, Tim Coysh, Julie Groves and Rasmi Namda.