Run in the sun for D&T trio at Valencia Marathon

Chris Kitchener was the first D&T finisher in a time of 3:30:53 which was a pb by nearly three minutes.

Ben Jolly was taking part in his first officially timed run and had never ran this distance before. He finished in a time of 3:51:31 which was way below his four hour target time. Rasmi Nanda didn’t get the time he hoped for but still managed a very respectable 4:22:56.

A very muddy Herberts Hole 10k saw a hardy bunch tackle the hills of the Chilterns. First home for the club was Keith Wishart in a speedy 54:07 followed closely by Wendy Pearson in 54:28. Andy Mitchell and Gwen Mostyn tackled the tough terrain in 56:06 and 58:58 respectively with Alan Grover and Karen Wishart pushed through the mud to cross the line in 67:06 and 72:25.

The Croxley Park Christmas Cracker 10k in Watford provides a spot of early festive cheer, complete with a superb bit of Christmas bling, mince pies and a fairly chilly winter route.

The weather wasn’t too promising but six members of Dacorum and Tring headed to the start line to tackle a fairly wet and slippy race.

Lewis Jones put in a stunning run to finish as second male overall in a 39:55 and Danny Wells, who ran a strong race, crossed the line in a new PB of 50:51.

Ania Gabb sped home in 43:10 to take first place in the ladies race, whilst Hannah Bennett cruised around to a second place finish in 44:36. Clare Hunt was next up in ninth place in a time of 50:50. Jules Robinson ran with her friends Wendy and Graham, helping Wendy to finish her first ever 10k in a time of 1:20:01.

The ladies team took the top spot as well.

parkrun

Gadebridge parkrun had an impressive purple showing with the biggest turnout of runners and volunteers of all the parkrun. Jamie Marlow was first home for the club finishing as the first finisher in a quick time of 18.48, chasing him down was Phil Oddy in 19.41, second finisher overall and young Thomas Durrant in 20.51, fourth finisher. Completing the D&T top 10 finishers was Bruce Milligan in 21.47, finishing in sixth place. Making her debut at Gadebridge and completing her first ever parkrun and finishing as first lady for the club and eleventh overall was young Aoife Hanling in 22.28, fourth lady home, first VW45-49 was Wendy Durrant in 24.58, Philip Pugh just a mere 2 seconds behind finishing in 25.00 with Andy Mitchell hot on his tails crossing in 25.09. Rasmi Nanda ran a conservative 26.03 before jetting off to Spain to take part in the Valencia Marathon the next day! Simon Evans and Mustafa Readdie finished almost simultaneously in 26.05 and 26.06 respectively. Next up was Brittany Salt and Robert Salt who ran together also crossing within 1 second of each other, 26.44 and 26.45. Janice Briggs bagged herself a massive course PB of 6mins and dipping under the 30 mins mark to finish in 29.43. Kevin Moore completed in 30.10, Robert Wright in 30.41, Carol Macdonald in 32.08, Patrick Mostyn in 33.54, John Stevens 34.09, Alison Clooney in 34.10 and Danny Wells running as the tail runner to save himself for the Croxley 10k the next day, comfortably finishing in 54.16. As ever, Gadebridge was well supported with many members helping Erica Klein in her role as Run Director that morning. On hand were Penny Wallduck, Alan Grover, Karen Wishart, Gwen Mostyn, JJ, John Slack, Lewis Marlow, Tony Reeve and Rasmi Nanda.

Down the road at the infamous Tring parkrun, Rob Deane and Rebecca White took on the hilly course. Unfortunately, due to a calf niggle, Rob made the sensible decision to not finish but Rebecca, making her first appearance on this course, finished in 31.56.

Cassiobury parkrun saw Sam Fawcett tear round the 3-lap course to finish as first lady in 19.32, Tim Coysh was next in 20.37 and Vikki Johnston making an impressive parkrun debut finished as second lady in 21.00 with Bridie Macdonald fourth lady, in 21.33, just 6 seconds off her PB. Vikki’s son, Henry, also running his first parkrun, finished in a brilliant 22. 39, third JM11-14 – when’s he joining and running for us Vikki?

South Oxhey parkrun just had the one D&T runner. Tim Churchill put in a strong performance to finish in 21.26 as fourth male, second VM35-39.

Annette Howard warmed up for her St Neots Half-Marathon by running St Albans parkrun in 35.44.

Dynamic Duo Jamie Saunders and Chris Marriott travelled to Aylesbury parkrun finishing in 18.26, fourth male and 19.01, seventh male respectively.

Trying out the relatively new Canons Park parkrun were David Stears, Kate Crossland, Michelle Ashwell and Vicky Thornley. Kate finished in 24.58, fourth lady and first SW30-34. Michelle finished in 28.03, third VW45-49 with Vicky to finish in 28.04.

Further afield, Anya Higgins ran Alice Holt parkrun in 32.27, Andy Guilder at Shrewsbury parkrun in a new course PB of 28.42 and Matthew Salt in Southsea finishing as fourth male in an impressive time of 18.26.