This is the week that was... The Greensand Ridge!
The Return of Rushmere parkrun
Although parkrun has been back for a few weeks now, we had to wait just a little longer for our local Rushmere parkrun to return to the roster, but on Saturday it was all systems go! Over 30 LFR’s turned up. LFR founding member Dave Cooper was on the start line to complete his 50th parkrun, all of which have been run at Rushmere. Congratulations Dave and I’m sure the red parkrun t-shirt will look just great on you! Neil Lewington celebrated his 100th parkrun milestone, with 99 of these all being at Rushmere! Way to go Neil.
Leading the team home was Jim Buttleman in a brilliant 21:14, shortly followed by Will Ellis who made his Rushmere debut. Jenna Parker and Tom Webster also ran Rushmere for their first time, they both looked to have enjoyed themselves, though Jenna did comment that it's a tough course! VC Dougie continued his parkrun PB exploits for a second week with 23:55 and that was after his run there as part of a parkrun train Saturday morning club run. Keep an eye out for these. Megan Francis also PB’d with 28:10, great running!
As we know parkrun can’t and won’t happen without a whole host of volunteers. A huge thanks to Christine and David Ayres, Tracy Cardno, Graham Cooper, Alan Garner, Andy Griggs, Janet Langdon, Anna Mead, Keith Phillips and Paul Thomas who gave up their time to make the event so successful.
We also had runners at Linford Wood, Houghton Hall, Sixfields and Milton Keynes where new member Iain Summers ran a PB.
Greensand Ridge Relay & Soloists!
Another LFR favourite, The Greensands Ridge Relay took place on Saturday and we had 3 solo runners and 2 teams of 6 relay runners entered. The event has been run since 1987 and starts at Tiddenfoot Waterside Park and meanders through the Bedfordshire countryside following the Greensands Ridge, finishing at Northill some 35 miles away. It was a warm day, but once the sun came out it made the running hard work with little shelter on some of the route. Gordon Hill, Paul Little and Matthew Ma took on the solo event. Matthew Ma claimed victory, a huge achievement and I’m sure you’ll all join me in congratulating Matthew. He completed the course in a quite staggering 4hr 48 minutes. Which in itself would have placed him 14th in the team event. Paul Little came in 4th place in 6 hours and 5 minutes, again another great result to go along with his LL100 exploits just 4 weeks ago.
In the team event, we just had 2 teams entered because of an original clash of date with the MK Marathon weekend. 34 teams started the event and both our teams put in a great effort. In team LFR Ace Ventura we had Dan Green, Kevin Hare, Ian Bisby, Emily McClelland, Brendan Thomas and Phil Brogan. Dan Green set a blistering pace to get Leg 1 started and set the standard for the day with the team finishing in a combined 4 hours and 39 minutes securing 8th place. LFR Fancy Free came in 22nd and consisted of Jason Charley, Richard Meredith, Mike Clark, Martin Addrison, Michelle Evans Riches and Ash Henley. Mike Clark had a stunning run and posted the 6th best time in the longest leg, Leg 3 (9 miles) and beat his handicap by a stunning 17 minutes and 49 seconds.
Both teams and our soloists had a great day out with brilliant camaraderie, great support and the usual LFR team ethos that is just infectious. Next year with a stable calendar I’m sure we will have more teams and more soloists to enter and I’m sure Matthew will be back to defend his trophy.
Other Weekend Racing
Races continued over the weekend and the marathon machine that is Lesley Wes Barnard completed her 80th marathon, this time at the SVN Zodiac Marathon where she grabbed herself a huge medal. I hear JK is looking forward to baking your 100th marathon cake!
In Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire Jen Garner, William Burchell, James Bassil, Paul Thomas and Mike Garner completed the Kimbolton Half. I was interested to see Mike’s fueling strategy, something I may need to try! It looked like you had a beautiful day for it. There was also reason for celebration as William Burchell broke his long standing half marathon PB with a sub 2 hours, well done Will!
Not actually racing but in support of her sister who is completing 10 marathons in 10 days, Anne Graeff completed an unexpected marathon on Sunday. The idea was to do “about” 16 miles, but she just kept on going. Well done Anne, and please let us know how your sister gets on with the remainder of her challenge.
That’s it for this week, I look forward to seeing you out on the road or at Friday’s BBQ and trail run.