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January
Obviously a very quite month!
February
Three
Club members ran the Watford Half Marathon. Running his first Half of the year,
Colin Aldous finished in l:38:46, Peter Furness recovering from the flu finished
in 1:39:25 and Jac Aldous followed in 1:50:38.
March
We participated for the first time ever in Thames Valley Harriers Road Relay in Stockley park. The event comprised of a 3.5 mile circuit over multi terrain, was supported by most of the top clubs to give a wide range of standards. Our three man veterans team comprised Bill Hart, Peter Furness and Ernie Hall. Bill ran the first leg in 27:25, Peter ran a fine second leg picking up quite a few places in 22:20 and Ernie polished off the final leg to finish in 20:54secs.
The club colours were out in force at the Hillingdon Half Marathon. The event was blest with very pleasant weather and once again some very good times were achieved. Ernie Hall was first home in 1:20:16, with Peter Ford showing good form with a 1:26:50. Colin Aldous and Peter Furness must have had quite a battle with Colin leading the way in 1:27:30 and 1:27:59 respectively. Brian Matthews was intent on enjoying his Sunday run finishing in a leisurely 1:37:45. Keith Morris was not far behind with 1:39:40. Brian Skinner managed to hold off a strong challenge from Gary Fiddes and finished in 1:43:14 with Gary following him in 1:44:48.
April
There
were mixed fortunes for Club members running in the London marathon . Ernie Hall
expecting a good start, found himself and other ‘good for your age starters‘,
behind the Celebrities and Football team runners. His efforts to get through the
throng of slow runners came a cropper and as he tripped over, going in to finish
in 2hrs 55mins. Peter Ford started off with the ‘Runners World’ pace maker
for 3hrs, but found difficulty in maintaining the pace. Suffering from cramp he
had to settle for a slower pace, tried to latch on to the next pacer maker for
3hr 30mins but still found himself in difficulties. Jac Aldous enjoyed herself,
running with Frank Bruno. After admiring Frank for 10 miles she left him for
dead. Having had a bad time in the later stages she finished in 3hrs 55mins.
Commiseration’s for the members who had to withdraw through injuries. Peter Furness and Kay Tarrant enjoyed the weekend in Paris with Peter running a marathon PB of 3hrs 29mins When pressed for the key to his success he would only admit to a visit to Disneyland. He rated the race as a well organised event though it did have a couple of bottlenecks that slowed all runners down a bit. The medal was one Peter Ford would drool over Well done Peter.
. May
The
first of the 2000 Summer Time Trials attracted 12 runners and 4 supporters.
Richard Wallace led the field off and sustained the lead to finish first home,
with a time of 33:10, indicating a marked improvement on last year. Ernie
Hall established a new course record of 23:50, though the course has been
altered slightly from last year. Brian Matthews did well to pick up a few places
to finish second in 27.58.
News reached us from north of the Border that Erwin Losekoot ran the Lochaber Marathon in 3:35:39 finishing in 91st place. It appears that the hot weather took its toll with 44 runners out of the 230 starters failing finish the course. The course took in some beautiful views, with Ben Nevis with snow still on the top, a view of the Loch for most of the race and Neptune's Staircase a flight of locks going up the Caledonian Canal.
June
The second Summer Time Trial was depleted in numbers through injury and other events. However, a very pleasant evening was had by supporters and runners. Tony Newman provided picnic table and seating for the aid of timekeeper and supporters. Richard Wallace held on to the lead in the points table, but his tactics maybe subject to a stewards inquiry.
The Wargrave 10K provided the chance to chalk-up more points in the Club Championship. Peter Furness did particularly well, finishing in 38th position in 39:12 followed by Colin Aldous (47th) in 40:10. Brian Matthews found his way to the finish in 95th position in 43:03. Craig and Jac must have had quite a battle to the finish with Craig having the better of Jac to finish in 160th and161st positions in 46:07 and 46:08 respectively. Gary was close behind in 175th position with a time of 46:43. It is understood that that Jac had forgotten to pack Colin's kit and they had to return home for it, which may have had some bearing on their performance on the day. Goodness knows what would happen if they were at 10,000 ft and Jac had forgotten to pack his parachute
July 18 Club members turned out for the Datchet Dash 10K. Peter Furness led the club home with a fine PB in 39.07. Colin Aldous was not far behind with 39.28. Brian Matthews finished well in third place with 42.05. Peter Ford and Keith Morris had a close race finishing in 42,52 and 42.59 respectively. Tony Betteridge not quite race fit, had to stop at 5K to tie his shoe lace, only to be passed by Jac Aldous. Needless to say Tony ran the second half like a man possessed, Jac put in another PB finishing in 45.18.
The newly formed Ladies section started in style with several fine performances at the British Airways Ladies 5K on Sunday. Taking part in only their second competitive event, and despite being depleted by injury, the team gained two top ten places at Cranford Park. Team Captain Jac Aldous began well and by mid-way was looking comfortable in 4th place, but lost ground in the closing stages to finish 6th overall and 2nd in the V35 category in 22:10 Just twelve seconds later Lisa Binch finished strongly in 22:22 to claim 7th place overall and 3rd Senior Lady. However, the best performance of the day was reserved for newcomer Kay Tarrant who slashed her personal best by almost 3 minutes to finish 32nd and 8th in the V35 category in 32:49
August
Jac Aldous did it again at the Hillingdon 10K taking the 3rd Lady Vet 35 prize. Thankfully, Peter (where's me medal) Ford wasn't on hand to pass comment on the ball point pen awarded to all finishers.
A squad of 13 had a successful weekend in Le Touquet. In the 5K race the Ladies team fell agonisingly short of capturing a trophy despite notable performances from Margaret Newman and Pam Swadling. The event also marked the long awaited competitive return of veteran Marathon runner Paul Evans following long-term injury. In the 10K Brian Matthews notched up another season’s best, leading home Brian Skinner and Tony Newman to gain well deserved V40 honours in the open category. Finally in the 20K, a team headed by Peter Ford fell short of their goal of capturing the team prize but gained several new personal bests against a strong international field.
September
The finale of the Summer Time Trial Series in Stockley Park saw the honours shared by Colin Aldous and Ian Robinson. Robinson gained maximum points by winning the 4 mile event by a 5 second margin over Peter Furness, however third placed Aldous gained enough points to tie the series for the first time ever.
A wrong turn denied us of a respectable placing in the River Relay - the six stage 28 mile race from Virgina Water to Ham. The first two legs from Paul Evans and Tony Newman saw the team placed 17th, some distance behind the leading group. The deficit was reduced by Peter Ford who ran the 7.5 mile third stage from Staines to Walton on Thames. Margaret Newman and Gary Fiddes continued the fight back and by 23 miles a good leg by anchorman Richard Wallace would have resulted in a respectable finishing position. Unfortunately confusion regarding the route caused several runners to go off course adding another 2 miles to the 5.5 mile final stage. The error caused the team to drop back to 18th despite the gallant efforts of Richard who continued to battle on until the very end.
Peter Furness surprised himself, finishing in 29th place and gaining a new PB of 1:27:22 in the Slough Half Marathon. Colin Aldous also had a good run finishing 37th with a steady 1:28:51. Although we didn't know it at the time this was sufficient to earn 3rd place in the team event Kim Endersby gave an early indication of her potential with a fine performance at the Cabbage Patch 10 mile Road Race. The Twickenham race was Kim’s first attempt at the distance and her finish time of 1:22:52 was a full seven minutes faster than expected. The popular event was also the debut of Will Rayner who finished within 30 seconds of his target time of 1:40:00.
The Club was represented at the Nottingham Robin Hood full and half marathons. Colin Aldous narrowly failed to break the three hour marathon barrier after suffering a bad spell around 20 miles. In the half marathon Peter Furness put in another solid performance to finish in 1:30:29. Craig George and Lisa Binch both used the 13.1 mile event as an introduction to the distance finishing comfortably in 1:43:30 and 1:49:51 respectively.
October
Peter Ford started a busy month by claiming the first of the season's 5K Handicap winner's trophies. This was to be followed by a 3:15 in the Amsterdam Marathon and 1:28 in the Great North Run.
Jac (I'm not running it's too muddy) Aldous entered the Maidenhead AC Ladies Only 6K thinking it was a road race only to discover it was multi-terrain with lots of mud! She must have enjoyed it a little as she finished as 10th Senior in 30 minutes.
The Club's first season in the Metropolitan cross league started with more of a whimper than a bang with just four turning out at Chigwell Row. Every cloud has a silver lining and this was no exception. Matthew Wilkins made his first appearance for the club and Jack Nisbet ran his first competitive event since June 1999.
Travelling all the way to Mexico for a 10K wasn't such a daft idea for Peter Furness, who came second in his category in the World Airlines Road Race at Cancun to take home a very impressive trophy. It could be said that Kay Tarrant went one better by travelling the same distance to run the 5K
In conditions described as "dreadful", Gary Fiddes and Ian Robinson both responded fittingly with dreadful times finishing the Dublin Marathon 379th and 385th respectively in the V40 category.
November
Another sprint finish decided the 5K Handicap. Craig George surprised everybody by digging deep to overhaul Brian Matthews in the final stages of the event and bag the trophy. Colin finished 36th (1:26:59) in the Harrow Half Marathon and Jac's 1:46:21 was enough to secure the 2000 Club Championship . Peter Furness also had a good run finishing 39th in 1:27:51.
While El Mouaziz was winning the New York Marathon in 2:10:09, Will Rayner was slightly further behind competing in his first ever marathon. Things went fairly well until 20 miles when he hit the wall and managed to record a couple of 30 minute miles to finish in 5:50.
December
A series of strong performances combined to give us a good placing in the Luton Marathon Relays. Peter Ford ran the 1st leg in 1:00:25, leaving the A team in 40th position. Peter Furness then ran 57:02 making up 19 places to hand over in 21st position. Colin Aldous gained a further five places during his 56:22 leg to finish 16th out of 160 in a total combined time of 2:53:49.
Less than two seconds separated first and second place in the 5K Handicap as Pam Swadling claimed her first ever winner's trophy by the narrowest of margins from Matthew Wilkins
Combining the Silly Hats run with the Annual Awards was rewarded with the best turnout for many a year. The run may have grown shorter over the years but the hats have got sillier and received a enthusiastic if slightly bemused reception in Hayes Town. The Christmas Dinner and Dance at the Turning Point on Saturday night was believed to have been a success although very few remember much about it.
We completed our calendar for 2000 with a test of endurance in the grounds of Cliveden. Artic conditions only added to the fun at this annual event which was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
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