A quieter week on the racing front unless I have forgotten some major event due to posting this late. L

Alan Niblock was the first PWR home at Bromley Park Run and set a new PB of 18.58, dipping below 19 minutes for the first time. Also setting PBs were Alison MacOwan (23.24), Tony Bevan (23.31) and Helen Smithson (24.06), while Neil Baynes was rapid (21.14) in his first ever Park Run. Well done all!

In other Park Run action we had representatives at Bexley, Greenwich, Orpington. Jim Palmer and Laura Woodham meanwhile paid a visit to Southampton where they used to go to Uni. Well done Laura on setting a new PB!

Sunday was the National Lottery Anniversary Run at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park with the main attraction being finishing the race inside the stadium rather than all wearing identical blue ‘lottery’ t-shirts. At least 17 PWRs contested this 5 mile ‘race’ with Johnny Gill our fastest man (31.40) and Paula Dimond (38.19) our quickest lady. All seem to have enjoyed the thrill of running in the stadium - and seeing Sir Chris Hoy’s thighs in Sue Hanney’s case.

There was the usual great turnout of PWRs for Parkruns on Saturdays at 9am. At Bexley Jane Branch (22.41) finally beat her Parkrun PB after months of trying on what is definitely a tougher course than Bromley. Well done Jane!

Stephen Faulkner set a PB (22.53) for the Lloyd course. Well done Stephen! Sure it wasn’t your twin brother who blanked me at the Beckenham 10k?

There was also club representation at the Orpington and Shorne Woods courses but of course the largest PWR turnout by far was at Bromley with 30 runners. Congratulations to the following who set new Parkrun PBs: Alan Niblock (19.13), Sally Haffenden (22.06), Paula Dimond (22.31), Tony Bevan (24.18) and Emily Barber (25.25).

Michael Highmore (2.10.27) was our sole representative at the Dartford Half. Mike Reeves’ sister Clare was the first lady home in 10th but, unfortunately, she is a runner for Bexley L

Helen Smithson continues to venture around the country, this time setting a new 10k PB (50. 55) at Romney Marsh. Well done Helen!

15,698 runners completed the British 10k up in town including a fair few PWRs. Unfortunately the results on the website aren’t user-friendly for clubs so I am bound to have missed some of our runners. So apologies for that but well done to the 8 I do know about on what was a boiling hot day. Richard Dunstan led home the PWR men and Julia Glass the PWR ladies.

On the Thursday night Johnny Gill set a 19.04 in the Standard Chartered Great City Race 5k. Again I am sure there are other PWRs who work in the city who competed in that race that I don’t know about as they are less fast at coming forward as Johnny.

After the Laings the previous week, it was the turn of the Robsons to take on the challenges of an Ironman Triathlon. Stephen and Sigrid ventured to Germany for theirs, the Challenge Roth. Both did amazing times of 11:19:40 (Stephen) and 13:28:57 (Sigrid)! Remember that’s for a 2.4 mile swim, 112 cycle and then just the small matter of a full marathon. I can’t comprehend why anyone would even attempt that but well done you two!    

Folks,

The Committee and Captains met last night to discuss the 10k.  The organisation is coming together nicely and we are now focusing on sponsorship.

One of the key elements of the run that we always receive fantastic feedback on is the enthusiasm of the volunteers.  That is you guys and girls.

So, in case you have forgotten, please block out the morning of Sunday 13th October in your calendar.  If you can help please e-mail David our Race Director confirming your availability, with your name, e-mail and mobile number.

It is always a fun day and you get a warm fuzzy feeling inside afterwards :-)

Also don't forget to encourage friends and
                                                                                                 families to enter the event!

Folks,

The results, and scores from the Orpington 10k (kindly compiled by Natalie Compton) can now be found in the Grand Prix section.

Cheers

Ray

Folks,

Petts Wood Runners have been fortunate enough to have been asked to help out with the Men's & Women's Running Magazines Awards again this year.

What does this mean?  Well it is the chance for you to receive some free running gear to test (and in most cases keep) and then provide some feedback.

Now I don't want to be a stick in the mud.  But please only take part if you have the time and inclination to actually test AND provide feedback within the alloted time.  You will also need to come and collect the gear as well.   Last year was a bit of a nightmare for me trying to collate and organise everything.

Incidentally, lot's of you who did get all the free gear last year, said you were going to buy me a beer as a Thank You.  I'm still waiting ;-)

Anyway, I digress.  If you are interested in taking part this year, please e-mail the Awards co-ordinator Jayne [email protected] and mention that you are a PWR.  Jayne will then send you a questionnairre to complete.

It is envisaged that the gear will need to be tested during August, so if you are going to be on holiday, please bear this in mind.

I can't guarantee that everybody will get chosen and what you will get to test.  But we received a ludicrous amount of gear to test

Cheers

Ray

Another great set of results over a wide range of events this week.

First off was the latest Assembly League race at Battersea Park on July 4th. Unfortunately here we are, over a week later, and the results are not yet in :(

If the times are anything to go by, Norman Park was in perfect condition for its 199th Parkrun as there were new PBs galore. Brian O'Connor not only broke his own PB but demolished the PWR 5k club record with a scintillating 16.42! Is there no stopping this man?

Also setting new Parkrun PBs at Bromley were Oliver Porritt, Kate Suckling, Paula Dimond, Alison MacOwan, Natalie Compton, Kenny Sharp and David Boswell, while Debbie McKenzie set a new PB for Norman Park. Well done all!

Wendy Tung set a new PB at Orpington (well done Wendy!) while other PWRs ventured to Gunnersbury, Hilly Fields, Peter Pan and Southampton.

Peter Eves decided on the spur of the moment to run Saturday's Marathon at the Enigma Summer Festival at Lake Caldecotte, Milton Keynes and in his own words: "Apart from the heat it was beautiful - no plastic bottles, no chip timing, no crowds, no noise just peace". He is returning to the lake in October determined to break 4:30 for the distance. Only 50 runners took part (far cry from the tens of thousands for London) and one of the FAQ on the website is "Does the pub sell draught Guinness"! And it does.

Sunday saw PWRs out in the gruelling heat in three very different events and none more gruelling than the Outlaw Triathlon contested by Rob and Sonja Laing. This was an Ironman distance with a stupidly long swim followed by a stupidly long cycle followed by a marathon! If I have read the results correctly, Sonja was quicker on the swim, Rob on the cycle and they finished the run together. Total elapsed time - 15 hours 15 minutes. Mad but an awesome achievement!

The inaugural Highway 10k was contested by six PWRs, three of each sex, with Simon Dadhi the first PWR man home and Laura Woodham the first lady. Adele Murrell led the warm-up - was one needed?

Alan Niblock set a great time of 1.55 to be the first of 7 PWRs that successfully completed the challenging Bewl 15 miler. Karien Esterhuyse and Emma Graham were our two female representatives and finished together, which was nice. Sian Vaughan was there to cheer everyone on but initially managed to take a picture of herself rather than our athletes!

Folks,

Are you taking part in this year's PWR Grand Prix?
Did you run the Orpington 10k in the hot hot hot conditions?*

If so, you will see under the Grand Prix Menu, there is now a Feedback form about the event.  We would be grateful if you could take a couple of minutes to complete the form.

Even if you didn't manage to run this year's event, but have run it before and are taking part in this year's Grand Prix, please give us your feedback.

Many Thanks

Ray  (on behalf of Karen & Mike)

*PWR are unable to control weather conditions

A busy week with a variety of events and distances. Bear with me as I get used to working with the new website!

Hannah Roberts contested the 3000m Kent County Champs at Dartford mid-week, setting a 11.38 and coming in as 2nd Senior Woman! Well done Hannah!

David Allison also ran mid-week, successfully completing the Dulwich Mid Summer 5k in 27.44. :)

A big congratulations to Liz Romano on successfully conquering the Mont Blanc marathon course (why make a marathon harder than it needs to be?!). Liz's training had been hampered by injury but she didn't let that stop her. It sounds an awesome event with magnificent scenery taken as read. Do read her blog about the event, it really sums it up very nicely. There's lots of cheese.

On the Park Run front, 23 PWRs ran at Bromley with Brian O'Connor 3rd overall and Hannah Roberts the first lady home. There was only one PB and that was set by Rebecca Vanin. Well done Rebecca!

Elsewhere, Jane Branch was joined at Bexley by Natalie Compton and broke her PB (by 1s!), Ray and Michelle Sievey ventured over to Guildford, Sigrid Robson was at Hilly Fields, Helen Smithson at Killerton, Wendy Tung and Janet Littlejohn (now back running after pneumonia) at Orpington while Rachelle Grant tried a different Australian course - South Bank.

An amazing 54 PWRs (by my reckoning) successfully completed the Orpington 10k, that doesn't include Hannah Roberts who DNF'd and Anne Dunstan who somehow recorded a time even though she says she was handing out flyers?!
We had the quantity and we certainly had the quality too on what was a scorching morning. We dominated the results! Here goes:
Brian O'Connor - 3rd Overall, 2nd MSenior
Kate Suckling - 1st FV35
Geraldine Schaier - 1st FV45
Jenny Leng - 2nd FV45
Sigrid Robson - 3rd FV45
Rebecca Cawley - 1st FSenior
Kate Suckling, Rebecca Cawley, Jenny Leng - 1st Ladies Team
Brian O'Connor, Simon Bryant, Grant Fripp - 1st Mens Team
Well done to all of them and to anyone who was contesting their first ever 10k, set a PB, indeed every PWR who invaded Orpington for the first round of the 2013/2014 Grand Prix series.

Apologies to the ladies, but this is for men only.

I have been contacted by Danny Coyle, the editor of Men's Running Magazine who are putting a team in the Adidas 24hour Thunder Run.

The event is a continous 10k relay over 24 hours and is being held over the weekend of 27th-28th July in Walton on Trent in Derbyshire.

I would have done this myself but I am already in a PWR mixed team 'Kreme Krackered' with Karien Esterhuyse, Emma Graham, Matte Sellwood & Eleanor Day.

I also believe that Liz Romano is doing this event solo as well.

(Note, don't get too friendly with Jerry, he uses Jedi mind tricks to turn you into an ultra runner, Liz & Eleanor are evidence)

Anyway, I digress.  Danny is looking for four blokes who are available that weekend who are A) willing to run B) able to write a review about the experiences & C)Tweet during the weekend.

You will probably be expected to do at least 5 laps, so that is 50k!

So if you can commit to this, drop me an e-mail @ [email protected] by 5pm on Thursday 4th July.

Cheers

Ray

P.S.  I am gutted about this as you will get free entry, I had to pay!  I will be claiming a pint or two as an introduction fee ;-)

Janet Littlejohn was snapping away on Sunday in the sunshine and captured PWRs as they tackled the Orpington 10k.  Pictures can be found via here