and can be found here

My new year’s resolution is…
2014 has got off to a fab start for PWR with a bumper crop of parkruns and cross-country races.  No slacking off for us lot!  The recent storms with their heavy rain and tree-felling winds have made for challenging conditions for anything that isn’t run on tarmac, and numerous pairs of running or trail shoes have lost their bright sheen and turned a mucky brown colour.  So, without ado, let’s move on to the glut of results:

Parkrun:
With Bromley parkrun cancelled due to much of the route being under water, there was a fair amount of PWR parkrun tourism, including one result from a much warmer, drier and sunnier Australia.  There were 2 parkruns last week: one on New Year’s Day for those who weren’t too hung-over and the usual Saturday parkrun.  No PBs on either of these days but still a few noteable results, with Brian O’Connor finishing 2nd in Cambridge on Saturday and Oliver Porritt and Martin Cunningham finishing in the top 3 at Blickling and Orpington parkruns respectively. It also seems that 1 parkrun a day wasn’t enough for David Allison, Susan Hanney, Jo Gambell and Helena Broadway, who completed both Maidstone and Shorne Woods parkruns on New Year’s Day.  Kudos to you all!  Below is a summary of results from parkruns completed on New Year’s Day and on Saturday, 4th January:

New Year’s Day:

Greenwich parkrun:
5 Martin Cunningham 00:21:06
22 Alan Mundy 00:24:10
45 Chris Summers 00:27:42
49 Ian Brereton 00:28:16

Lloyd parkrun:
21 Alan Niblock 00:22:54

Maidstone parkrun:
43 David Allison 00:26:26
62 Susan Hanney 00:30:30
68 Jo Gambell 00:31:45
71 Helena Broadway 00:31:52

Mitchelton parkrun (Australia):
143 Rachelle Grant 00:31:51

Roundshaw Downs parkrun:
25 Alan Niblock 00:23:15

Shorne Woods parkrun:
9 Rob Laing 00:21:17
46 Sonja Laing 00:26:08
61 David Allison 00:28:00
95 Susan Hanney 00:30:54
97 Richard Laing 00:31:15
113 Helena Broadway 00:34:21
114 Jo Gambell 00:34:33

Saturday, 4th January:

Blickling parkrun:
3 Oliver Porritt 00:19:53

Brockwell parkrun:
90 David Allison 00:26:53
130 Jo Gambell 00:35:43

Cambridge parkrun:
2 Brian O’Connor 00:18:17

Dulwich parkrun:
122 Helena Broadway 00:31:22

Greenwich parkrun:
35 Chris Summers 00:28:39

Hilly Fields parkrun:
9 Stephen Robson 00:22:53

Orpington parkrun:
3 Andrew Cunningham 00:21:22
5 Alan Niblock 00:21:39
6 Stuart Scott 00:22:23
7 Christian Turner 00:22:35
31 Matt Jones 00:28:28
52 Fiona Abiola-Musa 00:31:41

There were also 2 cross-country races at the weekend, for those for whom parkrun wasn’t enough of a mud fix.  The first of these was the Kent Cross Country Championships in Hythe on Saturday.  10 PWR ladies and their groupies (Richard Dunstan and Stephen Robson) ignored the weather forecast and arrived at Hythe to face about 5 miles of mud, mud and more mud, with a scattering of hills, adverse cambers (great sliding down the hill potential) and puddles of various depths.  Even the arrival at the event had its own challenge with cars having to drive through a significantly deep ford to get to the venue.  The course was already churned up from a number of previous races but the rain temporarily eased during the race, which was enjoyed by some but not by all.  There were 84 finishers in total, with the first 3 finishers from each club scoring for one prize and the first 6 finishers for a separate team prize.  The PWR ladies didn’t come top in either competition, but they did OK, and, to be honest, everyone who made it to the finish line was a winner.

Just to sum up the PWR ladies’ race in this event, Jenny Leng powered home first with a convincing lead over all other PWR ladies.  Some people are just born for XC-racing… Sigrid Robson and Natalie Compton were neck and neck all the way round and there was also little between Karen Baritt and Jane Branch at the finish line.  Sian Vaughan won the muddiest PWR lady competition but all ladies were pretty much covered in mud, reflecting their commitment to the race.

Below are the PWR results from the Kent XC Champioships Senior Ladies’ race:

Jenny Leng – 36th in 40:53
Rebecca Cawley – 44th in 41:44
Geraldine Shaer – 48th in 42:51
Sigrid Robson – 59th in 44:23
Natalie Compton – 60th in 44:29
Sian Vaughn – 64th in 46:40
Karen Baritt – 71st in 48:16
Jane Branch – 72nd in 48:18
Wendy Everest – 76th in 50:43

There is one PWR ladies’ result missing from the official result but Jackie York definitely finished the race, and her time was close to that of Wendy’s.

In the Senior Ladies’ team competition, the PWR ladies top 3 finishers came 10th out of 12 clubs and the first 6 finishers came 5th out of 6 competing clubs, but they had the best post-race refreshments, provided by Karen.

On Sunday, 21 PWRs competed in the 5th race of the Kent Fitness League at Minnis Bay.  As the name suggests, the 6 mile race started on a sandy beach at Minnis Bay, continuing for some distance along a track filled with deep mud and puddles.  Just before the half-way mark, runners had some reprieve from this with the route following a ridge.  5 water-filled dykes appeared, one after the other, after about 5 miles.  As video footage on Youtube shows, there were various techniques for making it through these, ranging from sticking to the shallower but slippier edge to just plunging in and seeing how far you got.  Afterwards, a number of PWRs briefly ran into the sea to rinse off the mud and have the equivalent of a post-race ice-bath, which is said to help with recovery.  One good thing – the weather held out and it remained dry and relatively mild.

The PWR men’s team had a particularly good race, coming 2nd out of 18 in the male team competition.  The PWR ladies did OK, too, coming 11th out of 18 in the female team competition.  The first 7 finishing men and first 3 finishing ladies scored for the respective team competitions.  The combined team result put PWR 4th overall.

The first 5 finishing PWR men were:

Simon Bryant, 16th in 40:28
Simon Fox, 23rd in 40:54
Steven Garden, 26th in 42:15
Simon Dhadi, 28th in 42:26
Martin Cunningham, 52nd in 43:59

The first 3 finishing PWR ladies were:

Hannah Roberts, 143rd (10th lady) in 49:30
Sigrid Robson, 264th (45th lady) in 57:24
Natalie Compton, 314th (72nd lady) in 1:03:23

There were a total of 356 finishers, including 96 female finishers.

A full set of results can be found on the Canterbury Harriers website

So, that’s all folks for this week!  If I have left anyone or anything out, please let me know!  For those who have spring marathons coming up, the training starts in earnest...

Well done to the 24 PWR's that took part in the first race of this season's Kent Fitness League.  We were very lucky with the weather.  Full results can be found via our KFL page. Click here