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...

An eventful weekend for the PWRs

Parkrun
As we all know, Saturday morning means one thing.... Parkrun!

40 PWRs ventured to Norman Park for the Bromley Parkrun, which this Saturday was the Movember event.  For those that didn't have a pre-existing grown moustache, there were plenty of stick-on tashes to go around.

Pictures from the event on the Bromley Parkrun Flickr site can be found here http://www.flickr.com/photos/46168007@N06/

Johnny Gill led the men home, whilst Ellen Charman was the first PWR lady home.

8 Johnny GILL 00:19:18 
10 Stuart J SCOTT 00:19:37 
13 Christian TURNER 00:20:14 
17 Martin Andrew CUNNINGHAM 00:20:25 
40 Murat ASKIN 00:21:52 
69 David FORDYCE 00:22:46 
79 Gary VAUGHAN 00:23:08 
100 James ROBERTS 00:23:42 
150 Ellen CHARMAN 00:25:20 
159 David ALLISON 00:25:31 
164 Matt JONES 00:25:37 
178 Natalie COMPTON 00:26:05 
180 Fiona ABIOLA-MUSA 00:26:10 
187 Vera SIMMS 00:26:22 
195 Della HARRIS 00:26:42 
198 Elizabeth DELAMAIN 00:26:46 
202 Chris SUMMERS 00:26:54 
209 Jeremy BENSON 00:27:13 
221 Emma HAY 00:27:44 
222 Jonathan DEAN 00:27:45 
226 David SIMPSON 00:27:51 
227 Mark DOYLE 00:27:52 
241 Ray SIEVEY 00:28:23 
250 Helen HART 00:28:40 
256 Mariana BROUCHER 00:29:01 
299 Richard DUNSTAN 00:30:46 
306 Dawn DREWETT 00:31:20 
308 Katherine WALKER 00:31:24 
319 Joanne ADAMS 00:33:07 
326 Lucy COE 00:33:33 
330 Sonia CHOU 00:33:40 
338 Rebecca VANIN 00:34:09 
346 Jayne JONES 00:35:41 
347 Janet VINCENT 00:35:42 
356 Donna CARROLL 00:37:08 
358 Victoria SIMPSON 00:37:37 
361 Julia HUGHES 00:38:56 
366 Lynn Julie ROWDEN 00:42:53 
368 Alison MACOWAN 00:43:05 
372 Peter Frank EVES 00:45:08

At other local parkruns  Siggy Robson came 33rd in a time of 24:17 at Hilly Fields and Ka Sing Tung and Wendy Tung finished 43rd and 66th at Orpington Parkrun with times of 26:37 and 29:35 respectively.

Two other PWRs ventured further afield.  Brian O'Conner finished 3rd with a time of exactly 18:00 minute at the Waterworks parkrun and Jo Gambell came 140th in a time of 31:24 at the Wimpole Estate Parkrun.

For those of you who do not know where Waterworks and Wimpole Estate are (as I certainly didn't)  Waterworks Parkrun is in Belfast and Wimpole Estate Parkrun is just outside Cambridge.

Mob Match
Sunday was important for many PWR people, mainly little PWR people, as it meant they could open the first window on their advent calendars.  It was also important for some bigger PWR people.

23 PWR's ventured toook part in a Cross Country mob match against Orpington Road Runners and New Eltham Joggers.  It was quite a testing 2 lap 4.2 mile course, although things were made easier with a distinct lack of mud.  Out of the three teams, PWR didn't come last, but we didn't come first either!  Congratulations to ORR.

PWR finishing positions and times

Ashford
4 PWR ladies ventured down to Ashford for the 'Brett Ashford Multi Terrain' Half Marathon and reports suggest that there WAS NOT a distinct lack of mud! and conditions were a bit tough  The finishing time were

Paul Dimond    1:54:16
Ali MacOwan    1:56:17
Emma Atkins    2:07:38
Yolanda Arias   2:07:39

Well done ladies

Bromley Santa Dash
Sunday afternoon also saw at least half a dozen PWRs (that I know of) including yours truly, participate in the Bromley Santa Dash.  This was a 2k fun run with everybody dressed as Santa.  The clue is in the name ;-)  A real fun family event and a rather funky medal to boot which doubles as a Christmas Tree decoration!

Leaving the Best to Last
PWR's resident fruitcake aka Jerry Smallwood took part and completed the Centurion Winter 100mile event (No that is not a typo)  For those reading this on a black and white screen, we are talking about a ONE HUNDRED MILE EVENT!

Jerry mentioned that he came last and the results do attest to that fact that he was the last finisher in 29:56:47.  But the key word in that previous sentence is 'FINISHER'  Jerry may have come 69th, but 21 people failed to complete the course. 

What you also may not know is that the cut-off time was 30 hours.  So I am sure that Jerry dug deep to finish with just over 3 minutes to spare.

Jerry, we doff our caps to you Sir.  Amazing achievement!

Well I have the guest reporting duties this week.  Although Mark Burgess has already stolen my thunder by reporting the KFL results on Facebook.  Mr Burgess, this is not your job anymore, concentrate on your own work please ;-)

PARKRUN
As is the norm, PWR's were to be found at a variety of Parkruns on Saturday morning.

BROMLEY
1 Brian O'CONNOR 00:17:36 
8 Stuart J SCOTT 00:19:19 
47 Grant FRIPP 00:21:58 
78 Christian TURNER 00:22:51 
79 Helen NEOCLEOUS 00:22:52 
85 Martin Andrew CUNNINGHAM 00:23:11 
104 James ROBERTS 00:23:35 
123 Jenny LENG 00:24:03 
125 Natalie COMPTON 00:24:11 
134 Sian VAUGHAN 00:24:33
135 Laura STABLES 00:24:35 
178 Fiona ABIOLA-MUSA 00:26:04 
202 Dawn GODLIMAN 00:27:04 
208 Jeremy BENSON 00:27:22 
227 Donna HASSAN 00:28:00 
229 Emma HAY 00:28:04 
253 Ruth OSATCH 00:29:02 
267 Matt JONES 00:29:53 
288 Donna CARROLL 00:31:50 
309 Joanne ADAMS 00:33:56 
322 Chris SUMMERS 00:36:48 
325 Jayne JONES 00:38:11 
326 Janet VINCENT 00:38:17 
327 Wendi WALKER 00:38:55 
334 Joanna GAMBELL 00:45:30

GREENWICH
14 Nicki HUDSON 00:22:01

HILLY FIELDS
26 Sigrid ROBSON 00:24:34 
27 Stephen ROBSON 00:24:35

ORPINGTON
23 Ka Sing TUNG 00:25:41 
44 Wendy TUNG 00:29:28

Sunday saw an impressive turnout of 51 PWR's (That is approx 20% of our membership) at the Kent Fitness League Cross Country at Swanley Park on Sunday morning.  The rain had abated and we were all treated to a fresh and sunny morning.  Although the deluge during the week ensured that underfoot conditions were testing on the 3 lap - 5 mile course.  The race was preceded with a 2 minute silence to remember our brave servicemen and women. Lest we forget!

First gent home for PWR was Simon Bryant in 31:42, First PWR lady home was Rebecca Cawley in 38:10 and special mention to Donna Caroll who (I believe) was the sole Group 1 representative who put in a gutsy performance to finish the course in 1:05:19, Full results can be found here

Out of the 18 teams represented, our men's team came 8th and our ladies team 6th.  A sterling effort from everyone!

The next KFL event is on the 24th November, the morning after our Christmas Party, so that will be interesting!

PWR also had their first junior representative, Jenny Leng's 11yo son (sorry I don't know his name) who took
part in the junior race prior to the main event.  He ensured that the PWR vest that he borrowed from mum was suitably decorated with finest Kent mud before passing it back to Jenny.

BEXHILL
Down on the South Coast, two PWR's were taking part in the Poppy Half Marathon in Bexhill.   Mick 'The Fireman' Welch finished in a not too shabby PB of 1:25:53 finishing 15th overall and Peter Eves completed the 13.1 mile course in 2:02:08.

BECKENHAM
Closer to home, two PWR ladies were taking part in the Beckenham Charity Trail 10k.  Della Harris finished in 58:21 and Vera Simms was not too far behind finishing in 58:44.

Well done to everybody for their weekend efforts!

If I have missed anybody's weekend achievements (that doesn't include managing to put an IKEA flat pack together), let me know.

Cheers

Ray