Shakespeare Marathon Festival

A week on from the biggie at London, four Northampton Road Runners took on the quieter countryside leading out from the beautiful Stratford Upon Avon.  After a lap of the town centre, the route headed through villages and Warwickshire countryside.  The marathon distance was simply two laps of the half version.

Ronnie Ambrose maintained a great pace throughout the race and crossed the line in 3:49:12.  After completing the Paris Marathon three weeks prior, Mark Kennedy (4:03:49 - only seconds difference in time from Paris) and Mary Sullivan (4:41:14) decided on a second marathon distance in April and were pleased with their efforts. 

Tom Sullivan completed the half marathon distance in a pleasing 2:16:03 following an injury in the build up to Paris.

Marathon
247 Ronnie Ambrose 3:49:12
378 Mark Kennedy 4:03:49
619 Mary Sullivan 4:41:14

Half Marathon
1615 Tom Sullivan 2:16:03

Parkrun, Event 51 - 27/04/2013.

199 runners completed the Parkrun (201 if you include the ones who didn't take a barcode).  Next week's will be the 1 year anniversary, come along and let's see if we can help break record numbers.

50 Martin ANDREWS 22:37
68 Eamon KENNEDY 24:00
74 Tony KENNEDY 24:20
106 Elaine PALMER 26:00

London Marathon

There is always something special about the biggest marathon in the country and sixteen Northampton Road Runners made the trip to the capital to line up with 37,000 others.

Amongst the excitement of the carnival atmosphere, there were some PBs and marathon debuts as well as those raising thousands of pounds for charity.

Tony Letts was the first home for the club in an impressive 3:01:01 and London regular Andy Blaize was close in his footsteps in 3:02:25

Fund raiser Matt Brand grabbed a PB with a 3:19:07 and Gary McDaniels recovered well from a recent injury to cross the line in 3:22:26.

Another PB star was John Fleming who beat last year’s time by ten minutes to finish in 3:35:48. New member Ben Mullaney made his London debut with a great follow up to last year’s Rome Marathon with a time of 3:50:12.

Jocelyn Granger raised much needed funds for local charity The Lowdown and finished in a PB time of 4:06:16. Jocelyn was seconds ahead of Wendy Parker who also registered a PB of 4:06:44. Rob Donovan finished in 4:12:13 only minutes ahead of Michael Franks who completed his first ever marathon in 4:17:06.

Pauline Horne is a regular on the London course and finished in 5:00:37 ahead of fund raiser Dave Solomon in 5:15:59. Glen Cousner, another marathon distance debutant finished in 5:22:45 and raised well over £3,000 for charity. Sue Thompson finished in 5:31:30 followed by the two fancy dress entrants from NRR, Patrick “Spike” Breydin 6:35:30 and Alan Hackett 7:25:02

Tony Letts 3:01:01
Andy Blaize 3:02:25
Matt Brand 3:19:07
Gary McDaniels 3:22:26
John Fleming 3:35:48
Ben Mullaney 3:50:12
Jocelyn Granger 4:06:16
Wendy Parker 4:06:44
Rob Donovan 4:12:13
Michael Franks 4:17:06
Pauline Horne 5:00:37
Dave Solomon 5:15:59
Glen Cousner 5:22:45
Sue Thompson 5:31:30
Spike Breydin 6:35:30
Alan Hackett 7:25:02

Duston Triathlon

Jo Lee was 4th in her age category with an outstanding effort at the Duston Triathlon, well done Jo.

Also congratulations to Adrian Tuck who finished in 1:10 and Roger Taylor in 1:15.

Jo Lee - 4th in age category

137 Adrian Tuck 1:10

238 Roger Taylor 1:15

Results for Northampton Parkrun Event 50 - 20/04/2013.

15 Peter MOOR 20:19
16 Mark KENNEDY 20:25 
43 Charlotte YARKER 22:16
46 Darren SMITH 22:27
65 Eamon KENNEDY 23:48
88 Elaine PALMER 25:45
146 Simone Lucy SMITH 31:44

Parkrun Results 13/4

Results for Northampton parkrun, event number 49

10 Peter MOOR 19:58
26 Mark KENNEDY 21:35 
39 Charlotte YARKER 23:00
42 Andrew COTRELL 23:17
50 Eamon KENNEDY 24:05
74 Mark GARRETT 26:32
128 Simone SMITH 33:03

Results for Graves parkrun, 

8 Sam BROWN 21:07

Stanwick 10k

Colin Bricher headed to Stanwick to take part in the Stanwick 10k on Easter Monday.

With temperatures low even for a winter race, Bricker did not treat this as a serious race effort, especially as he was still recovering from a recent illness and a bike accident.

Nevertheless he ran well to finish in 56:54 for fifth V60 finisher.

Paris Marathon

Six Northampton Road Runners made the Eurostar trip to Paris for the Marathon event on 7th April.  The beautiful route takes in the sights including Champs Elysees, Louvre, Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tour (of course) as well as two huge parks before finishing in front of Arc De Triomphe.

Mark GARRETT enjoyed a storming run finishing in 3:21:41 and Mark KENNEDY clocked a marathon PB in 4:03:39.  Mick CLARKE crossed the line in 4:31:03 just ahead of Mary SULLIVAN in 4:37:49.  Jim ANDERSON enjoyed a time of 4:46:29 and star of the day was Sally GARRETT, completing her first ever marathon in 5:49:07.

4184th Mark GARRETT 3:21:41
18423th Mark KENNEDY 4:03:39 
27790th Mick CLARKE 4:31:03
29531th Mary SULLIVAN 4:37:49
31576th Jim ANDERSON 4:46:29
37953th Sally GARRETT 5:49:07 

The NRR trip was completed the following day when the super six plus supporters Tom Sulli and Jules Kennedy climbed the Eiffel Tour.  The NRR banner was confiscated and maybe to never be seen again.  Mick wooed the locals with his dodgy French accent and Jim fitted into the Parisian style with his beret.

Northampton Parkrun Event 48 - 06/04/2013.

8 Matt BRAND 19:14
12 Peter MOOR 20:03
28 Jim MCGOWAN 21:31
53 Eamon KENNEDY 23:43
81 Jackie DALTON 26:33