Fantastic! Fairlands Valley Spartan Yuko Gordon WON her age group, women 70 plus, and broke the British record by nearly half a minute in the Maidenhead 10 miles race on Good Friday.
Her chip time of 74:08 easily won her category and her āgun timeā (used officially) of 74:20 broke the 10 mile record which had been held by Angela Copson since 2017.
The race was very well organised and marshals were friendly and efficient like Spartans. The car park was big enough to accommodate everyone and was just next to race HQ and the start/finish area. All in one place.
Yuko said, āThe course was generally flat and fast but the inevitable nature of country lanes came with uneven surfaces (not ideal for my air pumped up Nike high heel shoes i.e. alpha fly… every chance of tripping) and water puddles in some part. Even pacing didnāt work and my pace varied from 7 minutes to nearly 8 minutes each mile. I hurtled down the slight down hill between miles 5 and 6; the hop and step side to side over the wet puddles on the pavement section was the slowest mile before coming back into the last mile, the fastest at 6:58.ā
St Albans Easter 10K
NICK GILL excelled with a new personal best (PB) by nearly three minutes and his first time under 40 minutes with 38 minutes 10 seconds. He was 34th overall. Nickās previous PB was 41:07 at the St Albans Mid Week League race in St Albans in May 2022.
JIM BROWN was a little slower than heād like but 56:51 was good enough for second in his category. LIZ CARVELL came back in 64:05. This was her first race since 29th December 2019, before lockdown. She said it was a flat course but slightly uphill near the end of the Alban Way. She was happy with her time.
There was a big cheer for NICHOLA DURENT when she finished in 83 minutes exactly. Nichola said it was nice to have sun and not rain and mud like Lee Valley a couple of weeks ago.
Beaconsfield 5 Cross Country
WENDY THARANI said the Beaconsfield 5 Cross Country was beautiful, very wet and very muddy. It was really well organised by Burnham Joggers, with loads of friendly marshals standing about in the pouring rain. An absolutely stunning route in the grounds of the Hall Barn Estate. She really enjoyed it. Wendy ran the five miles in 50 minutes 12 seconds.
Parkrun Highlights
For the Parkrun results please click the link – Consolidated Parkrun Results 8th April 2023