FRC round up #28: Track Academy 800m, Reykjavik Marathon and Half Marathon, Trail des Novis, Greenwich Park 10k and the Dorset Doddle

And a distinct European feel to parkrun this week!

Sydnee Watlow
Aug 23, 2017 · 6 min read

Track Academy – 800m

Bryan Jones wasn’t hanging about at this track event in Willesden this week, proving that he really is a master of all distances – running a half mile PB so soon after his latest rather dramatic Ultra. That’s pretty good going!

  • Bryn Jones – 2:27:97

Reykjavik Marathon and Half Marathon

Over in the stunning setting of Iceland, three FRC runners have been filling up my Instagram and Strava feeds with runs to die for ahead of this rather excellent racing weekend in Reykjavik.

Cat and Julia took on the full marathon distance, whereas John had opted for the half.

But he didn’t only make a half baked effort, smashing out a stonking 1:18 to take 8th place overall!

John, in his own words, said of the race:

It was great! Thousands of people and amazing atmosphere, plus there’s a massive festival this evening. Only downside is that beers are 8 quid so am going to have to get a mortgage to get on it tonight 😵

Fabulously well down John, must be all those interval sessions!

As for our lovely ladies, they also had very positive things to say about the race and it sounds like one to put in the wish list for the future.

Julia achieved an incredible 3 min PB and a negative split after having what she described as her ‘perfect race’, whilst Cat clocked a tidy 3:10 despite in her words ‘doing no speed work’! A very convincing show from them both!

Sounds like the hot springs after were to die for as well… get me here next year!!

Full marathon results:

  • Cat Simpson – 03:10:24
  • Julia Mitchelmore – 03:37:51 – PB!

Half marathon results:

  • John Wray – 01:18:08 – 8th place!

Trail des Novis

So you are on holiday bumbling around France and Spain and you realise there is a trail race only a couple of hours from you when you are in the area. What do you do? You figure out how to get a lift and you sign up of course!

The full Marathon du Montcalm looks incredible – but at over 2500m of ascent and parts with no actual path this was clearly an A-goal race rather than something to just squeeze in while on holiday- so I opted for the more sensible 25km option instead – which still packed a punchy 1250m of climbing on 90% single track trails.

It was stunning, well organised and overall a fabulous experience but the level of your average runner out here is just insane. While I can hold my own on the flat, it quickly became apparent that my 150m max climbs in London had left me trailing (pun intended!) all the local French and Spanish runners who use the Pyrenees as their training ground.

But the longer distance training seemed to pay off and I was pleased to have something left when others were flagging in the last 10k and I gained a fair few places before the end.

  • Sydnee Watlow – 03:18:51

Greenwich park 10k

Well done to Andrew Dewar for a 5th place finish at the Run Through 10k this weekend in a stupendous 37 minutes and change. Just two minutes behind the winner!

  • Andrew Dewar – 00:37:39

Dorset Doddle

The Dorset Doddle consists simply of the coastal path from Weymouth to Swanage. Sounds simple enough!

The distance is about 32 miles, passing over some of the most beautiful coastal scenery in England, but including some tough climbs on the way.

As it is a walking event (organised by the Long Distance Walkers Association) it isn’t technically a race so there are no times, but I know Ilsuk is a massive fan and had taken part for the last three years (I think?).

I also believe he completed it this year in a very respectable 8 hours 18 according to Strava! The photos looked stunning!

Parkrun

Fulham Palace parkrun

A total of 423 runners took part this week in Bishop’s park at the 205th running of the event. It was marked this week by Diane’s birthday AND 50th parkrun, which she celebrated with cake and by taking a whole minute off her PB!

There were also PBs for Jenna, Chris, Eddie, Lizzy and Lisa-Jayne and it was Lindsey’s first ever parkrun!

It was a paced event, with odd numbers represented this time round.

  • Stuart MACDOUGALL – 00:17:13 – 3rd
  • Leo GEBBIE – 00:17:45
  • Christopher COOPER – 00:19:00
  • Phil REYNOLDS – 00:19:01
  • Amer ISMAIL – 00:20:11
  • Natalie CARROLL – 00:20:47 – 1st lady!
  • Martin MILWARD – 00:21:13
  • Jenna SHEEHY – 00:21:24 – PB!
  • Bob LYNAM – 00:22:08
  • Daphne DADZIE – 00:22:10
  • Andrew FICKLING – 00:22:14
  • Ashlee Lucas – 22:19
  • Chris MYATT – 00:22:47 – PB!
  • Lindsey SKELTON – 00:22:49 – 1st parkrun!
  • Eddie BAGAYAWA – 00:22:57 – PB!
  • Lizzy PATERSON – 00:23:03 – PB!
  • Bob EMPSON – 00:23:04
  • Steven LUCAS – 00:24:22
  • Rick CANNON – 00:24:33
  • Jess RIDOUT – 00:24:52
  • Ilsuk HAN – 00:25:08
  • Tomoko KIKUCHI – 00:25:09
  • Amy TAYLER – 00:25:15
  • John GRIGG – 00:26:01
  • Diane MULHOLLAND – 00:27:41 – parkrun PB!
  • Neil MULHOLLAND – 00:27:42
  • Lisa-Jayne EDWARDS – 00:27:51 – PB!
  • Deborah BABBINGTON – 00:29:54
  • Stephanie TOLLEMACHE – 00:40:00

Special thanks as always to the volunteers, it’s great to know club members are happy to help out to make sure we continue to have such a great event so close to where we run. This week, those superstars were:

Thomas DALEY, Tomoko KIKUCHI, Bob LYNAM, Anne MCCARVILLE, Martin MILWARD, Laure SELLE, Amy TAYLER and Stephanie TOLLEMACHE

Bedfont Lakes parkrun

  • Alex Zimmerman – 00:20:30

Bracknell parkrun

  • Andrew Stringer – 00:20:50

parkrun des Dougnes, Cubnezais

It was podiums all round for The Riddell-Webster family at parkrun des Dougnes, which was the very first parkrun to be set up in France, with Alice, Alexandra and Jonathan taking 2nd, 3rd and 4th places between them!

  • Alice RIDDELL-WEBSTER – 00:19:39 – 1st lady!
  • Alexandra RIDDELL-WEBSTER – 00:24:28 – 2nd lady!
  • Jonathan RIDDELL-WEBSTER – 00:27:34 – 2nd man!

parkrun de Fontainebleau

  • Stuart FARMER – 00:17:47 – 1st place!
  • Jennie FARMER – 00:24:58 – 1st lady!

Hereford parkrun

  • Jonathan CHAMBERS – 00:21:51

Nonsuch parkrun

  • Lorraine Kelsey – 00:22:45

Penrose parkrun

  • Richard SIMPSON – 00:24:43

Poole parkrun

  • Stewart MCANDIE – 00:17:09
  • Andrew HAN – 00:18:54
  • Cosmo CRAVEN – 00:19:03
  • Charles CRAVEN – 00:20:22

parkrun de la Ramee

  • Richard GAYTON – 00:19:48 – 2nd place!

Richmond parkrun

  • Paul Quilter – 00:23:47

Ruchill parkrun

  • Yolande JOUBERT – 00:28:52

Wimbledon Common parkrun

  • Tariq BUGAIGHIS – 00:21:43

Well done to all our racers and good luck to everyone racing this coming week. Don’t forget to get your Christmas party tickets and to get your kit orders in with Leo!

#frc #runracecheer #runlikeyoustoleit

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Sydnee Watlow

Written by

Product Manager. Also can be found running, talking about running, knitting or butchering various foreign languages

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