September PB Bonanza
This month has seen an abundance of personal best (PB) performances. Our successful runners are benefiting from their solid training efforts, lack of injuries and even the cooler weather!
Starting the furthest from home in Denmark, Mike Bryce ran in the Copenhagen Half Marathon amongst a high class field which recorded the first 8 finishers under the hour mark – all Africans as the first Danish athlete finished 26th with 1:05. Our Tewkesbury rep crossed the line in 1,868th place in a new PB time of 1:33 hr. This is a fabulous achievement for the V45 runner and maybe, he is yet to reach his prime. Note that Mike has repeatedly been hit by injures and it looks like 2018 is his year.
Unfortunately, his official race photographer scalped his precious picture. Nonetheless, we can see a big smile which says it all.
Closer to home in Worcester; after previous successes, the Worcester (city) 10km, 1/2m and now Marathon has become a top glam fixture. With closed city centre roads, River Severn crossings, World famous views and epic spectator support, this is the place to be. Tewkesbury didn’t have any runners in the longer races so all the attention was on the 10km. So many big stories developed in Worcester, such as club captain Roy Northcott maintaining his 100% participation in every Worcester 10km since Paula Radcliffe lined-up in the inaugural event. Roy timed 57:47 minutes after a controlled effort. James Head used it as a (further) recovery run after his outstanding track 10,000 meters. Amanda Martin took on the event again and ran a fine 45:12 mins to finish runner-up in her F50 category and 23rd female overall. Amanda was our first girl to finish.
The first Tewkesbury runner to finish in another shockingly good performance was Simon Crilley; still a relatively new runner, the M45 talent recorded 42:34 minutes. That’s swift and placed him 116th but few know that Simon is carrying a piriformis niggle so, to finish with 30 seconds of his PB is stellar.
But it wasn’t just Simon who shocked… soon to be migrating, Sharon Lockley proved her GAAA gold medal was not her pièce de résistance. Proving again, with focus and less tongue wagging, she can get results to dream of. Her entire race was a glorious success and she recorded a new PB of 51:01 mins and finished within the top ten in her category.
Toni Whitebeam is enjoying her first year with the club and the capable runner is showing some fine form. Her Worcester 10k race stands-out after clocking a new 10k PB of 58:58 mins – nicely under the hour, Toni is one to watch out for.
Terry Ballard worked hard in the V60 for 61 minutes. A good time for the triathlete and he even managed to lead his wife, Julia, in by 2 minutes.
Crowning the Tewkesbury PBs was a tremendous run by Vick Earls; aiming to break the hour mark for her first time, Vicky ran a smooth race. With confidence that her training has been going well, she braved her way through the masses and kept a tempo that would not just see her break the hour but strip her best time down to 58:02 minutes. She finished behind Amanda as Tewkesbury’s second best girl.
