ATHLETICS: Grantham RC’s Nev finishes sixth in Seattle
Unable to compete in his own club’s Summer Solstice race as he continues his coast-to-coast trip of a lifetime in the USA, Grantham Running Club’s Nev Chamberlain ran the Seattle Solstice Run 10k.
The trail run was held in the city’s Magnuson Park where Nev finished in a time of 50min 53sec, placing him sixth overall. Although the lakeside course was fairly flat, the humidity and steady return from injury meant his target of finishing under 50 minutes was just out of reach.
Nick Rossington was GRC’s sole representative at the Humber Bridge Half Marathon on Sunday.
The testing road race attracted nearly 2,000 runners and the route provided splendid views as the course crosses the Humber Bridge twice.
Nick’s finishing time of 1:32:22 was just outside his personal best but was good enough to secure an overall position of 83rd, and a placing of fourth in his age category.
Nick commented: “I was feeling pretty comfortable and confident of getting close to the one hour 30 mark until I hit the toughest challenge of the course. Labelled Cardiac Hill by many – it is a one mile climb past the nine mile post, with the St John’s Ambulance stationed at the top just in case of difficulty – and, though I survived it, my time certainly suffered.”
Clubmate Gav Meadows took part in the Seabank Marathon on Sunday.
The annual charity event raises money for Macmillan Cancer Support and started in Boston market place. The coastal, mixed terrain route runs predominantly along the Seabank all the way to Skegness. The route is actually about a mile longer than a marathon at just over 27 miles.
It was Gav’s fifth marathon in as many months as he continues his personal challenge of running one per calendar month for 12 months. He completed the marathon distance in 4:14 and crossed the official finish line in 4:30 minutes.
He said: “As soon as I found out that the course was slightly longer than a marathon, I made the decision to run until my watch showed 26.2 miles, then walk the last mile or so as a cool down. I didn’t want to do any more than necessary after recent injury concerns.”
With the Belton Park option not available this week, GRC’s runners had to travel for their weekly parkrun fix. Chris Limmer was first home at Rutland Water in 17:10 on his debut. There were powerful performances from Adam Jacobs, Jacqueline Jacobs and Andy Barradell, all setting PBs, whilst Sara Pask made her debut.
At Melton, there were more great performances, with Rob Howbrook beating his own age category record in a time of 19:21, and Holly Durham finishing as first lady in 21:16, closely followed by husband Tom.
Brendon Buckley took on the picturesque Clumber Park run to finish in 28:58 whilst, further afield, John Blair finished 37th at Ballarat in 28:48.