What started off as an incredibly disappointing weekend with the postponement of the National Cross-Country Championships, ended with some amazing performances on Sunday at the London Winter 10km. With news now that the nationals will take place in September instead, we know that our Beagles will re-focus on their personal goals and ensure they are ready for whatever timetable changes come their way next!

London Winter 10K

Sunday’s wintery conditions provided the ideal backdrop for the London Winter Run 10k which saw almost all the Beagles runners pick up new PB’s! A great opportunity to run through the empty London streets and enjoy the fantastic music, polar bears, penguins and yetis too! With nearly 18000 runners taking part it proved a very memorable day!

First Beagle home in super impressive form was Max Sanderson, who despite a late arrival due to train delays, powered through the field to finish his first 10k with a negative split in 17th place overall with a time of 32:41! Dean Savery picked himself up a new PB with a really great run to finish 48th in 34:34. Olivia Forrest was next home with a superb finish to see her 4th female (68th overall – first ‘civilian’ behind the elite Senior Hoka women) with a new best time of 35:19.

A rare appearance in a Beagles vest today for coach Rob Trevor saw him pick up a new PB of 36:19 and 5th in his age group (101st overall). Just behind Rob was Will Gazzard who also smashed his PB with a time of 36:28 to finish 105th. Scott Brooks enjoyed his run and also managed a PB – 36:52 (123rd).

Also doing the Beagles proud was Daniel Jaycock – 14th in age category with a time of 38:56. Stuart Crowther did a brilliant job in his age category coming 3rd overall with his new PB of 40:44. Louis King was making his debut over the distance and ran brilliantly to pick up a time of 42:29. And finally an amazing new PB for Laura Durn of 44:43 seeing her 12th in her age category.

Huge congratulations to everyone who ran and thank you for all the brilliant Beagles support who turned out along the route!

Parkrun and Junior parkun round up

With the National Cross-Country Championships cancelled, several Beagles were out trying alternative parkruns to ensure they got in a run.

At Uckfield Parkrun in Sussex, Olivia Forrest (20:40) took on a hilly & muddy course (described by Athletics Weekly as one of the toughest of the c760 UK parkruns) but cruised through it to finish 1st by 23 seconds. Isabel Forrest (25:25) finished 2nd female and 7th overall. Not too far away in Eastbourne, Matthew Delea (19:42 PB) took on a much faster course, finishing 21st overall from 350 runners and claiming a course best by over 30 seconds.

Closer to home we had runners at Wickford, where Scott Brooks (21:47) warmed up for his 10k race the next day, finishing 7th. At Harrow Lodge, Preston Taylor (18:30) finished 1st by nearly 2½ minutes, while at Chelmsford, Adam Armour (21:27) ran well to finish 28th from over 500 participants. At Raphael, we had 4 runners, led in by Jemimah Knightbridge (21:05) finishing 33rd, with Emily Brewington (22:58) 65th. Just a couple of places back was Dylan Hussain (23:17) with Ethan Wilson (25:07) finishing 94th on his debut run at the course.

Finally, at Valentines, Lianne Esterhuysen (20:55 PB) was hunting down a course PB with Elliot Worth (20:53) pacing her. She finished comfortably beating her course best by nearly 2½ minutes! Special mention to Daniel Esterhuysen (21:48) who ran the course for the 1st time and picked up a new parkrun best by 37 seconds, great work!

On Sunday with better conditions finally, we were back to normal with our local events. At Hutton Rec, 5 junior Beagles took on the muddy course with Blossom Smith (09:29) attending for the first time and finishing 3rd. In 6th was Nora Heidemans (10:54), 8th and also making her debut Willow Smith (11:12), Max Wilson (12:28) finished 10th and Nadia Price (20:48) tail-walking in 22nd.

At Lake Meadows, Madison Kindler (07:15) finished 2nd, with Sophie Bickerstaff (08:48) 5th. Isobel Larner (09:36) also ran well to come in 12th. Emily and Freya Brewington made their course debuts at Barking juniors finishing 3rd (8:34) and 5th (10:29) respectively. Well done too to Adam Armour who finished second at Chelmsford juniors only marginally outside his PB (8:04).

Well done all our runners this weekend!

Coming up

This weekend sees lots of our Beagles in action at a whole range of events. Most of our competitive athletes will be showing up in Lee Valley over the weekend for the Essex and Eastern Indoor Championships – fingers crossed for everybody tackling events whether they seek a personal best, medal or championship record – the whole club is behind you! Saturday also sees the ISA national cross country taking place at Worksop College – with a handful of Beagles taking part we wish them good luck! And on Sunday it’s the National Primary School (and Year 7) Cross Country for children in years 3-7 taking place at Prestwold Hall in Leicestershire – again we have a few Beagles making the journey and we wish them every success!