The Grizzly

On 13th March the unique race known as ”The Grizzly” took place around Seaton. In fact some would say it has transcended being a mere running race and should be thought of as a challenge to the mind as much as to the body. Anyway it’s hilly, usually wet and is a very long way.

Dave Stone then would be the Grizzly equivalent of a Zen Master as he strode round in 2:46:40 for 6th overall and 2nd over 40 male veteran. Mike Musgrove covered the course in 2:51:35, good enough for 19th overall and 5th man over 40. The performances of Adam Miller (25th in 2:53;59), Jon Croome (70th in 3:07:29 & 16th man over 45) and Peter McKeown (90th in 3:11:17 & 19th man over 40) meant 5 Harriers were placed in the top 100 of nearly 1700 finishers.

Another 11 from the club would have been pleased to have finished the race, spending the sort of time on their feet that you might put aside for watching ”Gone with the Wind”, and while frankly they would not, for the most part, give a damn about their positions and times they should be recorded for posterity: Terry Oldham (267th in 3:33:57 and 29th man over 50); Hannah Bown (301st in 3:38:01 & 29th woman); Emma Dupain (308th in 3:38:21 & 32nd woman); Lorraine Croome (387th in 3:45:45 & 8th woman over 40); Ben White (396th in 3:46:25), Katie Comer (536th in 3:55:13 & 67th woman) ); Lucy Hodgson 537th in 3:55:15 & 68th woman); Scott Jordan (573rd in 3:58:53); Lyn Curtis 616th in 4:01:52 & 18th woman over 40); Lorraine Gilson (724th in 4:10:03 & 10th woman over 50) and Nicola Crook (1127th in 4:41:31 & 217th woman). Some would say that those taking 4 hours or more faced a bigger challenge than runners at the front of the event – they certainly would not have had an intermission and an ice cream.

(DE)

All the Bath Results

[Emma & Hannah after the race]

Adam Miller 1:18:32
Richard Bishop 1:24:42
Chris Dupain 1:28:32
Hannah Bown 1:33:43 (nee Dupain)
Roger Rowe 1:33:44
Emma Dupain 1:33:48
Ben White 1:40:10

Nearly 11,000 runners completed the Bath Half-Marathon on 6th March and the seven Harriers who were there all finished in front of more than 9,000 of them. Adam Miller would have been pleased to chop over 2 minutes off his personal best for the distance in finishing 110th in 78:32. Emma Dupain also notched a Personal Best when she clocked 93:48, finishing 807th overall and 92nd of over 4,000 females. Richard Bishop was 302nd overall in 84:42 and 40th of over 900 male veterans over 40. Chris Dupain was 473rd overall in a time of 88:32.

Roger Rowe broke into the Top Ten with 6th of 154 in the male veterans over 60 class, recording 93:44 which placed him 904th overall, and 1st V/65. Alongside Roger was Hannah Bown, 797th overall and 90th female in 93:43. Finally Ben White just missed out on breaking 100 minutes with 1:40:10 but that still had him comfortably inside the top 25% of the field.

Race Reports

All race reports to Dave Eveleigh at daveveleigh@blueyonder.co.uk

Sunday 6th - Races

Bath Half Marathon this morning... cold with a biting east wind. Ran reasonably, for a 1:33+ finish (not sure of the finish time). Around 3 minutes slower than anticipated. Problems with the right calf yet again for most of the race. Not exactly an injury, just very sore and very annoying. Not exactly an earth-shattering time, but well up on the UK Rankings. 80.50-odd % for those who understand these things - 1st Vet/65.
Chris Dupain finished in 1:28:32 (chip time), and Emma Dupain in 1:33:48 (chip time)... Hannah was running with Emma but is not on the Provisional results (neither am I).

More to come when the results hit the net...

Barcelona Marathon

Andrew Johnson ran 3:30:44, which was bang-on his 3:30 target. He writes: "I remember now why I have not run a big city marathon for 17 years. Too many people. Way too many people. They get in your way, block your path, slow you down - you have to concentrate all the time. No time to enjoy the environment, like Tresco (Isles of Scilly) or Eden (Project). The drink stations were like a war. The 1st World War, or maybe the Charge of the Light Brigade. Lost time at every drink station trying to grab a drink.

I had hoped to run with the 3:30 pace group. They were easy to find, at the start with their red balloons. But when we were called forward just before the race started, I moved forward 5 metres and the pacemakers disappeared in front. They were at least 10 metres in front of me at the start, so got away about a minute earlier than me. I didn’t catch them up until 18km. I then did my best to stay with them in the congested field, but began to lose touch with them at 30km when I got a stitch. After a couple of kilometres, I rallied and got quite close to them, but they gradually pulled away again and eventually disappeared. I managed to maintain 8 minutes/mile (5 minutes/km) pace until we got to when we turned inland and started climbing. The last 3km were up an incline which felt like a mountain and I slowed considerably".

(RR)