Author: Phil Henry

Whenever I run in Great Yarmouth, I can guarantee that it will be windy in at least one of the directions, and today was no exception. Particularly the 5 mile stretch back towards the Pleasure Beach, I was starting to wonder if we would ever turn! Added to the wind today as well was a delightful splattering of rain, but at least it held off properly pelting down until the finish. Starting and finishing from near the pier, the East Cost 10K is 1.5 laps along the promenade, taking in the glorious sandy beach that Great Yarmouth boasts. Race HQ was the new Marina centre which definitely looks worth a visit in the future, climbing walls looked like a lot of fun. Please indulge me for a few moments as I explain I was running with my 68-year-old Father in his first 10k race. He unfortunately had a stress induced stroke at 55 and lost quite a lot of sensation on the left-hand side of his body. He decided during lockdown that he would like to join me and my husband at parkrun. Since then, I can only say he is absolutely flying and completing today in 1.07.27 just goes to show what is achievable. The Great Yarmouth Road Runners put on an incredibly welcoming race, one which had sold out a couple of weeks beforehand. With so many runners on the sea front it always makes for quite a spectacle and it was great to see people out on the course cheering and encouraging the runners on. The marshals were all so encouraging and there was lots of support on a fairly miserable day. From my own personal point of view, it was just amazing to run next to my father and watch him get his huge PB (although obviously I’m taking double credit as not only was I obviously the inspiration behind taking up running but my perfect pacing got him his PB today!) Definitely one to be remembered.
Amazing to see so many Jags not only out on the course but also PBs and finish positions.

Katie Fenn

Name	Time	PB	Standard
Daniel Smith	36:23	2nd in Age Category	Diamond
Graham Johnson	40:27	Yes and 2nd in Age Category	Diamond
Keith Brighty	44:16		Gold
Vicky Tovell	45:59	1st in Age Category	Diamond
Phil Henry	46:11		Gold
Sandra Roberts	46:27	2nd in Age Category	Diamond
Julian Smith	46:54		Silver
Doug Barber	47:01		Gold
Rachel Jackson	47:10	Yes and 2nd in Age Category	Gold
Amy Fulcher	49:25		Silver
Nicola Lambert-John	50:43		Bronze
Megan Swain	52:38		Bronze
Lindsay Smith	56:51	Yes
Hayley Smith	1:01:11	Yes
Katie Fenn	1:07:29
Jenny Norris	1:28:30

Name	Time	PB	Standard
Daniel Smith	36:10	1st in Age Category	Diamond
James Lambert	44:12		Silver

Seeing a trail Race on the calendar which sounded a bit different, I felt yes let’s try it out, I suggested it to Ben Letzer and Elly Young and we all busy entered also to enter from the Jaguars was Nigel Stallard-Mulford. None of us knew what to expect!. Its a 3 lap course set on a private estate with two pit drops each lap which climbed and dropped multi times. Firstly they put on junior Races for All ages starting/distance/age varying times.  The weather looked horrendous travelling there, however turned out to be an almost dry Race! Although a small attended Race, I highly recommend this to you all as this event is held every year and very enjoyable. 

Finishing Times;

Mel Porter 37-02
Elly Young 41-33
Ben Letzer 42-22
Nigel Stallard-Mulford 45-32 

Mel Porter

Name	Time	PB	Standard
Mel Porter	37:02
Elly Young	41:33
Ben Letzer	42:22
Nigel Stallard-Mulford	45:32

Name	Time	PB	Standard
Jack Stuttle	34:19	12th place overall!	Diamond
Daniel Smith	37:00		Diamond
Andy Foreman	43:37		Gold
Julian Smith	45:41		Silver
Graham Johnson	46:26		Gold
Barry Halkyard	46:29		Silver
Rachel Jackson	47:27	Equalled PB!	Silver
Doug Barber	48:05		Gold
Stephen Pointer	48:11
Andy Wicks	48:38		Silver
Luke Townshend	48:51
Phil Henry	49:01		Gold
Amy Fulcher	49:02	First Timer	Silver
Nick Eley	49:19		Gold
Sarah Circuit	50:05	Yes	Silver
Ruth Gainsford	50:49		Gold
Karen Evans	51:03		Gold
Nicola Lambert-John	52:08		Bronze
Graham Fryer	52:39
Megan Swain	52:54
Nick Hudson	52:54
Hattie Swain	53:38
Richard Peters	53:52
Laura Johnson	55:43	Yes
Nigel Stallard-Mulford	55:52
Tim Evans	57:06
Marion Bensley	58:23
Emma Goldsmith	58:37
Christine Barnett	58:47		Gold
Kelly Piesse	59:04	Yes
Claire Owen	59:52
Helen Ganson	1:01:30		Silver
Lindsay Smith	1:01:47
Hayley Smith	1:01:48	Yes
Clare Hicks	1:02:09
Andy Richardson	1:02:34
Theresa Dean	1:07:30
Anna Spackman	1:08:20
Noel Meeks	1:11:18
Debbie Hall	1:20:31
Paul Bloomfield	1:22:20
Caren Maidment	1:22:42
Jenny Norris	1:39:49

Name	Time	PB	Standard
Claire Owen	1:39:36

I have run this race twice before and on both occasions, it has run like clockwork. Not so on Sunday. I was fortunate to be staying quite close to the start so ambled across after a short warm up fully expecting to be told to go to the starting pens. Instead, an announcement was made that there would be a 15 minute delay. I subsequently found out there had been a 30 minute delay with the 5km race that had taken place early so I was prepared to wait a bit longer but I was not expecting the hour it ended up being!

Thankfully it was a beautiful sunny morning and once the race started there was plenty of crowd support along the route. The course has been altered since I last ran it but it is still generally flat but not totally and the course route is quite varied with a section through Peterborough town centre. The end comes very suddenly with a sharp U turn leaving a very short distance for the final sprint. I was informed by a runner from Tri Anglia he had seen a few Jags as he sauntered past. He had done better than me as in the large crowds I had seen none!!

Sandra Roberts

Name	Time	PB	Standard
Sandra Roberts	1:38:58	First Timer, 3rd in Age Category and New Club Age Category Record!	Platinum
Sonja White	1:49:04		Silver

I entered this EPIC race when signing up to the Spring version around the Blickling estate which was an enjoyable, mainly trail, sunny experience in March. This autumn version is a different course, all on road starting & finishing in Aylsham and the first time for me.

Spotting a few Jags while waiting for the start including Nicola (in a long toilet queue) she warned me of the hilly finish and after an organised warm up we were off. After some start errors for me this year I decided to be bold and position myself near the front of the 500 field. This paid off, as I was soon into my sub 7 min mile race pace with a nice opening downhill mile. After joining a small group and a couple of climbs reached half way in 46mins and still feeling fairly comfortable aimed for a negative second half split.

Lovely to see Elly who was marshalling and her encouragement was most welcome as we head towards Blickling and hit mile 10 in 69mins. After the last water station, I still had a couple of runners I could see in front of me and after taking another gel, tried to close them down for the last 5k, which after the NT Fisherman’s car park, hills start to kick in again. I was hanging on after the the railway bridge but managed to maintain pace on the final climb, overtaking the couple of runners before the finish. Wow that really pushed me & well done to the Jags who participated.

Really pleased I finished 23rd a minute outside my PB. A challenging but interesting course, my best half since the last Broadland Half (a race I loved & miss) 4 years ago and perhaps I’ve found an autumn race that may now replace it.

Graham Johnson

Name	Time	PB	Standard
Graham Johnson	1:31:05	First in Age Category!	Diamond
Nicola Lambert-John	1:35:04	First in Age Category!	Gold
Barry Halkyard	1:43:48	Yes	Silver
Thomas Lincoln-Kemp	1:49:09		Silver
Luke Townshend	1:52:35	First Timer
Kelly Piesse	2:16:26	Yes

The never meant to be Marathon ! My whole year was based on doing Newport Marathon on the 23rd of this month and when 3 weeks of my 16 week training plan had gone I got the sad news that Newport was cancelled due to Obstructive issues!, but rescheduled for next April. So my head said”well that’s that” until Rod planted a seed to look at Chester, it was 3 weeks earlier meaning 13 weeks but after couple of days thinking entered this Race still intending to try for GFA qualification for London (sub 3-20) 

Warming up for the start I felt great and strong for this, it Started from the Racecourse and took in two steady hill climbs within the first mile, I set off steady and loved the support as we all ran through Historic Chester City Centre on way out, to head south going through some fantastic countryside. I duly ran from the start seeing the two runners carrying the 3-15 board as was right behind these for between 1-4 miles when my legs said let’s just drift past. At 9 miles there is a dead turn where you come back on yourself and see the runners behind, at this point I gauged I was a minute or so ahead of 3-15 and running really well still, unbeknown what was to happen!  At 11 miles it was like my legs hit a Stop button and for next mile my head said this is just a blip as we all feel running longer distances, by the time I was at 12 miles and see the board my head said “oh I’ve gone past 8 miles? I now know it was from this point my mindset was going but carried onto almost 14 miles where as if fated! A Marshall bib and chair were right in front of me! I made a beeline for the chair where I almost went over the side of trying to sit down. At this point for approx 20 mins I sat slumped forwards head in hands not wanting to know or listen to anything being said. The first aiders turned up, and pursued to look after another guy who had pulled a hamstring🤔. Eventually by the time they tended to me I was up and more coherent. Instantly on the Monday morning I booked myself in for a blood test and health check as have never experienced this in 11 miles of running. 

All of this said I feel fine again now but took a few days possibly till fri/sat, then had a great Club run with Neil at Cafe run. I would highly recommend this Marathon to you all for future, as after running London twice the pressure is less intense you are on closed roads, out in countryside very much like a Sunday morning traing run. I will return if not next year in the future to complete this course and enjoy Chester more the City is fantastic even for a break. 

Mel Porter

Name	Time	PB	Standard
Emily Beavis	4:02:22	First Timer	Bronze

When Josh Brighty & Emily Beavis told us they had entered the Budapest Marathon in Hungary, Keith & I decided to make the trip to support them, we’d never been to Budapest before and there happened to be a 10k race on the Saturday, so naturally we signed up to run this while we were there! 

We had been told that Budapest was a lovely city & were not disappointed, with many beautiful buildings and the Danube river running between the two halves of the city, Buda and Pest.

(Unfortunately Keith realised when we landed that he had forgotten to pack his running shorts so we had to go shopping as soon as we arrived!)

The 10k course was fairly flat, starting at the University, running out alongside the river before turning slightly inland and then back along the embankment. The weather was perfect, bright and sunny but not too warm at the 9am start, with a nice gentle breeze. There were various pacers available on the route and the 2027 finishers were aware that if they didn’t complete the course in the cut off time of 1hr 30 they would get scooped up by the sweep bus!

This was not a problem for Keith Brighty, who was 5th in his age group, first in for his club and in fact 3rd for Great Britain 😂with a very respectable time of 45:58. I had to dig deep in the second half of my race to finish in 49:34 with a 5 second pb, somehow managing to come first in my age group! 

Then it was time for the main event, the 37th Budapest Marathon.

Unfortunately Josh had to withdraw due to injury, and they had both also fallen victim to Covid only a few weeks earlier so Emily wasn’t sure how she would fare over the 26.2miles. She needn’t have worried however, she ran a brilliant race, again starting at the University and running over various bridges crossing the Danube and along either side of the river and even around Margaret Island in the middle of the Danube. Josh, Keith and I decided to hire bikes and cycled along the route to support her, at times struggling to keep up with her whilst avoiding the spectators straying onto the cycle paths, not to mention the trams! 

It was a warm, sunny day, around 19 degrees by midday but after training through the summer heatwave back in the UK this was no problem for Emily. She finished in a fantastic time of 4:02:22 with a brilliant pb, and in a field of over 2000 runners was the 160th female and the 6th British lady, very well done Emily! 👏👏

There were also various other running events including a marathon relay and 5k race if any club members fancied entering next year, all very well organised, we would thoroughly recommend a trip to Budapest. 

Name	Time	PB	Standard
Keith Brighty	45:58		Silver
Ruth Gainsford	49:34	Yes and 1st in Age Category!	Diamond