October 2, 2013
Weekend Round-Up: 28-29 September
Dale Annable and James Mee continued their fine early-autumn form in leading home fourteen Heanor RC members at the Robin Hood Half Marathon last weekend as Garry Cooper went the whole hog and completed the full marathon.
In windy conditions, Dale Annable finished an impressive seventh out of over 5000 finishers. Though slightly down on last year, Dale was pleased with his time of 69:05 and can look forward to a Club Championship start at the Virgin London Marathon next April.
Despite starting a minute behind the elite on the mass start, James came through the field to secure a top-10 finish and knocked three minutes off his PB to actually clock the fastest HRC time of the day of 68:14.
Lizzie Poole enjoyed a massive PB-setting run, smashing the bronze club standard mark for VL35 of 1:45 in the process. Lizzie carried on her good form from the Double or Quit and Wilne 10k double-header at the start of the month to cross the line in 1:42:06.
Steve Wardle (1:48:07) and Rita Fisher (1:48:07) – in her first ever half marathon – crossed the line in identical times as the trio of Carl Hughes, Rose Leivers and Abbie Leivers picked up where they left off at the Great North Run. On a less favorable course, Carl (1:30:04) and Abbie (1:46:53) – who was carrying an injury – were just outside their times set in Gateshead whilst Rose (1:41:32), remarkably, slashed another three minutes off her best set just two weeks ago to really put that sub-1:40 in sight.
Steve Skelton (1:47:43), Michelle Taylor (2:10:05) and Charlotte Lowe (2:25:53) donned the yellow and blue once more as Paul Harpham (1:26:03), Molly Smith (1:52:36) – minus two toe nails – and Heanor’s latest recruit, Ben O’Connell (1:17:18), running in the yellow of Belper before his clearance goes through (1st October), also flew the Heanor flag on the red side of the Trent.
Garry Cooper lost some time time but still managed to dip inside 3:35 for the full marathon after suffering from cramp with five miles to run. Garry crossed the line in an admirable 3:34:59.
Up in Sheffield, Stuart King was Heanor RC’s sole representative in the BUPA Great Yorkshire Run.
In a 10k race won in a swift 29:40 by GB international Ryan McLeod, Stuart finished an impressive seventh overall and a whisker behind Gemma Steel (number four on the UK all-time list) in a new PB of 32:23.