Sunday is usually runday, but not this week. At the end of a busy week, what more can anyone ask for than a challenging evening run through the beautiful country lanes of Kent, with a sharp climb to the Pilgrims Way and a fantastic downhill finish. On Friday over 30 runners from Folkestone Running and Athletic Club travelled by train to Charing to compete in the Ashford Striders 10k and enjoy a social night out. Nikki Goodwin was the 3rd female back in a time of 43:51 with Joe Bruce finishing in 4th place overall, in a time of 35:16, also running were; Stephen Male 36:38, Nicholas Steele 37:11, Simon Ramsay 37:30, Krzysztof Klidzia 38:50, Torben Jessen 39:33, Tristan Bruce 40:00, James Barney 40:42, Paul Bartlett 40:57, Thomas Aspinall 44:10, Rebecca Powney 45:40, Catherine OConnor 46:29, Louisa Eede 49:44, Phil Haines 49:46, Carrie Thomas 50:07, Matthew Harris 50:33, Emily Chambers 50:37, Anthony Scott 53:09, Richard Fowles 53:26, William Griffin 54:02, Marie Brazier 56:28, Diane Parsons 56:30, Collette Windsor 57:39, Sonia Markwell 59:07, Amy Owen 1:01:41, Rachel Smith 1:04:05, Roy Atkins 1:05:39, Autumn Richardson 1:07:33, Maria Felicetti 1:07:34. And, when it’s the coach’s birthday, of course you have to attend the local pub and celebrate afterwards.
On Saturday several FRAC members took part in the cliff top challenge, an annual event raising money for Breast Cancer Now. Runners can choose to run a range of distances from 5 miles to the big 55 miles, which starts in Hastings with all of them finishing together on Deal seafront.
First to start was Ron Bell running 55 miles with his friend Jodie. This was Ron’s furthest run to date. Having started at 2am meant the first part was in pitch black! Finally getting some daylight ,when things should have felt easier, the runners got hit by gale force winds, rain and hail throughout the rest of the day. Ron completed his challenge in a very impressive 13:08:05.
Next up was Jenny Heathfield (Who provided the report for this run too,) starting the 36 miles – which is actually slightly over 38 miles. Having not completed a spring marathon Jenny had no idea how it would go. Fantastically, Jenny had an exceptional run, despite the crazy weather! This was the third year in a row of taking part and she completed it in 8:27:19 which was an amazing personal best of 1 hour and 15 minutes. Jenny said “Ultras are a completely different game and are mentally challenging as much as physically, so to be able to get round is one thing… but gaining this pb was such an achievement for me!”
Next up, Col Windsor joined Jenny, and Jane Wren joined Ron for the last 15 miles. Both Jenny and Ron were very grateful for their support. Col Windsor completed it in 4:00:19, this included an extra 2 miles to run back after finishing with Jenny and meeting Ron and Jane. Jane Wren completed in 4:13:32. Simon Coffey 2:30:49 and Karla Larnder 2:18:03 (who ran with her husband Michael) also ran the 15 miles.
Next up was the 10 miles, where Nikki Goodwin ran with a group of friends in memory of a loved one who lost their life to cancer. She completed the course in 1:41:37, which was impressive after completing the Charing 10k race the night before as the 3rd fastest female.
This weeks parkruns
Amager Faelled parkrun
Jacob Henwood 24:53
Edinburgh parkrun
Deborah Jeffery 21:15
Dover Waterfront parkrun
Andrew Hadlow 24:35, Caroline Curtis 25:15, Sarah Nunn 26:56
Folkestone parkrun
Prakash Gurung was the first man back in a time of 17:35 with Callum Howes finishing in third place, in 18:20. Manda Gurung was the first woman back in a time of 20:02, followed in second place by Vicky Scott in 22:28. Also running were; Krzysztof KLIDZIA 18:54, Nicholas Bryant 19:26, Ben Hancox 19:45, Rob Collier 19:55, Ian Merrick 20:18, Thierry Bal 20:28, Stephen Deeming 20:29, Miles Gawthorp 21:14, David Weekes 21:33, Dominic Shepherd 21:52, Andrew Fletcher 22:06, Darren Philip 22:08, Ian Vousden 22:21, Andrew Noble 22:33, Philip Heathfield 22:52, Jason King 22:59, Matthew Appleby 23:02, Hazel Green 23:32, Louisa Eede 24:04, Phil Haines 24:30, Lesley Clancy 24:35, Tim Warren 24:49, Adam Ward 24:59, David Botting 25:29, Henry Axon 25:32, Joshua Pine 25:32, Anna Thomsen 25:39, Paul Hannay 26:50, Anh-Van Whitby 27:26, Pamela Allon 27:27, Alan Randall 27:45, Neil Adams 28:37, Rebekah Newton 28:44, Simon Burvill 28:58, Kirsty Gardiner 29:02, Roisin Bunt 29:40, Jason Crockford 30:13, Roy Atkins 30:28, Sophie O’Callaghan 30:49, Rachel Yorke 31:07, Amy Owen 31:30, Angela Warren 32:02, Deirdre Coombs 33:07, Kate Lancefield 33:09, Julia Henwood 37:23.