The long march of marathon season is slowing down, while FRAC only picks up the pace.
Beachy Head Marathon/Ultramarathon/Half Marathon – 25–26 October
The annual Beachy Head Marathon weekend is a huge draw in the South East. FRAC’s own made the 2-hour drive to Eastbourne to take on one of three races. None escaped the Seven Sisters, the line of cliff tops that towers above the channel reaching up to 200 metres in height. Congratulations is due to each of you who took the challenge and braved a chill northerly wind and the relentless heights of Sussex for glory!
Phil Maull reports:
We had a fine weekend with wonderful weather in Eastbourne for the marathon weekend. Phil Maull completed the Ultra marathon in 7:51:34, Linnaea Stockall completed the half marathon in 2:09:27 and Rachel Smith in 2:43:56.
Deb Parmenter also reports:
It was my first attempt and no denial, it was really challenging. My legs seized up and wouldn’t let me run down hills which lost me time. But got there in the end and achieved to cross the finish line in 7hrs 51.
And Jenny Heathfield gives a comprehensive breakdown of the event:
Beachy head 2025 – after I said never again last year husband Phil decided to try again so I had the choice of spectating or running. With British weather how it is I went for the run it option! This year I put in the extra work training on the trails with big elevation which went great until about a month ago when I started to feel fatigue and was unwell. I generally thought my chances of achieving my goal were out the window but me being me I thought I’ll try my best. I’m not gonna lie it was very tough! Any marathon is but Beachy is something else! Mostly trail and massive elevation of over 4000 feet! There were times where I thought shall I drop out – then there would be a nice downhill! lucky for me I caught up with Phil ( not so lucky for him ) We battled the last 13 miles together across the Seven Sisters and were pleased to come in at a time of 05:43:26 which made it a course pb of over 7 minutes, my last pb there was 2017 so I am absolutely buzzing! Massive well done to my husband Phil who also got a course PB and was over 10 minutes faster to last year. thanks to everyone who was out cheering and huge well done to all our fellow running friends who were out there today. Beachy Head is definitely not for the faint hearted but it is such an amazing event.
Leicester Half Marathon – 26 October
Adam Ward, ever the explorer, took a different route this weekend. He made his trek to Leicester where a PB awaited him. You’re an inspiration, my man. Adam reports:
A very bitterly cold day up in the midlands, running around my old University stomping grounds. Clearly I was eager to get back into the warm, as I managed to set massive PB: 2-4mins depending on how you look at it. People were rerouted and sent the wrong way – bit of a nightmare for the event, with many many people including myself recording the race route as 21.5km. This came with an extra sting for me, as my watch time for 21.1km was 98:09, but my chip time came in at 100:16, and I’ve been aiming for under 100mins for the half for a while. It comes as a surprise, considering I’d ran 21km the day before as part of my training plan!
parkrun
Find this week’s club parkrun results at the link below.