Weekly Report – 5th January 2020
Never too old to run!
One of Sudbury Joggers’ more senior members has achieved his goal of running at least a Mix’n’Match Marathon each month throughout 2019.
Hugh Turner about to add a few miles to his September 2019 Mix’n’Match Marathon total while in
Koper, Slovenia.
The Mix’n’Match Marathon challenge is where you participate in shorter runs that total 26.2 miles (or 42.2 kilometres if you prefer the metric system) during a single month.
Hugh Turner, 72, had planned to complete the task of finishing twelve Mix’n’Match Marathon challenges with his 155th parkrun on the morning of Saturday, 21st of December.
However, a waterlogged course meant the event got cancelled, so an alternative route, still involving knee-deep floodwater, had to be substituted where Hugh ran over four miles through Essex.
While runs adding up to a marathon were each month’s minimum, Hugh usually ran further, and he totalled over 375 miles (600 kilometres) in 2019.
Hugh did not start running until October 2014 where, aged 67, he attended his first parkrun. He joined Sudbury Joggers shortly after that.
His personal best at parkrun, achieved two years after he started running, where Hugh finished his 5km run in a time of 23 minutes and 23 seconds.
He might have been steadily getting slower since then, and his recent runs have moved away from non-parkrun planned events. But that has not stopped Hugh from participating in several organised activities including three half-marathons, three consecutive Ekiden Relay races, Langham and Alton Water 10-kilometre races, and a couple of Sudbury Fun Runs in the past few years.
Hugh even manages to still obtain first in this age group in most parkruns and events, and you might catch him getting grumpy if he doesn’t!
So, if you are thinking that you want to get fitter and that you might be too old to start running; do you still think that?
Christmas Great Barrow Challenge
The festive season does not stop the members of Sudbury Joggers from attending their races.
Between Christmas and New Year, the Great Barrow Challenge holds a three-day Christmas event where runners can run up to three consecutive 10k, half-marathon, marathon or ultra-marathons.
Nefise Onbasi completed a marathon on all three days. On day one, Nefise finished in 4 hours and 18 minutes. Day two saw Nefise run with Steve Clark where they completed the marathon in 4 hours and 26 minutes. The final day Nefise was not joined by another club member and finished in 4 hours and 30 minutes.
Sarah Pennock ran two of the three days to complete a double marathon. On day two, Sarah finished her marathon in 5:28:06 and on day three, Sarah finished in 5:59:33.
Running the half-marathon on day two was Jules Cooper who finished the 13.1 miles in a time of 2 hours and 11 minutes.
Cross Country Championships
Sunday, January 5th, 2020, saw Sudbury Joggers head over to Culford School, a few miles north of Bury St Edmunds for the Suffolk County Athletics Association Cross Country Championships.
Kieron Hayles was the first to finish the 10-kilometre race for the club in a time of 42:26, with Emma Drury finishing only nineteen seconds later in a time of 42:45.
Finishing not too far behind was Charles Hann (43:15), Ben Cuthbert (43:25), Richard Smith (44:00), Todd Lewis (44:11), Andy Buck (44:38), Gary Perryman (46:04), Lucy Cowlin (47:45), Matt Benson (47:55), Sally-Ann Bowen (48:25), Pete Mansfield (53:47), Ruth Cowlin (57:08), Hugh Turner (1:01:56) and David Pengelly (1:02:00).
The ladies team consisting of Emma Drury, Lucy Cowlin and Sally-Ann Bowen finished in third place.
Sally-Ann Bowen also won second place in her age group with Hugh Turner winning third place in his age category.
