Friday 20 September 2019

Run Reigate Half Marathon September 2019


THE WEEKEND saw the town of Reigate in Surrey open itself to the Intersport Run Series, with a children’s race, 5km, 10km and a half marathon.   This is the sixth year for the event that has got bigger over the years and last year opened up the Intersport Run Gatwick event (which also hosted the Sussex Athletics Association half marathon championships).

I was born in Redhill so this is a real home coming for me and why I look forward to this run (even though I never ran when I lived there!).   I still have friends who live there and regularly go for a beer in the town.   Reigate is a picturesque old market town in the heart of Surrey.  The run starts from The Priory, where it goes down towards Mead Vale and through country lanes to Hookwood.   The route then follows the main road back to Reigate before turning left at The Beehive pub and meanders through residential roads before being pushed out to the countryside before re-entering the opposite side of The Priory with a final dash to the finish line.

The route is best described as undulating and varied.   There was a lot of support with live bands playing at various parts of the course and local residents turning out to cheer and supply sweets to runners in need of an energy boost.   It was a hot a sunny day which really saps your energy levels luckily there were four water stations on the route which was a relief.   This year Intersport sent out notices that said runners how intentionally litered (water bottles and gel packets) on route would be disqualified.   Not sure if this actually occured or not (and come to think of it if anybody actually read the notice).

There were six members of Haywards Heath Harriers in the event.   Michael Burke 1:26:10, Matt Quinton 1:39:52, Richard Haynes 1:43:37, Maresa Pitt 1:44:47 Oliver Farr 1:47:37 and Michael Parish 2:21:31.



Ardingly Village 8km Fun Run


SATURDAY 7th SEPTEMBER saw the annual Ardingly 8km Fun Run and Village Fete.   Open to all runners this was a good old fashioned cross country run taking in the famous resevouir.
 
Beetroot Army.
I am not in this photo as I had to shoot off to work.
The course started at the Ardingly Recreational Ground and ran along the footpath up past the South of England Showground and the Gardeners Arms pub before turning left at the end of the village.   It then went cross country in a large loop back to the start.

This is a beautiful route that, once off the road, feels easy going, until you realise that you are running for a long period of time downhill!    What goes down eventually must go up and this run does just that.   There are two majestic hills involved in the run that test your stamina.  

The first starts just after the wooden bridge that links the route with Ardingly Reservoir and goes up a single track footpath before slowly starting to come round again.   The second is part way round the Reservoir when you turn left going up the footpath past the fields.

The course was checked earlier in the day with no issues but there was an unexpected hornet swarm on the second part of the reservoir path which resulted in the race being diverted for some of the runners.   Organisers thanked local runner Philip Kelly for his initiative in leading other runners a safer way and foregoing his own race.   They also expressed their utmost thanks to first aider Melissa Byers, all the other marshals and the ambulance service who came to the aid of their allergic runner and brave tail runner Steve Kemsley who also got badly stung.

Haywards Heath Harriers results: Chris Smith 28:31; Time Miller 34:59; Mat Quinton 41:25; Ian Dumbrell 41:52; Gemma Morgan 43:40; Theresa Mockridge 44:56; Andrew Wilson 45:48; Carl Bicknell 47:04; Michael Parish 51:12; H. Johnson 59:30.

Sunday 14 July 2019

Brighton Phoenix 10km


WEDNESDAY 10th JULY heralded the Brighton Phoenix 10km run.   This is an important run for members of the Harriers as it is the third race of the season that contributes to the Bill Page awards.

Race bib
The extremely well-marshalled course runs from Hove Lawns along the promenade, through the industrial area and out past Shoreham Power Station where it turns around at the 5km mark and heads back to the finish line.   It forms part of the course for the Brighton Marathon and is notorious for runners achieving personal best times as the course is relatively flat and fast.

The run was attended by runners from the many affiliated running clubs across Sussex as well as other running club and non club runners.   The Harriers turned up in force and all ran a fast paced race with everybody achieving under one hour on their personal chip times.   For the first time I managd to achieve a sub 1 hour 10km run.   Happiness is this!

Haywards Heath Harriers Team
There were two incidents during the run the first came from a man who was possibly homeless who was shouting obsenities and racist comments at us.   I think he hated everybody and we were the closest for him to rant at.   The second was the strong smell of cannabis on one section of the run.   Maybe that explains the PB!


A full “debrief” was held with Harriers and other club members at The Brunswick free house after the event.   It's a really nice pub and live music venue, but the beer was running out very quickly!


Full debrief with beer on tap at the Brunswick Free House, Hove