News

Leighton Fun Runners Three Counties XC 24th Nov 19

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another great result today but this time from both the men’s and ladies teams. The men were 4th out of 13 teams again (the same as at Wellingborough) and the ladies were 5th out of 13. This gave us a combined team position of 4th which I believe is the best ever for the combined team.

 

After the two races so far this season the men are 4th in the league, the ladies 9th and the combined team are 5th.

 

The men’s team was led home again by Ed Wise in 21st position which is an excellent performance again. We then had 4 runners come in the forties with myself in 42nd, Adrian Homer in 45th, Stuart Wheeldon in 47th and Gary Burton in 49th. Adrian managed to reverse the result against Stuart from Wellingborough in their own personal battle they seem to have going on. The other men’s scorers were Chris Bell in 61st, Paul Watts in 76th and Charles Spencer in 81st. Also running today were Adam Wright, Aaron Wiles (making his XC debut for us), Olly Pearson and Rob Watkinson.

 

It should not be underestimated the value of the non-scoring runners as, for example, Olly who finished in 122nd place came ahead of 20 runners from other teams that scored for their teams, so Olly increased the scores of several other teams.

 

Quite a few of the men improved their finishing positions from the Wellingborough race. This should be viewed in the context of there being only 357 runners at Wing compared to 398 at Wellingborough but in particular good improvements were shown by Adrian, Charles, Chris, Olly and this races ‘runner of the day’, Gary who in only his second cross country race improved by 18 places and got into the top 50. Well done Gary, further improvements are expected now at each race!

 

The ladies team were led home by Lindsay Scott in 102nd place (8th lady). Well done Lindsay, a great run. Liv Thompson was our second lady home with another good performance in 134th place (13th lady), Annemarie Lodder made an excellent debut finishing in 157th place (20th lady) and Sarah Ashcroft completed the team finishing in 236th place (50th lady) after taking it easy. Well done ladies, 5th in the ladies team competition is a great result.

 

The next race is in 2 weeks on Sunday 8th December at Delapre. As it is a local race I hope we can get a good number of runners out that day as the size of the team does make a difference to the results as even the non-scorers worsen other teams scores.

 

Well done everybody that ran today.

 

Andy

 

 

Wellingborough & District AC Three Counties XC 3rd Nov 19

 

Wow, what a great result for the men’s team, 4th place, our best ever.

 

We had two youngsters running for us today Ed Wise, who ran for us for quite a few times a few seasons ago, and Oliver Munns. They both put in great perfomances finishing in 27th and 48th respectively. Following on not too far after Oliver were the slightly older guard of Stuart Wheeldon 52nd, Adrian Homer 54th, myself 64th (possibly my worst run ever, sorry team), dubutant Gary Burton 67th, Chris Bell 75th and the final points scorer for the team Paul Watts 77th.

 

I was really pleased with Gary’s result being new to the team and to cross country so I think there is more to come in the next four races. Both Stuart and Adrian ran really well, spurred on by their private battle. It was also great to see Paul Watts back in the team after missing a few seasons with injury but it looks like he is well on his way back to the excellent placings he achieved in the past.

 

Adam Wright finished only one place outside the scorers in 78th which was a great cross country debut. Charles Spencer was 91st , Bob White 106th, Olly Pearson 146th, Peter Chandley (recovering from injury) 149th  and Sam Cortese and Robin Schumacher being the other 2 men’s team runners. All of the non-scoring runners helped the team by pushing back runners from other teams to worse places, so well done.

 

Last year our 8th runner (the last scoring position) was coming in around 100th place so to get all our scoring runners in the top 77 was excellent. We were in a comfortable 4th place out of 13 teams, 118 points (places) ahead of Rugby & Northampton in 5th.

 

Unfortunately we did not have a full ladies team. I was expecting to have 5 ladies running (4 to count) but last minute issues left us with only 3 running. However, Liv Thompson put in a sound performance finishing in 136th overall (8th lady, impressive!) with Sarah Ryder not too far behind in 178th overall (21st lady) and Val Bridges, our stalwart ladies team member being our 3rd ladies team scorer.

 

The ladies team finished in 11th place out of 13 beating both Northampton Road Runners (who had a full ladies team!) and Rugby & Northampton. The combined team finished in 8th place not far behind Dunstable in 7th.

 

The ‘runner of the day’ has to go to Ed Wise for his 27th place. Well run Ed, we now expect that sort of position at all the races.

 

Well done and thanks to all of our runners. The next race is hosted by Leighton Fun Runners in Wing on Sunday 24th November, lifts will be available. See you there.

 

Andy

 

 

Wellingborough 3CXC Nov 18

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A great race yesterday and a great result. The men were 6th out of 13 teams, the ladies were 9th and in the combined event we were also 6th out of 13 teams. This was one of our best results.

 

The strong men’s team consisting of 14 runners meant we were able to get the last of the 8 scoring runners in 103rd position. This is usually a good guide to how well we have done and getting the 8th scoring men’s runner in around 100 is great. It was good to see Stuart Wheeldon returning to XC after his injury problems and he finished a very creditable 70th just behind Tim Webster in 66th and just in front of Adrian Homer in 76th , Steve Dransfield in 81st and Charles Spencer in 85th.  Olly Pearson was our 8th man home in 103rd place but Andy Peel was only just behind him in  105th place. Myself (42nd) and Chris Bell (55th) were the other two scoring men.

 

It was great to have 2 male debutants today with Steve Dransfield and Matt Eckett making their first appearances for us. There were less runners at the Wellingborough race compared to the first race of the season at Dunstable (404 compared to 483) but Andy Peel’s performance to improve by 32 places was excellent. However, ‘runner of the day’ went to Charles for improving by 37 places and finishing as one of our scoring runners. Well done Charles, similar improvements are expected next race!

 

We managed to beat the much larger teams from Northampton Road Runners, Stopsley, Leighton, Wootton, Biggleswade, Olney and Dunstable and weren’t too far behind Bedford who are a massive club with loads of runners participating. We are now in 9th place after the first two races of the season but set to move up, hopefully to at least 6th place.

 

The ladies were led home by Lindsay Scott again. An excellent run coming in 106th place. More impressive was the fact Lindsay was 6th lady in a field of 158 ladies. Great running. Backing up Lindsay were Stacey (making her debut) in 144th , Liv in 158th and Val.

 

The ladies tam managed to beat teams from Stopsley, Northampton Road Runners, Olney and Dunstable. After two races the ladies team are in 11th place.

 

The combined team were 6th at the Wellingborough race and are 10th after the two races but are moving on up!

 

Thanks to all our runners who all seemed to enjoy the course and the challenge of crossing the water twice.

 

See you all at the next race in Letchworth on Sunday 16th December.

 

Andy Green

 

 

 

Dunstable 3CXC 

 

We had a great race last Sunday in the first XC race of the season. I think the course can be summed up in one word, ‘hilly’. It made for a tough race but was firm under foot and had great views (if you didn’t see the two burnt out cars). It did appear that everybody enjoyed themselves and are keen for the upcoming races.

 

Early on last week I was hopeful we would have a reasonably large team but as the week went on numbers started to fall with illness, injury and other commitments meaning that we had a men’s team of 9 runners with 8 to score and a ladies team of 4 with all 4 scoring. This meant we finished 11th out of 13 teams in the men’s competition, 13th out of 13 in the ladies and 12th out of 13 in the combined. These places were disappointing but it is easy to see how just another 2 or 3 runners could get both the men’s and ladies teams to mid table and beyond.

 

The performance of the day went to Lindsay Scott who came home an excellent 12th in the ladies event with Liv not far behind in 20th place. Sarah Ryder and Val were the other two ladies who both put in good efforts.

 

The men’s team had some excellent performances, notable Chris Bell coming in 48th which is his best ever placing and there was a welcome return to Adrian Homer who got an excellent 80th place. It was great to have two runners making their debuts for us with both Olly Pearson and Andy Peel running well to finish in 112th and 137th places respectively.

 

The full race results are available at: http://www.threecountiesxc.co.uk/2018/Event1/3CXC_Event1_Results.html

 

I was very encouraged that all our runners enjoyed the event and seemed to be looking forward to the next race and with other runners returning and some very welcome newly recruited runners, I am hoping we will have a larger team for the race at Wellingborough on Sunday 25th November.

 

I will send race details out to everyone in the week leading up to the Wellingborough race.

 

Andy Green

 

 

 

Silverstone 10k (9/5/18)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andy Green, Chris Bell and Richard Watson represented Team East Haddon at the first race in the 2018 East Midlands Grand Prix series. The course, two laps of the old Grand Prix circuit at Silverstone, provided the venue for over 1600 runners.

 

The Team East Haddon contingent all finished in under 40 minutes and in the first 10% of runners with Andy clocking 37:30 in 72nd position, 3rd place in his age category and 2ndin the Northants Country Championships. Richard and Chris crossed the line almost together in 140th and 141st places and with times of 39:51 and 39:52 respectively. This was excellent running from all, but particularly from Chris who was competing in his first 10k race.

 

The series continues with the Blisworth 5 on Friday 18th May with a full men’s vets team expected to run. Other races in the series are Rugby 6 (23/5/18), Corby 5 (6/6), Banbury 5 (12/6), Weedon 10k (26/6), Harborough 5 (3/7) and Milton Keynes 10k (10/7). All races have entries on the day and races start at 7:45pm with full details at http://mcs.open.ac.uk/mkac/The_EMGP.html

 

 

Biggleswade 3 Counties XC Jan 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

The results for yesterday’s race have been published and are on http://www.threecountiesxc.co.uk. The highlight was a 7th place out of 13 teams for the men’s team. This is our equal third best result ever for the men, equal to this year’s performance at Delapre and close behind the two 6th places we got (Bedford 2016 and Wellingborough 2014).

 

All the 8 scoring runners for the men were in the top 101 places so we beat the following men’s teams: Biggleswade, Rugby & Northampton(!), Leighton, Northampton Road Runners, Dunstable and Olney.

 

Leading home the men’s team again was Matt Dine in 26th place. Myself and Matt Tyrrell came home in 47th and 49th positions respectively and then our next 3 runners were all placed in the 60’s, Tim Webster, Chris Bell and Dewi Halcrow. The final 2 scoring runners were Robert Gaskill and Bob White. For this race we had 4 non scoring runners who although not scoring for us helped worsen other teams scores. An excellent turnout from the men and a good team result.

 

Individually, there is a special mention for both Matt Tyrrell and Chris Bell for improved performances but runner of the week has to go (again) to Matt Dine who beat some very good runners and achieved the best place of any of our runners this season.

 

In the individual results for the season we only had 3 runners who did at least 4 of the 5 races which you needed to do to qualify for a seasons place. These were Matt Dine who finished 11th in the M35+ category, myself 4th in the M50+ category and Tim Webster who finished 33rd in the senior category. Well done guys.

 

Unfortunately we only had 2 ladies run (not the 4 scorers required) which meant we finished in 12th place in yesterday’s race and last for the season. This was a shame for Joanna Szymborska and Sarah Ryder who both ran well. We have suffered this season for numbers in the ladies event after doing well in the past few seasons.

 

In the team event (combined men’s and ladies) we were 9th in yesterday’s race and 11th for the whole season.

 

I would like to thank everybody that has run this season.

 

I know we have several runners running in the London Marathon, so good luck to them and then the East Midlands Grand Prix Series will start in early May. When the dates are announced I will circulate them but I recommend these races particularly the first race a Silverstone. All these road races are on mid-week evenings and are between 5 miles and 10k.

 

Andy Green

 

 

 

Peter Taylor Memorial Annual Fun Run Jan 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wootton XC Race 2017

 

 

The results for yesterday’s race have been published and are on http://www.threecountiesxc.co.uk. The highlight was a 7th place for the men’s team. This is our third best result ever for the men, close behind the two 6th places we got (Bedford 2016 and Wellingborough 2014).

 

The ‘runner of the week’ award goes to Matt Dine who led the men’s team home in 31st place, an excellent run and strong finish. There was an excellent debut run from Dewi Halcrow who finished in 41st place just behind myself in 35th place. Tim Webster finished in 57th place, Richard Watson in 97th, Charles Spencer in 115th, Chris Bell making his debut in 120th and Bob White in 132nd. James, Sam and Rob where all non-scoring runners.

 

To get the 8 scoring runners for the men in the top 132 was good and if you consider that there was a much larger field at Wootton, 451 runners, compared to 347 at Wellingborough then for those who have run in both races getting anywhere near your finishing position from Wellingborough is good. That make Charles Spencer’s performance yesterday, an excellent result (Charles finished both races in 115th place).

 

The ladies team was short of one runner so inevitably finished last but there was a very good run from Sarah Ashcroft finishing in 185th place only 10 places worse than in Wellingborough and 22nd lady equal to the 22nd lady position at Wellingborough, well done Sarah. It was good to see both Sarah Ryder and Val returning after missing the Wellingborough race.

 

I thought it was a great course and a nice venue for the HQ and I think most runners thought the same.

 

The next race is in two weeks’ time on Sunday 26th November in Dunstable. I will email everybody at the beginning of the week of the race and will be able to organise lifts for anybody that wants one.

 

Well done to all of yesterday’s runners and Stuart (injured) for doing some of the admin.

 

Andy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three Counties XC - Bedford Jan 2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

The results from the 5th and final round of this seasons cross country league are out.

 

We came 9th in the league over the 5 events in the team competition with the men finishing in 10th and the Ladies in 8th. The 9th place in the combined team event is our best ever finish. The method of scoring this competition has changed this year so we are helped more by the strength of our ladies team. The ladies 8th place is our second best placing after the 6th we achieved last year and the men’s 10th place is equal to the second best place we have ever achieved. A pretty good season overall.

 

For the Sharnbrook race the team finished in 9th place with the men in 8th (one of our better results!) and the ladies in 11th.

 

After the 5 races, we have got several runners finishing in the top 20 for their age group. For the Ladies, in their respective age groups, Liv Thompson finished 12th, Sally Tilt finished 8th, Joanna Szymborska 10th and Val 5th. Well done to all of you.

 

For the men, in their respective age groups, I was 3rd, Rob White was 13th and Sam was 11th. Well done guys.

 

The conditions at Sharnbrook weren’t nearly as tough as the unbelievably muddy race last year but were still challenging with mostly frozen ground with the occasional soggy bit. We had several good performances on Sunday. In the men’s race Matt Dine led the team home in 56th place with me in 63rd, Stuart in 71st, Adrian in 75th, James in 85th, Peter Chandley in 114th, Rob White in 117th and Robert Gaskill in 127th completing the scorers. To get all our 8 scoring runners in the top 127 is a good team effort.

 

I was pleased that Stuart got around without any injury worries and got a decent finishing place as well, but the ‘runner of the day award’ goes to Matt Dine for his 56th place and first team member home. Well done Matt.

 

The 4 lady runners places all counted towards our score. Their positions out of only the ladies in the field were Joanna Szymborska in 53rd, Jo Brinkman in 55th , Sarah Ryder in 57th and Val 115th. Well done ladies.

 

Another cross country season is over but there are no end to the races available these days. For those wanting a bit more off-road action there is the Dirt Run at Irchester Country Park on Sunday 5th February (see the Just Racing website for details) and then there is the  

East Midland Grand Prix series. These are a series of 8 mid-week road races. I will let everybody know when the dates for these are announced. I would expect the first race to be the Silverstone 10k on Wednesday 3rd May but this has not been confirmed yet.

 

I hope to see lots of you at other races but I would remind those who have not yet been, that we are very lucky to have the opportunity to train at an excellent new track for only £3 per session. It is on a Monday from 7:30pm to 8:30pm and is accessed by Gate 4 at Moulton College. It is open to all our members and caters for all abilities.

 

Andy

Peter Taylor Memorial Annual Fun Run

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For all of those who were inspired to run for fun by Peter we are again gathering to run together on Sunday 8 January.  Please meet outside East Haddon Pavilion at 7.45am.  It is a slightly earlier time but this way we can all be back, showered and changed ready for a breakfast in the Red Lion at 9.30am.  Everyone is welcome to join us - whether you wish to walk or run or just join us for breakfast - we would love to see you all. Please let me know if you would like a seat reserved for breakfast. Team East Haddon - the friendly running club that Peter founded - is still very active organising social runs, training sessions and races and welcomes new members.  What better way to start the new year than with some brisk exercise!  Rachel Punch 07967212575 or RLP8000@aol.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three Counties Cross Country -North Herts Road Runners Race - 18th Dec 2016

 

I have looked at the results from the race on Sunday and they are pretty good again. The men were 8th on the day and are now 10th after 4 races, the ladies were 9th on the day and are 8th after 4 races and the combined mens and ladies team were 8th on the day and are 9th after 4 races.

 

I was unable to run due to a bad back and Sarah Cosford wasn’t fit to run either so both teams were short of runners who had scored fairly good points in all the 3 races before Sunday. Despite this the results were good.

 

The ladies team were led home by Liv (again)with Sally not far behind and with Joanna and Val completing the scoring in relatively good positions.

 

The men were led home by Matt Tyrrell in 41st place which is his best place out of the 3 races he has run. We had two other runners in the 40’s being Tim Webster in 44th and Matt Dine in 49th.  Only just behind was James Makin in 56th. Tim, Matt D and James all significantly improved their placings from previous races, well done guys. My ‘runner of the day’ was Tim Webster as over the 3 races he has done he has improved his position on each occasion and the improvement from the previous race was 19 places. Well done Tim.

 

Adrian Homer made a welcome return after his cycling mishap and finished a creditable 74th with Bob White in 92nd , Matt Tilt in 130th and Robert Gaskill in 150th completing the scoring.

 

Stuart’s calf injury reoccurred so he walked to the finish. I hope it gets better quickly. Sam and Rob Watkinson completed the mens team.

 

A good result considering the injury list. Well done everybody who ran.

 

The next race is on 22nd January 2017 which is 4.5 weeks away which is hopefully long enough for the walking wounded to get back to fitness.

 

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

 

Andy Green

 

Three Counties Cross Country - Wootton Road Runners Race - 20th Nov 2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The results are out and I believe we got our best ever position in the combined mens and ladies competition with a 7th place out of 12 teams. This means that after the 9th place in the combined in Wellingborough we currently stand in 8th place after the 2 races, ahead of Stopsley, Leighton, Biggleswade and Olney and only just behind Dunstable.

 

In the mens league we were 8th out of 12 and are 8th after 2 races ahead of Biggleswade, Only, Stopsley and Leighton. This improvement from the 10th place in Wellingborough was due in part to the debuts from James Makin and Tim Webster who ran very well and finished in 71st and 66th places respectively, Bob White who improved by 14 places and Robert Gaskill who improved by a massive 60 places. The ‘runner of the day’ award therefore goes to Robert. The same improvement at Wing please!

 

The ladies were a very creditable 6th place at Wootton beating some much bigger teams including Northampton Road Runners and were only 7 points behind Wootton! I believe the ladies best ever placing was a 5th place at Wing in 2015, so only one place away. Very well done to the ladies. There were excellent performances from Liv and Sally who improved their finishing positions by 30 and 20 places respectively. It was also great to see Joanna there who along with Sarah Cosford were our other lady scorers.

 

Andy Green

 

 

 

 

Three Counites Cross Country - North Herts Road Runners Race - 20th Dec

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another good performance from the ladies team saw them finish in 8th place. Not quite up to the exceptional 5th place in the last race but still very good beating local rivals Wellingborough and Wootton again. Emma Bond led our ladies home in 11th place with Liv Thompson in 21st, Sarah Cosford in 32nd and Sally Tilt in 40th. Great consistent running from all of you. Well done.

 

This moves the ladies up to 6th position after 4 races in the 5 race league. We move above Wootton with this result and we are only 1 point behind Wellingborough so there is still a great opportunity to move up to 5th in the last race.

 

The men achieved a 9th place which is better than the last race thanks to a higher turnout of runners allowing us to field a full team. Jack Bond was the star of the men’s team again finishing in an amazing 5th place and was backed up with me in 24th, Stuart in 41st Matt Dine in 42nd, Ed Wise in 48th, Matt Tyrrell in 69th, Bob White 101st, Sam in 170th and Rob Watkinson in 221st. Matt Dine and Stuart both continued their great improvement this season and had really good runs with Matt improving his position over the last race by 16 places and Stuart by 11 places. This improvement is really impressive but it does mean that we will be expecting top 30 places in the next race!

 

The men are still in 11th place after 4 races with one race still to go.

 

The full results can be found at  www.threecountiesxc.co.uk

 

Andy Green

 

 

Wootton Three Counties Cross County - Nov 2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was another great performance from the ladies team. After a record breaking 7th place in Wellingborough two weeks ago they went even better this time and got 6th place. A massive well done to the team of Liv Thompson (15th), Sarah Cosford (25th), Lindsay Scott (34th) and Sally Tilt (37th). The ladies team are now 7th overall out of 12 teams after the first two races.

 

The men’s team finished 10th, the same as in Wellingborough. We beat Leighton and Olney and were only 7 points behind Biggleswade and 11 points behind Dunstable. The leading man was Ed Wise who finished a very creditable 19th place beating some very good experienced runners. I think the performance of the day goes to Stuart Wheeldon who finished  47th, his highest ever finishing position. Stuart has been improving all the way through the year and on Sunday beat a friend of mine from Northampton Road Runners who finished 25 places ahead of him in the Wellingborough race. Well done Stuart, we expect the improvement to continue!

 

Another good performance was from Matt Dine who finished 92nd an improvement over his finishing place in Wellingborough. Considering the men’s team were without Jack Bond who ran in the Wellingborough race and finished 2nd, we did quite well to maintain our position.

 

I hope all of our team of 12 runners enjoyed the event, I thought it was very good.

 

The next race is in 3 weeks’ time, on Sunday 29th November at Wing near Leighton Buzzard. I hope we can get as many runners as possible to try to improve the men’s team position and at least maintain the ladies position.

 

Regards

Andy

Team East Haddon Club Captain

 

 

 

 

Team East Haddon Does Parkrun

 

The massive increase in the popularity of Parkrun has seen new venues arise in our area and therefore lots of opportunities for our runners to participate.

 

For those of you that are not familiar with Parkrun, these are free weekly 5k timed well organised runs around local parks. They start at 9am on Saturday every week and all you need to do to take part is register on their website and print off a barcode and take it along to the Parkrun. The closest Parkruns to East Haddon are at The Racecourse in Northampton, Daventry Country Park and Market Harborough. Others slightly further away are at Corby, Milton Keynes, Buckingham and Coventry (see www.parkrun.org.uk for details).

 

The Parkruns are free as they are organised by volunteers who do a fantastic job and create an opportunity for all standards of runners to compete. Parkrun say they are not races but timed runs in a friendly atmosphere for all standards. It is up to the individual how you view them. Some of our faster runners view them as an out and out race, others as a measure of their own progress in terms of their times and others as a run with like-minded people of a similar standard whatever that might be (runners complete the 5k in anything from 16 minutes to 55 minutes).

 

For Team East Haddon runners the most frequented venues are Northampton and Daventry. As of the 4th July 2015, our runners have completed 87 runs at Northampton which have been done by 7 different runners and 44 at Daventry which have been done by 4 different runners. Team East Haddon results have included first place finishes at Northampton, Daventry and Corby and Age Group course records at Northampton, Daventry, Corby and Market Harborough and many sub 20 minute runs from Stuart Wheeldon, Matt Tyrrell and Andy Green.

 

If you haven’t done a Parkrun then what are you waiting for? These are the most accessible, cheapest (i.e. free) and most enjoyable runs for any ability and for all the family. You do not have to be a member of a running club to do the Parkrun and a lot of runners aren’t and the friendliness of the event is such that there is always someone to talk to whilst warming up before the run and after you have finished.

Team East Haddon Does Parkrun

 

The massive increase in the popularity of Parkrun has seen new venues arise in our area and therefore lots of opportunities for our runners to participate.

 

For those of you that are not familiar with Parkrun, these are free weekly 5k timed well organised runs around local parks. They start at 9am on Saturday every week and all you need to do to take part is register on their website and print off a barcode and take it along to the Parkrun. The closest Parkruns to East Haddon are at The Racecourse in Northampton, Daventry Country Park and Market Harborough. Others slightly further away are at Corby, Milton Keynes, Buckingham and Coventry (see www.parkrun.org.uk for details).

 

The Parkruns are free as they are organised by volunteers who do a fantastic job and create an opportunity for all standards of runners to compete. Parkrun say they are not races but timed runs in a friendly atmosphere for all standards. It is up to the individual how you view them. Some of our faster runners view them as an out and out race, others as a measure of their own progress in terms of their times and others as a run with like-minded people of a similar standard whatever that might be (runners complete the 5k in anything from 16 minutes to 55 minutes).

 

For Team East Haddon runners the most frequented venues are Northampton and Daventry. As of the 4th July 2015, our runners have completed 87 runs at Northampton which have been done by 7 different runners and 44 at Daventry which have been done by 4 different runners. Team East Haddon results have included first place finishes at Northampton, Daventry and Corby and Age Group course records at Northampton, Daventry, Corby and Market Harborough and many sub 20 minute runs from Stuart Wheeldon, Matt Tyrrell and Andy Green.

 

If you haven’t done a Parkrun then what are you waiting for? These are the most accessible, cheapest (i.e. free) and most enjoyable runs for any ability and for all the family. You do not have to be a member of a running club to do the Parkrun and a lot of runners aren’t and the friendliness of the event is such that there is always someone to talk to whilst warming up before the run and after you have finished. However, if you want to be part of a team for Parkruns or other runs then Team East Haddon are always looking for new members and would be glad to hear from you. 

 

Andy Green

 

 

Fanastic Result  

TEAM EAST HADDON - Three Counties XC - 7th Men's Team Overall

 

Report from Andy Green

 

The results for Dunstable and the overall 5 race league are now out.

 

In the Dunstable race there were a total of 324 runners, around 30 more than the previous pre-Xmas race. Ed Wise came in first for our team for the second race in a row with an excellent 20th place beating some good experienced runners. Nick Howard can in a very creditable 33rd place and with a good performance from Adrian, the return of Paul Watts and another good run from Bob we had our first 6 runners home in the top 82 places. This led to us finishing 8th team beating amongst others, Wootton, which I can’t ever remember doing before.

 

The men’s team finished the league in 7th place beating much bigger teams from Biggleswade, Boxfit, Northampton Road Runners, Leighton, Olney and Dunstable. This must be our best season ever. In the five races we finished 6th, 8th, 8th, 10th and 8th which gave us the 7th place for the season. Ed Wise finished in 22nd place overall, Nick Howard was 29th overall, Adrian was joint 19th in the over 40’s and Bob finished 9th in the over 50’s. Excellent running from you all.

 

The ladies team were 12th at Dunstable with only one runner. That was Jo making her first appearance of the season and finished in a good 70th place. The ladies team suffered throughout the season from a low turnout which led to them finishing in 13th place in the league.

 

The combined men’s and ladies result for the season for us was 11th out of the 13 teams, beating both Dunstable and Olney.

 

Thanks to everybody that ran this year.

 

Dates for your diaries:

Sunday 18/01/15 – Irchester Country Park – Multi Terrain Races Round 1 – Choice of 5k/10k/15k

Wednesday 21/01/15 – Eric Humphries Memorial XC Race at Delapre Abbey, Northampton

Sunday 01/02/15 – Irchester Country Park – Multi Terrain Races Round 2 – Choice of 5k/10k/15k

Starting in early May (dates not yet issued) will be the 8 race East Midlands Grand Prix Series with the first race at Silverstone in early May then races at Rugby, Blisworth, Corby, Banbury, Market Harborough, Weedon and MK. These are weekday evening races with good turnouts (Silverstone >1000 runners) and well organised.

 

Hope to see you at some (or all) of these.

 

 

 

New Year's Sunday run followed by breakfast at the Red Lion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wootton Road Runners Three Counties XC    Sunday 9th November 2014

"We had another good turnout from the men on Sunday at the Wootton XC race and we managed another good team placing getting 8th out of 13. This was not quite as good as the 6th out of 13 at the Wellingborough race but there was a bigger and better field at Wootton. We now stand in 7th place in the league after the first two races.

 

There were 252 men running at Wootton compared to 189 at Wellingborough which is why most of our places were slightly worse at the Wootton event but still a really good result. We benefitted from an excellent 44th from Ed Wise in his first run for the club and 43rd from Nick Howard in his second run for the club (only 3 places down on his Wellingborough performance despite the much larger field). Well done both of you."

 

Andy Green

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wellingborough & District A.C. Three Counties XC - Sunday 26th October 2014

 

 

"Well done to everybody that ran on Sunday. The results are out and the mens team was in 6th place out of the 13 teams. I think this must be our best ever performance.

 

Not only that, thanks to a great effort from Val, the ladies team weren’t last, finishing in 12th place. Well done Val.

 

You can see the results at www.threecountiesxc.co.uk"

 

Andy Green

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dunstable Three Counties XC - Sunday 12th January 2014

 

Team East Haddon fielded a full mens team but again one lonely lady (we need a plan to encourage more ladies next year - Lynx deodorant for the

mens team?). The run took place on a frosty morning in glorious sunshine around the chalk hills of Dunstable. Sam commented that his chalk splattered legs were worthy of a place in an art gallery (not sure whether he was refering to the chalk pattern or his muscular calves). 

  

 

                                                                                                                           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Team East Haddon Christmas Sunday Run and Breakfast 

An early start for a Sunday morning run around the fields of East Haddon was rewarded with a hearty breakfast at The Red Lion. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Team East Haddon Guilsborough Three Counties XC Sunday 15th December 

 

Many thanks to Team East Haddon runners, families and friends, and Northampton Road Runners marshalls who turned out to help with the organisation of the Guilsborough XC. The event was a great success. In particular I would like to thank Kate and Sam and their helpers for the tea and sandwiches. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leighton Fun Runners Three Counties XC Sunday 24th November

A good turn out for the men but only one lonely lady.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wootton Road Runners Three Counties XC Sunday 11th November

Team East Haddon fielded 12 men and 3 ladies for the five laps of Hunsbury Hill Country Park in bright sunshine. See http://threecountiesxc.co.uk/ for the results. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wellingborough XC race October 2013

Sam attempts to fly across the brook.                                                                     More photos are posted on Cross Country page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2014 London Marathon Club place

Team East Haddon running club has one club place for the 2014 Virgin Marathon. If you failed to get a place in Virgin's ballot and wish a second chance please contact the President to be entered in the club ballot. Running in several Three Counties XC races and offering to serve the tea and clean the hall at the Guilsborough XC race will greatly help your case.

 

 

 

If it ain't raining it ain't training.