What a weekend for HRR. A team of 24 runners plus support crew headed to Manchester to run the Manchester marathon and relay half marathon. Lots of highs and lots of laughs. A great time was had by all. A record number of runners took to the streets for the Manchester Marathon. More than 30,000 people took part in the UK’s second largest marathon on Sunday, which started and ended by the Trafford Arch. The support on the course was incredible with an estimated 125,000 spectators. Although extremely cold the sun did come out eventually, making for good running conditions.
Reece Hearn was first home for Halstead in 02:52:53. A superb run from him resulted in a 6 minute PB. Mike Smith has been training hard and it’s certainly paid off. A fantastic run meant a PB and sub 3 hour marathon time of 02:59:46. Ben Brown was thrilled with his PB time of 03:12:51. It was James North’s first marathon and what an effort. A brilliant result of 03:33:32. Chris Lloyd finished in 03:39:13. Our first lady home was Hannah Whale with an incredible performance. Hannah had no expectations going into the race and was hoping to enjoy it and get it done. She certainly did that in a superb time of 03:43:58. Sam Wolton ran a solid race and finished in 4:02. A strong run from Charlotte King saw her completing in 04:04:37. Team leader for the weekend, Ross Kemble completed in 04:09:30. Maryann Sycamore loves long distance running and always gets great results. She crossed the line in 04:42:35. Mandy Humm coming back from injury gave a great performance finishing in 04:47:41. Jody Smith was very pleased with her sub 5 hour marathon of 04:51:40. Ian Stokoe finished in 04:52:12. Putting all her training into practice Jenny Smith had a great race finishing in 04:54.08 with a PB of 4 minutes 17 seconds.
RELAYS
The relay teams ran half of the marathon route each, with the first person running into a chute off of the main route and handing over to their team mate.  Only a week after running a very fast London landmarks half marathon time, Joe slee finished his leg in 1:46.27. Running together Ladies captain Victoria Metson and Emma Healy finished in 1:51.53, a PB for them both. Also running together Mary Veater and Dan Roughan finished their first leg in 2:09.14. Stephen Metson running leg 2 crossed the line in 1:48. Close behind him was Caroliena Cameron crossing the line in 1:54. Chloe Randall competing in her debut race for the club completed her leg in 2:08. Rachael Roughan running leg 2 in the relay,  and supporting Mandy in the second half of her marathon finished in 2:37. Husband and wife team Victoria and Stephen had a great team result, with a combined time of 3:43.28 they placed 20th overall out of 102 teams.  2 confused ladies, Emma and Caroliena finished 28th place and 4th out of the 30 all female teams. Joe and Chloe were 34th overall in 3:54.57. Mary and Rachael were 72nd in 4:47.46.
We also have to give a HUGE shout out to the support crew. Joby, Simon, Liz, Alan Charli and Paul. They cheered on the course, took great photographs and helped navigate the team around Manchester.
Lastly THANK YOU so much Ross Kemble⁩ for being the driving force behind such a great weekend. HRR at its best displaying teamwork and togetherness 💛🖤.
CAMUPLODUNUM
In other race news Matt Biggin and Neil Addington took on the Camuplodunum self navigation Marathon on Sunday. A 45.5km long route that encircles the town of Colchester (known as Camulodunum in Roman times) and includes field paths, woodland, sea wall, prehistoric defence earthworks, a conservation valley, riverside as well as urban sections. It was a last minute decision to enter for Matt and he finished in 5:05. For Neil, it was his 111th marathon and he finished in 6:04.
A brilliant weekend of racing for HRR.