Race Results - for April 2000

Saturday 1st April	Sutton Park Relays
Sunday 2nd April	The Grizzly
Saturday 8th April	Winter League Results
Sunday 16th April	London Marathon
Monday 17th April	Boston Marathon
Sunday 23rd April	Massey 5
Sunday 30th April	Stratford Half Marathon

01/04/2000 - Runners do well at Sutton Park

The Runners put out a slightly understrength squad for the Midland Counties 12 Stage relay held at Sutton Park in Birmingham today. However, they still put in a spirited performance and finished in 40th position out of 60 teams. The weather conditions could have been better, with intermittent rain and a gusty wind prevailing for most of the afternoon.

The 12 stages are split between 4 long (5.6 miles) and 8 short (3 miles). Covering the longer distance the best performance of the day went to Martin Dorrill who returned 30:59. He was closely followed by Matthew Kingston, who in only his second appearance in a Kenilworth vest, achieved 31:06. Mick Williams, the clubs Mr. Consistent, had on this occasion to settle for third spot in 31:26. Simon Vine completed the long stages with 32:01

On the short legs, the best performance here belonged to Wayne Oakes who achieved 16:20. Roland Smythe produced the best Vets time of 17:41 and was narrowly beaten into 3rd pace on the last leg by Richard Steel, who returned 17:16. Other times for the short leg were; Ray Wilson 18:26, Gary Bradbury 18:50, Pat Noonan 19:21, Steve Jones 19:32 and Richard Greenhalf 20:12.

The start of the 12 stage - with Richard Steel amongst the front runners	Gary Bradbury - nearly there!
Mick Williams coming in to finish	Richard Greenhalf - no strength left?

The organisation at this annual event is top class and it gives the chance for us to complete against the very best in the country. For those of you who haven't done this type of event before, it is well worth it. So next time..........

02/04/2000 - Runners do well at the Grizzly

Not to be outdone by the relay team, several of the Runners also tackled the 20 mile, multi-terrain race down at Seaton in Devon. This has been a popular race both with the club and with runners from all over the UK. (Last year it was featured on Eurosport!) It involves some incredibly steep cliff climbs, running along the shingle beaches and ploughing your way through knee deep mud. (And all before Mother's Day lunch as well).

The appalling weather conditions did not help much as parts of the course reduced the runners to walking knee deep through the sticky mud. The Grizzly is renowned for its steep climbs and runs along the stony beaches, yet it is still over subscribed within a week of it being open. This year Stan Alexander was the first Kenilworth Runner back in a time of 3 hours 22 minutes. He was soon followed by Kerry Waine 3:28; John Jones 3:39; Gus Davidson 3:43 and Robin Groves 4:23.

Gerry Lewis, opting for the shorter cub race over 8 miles covered the course in 1:25, whilst Mick Tranter, who had originally entered the main race, but decided it was a run too far, completed the course in 1:43. However, his family did him proud with son Jamie coming in 9th overall in a time of 1:24, whilst daughter Claire was the 2nd girl U17 to finish the cub course.

Also running over the weekend, but nearer to home, at the Draycote Water 5 mile race, were several other runners who completed the flatish course in relatively fine conditions. First back was Richard Greenhalf in 34:56 finishing in 79th position. Mick Morris was 113th in 37:35, Pam Wilkes 191st in 43:40; June Lee 195th in 44:06; Ted Joyce Hatwood 204th in 45:27.

08/04/2000 - And the winner was........

The overall winner of the Winter League was Steve Jones who narrowly beat Dave Wolfin and Mick Morris.

The winner of the A group was Dave Wolfin, with Mick Morris runner up; whilst the B group was won by Richard Greenhalf with John Jones runner up. The C group was won by Richard Steel, while runner up was Roland Smythe.

The cross country runner of the year was a joint award to Martin Dorrill and Mick Morris, whilst the club member of the year went to Roland Smythe.

16/04/2000 - Some excellent results from London

Seventeen runners made the annual pilgrimage to the Capital last weekend for the Flora London Marathon. The outstanding performance of the day belonged to Sam Kincaid who sped round the 26.2 miles in 2 hours and 50 minutes, to finish in 567 place, whilst the heartache of the day must go to Terry Dyer, who fell ill shortly before the start of the race and had to retire at 6 miles. Other fine performances came from Mick Williams 2:52:47 (675th); Lou Frondella 2:56:08 (847th) and from Martin Dorrill 2:56:33 (865th), who has at last beaten the 3 hour mark on his fourth attempt. Another favourite to beat the 3 hour mark was Simon Vine, and just to prove that it all comes down to how you feel on the day, and not the lack of training, he had a bad race by his standard and finished in 3:26. Just getting to the line before him was marathon debutante Blair Hutton who completed the course in 3:18. Other results from the race that was run in near perfect conditions were: Gwyn Davies 3:27; Andy Groves 3:38; Andy Biss and Gary Bradbury 3:46; John Woodrow 3:50; Steve and Cathy Jones 3:57; Roger Clay 3:58 and John Jones - who was running in his customary Batman outfit - 4:15.

17/04/2000 - Whilst some Heartbreak over in Boston

With the majority of the runners opting for London, Roland Smythe, Wayne Oakes and Lisa Rodda decided to give the 104th Boston Marathon a go on Patriots day. The race certainly lived up to its reputation. It was run on a bone chilling day into a strong headwind and all three runners were doing well until the four hills of Newton began to take their toll. Wayne Oakes was forced to retire at the top of Heartbreak Hill with cramps and sickness whilst Roland Smythe made it over the top only to find that his legs started to seize up and was forced to walk for a few minutes before continuing. Getting going again proved to be extremely painful and the last six miles were very tough. Roland finished in 1,440 place in a time of 3:01:57 - out of a field of just under 16,000 runners. It was Lisa Rodda who ran the best tactical race, not having the same problems on Heartbreak Hill, it was just the cold and the wind chill factor of minus 6 degrees that held her back for 6,053 place in a time of 3:31. Despite the mixed results it was still a great race to participate in , the crowds and organisation were first class, and just to have taken part in the worlds oldest marathon was worth all the heartache and effort.

23/04/2000 - Massey 5

The first race of the new series started with the Massey 5 over in Coventry. Richard Steel was the first Kenilworth Runner back in just over 28 minutes, narrowly squeezing out Mick Williams (28:50) and Martin Dorrill (29:20). Completing the team was Richard Greenhalf who returned a time of 33:30. This is a new event for this year and as such it may take a short while to get off the ground. However, judging by the number of runners who turned up today, this may not take too long. There were a total of 10 Kenilworth vests amongst the runners and making a welcome return to the race arena were Mike Cahill (33:52) and Liam Berney (34:54). Just nipping in front of then was John Jones who clocked 33:49. Other runners wearing Kenilworth colours were Martyn and Karen Carter along with Ray and Jason Wilson. Unfortunately, no times were available at the time of writing this report.

30/04/2000 - Stratford Half/Full Marathon

Despite missing two of their best runners, Kenilworth still managed to retain the title that they won last year. No doubt still fired up with all the marathon training the team of Mick Williams, Matthew Kingston, Roger Holmes, Ray Wilson, Lou Frondella and Roland Smythe all ran very well considering the conditions. It had been forecast to be warm and sunny, but not even the organisers would have expected it to be so perfect. If anything it was too warm - but luckily there were drinks stations every two miles.

The course was changed this year, starting outside the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and the first half mile included a loop round the streets of Stratford before heading off onto the Evesham Road. With a field of over 1,500 runners it meant that it was quite a tricky start. Unfortunately, Stratford being Stratford and a Bank Holiday weekend to boot - the roads were chock-a-block. As a result, Gus Davidson, Terry Dyer and Lou Frondella were all late, with Lou actually missing the start and being forced to join the race at the back.

There were some excellent crowds along the route to cheer on the runners, and the drinks stations were a welcome sight. The course was undulating with the only major rise between seven and eight miles. It was the Greenway that began to take its toll on the runners, shortly after 9 miles, as it was two miles of old railway track with no wind at all and it seemed to go on forever. It was a relief to complete this part of the course as there was now only just over a mile to go. Running down the tramway, the full marathon runners peeled off to the left into the Recreation Ground - to start their second lap(!), whilst the half marathon runners just had a few hundred yards to go to their finish and a welcome bottle of water and a Mars bar.

Results and positions:

Whilst most of the Runners opted for the half, two of them decided that the full was more of a challenge. Gus Davidson, looking to do this years London to Brighton run, was running to try to get a qualifying time - 4 hours - and went agonizingly close to finish in 4 hours and 1 minute! John Jones - our 100+ marathon man - had a race that he would sooner forget as the weather got the better of him and he finished in 4 hours and 32 minutes.

Nevertheless, it was a good day, not least with the club retaining its grip on the half marathon championship.