Northbrook Results

For a complete listing visit the Results Index

November 2022

Coombe 8 – 27 November OTH

20 Matthew Hathrell 00:53:43
29 Tom Hughes 00:56:54
41 Rob Richardson 00:59:17
72 Peter Kirkhope 01:04:36
81 Ian Paterson 01:05:54
90 Spencer Davies 01:07:28
91 Tim Hughes 01:07:37
95 Alan Smith 01:08:16
118 David Hadley 01:12:57
120 Simon Aldridge 01:13:01
142 Cliff Evans 01:15:45
144 Rich Cawley 01:16:02
145 cath Fenn 01:16:16
153 Stuart Clements 01:17:57
163 Joanne Evans 01:18:49
165 Kevin Erne 01:19:10
167 Caroline Hughes 01:19:21
171 Michelle Edwards 01:20:30
185 Carolyn Hadley 01:24:54
196 Jo Arden 01:31:01
199 Tracy Jefferson 01:32:12
208 Jan Watson 01:40:42

Gato Sports Head Torch 10k, Salcey Forest – 23 November 10k

2 Matthew Hathrell 0:39:52
25 Spencer Davies 0:52:33
36 Claudie Combelas 0:56:58
93 Chris Archer 1:22:11

After a wet week 4 of us headed to Salcey Forest for the 1st race in the 3 race winter series hosted by Big Bear Events. Travelling the weather was not too bad but upon arrival the heavens opened with what felt like buckets of water being thrown at us. It was wet, it was slippery and it was very dark. And that was just the trip from the car park to registration.

Putting on every layer I had (4 layers on my top) and gloves in an attempt to keep warm we toed the start line already soaked to the skin. As the race progressed we ended up split and separated in our own spaces. The footing was both hard and slippery at the same time, and deep puddles with gooey mud meant there was no point trying to avoid them. It was dark, the headtorches giving away positions close to us.

I managed to use 2 guys 200 mtrs ahead of me for directions while focusing on footfall and enjoying the darkness and the silence that comes with running, the constant heavy rain in the headtorch light keeping me entertained all the way round. A slow time for me but I was happy to see Matt waiting after his tight race at the front.

We retreated to the car to dispose of wet layers and try to get warm. Claudie closely followed us bac and Chris brought us home having enjoyed his "stomp" through the big puddles. Two more races to go in the series and plenty of improvement due – Spencer

Ilmington 10k – Tempo Winter Series, Race 2 – 20 November 10k

71 Spencer Davies 00:52:15  
79 Tim Hughes 00:52:55  
106 Claudie Combelas 00:55:52 3rd FV55
108 Cath Fenn 00:55:54  
119 Sarah Booker 00:56:55  
239 Chris Archer 01:16:39  
252 Sara Phipps 01:24:59  
253 Rich Cawley 01:25:00  
254 Rebecca Barber 01:25:08  

Derby 10 Miles – 20 November 10M

141 Amanda Deavy 01:04:41 1st FV40
142 Damian Pharoah 01:04:43  
154 David Hartopp 01:05:19  
215 Rob Richardson 01:09:20  
249 Tommy Dempsey 01:10:47  
365 Kyle Beddoe 01:16:09  
366 Clare King 01:16:15  
380 Sarah Duffy 01:16:46 PB, by 5m 35s
431 Peter Kirkhope 01:18:14  
478 Debbie Campbell 01:19:45  
490 Stewart Pearman 01:20:17  
498 Robert Cox 01:19:39  
499 Sally Eason 01:19:35  
520 David Mills 01:22:02  
589 Simon Aldridge 01:24:34  
687 Cliff Evans 01:27:16  
890 Joanne Evans 01:34:24  
902 Ellie Aldridge 01:34:56  

Droitwich Half-Marathon – 20 November HM

35 Francis Mason 1:47:34
44 Alan Smith 1:51:12

Francis and I did the rearranged Droitwich Half-Marathon on Sunday. Thankfully the rain stayed off until after we finished, and the conditions were perfect. Not a particularly big turnout this year. The limit is set at 300, but only 95 people finished and there were about 30 no-shows. Perhaps there were a lot of deferrals from the original cancelled race.

The course is described as undulating, and they’re not wrong. It’s a weird course where you pass the same sections from different directions, but very picturesque out in the countryside. Marshalling and general organisation were excellent. A good race to do if you want to do hill training. Ether was a nice medal at the end, and we all got a small sports towel as well.

I ended up just 41s outside my PB (weak bladder let me down again – one of these days I might get my hydration right), but considering this was not a flat course, I was pleased with the result. I was 4th in my age group (ok, there were only 13 people in my age group!) and Francis was 6th in his.

We met up with a local YouTuber, and we’re probably going to end up in his video of the event. I bigged up the Northbrook 10k on camera, so perhaps we might get a few more taking part next year – Alan

Coventry 10k – 20 November 10K

20 Albert McCosker 0:44:43
33 Mark Baker 0:47:13
68 Darren James 0:54:03
84 Kevin Erne 0:57:15

Oulton Park 20 Mile – 20 November 20M

2 Steve Turvey 2:17:19
14 Caroline Hughes 3:38:43

CAROLINE HUGHES

Steve Turvey and I headed up to Cheshire this Sunday, intent on clawing our way up the race table by completing one of the last 20 mile races in 2022. Oulton Park has ample parking, an enthusiastic warm up and no queues for either toilets or bag drop, due both to good organisation, and also because only 14 people turned up for the 20 mile race.

At 9:15 Steve and I headed off – at slightly different speeds. The course is an undulating springy seven laps of a tarmac course, with plenty of room for everyone on the track, even with a marathon, 20-mile, 16-mile, half-marathon, 10k and 5k all taking place on the same course. The marathon of 10 laps was better attended with 93 finishers. We had good weather, light winds, and enthusiastic support from the marshals.

The first 10 miles and 4 laps flew by and I treated myself to some snack cheese at mile 20. I was Jeffing at a ratio of 3 mins running to 2 walking, which unfortunately meant I had to run up both small hills on every lap. I was overtaken by a lot of grim faced half-marathon runners, but did they have sports cheese? No, they did not.

At 13 miles my knee started to niggle so I pulled out my headphones as the secret weapon for the last 2 laps. At 14 miles I started to sing as there were very few people left on the course by then and my leg was very hurty. After a tuneful rendition of Sinnerman (Felix da Housecat mix) and Everything Louder Than Everything Else by Meat Loaf, I was on the final lap and decided to run it apart from the hills. At this point I started to overtake a few exhausted marathon runners. I was looking forward to a fight at the finish but as everyone else left on the course was walking, I was disappointed.

I finished in 14th place with a time of 3 hours 38:43 which was comfortably in my 4 hour target. I also finished in 3rd female place as only 2 other females ran the 20 miles. I then got a free sports massage. Oulton Park is great.

The other Northbrooker on the course, Mr Turvey, finished 1st* in the 20 mile race, with a spectacular time of 2:17:19. We could not find a podium to celebrate, so headed back tired but happy, and I put some injury peas on my leg while Steve tracked down his wife in a local supermarket.

I would recommend this race, but especially for any woman who wants a top 10 finish. It’s possible you could be the only female finisher if the weather is bad – Caroline

*Steve’s position was subsequently changed to 2nd – still a great result.

Draycote Half-Marathon – 19 November HM

104 Claudie Combelas 1:57:02 2nd FV60

Draycote 10k – 19 November 10K

232 Chris Archer 1:07:55  

CHRIS ARCHER

Seagrave Wolds Challenge – 12 November OTH

140 Claudie Combelas 2:50:46

CLAUDIE COMBELAS

An enjoyable 16 miles through North Leicestershire countryside with a few hills and some mud.

Best of all were the apple crumble, soup, sandwiches, cakes, tea and coffee at the end. All organised by the local community.

Birmingham & District Invitation Cross-Country League Div 3 Race 1 at Stoke on Trent – 12 November OTH

45 Tom Cox 0:43:44
62 David Hartopp 0:44:59
70 Richard Bruce 0:45:22
71 Steve Turvey 0:45:23
85 Damian Pharoah 0:46:12
98 Rob Richardson 0:46:58
117 Terry Moynihan 0:48:35
136 Tommy Dempsey 0:50:51
176 Kyle Beddoe 0:53:46
177 Tony Hughes 0:53:46
183 Lee Newark 0:54:07
192 Mark Baker 0:54:35
203 Tim Hughes 0:55:47
208 Francis Mason 0:56:18
214 Alan Smith 0:57:01
215 David Mills 0:57:13
216 Malcolm Copeland 0:57:24
219 Spencer Davies 0:57:38
220 Adrian Lowe 0:57:46
226 Simon Aldridge 0:58:25
228 David Tittle 0:58:49
232 Cliff Evans 0:59:42

The long awaited 1st fixture of the Cross-Country League finally arrived and the number of men in the ranks had swelled to a dizzy 22. That’s 22 heroes, all wearing a sunburst and all running for each other and for their club.

The weather was warm, and for those that had been before the dread of what we were going out onto, filled the air. With a mixture of road shoes, spikes and trail shoes we laced up and toed the line. Having cheered and encouraged the women on (well done women for a great turnout and performance) we wore our face paint and rallied to the roar of “COME ON NORTHBROOK”. The club was ready, our heroes stepped up and it started. 3 laps and 800+ft of climb, this was not for the faint hearted. With narrow stony paths they battled and pushed, exerting everything up the steep climbs and pushing everything down the fast open fields. Our supporters and the now recovering women encouraged and abused us at every step. If we were not running hard they let us know.

Lap 3 and Tom had the honour of leading Northbrook home, then they started to arrive, on their own and in pairs, Northbrook working together and hard for each other. Our chairman on the time-keeping duties ensured there was a familiar face as the men rushed to be sick or to collapse just outside the finish funnel with no energy left until they were asked about their race.

This was a great performance, men’s seniors A team placing 11th with 431 points, and the B seniors team finishing 6th with 981 points. The masters A team placed 8th with 198 points and the masters B team placed 7th with 418 points. What a day to start the season.

But men, clean those spikes. Stratford is just as unforgiving and we require more from you. MORE effort, MORE numbers, MORE support (we will need it) and it will give us the chance to tell MORE of our stories on the social Christmas night out. GO ON NORTHBROOK, we can do this – Spencer

 

SPENCER DAVIES

Full results on Bham League web site

Midland Women’s Cross-Country League Race 1 at Stoke on Trent – 12 November OTH

15 Kathryn Adams 0:29:03
39 Jessica Barry 0:31:41
54 Debbie Campbell 0:32:42
56 Sally Eason 0:32:54
73 Katy Davies 0:34:23
87 Collette O’Keefe 0:35:53
101 Lisa Bragg 0:37:02
109 Joanne Evans 0:37:37
113 Lisa Abbott 0:37:57
116 Caroline Russell 0:38:03
118 Ellie Aldridge 0:38:13
145 Carolyn Hadley 0:40:15
146 Julie Cozens 0:40:21
151 Fern Kenny 0:40:41
170 Amy Peters 0:42:54
175 Tracy Jefferson 0:43:21
184 Kelly Parker 0:45:19
192 Verity Crichton 0:47:00
207 Tracey Cox 0:52:13

An unseasonably warm day for the first league cross country fixture. No rain, very little wind & quite a lot of sunshine, but as soon as we arrived at the venue we knew it would be tough. The course started at the top of the park and headed down, and down some more, that means you have to go back up again, and up was very tough. The downs were stony, the ups were spongy and energy sapping. There were a few undulating bits across the top of the course but they just felt like they were more ups and very little downs.

An amazing Northbrook team of 19 women were out wearing the sunbursts, a brilliant turnout for such a long trip. Everyone did fantastically well and dug deep, there were sprint finishes aplenty to snatch vital extra points on the finish line. Our team was led home by Kathryn Adams, a fantastic 15th place overall (7th senior) and Jess Barry in 39th place (16th senior), and they were ably backed up by 17 other women finishers.

Northbrook fielded the most runners on the day and came 9th overall in the main race (out of 28) and 9th in the masters race (out of 23). A top 10 finish has got to be in our sights for this season.

Big thanks to Bob Adams who volunteered to be a timekeeper on behalf of the club, thus saving us points, and to all the Northbrook men who were out in force across the course cheering us on before their race – Sally Eason

 

SALLY EASON

Druids Way Ultra (27.1 Miles) – 12 November OTH

  Duncan Gordon 6:52:18

Really enjoyable trail over the Ridgeway.

Wooler Trail Marathon – 6 November M

1877 David Tittle 8:01:00

TRAIL OUTLAWS

My third time at this event and the most challenging yet, as we faced driving wind and rain ascending the Cheviot.

A well organised, friendly trail marathon taking in the Cheviot, the Schil and White Law. The race takes in every type of surface including road, scree, rock, mud, grass, granite slabs and peat bog. There is even a stretch along the Scottish border.

Centurion Grand Prix 5 Mile Race 1 – 6 November 5M

4 Craig Holmes 0:28:35  
7 David Hartopp 0:30:42  
8 Steven Turvey 0:31:14  
14 Matthew Hathrell 0:32:32  
25 Sarah Duffy 0:36:21 PB, 1st FV35
27 Spencer Davies 0:37:15  
31 Tim Hughes 0:38:01  
34 Sally Eason 0:38:43  
36 Rob Cox 0:38:49  
53 Lisa Abbott 0:41:09  
54 Simon Abbott 0:41:20  
55 Tony Mackness 0:41:25  
61 Cath Fenn 0:42:47  
65 Claudie Combelas 0:43:14  
75 Graeme Smith 0:45:19  
81 Julie Cozens 0:47:19  
93 Victoria Hand 0:59:43  
94 Chris Archer 1:00:57  

Birmingham ‘MoRun’ Half-Marathon, Sutton Park – 6 November HM

51 Mark Baker 1:49:41 3rd MV50

It’s been a difficult year for me at all distances, but I needed a few races to get ready for the Cross-Country League. Last week’s 10 mile race was a huge struggle, but a last minute entry to the ‘MoRun’ half-marathon was an improvement today.

The race in Sutton Park follows much of the relay’s route. There’s a small loop, then 4 big laps, including the famous hill! A 10k race and 5k race joined in after the first big lap. I got to 10 miles about 3 minutes quicker than last week, and finished well.

Still a lot of work to do, but positive signs for me today.

Mad Jacks 5 – 5 November HM

108 Spencer Davies 0:43:15

This was an event that had been on my radar for quite a few years and never fell quite right on the calender, until this year. With Tracey recovering from illness my plan was to visit Shrewsbury parkrun then do the 15 minute trip between locations to register in time on the day for the event. Parkrun went well and with Tracey having the car running and ready I piled through the door as Tracey masterfully navigated the short trip to arrive just in time.

The weather was cold and windy but a fantastic location. I realised looking around that spikes might have been better for this one. The leaders were quick (they had not just done parkrun was the excuse in my head) and the terrain was soggy and slippery. I was loving it. The first fence climb was uneventful, with a cheer on from Tracey just after the mile I stormed past the ice house and headed into the woods. This is where I noticed the deer. They looked bewildered but luckily non phased by what was going on. As I got onto the river bank the next fence crossing was navigated with no issues. Then we entered the sheep field, Tthe sheep seeming kamikazi, running directly at me. Who knew sheep could move so fast? It was certainly the fastest I moved on the course and I was glad to cross the bridge and leave the sheep behind me.

As I was picking off places I could see the pond dip approaching. It was cold and thigh deep (though upon entry the shock made the legs give way), and slippery while sinking into the ooze on the bottom. This was great fun. The short trip to the finish was completed on numb legs and moving them round was the best way to try to get warm.

A great event that will hopefully see me return next year.