Northbrook Results

For a complete listing visit the Results Index

October 2023

November Nightmare Coalport Railway Marathon – 31 October M

3 Claudie Combelas 4:24:23

CLAUDIE COMBELAS

Up and down an unused railway line with mixed trail and some lovely woods. Pacing myself as I knew that I had two more marathon coming over the next two days. The weather was kind and I actually quite enjoyed this.

Glad I’d taken Monday off after the Coventry Half celebrations.

Apocalypse Run 10 Miles – 29 October 10M

3 Matthew Hathrell 1:17:20

Third year in a row skipping Cov Half to have far more fun running up some hills in the Cotswolds. This race has the best last mile of any, steep downhill on tarmac. After all those hills it’s such a joy. Had to be somewhat careful on my ankle throughout the race, but it’s strong enough to hold a decent pace, and I ended up having a fairly lonely race – just passing canicross runners and hikers.

Brilliant day out and a nice trophy at the end.

Tamworth 10k – 29 October 10K

  Rob Cox 00:43:12 1st MV60
  Kathryn Adams 00:44:35 2nd FSEN
  Sally Eason 00:45:48 1st FV60

KATHRYN ADAMS

Whilst most of the club were either running or volunteering at Coventry Half Marathon (well done to all those who did) three of us were running at the previously announced Tamworth 10K. Two relatively flat laps on park paths, canal towpaths and some pavement in favorable running conditions provided the basis for some very good times – Rob

Coventry Half-Marathon – 29 October HM

DAISY EVANS

18 Martin McGough 01:17:34  
69 Peter Stafford 01:24:38  
88 Chris Goodman 01:26:37  
121 Steve King 01:28:29  
123 Amanda Deavy 01:28:45 1st FV40
130 Tom Hughes 01:28:48  
166 Liam Mills 01:32:06  
167 Ben Smith 01:32:08  
203 Dan Stevens 01:34:22  
207 Tommy Dempsey 01:34:34  
224 Anita Howe 01:35:19 2nd FV50
233 Tom McNamara 01:36:28  
250 Spencer Davies 01:36:15  
256 Kevin Spare 01:37:26  
418 Lee Newark 01:44:08  
445 Jessica Hone 01:45:23  
460 Stewart Pearman 01:46:02  
464 Debbie Campbell 01:46:09  
467 Gemma Nash 01:46:12  
476 Glen Guyver-Fletcher 01:47:02  
495 Paul Robbins 01:47:23  
518 Christie Hall 01:48:32  
559 Greg Wallam 01:49:26  
620 Tim Ottley 01:51:26  
633 Andy Hyland 01:51:12  
637 Steve Bottomley 01:51:12  
667 Rhys Robbins 01:52:55 PB
681 Louise Myers 01:52:34  
703 David Mills 01:54:13  
729 Cliff Evans 01:53:30  
755 Simon Aldridge 01:55:11  
775 Claudie Combelas 01:55:17 2nd FV60
781 Dave Halford 01:55:29  
787 Craig Webb 01:56:42  
799 Stuart Clements 01:56:32  
811 Caroline Hughes 01:56:19  
813 Martina McConville 01:56:56  
820 Craig Slyde 01:57:31  
830 Anthony Grace 01:57:07  
860 Lee Miller 01:58:24  
932 Leisha Smith 02:01:02  
943 Karen Brewster 02:01:32  
956 Michelle Edwards 02:02:39  
957 Allison Smith 02:01:58  
1032 Kevin Coughlan 02:04:37  
1033 Joanne Evans 02:05:29  
1064 David Tittle 02:06:12  
1071 Stephen Simpson 02:07:38  
1104 Tori Boyle 02:09:02  
1145 Ellie Aldridge 02:11:38  
1151 Lisa Edwards 02:09:22  
1161 David Giles 02:12:02  
1164 Kirstie Murray 02:10:52  
1172 Fern Kenny 02:11:55  
1282 Julia Cook 02:16:37  
1283 Narelle Copland 02:16:37  
1316 Jamie Gould 02:20:44  
1320 Jo Arden 02:18:57  
1358 Rebecca Jarvis 02:19:49  
1406 Nicola Glaze 02:23:59  
1466 Catherine Dear 02:26:48  
1477 Tracy Jefferson 02:28:34  
1490 Joanna Hughes 02:28:46  
1492 Collette O’keefe 02:28:54  
1493 Sarah Batson 02:28:54  
1519 Mike Duggan 02:31:07 1st MV80
1530 Liane Powell 02:32:13  
1553 Jamie Beardmore 02:35:38  
1580 Chris Archer 02:39:30  
1589 Tracey Williams 02:42:09  
1599 Daisy Evans 02:44:17  
1647 Tracey Cox 03:00:20  
1661 Yvonne Boyle 03:18:08 PB

Snowdonia Marathon, Llanberis – 28 October M

  Duncan Gordon 6:18:13

Snowdonia Marathon Eyriry, Llanberis – 26 October M

  Claudie Combelas 4:33:00 3rd FV60

CLAUDIE COMBELAS

As tough as I remembered it with a long climb to Penn y Pass at which point I nearly gave up. Kept going as no phone signal to get a lift home and enjoyed the next 4 miles which were more downhill. After a long drag through Beddgelert, we eventually got to the 2 mile walking climb up to mile 24. After which it was a slippery, sliding run down the hill to the finish and a really well deserved pint before the drive back to Coventry for Coventry Half the next day.

Ilmington 10k – Tempo Winter Series, Race 1 – 22 October 10K

45 Spencer Davies 00:48:03
46 Paul Robbins 00:48:37
88 Cath Fenn 00:53:51
135 Caroline Hughes 00:59:07
179 Sarah Booker 01:04:19
234 Chris Archer 01:09:15
279 Tracey Williams 01:15:52
291 Brian Hewetson 01:18:29
302 Jane Ward 01:28:02
304 Yvonne Boyle 01:32:41

Midlands Cross-Country Relays, Aldersley Leisure Village – 21 October OTH

24th Men’s Team

  Damian Pharoah 00:24:49
  Lee McKervey 00:23:40
  Tom Hughes 00:22:57
  Adrian Harbourne 00:21:28
    1:32:53

27th Men’s Team

  Paul Robbins 00:26:38
  John Vardy 00:25:09
  Craig Webb 00:30:03
  Alan Smith 00:27:27
    1:49:17

39th Men’s Team

  Adrian Lowe 00:29:37
  Rob Richardson 00:25:29
  Charlie Cunningham 00:28:13
  David Mills 00:28:45
    1:52:05

40th Men’s Team

  Terry Moynihan 00:25:15
  Kevin Coughlan 00:30:51
  Malc Copeland 00:28:14
  Spencer Davies 00:28:26
    1:52:46

43rd Men’s Team

  Tommy Dempsey 00:27:02
  Matthew Hathrell 00:25:32
  David Tittle 00:32:25
  Lee Newark 00:29:04
    1:54:01

13th Women’s Team

  Kathryn Adams 00:27:24
  Debbie Campbell 00:30:09
  Sally Eason 00:29:24
    1:26:57

28th Women’s Team

  Michelle Edwards 00:32:36
  Judith Haley 00:45:46
  Fern Kenny 00:34:51
    1:53:11

29th Women’s Team

  Victoria Hand 00:48:04
  Claudie Combelas 00:33:17
  Natalia Greenhill 00:32:21
    1:53:42

Abingdon Marathon – 22 October M

CLAUDIE COMBELAS

178 Steve Turvey 3:09:49
349 David Hartopp 3:33:58
541 Claudie Combelas 3:59:29

Big Bear Birch Challenge – 19 October M

11 Claudie Combelas 5:07:45
18 Katy Davies 5:53:24

A 3.3 mile lapped course through the lovely trails of Cannock Chase. The weather mostly held off until the evening.

Took it easy and really enjoyed it. Marathon distance completed – Claudie

Head Torch 10k, Cannock Chase Forest – 19 October 10K

14 Matt Hathrell 0:58:23

A casual jog round, with poles, to protect my injured ankle. I shouldn’t really have been running at all, but I had to get out of the house and take some exercise.

As always, Big Bear has very interesting courses, and it was a real shame I couldn’t run this one all out (as I may have been back before the rain got too bad). Definitely one to look out for if it happens again next year.

Chelmsford Marathon – 15 October M

201 Claudie Combelas 4:01:42 1st FV60

Amsterdam Marathon – 15 October M

1322 Dan Stevens 2:59:57

Amsterdam marathon, the one I’d been working towards during the summer months. The focus in training was to be able to run under 3hrs come race day. Up until the final week everything had gone so well in training and with my health. Then crashing down I came 5 days out from the marathon. Full of cold and a chesty cough. Absolutely typical. The training block looked to have been too good to be true. Up until the morning of the race I was still in 2 minds whether to call it off or not. I sat there in the hotel room at 6:30am eating a couple of cold crossaints and sipping away at my Maurten 320 drink; the temptation to slip back into bed was strong. Never have I had so much self doubt going into a race before.

Fortunately there are people around me who encourage me to give it a try. As Tim Hughes said “It’s better to DNF than to DNS.” At least that way I’ll know it wasn’t meant to be if I at least give it a shot and have to stop. We make our way to the Olympic stadium which is roughly a 2km walk, still plenty of self doubt going on in my head. I manage to get a 5 min warm up in and the self doubt is starting to ease. Now this is something I’m not proud of but it just may have been the difference with the result of the race. As I was finishing my warm up, another runner had sprinted past me whilst doing some strides and out slipped a gel. I had only 3 gels on me, knowing full well it he strategy was to take 4. So I picked this Maurten 100 gel up and slipped it in my pocket. That poor chap may have hit the wall at 24 miles due to having 1 less gel to use. Sorry!

DAN STEVENS

The race starts and we set off at the pace desired to run under 3hrs. (4:12 per K pace or 6:46 per mile pace). With each 5km that passes it amazes me how controlled I’m feeling. We get to half way in 1:29 and we’re now fully in the zone, I know the hard work is still yet to come, let’s plug away to 20 miles and see how we feel. I get to 20 and everything is still working well, making sure I’m hydrating at almost every station as well as taking the gels on board every 35 mins. Trying to sip water/energy drink from these paper cups was a task in itself.

Just the 10k to go and by my watch I had 44 minutes on the clock left to run under 3hrs. A 44 minute 10k is a breeze these days, that’s what I told myself anyway. I’m looking at my Garmin splits and we’re 2 to 3 tenths of a mile up on the course markers. I knew it had a chance of being out with how many turns there are. I went through 24 miles and with roughly 2.5 miles left I knew it was time to graft. Just don’t allow the form to get too sloppy.

The crowd and atmosphere was amazing throughout, the number of people shouting my name, spurring me on was everything I needed. I get to 26 miles and we’re in survival mode, near on a km left of running and time is running out. I have to throw the kitchen sink, it’s now or never. I get to the stadium knowing there was roughly 300 metres left to the finish line with a minute or so left on the clock to sneak under 3hrs. Then over the finish line we went.. 2hrs 59 minutes, 57 seconds.

Pure exhaustion at the end. “How on earth did I just achieve that?” I don’t usually get emotional but after what I’d been through and the self doubt I’d felt in the days leading up to this moment, there wasn’t a chance I wasn’t going to let a tear slip. There’s no shame. It was just relief and pure happiness. All that work that had been put in had an end result that I was proud of. A lesson learnt, if you don’t try then you’ll never know.

York Marathon – 15 October M

  Alan Smith 4:05:47 PB

ALAN SMITH

Going into this race with a slight hamstring niggle picked up at Glasgow 2 weeks ago, I knew the magical sub-4 I’ve been after was probably not going to happen.

I got myself mid-way between the 3h30m and 3h45m pacers, and going through half-way at 1h46m, I thought it was back on the cards. Unfortunately, I must have been running slightly differently to compensate for my niggle, as everything in my left leg started to hurt really badly. I reached the 30km point in 2h41m, but everything was hurting so much (including both biceps), that the last 12km was awful.

I finished in 4h5m47s which was a 6 minute PB, and 34 minutes faster than last year, but I was still very disappointed.

It’s a brilliant, mostly flat course, and the organisation on the day is excellent. Definitely recommended.

Great South Run – 15 October 10M

  Lee Miller 1:29:03
  Nicola Glaze 1:38:10

Manchester Half-Marathon – 15 October HM

  Rhys Robbins 1:55:44 PB

RHYS ROBBINS

A very nice course, and a race I would recommend to anyone who is looking to run a half-marathon.

Yorkshire 3 Peaks Ultra – 14 October OTH

24 Matt Hathrell 10:15:33

Brisk, but mostly dry weather made an enjoyable day out running through the Yorkshire Dales – or it would have been if I hadn’t rolled my ankle on the way down Whernside. After that, basically just had to hike 45k to get it done. Still mostly had a good time though, there’s worse things to be doing than hiking in the fells.

The race has an optional extra 30k out and back over Great Shunner Fell that means I need to go back and finish it at some point in the next few years.

Ladybower 50k – 14 October OTH

  Rob Richardson 5:46:00  
  Clare King 5:48:00 2nd FV40

ROB RICHARDSON

An epic day out in the Peak District and an absolutely stunning route. I fell over twice, and lost my phone after it fell into a puddle, but I loved it. I finished 8th MV50.

Many thanks to Clare King who kept me going at the end. There is nothing like seeing a Northbrook vest to spur you on. The distance was 54km, with 1000m ascent and difficult, muddy conditions underfoot. I aimed for sub 6 hrs and finished in 5:46 – Rob

Centurion Autumn 100, Goring-on-Thames – 14 October OTH

  Tony Bowe 26:05:44

Civil Service Cross-Country Championships – 11 October 5M

24 Damian Pharoah 0:36:33
33 Rob Richardson 0:38:10
49 Mark Baker 0:44:16

The annual Civil Service cross-country championships took place at the usual hilly venue of Parliament Hills Fields in London. The men’s race was shorter this year, so that both the men and women could run the same distance together.
Former Northbrook member Tim Wright led all of us home, finishing in 12th place in 34.39. Tim still holds a few club records from many years ago, and is still running very well, leading home his department.

Damian’s department won the men’s team race, while Rob ran well before heading back to Northbrook to lead a training session later in the day. For me, it was my first run after a marathon race 3 days earlier. I started steadily and the legs loosened off as the race went on. I was pleased to be first finisher for my department (there were 3 of us I discovered later).

It was great to catch up for a pint afterwards, before heading our separate ways – Mark

Chicago Marathon – 8 October M

  Craig Webb 4:45:35

It was an honour to race in this special marathon. It was a fantastic race, a lovely flat course, amazing scenery and warm support from the crowds. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and perhaps did too much sight-seeing prior to racing (next time I’ll do the race first and the walking about afterwards).

After having nearly three months off running from May-August with a bad injury, I was happy to finish the race. Kelvin Kiptum tied my shoelaces together when I wasn’t looking, just so I couldn’t spoil his two hour attempt, cheat.

That’s 2 out of 6 majors completed, number three next year.

CRAIG WEBB

Isle of Wight Marathon – 8 October M

DAVE HALFORD

77 Dave Halford 4:31:28

My 100th Marathon

Alcester 10k – 8 October 10K

RHYS ROBBINS

  Stuart Clements 0:48:47  
  Rhys Robbins 0:49:51 PB
  Martin Gavin 1:00:29  
  Daisy Evans 1:09:13 PB

Dorney Lake Marathon – 8 October M

61 Mark Baker 3:56:22 2nd MV55

The Dorney Lake Marathon, near Windsor, is flat with lots of laps up and down the side of the lake.

I was pleased to get under 4 hours again. I have run many marathons and never recorded a time over 4 hours, but recent marathons have been close to this time. I ran with a very patient steady pace up to 20 miles, then had to ‘dig in’ as the weather warmed up, but I still felt in control. I probably drank too much water based on how I felt after the finish, but I needed good hydration in the race.

Not feeling too bad now, which is a bonus.

Rugby 10 Miles – 8 October 10M

6 Martin McGough 00:58:43 3rd MV35
11 Matthew Hathrell 01:01:48  
35 Steven Turvey 01:07:10  
62 Tommy Dempsey 01:11:06  
88 Spencer Davies 01:16:40  
100 Malc Copeland 01:19:54  
109 Christie Hall 01:21:15  
111 Debbie Campbell 01:21:38  
123 Joe Kelly 01:24:18  
132 Simon Aldridge 01:25:49  
159 Joanne Evans 01:33:58  
167 Ellie Aldridge 01:40:21  
178 Joanna Hughes 01:51:32  
179 Ruth Hallett 01:51:41  
181 Jan Watson 01:53:27  
182 Tracy Jefferson 01:53:48  

The final race of the Warwickshire Road Race League, and of course Northbrook turned up with numbers. Great race weather (who’d believe it was October) led to some brilliant times, and many PBs, despite that notorious hill.

Thanks to Rob and Alexis for their fantastic support. Now we just need to wait for the League to update the overall results – Matt

LDWA Goyt Valley Challenge – 7 October M

  Tony Bowe 7:30:00

A Marathon distance trail event in the Derbyshire High Peaks

Swindon Ultra 50k – 1 October OTH

19 Claudie Combelas 6:12:40

CLAUDIE COMBELAS

Another last minute entry and a night on my own in the van in the pub car park. A very nice course, especially if you like grass (first half), a couple of big hills and parks. Enjoyed it.

Loch Ness Marathon – 1 October M

2574 Stuart Clements 5:01:09
3027 Craig Slyde 5:33:17

Rugby Half-Marathon – 1 October HM

  Malc Copeland 1:48:14

Great Scottish Run – 1 October 10K

  Alan Smith 1:38:08

I travelled up to Glasgow for a long weekend, and to do the Scottish version of the Great North Run, the Great Scottish Run. I think there were about ten thousand people doing the half plus another six thousand running the 10k. The weather was spot on for both participants and spectators; the wind was the only thing that spoiled it (the organisers had to take down the 2-mile marker on the bridge crossing the Clyde as it kept blowing over). There was a nasty 1km hill right at the start, but once that was passed, the rest of the course was "undulating" with the last 5 miles gently downhill.

ALAN SMITH

My plan was to stick as close to 7m30s mile pace for the duration, and I wasn’t too far off. I was in the 1st wave of runners, and I put myself half way between the 1h40m and 1h45m pacer with a goal of making sure the 1h45m bloke did not pass me. My shoe lace came undone at mile 3, and I had to make a toilet stop at mile 6 whilst running through the park section. It turns out these 2 events spoiled the day slightly. I had my watch set to show me only the current mile stats (estimated time to finish, current mile, etc), so I had no idea of my total time at any point. I find that takes the pressure off.

The last mile was hard, but the crowd support was fantastic. With about 1km to go, I spotted the 1h40m pacer ahead of me, so I decided to try and catch him and when he spotted me chasing him down, he turned around and started shouting at the top of his voice "Get past me! Get past me!". That spurred me on, and I passed him with 200 metres to go, and managed to finish in 1h38m08s, unfortunately 12 seconds outside my Half PB, but this was a much hillier course that the pancake flat Kew Half, and measured slightly long too (so Strava is claiming it’s a PB).

I was let down by my bladder and a shoe lace, so I feel another trip to the Kew Half next year is required.

Run Stanwick Lakes 10k – 1 October 10K

6 Spencer Davies 0:43:10 1st in age category

Barcelona Ironman – 1 October M

  Lee McKervey 3:42:00

Marathon distance run