Verity Dunbar 
Half Marathons were the order of the weekend for club runners this week, with Trevor Sparkes heading off to the picturesque Hampton Court to compete on the mixed tarmac and off road course as part of a field of 2000 athletes. His time of 2 hours 11 minutes 27 seconds bagged him a new personal best time, shaving off over 3 and a half minutes off his previous best time.Sandra Gooding – taking part in her first ever half marathon – took to the streets of Folkestone, a lovely flat course with a notoriously steep hill to finish. She achieved an excellent time of 2 hours 31 minutes 21 seconds.
The return of parkrun events in the UK has given club runners the opportunity to take part in both the local event at Victoria Park and other parkrun events throughout the UK.
At Ashford Keith Haynes had an excellent run, clocking a finish time of 20:57 – a top 20 finish and 3rd in his age category. He was hotly pursued by Simon Jackson, who was surprised at his own speed, crossing the finish line in a new personal best time of 23:50.
Elsewhere Ann and John Fidge travelled to the hot and sunny Isle of Wight and took part in the Medina IOW parkrun at Appleby Park in Ryde. The 1 lap course described as ‘undulating’ was mainly off road with a short section along the promenade, but undeterred by this John crossed the line in 31:23 with Ann shortly behind him in 32:06.Cris Francis and Alison Waters were also on their travels, at the Lydiard Park parkrun in Swindon. Despite the start being shrouded in a cloud of thick mist the sun soon broke through, unveiling a 2-lap trail course with a long section on damp grass. Despite the challenging conditions, Francis flew round in 19:55, another superb sub-20 minute finish. Waters was not too far behind, finishing in a new PB time of 22:32 and 2nd lady in the rankings.
