Picture this; my tele is showcasing the elite men’s and women’s races as the hopefuls of the New York City marathon head into Brooklyn, my tracking app is notifying me that pals are heading off onto their runs as the masses begin their journey, but I don’t have any Ivanhoe’s on my listing? I’m excited to hear if we’ve got anyone on Staten Island that has passed me by?

But where have we had runners? At Abingdon of course! Three superstars headed to Oxfordshire for the popular event to put their training to the test. Mark Harriott and Andrew Stanley did much of their training together, and it was great to see them both do so well on the day. Mark finished in a fabulous time of 3:06:33, a course best, fastest since 2019, and number 18 safely ticked off. For Stan, a super solid block brought him to race day and was rewarded for keeping a cool head and incredible pacing with nearly a 10 minute personal best in 3:19:24.

For Andrea Trickett, one marathon a month simply isn’t enough. After less than ideal conditions in Lisbon she toyed with the idea of the Oxfordshire event, and clocked 3:45:44, a truly sensational performance taking her 26.2 total to 27. Richard Bebbington joined the ‘two marathons in October’ club, adding Snowdonia to his exploits this year. This tough event reminded Rich it never gets easier, but he did a superb job in 4:24:30.

And then last weekend, we had champion Helen Finn out for yet another full marathon. In 2023, she’s had some amazing adventures, Tokyo, Boston, Berlin, and now also Dublin. She clocked her second fastest time this year in 4:15:54, what an inspiration, well done Helen.

Finally, let’s finish with some shorter stuff. At the Prestwold 10 miler, Andrew Allsop lead the charge for the team in his debut over the distance in 1:13:49, followed by Judy Mouncer in 1:33:03 completing her bronze distinction, and Kenny Ashton having a good run in 2:10:02.

Six runners went to the second staging of the Brewers 10K, where Andy Allsop added yet another run to his Ivanhoe CV in 43:10. His all male team consisted of Louis Barnes running an identical time, Matt Pleass in 37:08, Rob Baden 38:48, Tom Smith 42:35, and Jeff Cross 1:08:52.

Cruella de Vil enjoyed the route and support at the Worksop half marathon, and she saw an actual dalmatian at the end which made her day. I do hope no dogs were harmed in the making of her 1:58:30 finish time and amazing photo.

Written by Emily Partridge - last updated on 05/11/2023