A group from the club recently went to Iceland recently as part of Mark Halls 50th Birthday celebrations to take part inthe 30th Rejkavik marathon weekend. The events we entered were the half marathon and the 10K.
In the half marathon. Gale force winds and pouring hard! PB and 50’s course record out the window! Shouldn’t have gone to Iceland’. Such were Mark Halls’ sentiments on a damp, dreary, cold and breezy morning in Reykjavik. This was the climax of his season, the focus of a targeted campaign, including 3 quality sessions a week, specific races in the lead up, and most extraordinarily a fifty day alcohol abstinence. By the Reykjavik Half Marathon start the wind had dropped, the rained eased and it was a good day for racing. Mark stormed to ninth place with a PB of 1:19:07 (1:19:04 chip), despite getting a touch of cramp in the last mile. His time is the new 50-59 course record and at least for the next year his name will be alongside luminaries’ such as Hugh Jones and Stefano Baldini in the event age group record listings. On a good day for the Halls Sharron ran 1:54:58 (1:53:48) (non member Marks wife), and felt good all the way round. Shaun Billing and Neil Walford were pleased, that it was over, with 1:28:27 (1:28:19) and 1:34:04 (1:33:56) respectively, as they continue their slow comebacks from injury. Sean Covey 1:31:33 (1:31:25) (non-members) was hoping for a sub 1:30 but believes the lack of long runs was the cause of a drop off during the last three miles.
In the 10k race there were high hopes from the off as Kev Rojas and Howard Bristow set the early pace. Kev led from start to finish with a time 31:50 (31:46) for his 2nd international victory. Howard after a good battle with the local guy, eventually finished in 3rd place with 32:08 ( 32:06). An unfit Mike Bannister finished in 48:01 ( 47:38), Emma Pritty 48:01 ( 47:38), Claudia Marquez 52:16 ( 51:56) and Sara Hinchliffe 62:00 (58:51).