Luke Wins Race 2 5k Series

Luke Mason won the second race in the Couriers 5k series in a time of 15.55. Jon Barnes finished 4th in 16.41 . Paul Watts guided by Ralph beat his personal best for the distance by over 1 minute finishing in a time of 23.36.

There were 13  Wye Valley Runners in the race of 44 finishers. Yet again Lynn Compton was our sole lady representative finishing in a time of 24.00 minutes.

The final race in the series will take place on Thursday 9th June.

Mike

Hospice Half Marathon Results

Hereford_Half_Marathon__Individual_Results[1]

Wye See Bumper Turnout

Another great turnout from the Wye to support the Hospice Half Marathon.

There must have been at least 40 runners in the individual and relay plus approximately 20 supporters and in addition there were volunteers working on water stations and as course marshals and at the finish line. In particular thanks to Sarah, Kirsty and Janette for volunteering to man a water station and Sue, Colin & Mike who looked after number recording at the finish line.

Jan Edwards wrote ’ had a great time. Ran 3 miles then hopped on a tandem to follow and support all the other runners.
Well done to my team ‘Brians Babes’ finishing 3rd relay team  Mervs Babes were 2nd team. and what a great turn out from Wye Valley,maybe 30 runners + supporters. Also the marshalls/water station and finish line officials did us proud.
WELL DONE EVERYBODY!’
Jan

Pictures:Hospice Half Marathon

Jason’s Berlin Review

Berlin Half Marathon

Once again a conversation in the pub one Friday evening in the Barrels manifested itself into combining my 40th (yes I know its hard to believe) with a race overseas.With a quick google search we discovered the Berlin half marathon was being held on the 3rd of April, one day after my birthday, it almost seemed planned for me.  We started recruiting that evening and soon we were up to twelve willing companions .

We all started our training regimes for the now planned “long weekend” with weekends being put aside by many of our teams of athletes for the long runs, I did partake in one or two of these although the main core of my practice focussed on sausages & beer, after all this was Germany and it would be rude not to indulge a little.

We left from Bristol on the Thursday before so that we could acclimatize and hydrate properly before the race and it wasn’t long before we were competing with Berlins finest and even if I do say so myself pulling out some impressive performances, however this was at 3.30am Saturday morning in a GERMAN KARAOKE BAR not the race but I’m sure my performance of mustang sally will go down in local legend for some time.

Saturday afternoon was spent relaxing around Berlin desperately trying to consume as many non alcoholic drinks as possible for tomorrow was the “big day”.  We woke on the morning of the race to what was to become a magnificent day, as we arrived at the start line with over 25,000 other competitors, the temperature was already touching 24degrees with top temps of 27d recorded during the day.  The atmosphere was carnival like and that feeling of excitement was amongst us, we wished each other luck and moved off to our starting pens, the route takes in all the major landmarks of Berlin on a very flat course, water and “Tea” stops were spread out through the route and were very welcome on this gloriously hot day, the bands along the route were fantastic as were the crowds that turned out, reported at 250,000 although not as enthusiastic as they are in UK events.

I ran the majority of the race with Clyde and as we were approaching the last few kilo metres my thoughts were of how the proper athletes amongst us would have faired as although it is a great course for PB’s this really didn’t seem like the weather that you could produce them in.  As we reached the final 50 meters our names were shouted from the crowds by Carl & Lesley our official photographers and support crew who noted that from the enthusiastic waving I returned that perhaps we could have tried harder.  Walking through the finish section, collecting our medals, bananas and complimentary pint of beer (perhaps an idea for the summer 10k ??) we headed to our agreed meeting point to find Matt, Malcolm and Neil waiting patiently after their sterling efforts in the heat and it wasn’t long before we were joined by Sophie, Stefan, Lucy & Ali all with beaming smiles and a pint in hand.

After the obligatory group photos we headed back on another crowded train for a quick shower and change to meet at a boulevard bar for well deserved food and post race analysis.

This was my first race outside of the UK and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole weekend, I’m sure there will be many more to come.

Thank you to all that joined me in Berlin for my birthday and subsequent party.

Jason

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