Kentish Express Ashford & District
Holden stretches himself
Athletics
Ashford & District RRC’s Rik Holden, marathon runner extraordinaire, decided that why run one marathon in a week, when you can run two.
His first 26.2mile outing was the Marathon Day Marathon last Wednesday and despite the challenging windy conditions, he completed the distance in an impressive time of 3hr 33min 22sec.
Four days later he ran the Olympic Challenge Marathon, conquering the mud, wind and hills in an equally impressive 3:49.44.
On Saturday, despite a torrential downpour, wind and plenty of mud, Cris Francis, Alison Waters and Becky Hodgson took on the SVN Leap Year Challenge.
Hodgson ran 13.1miles in 3:15.18, while Francis (2:53.45) and Waters (2:55.59) completed 17.5miles, coming first and second respectively in the fourlap category.
Simon Jackson and Will Whittington travelled to London to take part in the Vitality Big Half. He smashed his personal best time by completing the distance in 1:53.53, with Whittington crossing the line in 2:03.11.
Taking part in this year’s hilly and muddy Steyning Stinger Trail Marathon was Stephen Hickman (5:49.01) and Keith
Lynn (6:04.04). Hickman has now clocked up an impressive 18 of these marathons in a row and raises his total of completed marathons to 164.
Meanwhile, Jacklyn Kay (2:00.34) and Ricky Yates (2:18.33) both took part in the rescheduled Deal Half Marathon, which was completed over a 6.5 lap circuit at Betteshanger Country Park.
Andrew Noble (1:29.20) and Lesley Clancy (1:41.20) showed determination and pace at the Eastbourne Half Marathon by setting excellent times over the gruelling 13.1 mile distance.
Further afield, Alice Cook ran the Berkhamsted Half Marathon, and completed the hilly course in an unofficial PB time of 1:43.19.
■ Despite another storm at the weekend, the Striders were out in force at the Ashford parkrun.
Ian McCutcheon, Vicky Stevenson and Julie Greenwood all achieved personal best times on Saturday. The first Strider to finish was Jason Wearn in 22min 44sec, followed by James McCutcheon (23.55), Ian McCutcheon (24.45), Stevenson (24.47) and Chris Sardo (24.48). Other times: Jamie Bartlett (26.12), Shane Snowwolf (26.20), Nicki Crawley (26.26), Justine Wearn (27.37), Rachel Forrester (29.12), Julie Greenwood (29.33), Chris Kelly (29.37), Max Bazzucchini (30.28), Rachel Oliver (31.22), Rachel Theobald (32.06), Kevin York (32.07), Leigh Freeman (32.27), Hazel Forrester (32.28), Danielle Mackenzie (33.04), Clare Maxlow (39.10), Michelle Rowles (43.06) and Simon Howard-Smith (51.31). Josh Whiten was the Strider volunteer.
Lee Standen took part in his first overseas parkrun, completing the Karlingse Bos parkrun in Rotterdam in 28.12.
Becca and Adrian Hurley travelled to south London and both completed the Crystal Palace parkrun in 32.20.
The sun came out on Sunday in London for the Vitality Big Half with Julie Virani 2:07.45, Lyndsey Appleton 2:06.53 and Justine Wearn 2:08.52 representing the Striders.
Jason Sanders completed the Eastbourne Half Marathon in 2:03.46, and Martin Whittingham in 2:32.22.
Steve and Amanda Williams represented the Striders in Malta, with Steve completing the marathon in 4:01.53 and Amanda finishing the halfmarathon in 3:03.42.