Polson’s personal best puts him in top 200 at Manchester’s half
FRESH from his third-place finish at Run Upcote, Almost Athletes’ Matt Polson put together a well-executed race at the Manchester half marathon, finishing in 1:21:31, earning himself a four-minute personal best and top-200 placing.
Lee Ormerod just missed breaking the 1:30 barrier, recording a chip time of 1:30:09 at the same event.
Two members travelled further afield in search of marathon glory as Chris Daddow recorded 3:56:01 at the Chicago marathon and Allan Green notched up another 26.2 in 4:46:12 in the 28-degree heat of Palma, his time being good enough to qualify him for a Good for Age place at the 2024 London Marathon.
Clive Baker took on the Palma half marathon and pushed through to cross the line in 2:15:55.
Nick Lewis triumphed at the 65th Worcester Beacon race, a lung-busting seven-mile multi-terrain event over the Malvern Hills, earning himself a top 20 finish (53:38).
Eddie Munro flew the flag at the Andy Ripley Memorial East Grinstead 10k, another mixed terrain event on scenic bridle paths and tarmac and was rewarded with a 50:10 finish.
Adrian and Julie Courtenay opted for the Cotswold Water Park 10k, a new event in the racing calendar.
Taking place at Cleveland Lakes nature reserve in Ashton Keynes, the race was a fundraiser for the Cotswold Lakes Trust, and finishing together in 70 minutes, Julie finished third in her age category.
Phil Jeyes took part in a swim/run event, also at the Cotswold Water Park, which comprised a 300m swim and 1k run repeated four times and he finished within an hour after pulling a calf muscle.
Almosts also took part in the usual wide variety of parkruns over the weekend, at Cannon Hill, Chippenham Playing Fields Monmouth, Gloucester City, Gloucester North, Hazelwood, Kingsway, Lytham Hall, Newport, Peel, Ross on Wye, Seaton, Seven Fields, Somerdale Pavilion Keynsham, Tewkesbury and Worcester Pitchcroft.
Olly Bell chalked up his 73rd different parkrun venue at Victoria Dock while James Wilson ran his first parkrun in Cheltenham.
Ben Taylor was again first over the line at Mundy parkrun while Aline Buckley recorded a course PB at Cheltenham’s King George V Playing Field.