Bourton’s James is back in the Big Apple with an excellent run
LAST week saw the iconic New York City Marathon taking place which, along with the London Marathon, is part of the World Marathon Majors series, with both providing special memories for many Bourton Roadrunners since the early 1980s.
Covering the five boroughs of New York City this race provides both a deceptively challenging course and a uniquely unpredictable weather system, but it remains as popular as when it was first held in 1970.
Bourton Roadrunners’ Kieron James was the club’s sole participant this year, representing a special occasion for him; celebrating 20 years since his first running of the Big Apple’s premier race.
Veteran runner James maintained a remarkably consistent pace throughout the 26.2 miles, finishing in a very respectable four hours and eight minutes, which provided him with an official age-calibrated time of three-and-a-half hours, almost identical to his 2002 race time.
Ten members from Bourton Roadrunners were granted permission to take part in the Cromhall parkrun, held within the grounds of HMP Leyhill, for which they were grateful to the governor and one of his senior officers, Martin Beale, for facilitating their access to this normally restricted event.
Blessed with near perfect conditions Bourton’s Mike Smith who, having finished work at 7:30am after his usual night-shift at Stowon-the-wold, made light work of the 5k distance, lapping most of the field at least once, to finish in 19:22.
Next to finish was Tom Hill, who had proposed the visit, also had a fine run finishing fifth overall in a time of 23:55. Other Bourton members included Susan Hunt (24:47), Rob Williams (26:18), Gill Carrick (27:34), Louise Hamiltonsmith (28:43), Allie Quinn (28:43), John Gibson (28:44), Lynn Hudson (32:57) and Coral Feenan-hill (32:58).
Parkruns: Gillian James – 33:33, Nicola Patterson – 40:37 and Chris Lynch – 35:01; Stratford upon Avon: Lucy Hillary – 19:44 (PB), Lorna Shawcross - 24:17 (1st LV60 and 5k PB); Cwmbran: Jaq Underwood (25:01); Cheltenham Pittville Park: Chris Dry – 26:38; Chipping Norton: Polly Hammond – 54:31.