Weekend round-up 22nd/23rd June 2013

Last weekend was a busy one for local runners as it saw the weekly Southend Parkrun, the HARP charity 24 Hour Relay Challenge, The South of England Athletics Championships as well as the European Team Championships take place.

First up was the Southend Parkrun at Gunners Park, Shoebury on Saturday morning which saw 134 runners take part, with 41 of those achieving personal bests including Alexa Joel who broke her own female course record of 17:23 to finish first woman (and first overall) in 17:12. A special mention should go to Nathan Thornton who took on the role of Run Director, a great achievement at just 11 years old!

The top three male finishers on the day were:

1st:  17:20 Ian Anthony (Havering Mayesbrook AC)
2nd: 17:23 Lee Taylor (Southend AC) 
3rd:  17:32 Neil Spicer (Leigh on Sea Striders)

The top three female finishers on the day were:

1st:  17:12  Alexa Joel (Havering Mayesbrook AC)
2nd: 20:02 Tracy Swindell (Benfleet AC)
3rd:  23:04 Veronique Dorothy (Unattached)

Well done to everyone that took part on Saturday, latest parkrun results can be viewed here

Image Courtesy of Southend Parkrun

Saturday also saw the start of Southend Homeless Charity HARP's 24 Hour Relay Challenge at Westcliff Rugby Club. Starting at 12noon on Saturday, the relay involved team completing multiple laps of a 4.2mile circuit through the Cherry Orchard Park over a 24 hour period where runners where able to camp over as they worked as teams to complete the challenge.

For more information about HARP or if you feel you can donate please visit their website www.harpsouthend.co.uk .

The weekend also saw the South of England Athletics Under 20 and Senior Championships take place at Watford with some fantastic performances from local athletes.

In the Senior Men 1500m Southend AC Athletes Adam Hickey and David Gibbon ran well to secure 1st and 4th place respectively, with Hickey winning in 3:51.16 and Gibbon running a season's best of 3:55.80. The Senior Men's 400m saw Southend AC record holder Jake King take silver in a very close final in a time of 48.34s, just .38 of a second outside his PB.

On the Women's side of the competition, Basildon AC's Kaylee Dodd won silver for her efforts in the U20 Women's 800m in a time of 2:11.43 while fellow Basildon athlete Gemma Kersey finished 5th in the Senior Women's 800m in 2:09.20.

Full results from the South of England Championships can be found here

By far one of the most impressive performances of the weekend came from Canvey's running sensation Jessica Judd (Chelmsford AC) and her superb performance in the Senior Women's 800m race at the European Team Championships at Gateshead on Saturday.

In only her first outing in a Senior Great Britain vest, the 18 year old dominated a class-act field, exercising full control as she took the lead in the early stages, holding onto it and fighting off an attack during the home straight to take the victory in 2:00.82. This earnt full points for the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team, helping them to finish third overall.

Sunday saw the second day of events at the European Team Championships including another local star, Olympian Andrew Osagie of Harlow AC, compete in the Mens 800m. After a 53s first lap, Osagie lay 5th but picked up the pace in the last 200m to finish an extremely close 3rd in 1:47.41.

Full results from the European Athletics Team Championships can be viewed here

Congratulations to everyone who got out and ran last weekend, wherever you were!

The RunSouthend team

McLean and Judd named in GB & NI Squad for European Junior Champs

Congratulations to local athletes Jessica Judd (Chelmsford AC) and Hayley McLean (Chelmsford AC) who have been selected for the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Athletics Team for the European Junior Championships due to be held in Rieti, Italy 18-21 July. 

Jessica Judd will be looking to go one better than the silver medal she won at last summer's IAAF World Junior Championships in Barcelona when she tackles the 800m. The 18 year old Canvey athlete has already set a personal best over the distance of 2:00.37 at Watford last month, which currently puts her 21st in the world at a senior level, and also earnt her a first Great Britain Senior Athletics vest for the European Athletics Team Championships in Gateshead this weekend.

Hayley McLean is also in fine form already this season, setting her 400m hurdles personal best of  57.87s in her first outing over the distance this year in Namur, Belgium on 8th May. This was backed up by another strong run of 58.99s at the Loughborough International in a strong field that included London 2012 Olympian Eilidh Child.

British Athletics will make a second wave of selections for the European U23 Championships on 1st July and for the European Junior Championships on 8th July.

Good luck to both girls from the RunSouthend team!

Weekend round-up 15th/16th June 2013

Last weekend began as usual with the 5km Southend Parkrun Saturday morning with a total of 134 runners taking part on this occasion - 20 of those running the event for the first time! The runners faced incredibly tough blustery conditions in Gunners Park but this didn't stop a fantastic 37 personal bests being set.

The top three male finishers were:

1st: 14:57 Adam Hickey (Southend AC)
2nd: 17:50 Ian Anthony (Havering Mayesbrook AC)
3rd: 18:56 David Walpole (Unattached)

The top three female finishers were:

1st: 24:08 Nicki Benham (Rochford Running Club)
2nd: 24:23 Michelle Staines (Unattached)
3rd: 25:04 Rachael Thornton (Unattached)

A huge well done to all that took part on Saturday, latest parkrun results can be viewed here

There was also some fantastic performances from local athletes taking part in the England Athletics U23 & U20 Championships & European Trials held at a blustery Bedford International Stadium over the weekend. These included Hayley McLean (Chelmsford AC) winning the U20 National 400m Hurdle title in 58.70s and a bronze medal for Gemma Kersey (Basildon AC) in the U23 1500m in 4:26.5. Other performances included Sophie Riches (Chelmsford AC) 6th in U20 1500m in 4:30.78, Alice Perkins (Basildon AC) 5th in U20 3000m in a PB of 9:49.39. In the U20 High Jump, Chelmsford AC athlete Poppy Lake came agonisingly close to a national bronze medal with a fantastic jump of 1m74, earning her a joint 4th place finish just 4cm shy of her current PB.

Full results from the England Athletics U23 & U20 Championships can be viewed Here

Congratulations to everyone who got out and ran last weekend, wherever you were!

The RunSouthend team

Local Athletes perform well in Watford

There were some fantastic performances from local athletes in the latest British Milers Club meet at Watford Stadium last night despite the terrible British weather.

In the Women's 800m A race Jess Judd (Chelmsford AC) ran a superb race to win in 2:01:59 which is just outside of her best so far this season of 2:00:37 which was also set a Watford earlier this summer. Basildon International Gemma Kersey ran a seasons best of 2:08:62 finishing 5th, with fellow Basildon athlete Kaylee Dodd finishing ninth in 2:07:03. Chelmsford AC's junior athlete Sophie Riches ran a seasons best of 2:14:09 in the Women's 800m B race to finish second.

The Women's 1500m A race saw a tough field but Havering AC athletes Lauren Deadman and Lydia Hallam both ran well, producing seasons bests with Lauren finishing 3rd in 4:20:63 and 16 year old Lydia 7th in personal best of 4:31:92.

On the men's side of the competition, Southend AC athlete Adam Hickey finished 3rd in the Men's 1500m A race in a PB of 3:48:25 before pacemaking the Women's 1500m shortly after. Essex Senior 1500m champion Mark Woodley of Chelmsford AC won the Men's 1500 in a personal best of 3:53:16.


Congratulations to all that took part from the RunSouthend team!

 Full results available here

Weekend round up 8th/9th June 2013

The weekend started with the popular Southend Parkrun, Gunners Park, which was won in 17:37 by Ian Anthony of Havering Mayesbrook AC, with Dean Reeve (unattatched) second in 20:23 and Andrew Doig (Pitsea RC) 3rd in 20:50.

A total of 131 runners took part with 31 personal bests being set so well done to all! The Southend Athletics Club’s Mens Team were in action on Saturday in their second round of the British Athletics League, competing at the Linford Christie Stadium in London.

The team are currently in Division One which is the highest the club has ever competed in and the standard of the competition is extremely high, so despite giving it their all on the day, the team unfortunately finished 8th on the day.

Some highlights are included below:

1st Position in their event:

Adam Hickey (3000m A: 8m14:55
Jake King (100m N/S: 10.68sec)
Emmanuel Gbegli (Triple Jump B: 13m60)

2nd Position in their event:

Harry McQueen (200m B: 21.73)
Paul Whittaker (3000m B: 8m34.95) 

3rd Position in their event:

Dave Gibbon (1500m A: 3m58:53)

Sunday morning saw one of the biggest races in the South East of England take place, the Havens Hospice Southend Half Marathon. This year almost 2000 runners took to the seafront in blustery conditions with hundreds of supporters lining the route.

1st 1hr12:23 Will Green (Serpentine RC)
2nd 1hr13:19 Mark Newton (Springfield Striders RC)
3rd 1hr14:08 Gavin Allen (Braintree AC)

Congratulations to everyone that ran this weekend, wherever you were! 

The RunSouthend TeamSouthend Parkrun results: 

British League results: 

Southend half marathon: