Raby Castle 10K - 25th May 2008

Jon Orange

Three Richmond and Zetland athletes competed at the recent and popular Raby Castle 10K Race on Sunday 25th May, with Jon Orange looking to put in another good performance. The route is particularly challenging with long, slow uphill climbs, followed by steep descents and a woodland trail section off-road, which has numerous sharp ascents on the 2 lap course. This year saw him finish in 8th place overall, finishing in another excellent time of 33.59, not too far behind highly accomplished athletes, including Martin Scaife and Terry Wall, as well as winning the MV45 category in the process by a significant margin. Tony Ryder was also in fine form, finishing in 29th position, running another strong race and crossing the line in a swift time of 38.58. Ian Hepworth was the third Harrier home with a time of 48.27 in 147th place.

BUPA London 10,000M 26th May 2008

Rachel Ross-Russell continued her return to form post-injury and was in action in her Richmond and Zetland colours at the BUPA London 10,000 metres on Bank Holiday Monday 26th May; the first time this event has been held and proved to be a very competitive race, with top international athletes on show. There were over 12,500 competitors taking part in the event, which started and finished in St. James’ Park in London and used Green Park as the assembly area for all the runners. The conditions were slippery underfoot, as the rain poured down, but Rachel finished strongly taking a fantastic 82nd place overall and was 16th woman across the line, with a fantastic time to match of 39.44.

Edinburgh Marathon 25th May 2008

Almost 500 miles north the previous day, Sarah Gregory was on her way around the 26.2 mile course at the Edinburgh Marathon, with differing emotions throughout the event. Having been unwell the night before the race, Sarah still felt good enough to start on the Sunday morning and lined up along with 14,000 other competitors on Regent Road in the capital. The course was fairly undulating and follows long stretches out along the coast road, before finishing at Musselburgh Race Course out of the city. The coastal headwind hit the runners at 5 miles and showed little chance of abating until a turn in the course at 19 miles, which sees competitors turn back on themselves for the final 7.2 miles.

All was not plain sailing and after running hard against the wind to reach half way in just outside 8 minute-mile pace, she began to feel unwell again, but battled on before being forced to take a short stop with stomach problems at the 21 mile mark. Determined to carry on and finish, she kept going until the 25 mile point, which saw another short break with the same problem, before crossing the line in 3.41.05 and being mighty pleased to finish her second marathon in six weeks in 1516th place overall and 199th lady on the day, in addition to still comfortably qualifying for the London Marathon again next year.