News

Leighton Fun Runners were represented by 16 athletes at the 2011 edition of the Bedford Half Marathon that was held on Sunday 11^th December. No doubt a few of the competitors were recovering from hangovers induced by the Xmas dinner/party held the previous Friday night! The conditions were ideal for racing with the runners not having to contend with snowy or icy road surfaces.

Tam Quinn was the first male home for the team in a time of 1 hour 29mins, with Karrie Archer being the first lady home for LFR in a time of 1 hour 40mins.

Congratulations to birthday girl, Karen Kirwan, who received an extra special present by completing the 13.1 mile course in personal best time of 2 hours 4min. Kerry Tiller and Seri Gell also achieved personal bests on the day, well done ladies!

The complete list of results for the team are as follows:- Tam Quinn (1 Hour 29 mins), Martin Addrison (1 Hour 32 mins), Jim Buttleman (1 Hour 35 mins), Karrie Archer (1 Hour 40 mins), Matthew Mitchell (1 Hour 41 mins), Niall Connew (1 Hour 47 mins), Georgi Lee (1 Hour 49 mins), Gaynor Wallace (1 Hour 59 mins), Seri Gell (1 Hour 59 mins), Karen Kirwan (2 Hours 04 mins), Kerry Tiller (2 Hours 08 mins), Tracy Dodd (2 Hours 09 mins), Pam O'Connell (2 Hours 15 mins), Paul Thomas (2 Hours 15 mins), Dionne Smedley (2 Hours 45 mins) and Andrew Powell (2 Hours 45 mins).

Photography by John Kirwan and Tam Quinn.

The club have been contacted by Fiona Kelly regarding the Sport Maker programme;

"I’m the Sport Maker lead at team BEDS & LUTON, thesport maker programme aims to usethe inspiration of the Olympics to recruit, inspire and deploy 40,000 new volunteers that make sport happen in communities across England from October 2011 to September 2013. Within Bedfordshire, we will engage over 700 new 16+ volunteers and support them to access community sport volunteer projects following completion of an inspirational workshop / convention led by facilitators including previous Olympians.

On the 19th of December we are holding a free Sport Maker workshop at the Leighton Buzzard theatre"

Please contact Fiona directly if you are intersted in taking part

w:www.teambedsandluton.co.uk
e: sportmakers@teambedsandluton.co.uk

A choice of 10k or 6k routes this week, out toward Bideford Green - routes on the calendar

We'll be meeting in the Swan to eat at 7.00 - if anyone would like to join us for the meal please contact Marion (or the club address above). Alternatively, meet us for drinks from 8.00!

Another glorious weekend of running in the unseasonably warm weather, around 25 of us enjoyed a canal side run and superb breakfast on Saturday morning - many thanks to Donna, Kerry, Max and Kerry for arranging. This week’s run will be our one mile ”loops” , heading out to Chartmoor.

Thanks to Clive Daniels for presenting Carol Stewart from KidsOut with a cheque for £4,342.77. Thanks to all of the guys and girls from Leighton Fun Runners for raising this fantastic sum of money during the last 12 month, well done!

Other items of note; Tom May won the ‘Runner of the Month’ award for his sterling effort and result at the Beachy Head Marathon, Laura Jackson received an award for being the most improved runner in the beginners group and finally Brian Snowdon and Anne Hully won the draw for places in next year’s edition of the London Marathon.

Leighton Fun Runners’ very own Glyn Raymen completed his 100th marathon on Sunday 20th November. He chose the Luton marathon as his centenary event and was joined by fellow members of his club who took part in both the individual and team relay events. Raymen celebrated in style by running his quickest marathon to date in a time of 3hrs 34mins 56secs and was the first amongst his individual team mates to cross the line. 

Verity Allsopp was the leading lady for Leighton Fun Runners clocking herself a rapid time of 3hrs 39mins 26secs, Martin Addrison recorded a time of 3hrs 42mins 59secs, Matt Mitchell ran a time of 3hrs 47mins 55secs, Marion Wright and Tom May dipped under the 4 hour mark and shared a time of 3hrs 58mins 04secs. A special mention goes out to John Kirwan who took part in his 50th Marathon finishing in a time of 4hrs 01min 29secs. John aims to follow in Glyn’s footsteps and complete his 100th Marathon within two years.

The team relay event consisted of three runners each completing one lap of the 8.7 mile circuit. Leighton Fun Runners fielded several teams on the day; “Sneezy, Dopey, Sleepy, Bashful and Grumpy”. Team Sneezy (Steve Ellerton, Clive Daniels, Tam Quinn) completed the race in a blistering time of 3hrs 14mins 23secs, Team Dopey (Ian Mulry, Gary Reid, Brian Snowdon) clocked a time of 3hrs 39mins 25sec,  Team Sleepy (Seri Crell, Bret Dean, Peter Botham) ran it in 4hrs 3mins 33secs, Team Bashful (Karen Kirwan, Donna Savic, Pamela O’Connell) managed a time of 4hrs 7mins 30secs, with Team Grumpy (Stacey Odwell, Gayle Field, Deena Bland) securing 4hrs 25mins 48secs.Congratulations to Glyn, John and all of their team mates, helpers and supporters who made the day a success…Oh and thanks to Max for baking that wonderful 100th celebratory cake!

Part Two of this race report is based upon an interview with Glyn asking him for his thoughts on what he has achieved to date, is experience, advice to newcomers and what is next big challenge will be.

Q: Glyn firstly I would like to congratulate you on completing your 100th marathon and apologize for not being able to personally attend the event. It would have been great to have been there to document it for you. The guys and girls did a great job in capturing the moment, so you’ll have something to look back on in years to come. How do you feel about completing the 100 challenge?

A: It was a nice feeling, I felt that it could have been an anti-climax, but having the support from my team, family and friends made a huge difference. It was also great to receive my ‘100’ marathon vest and medal after the event from Roger Biggs, who is the chairman of the 100 club committee.   

Q: I am not going to bore you by reiterating the same questions that I pitched to you during our last interview, so I have asked your fellow club members to come up with the questions this time. I hope that you are ready for this! So Glyn, how did you start running?

A: I started running back in December 2006 mainly to lose and control my weight. I later joined the Leighton Fun Runners club to participate in races and set myself some new challenges.

Q: How does it feel to be so inspirational?

A: I don’t feel inspirational at all. I believe that what I have achieved is something that is within the grasp of all of us.

Q: What keeps you going during the final mile of a race?

A: The pain, overcoming it and smiling afterward I’ve crossed the finish line knowing that I’ve overcome that pain.

Q: Do you ever get bored of training?

A: I don’t do any specific training as such; I just go out and run.

Q: Have you ever thought about ultra-endurance and double marathons?

A: I’ve completed both types of events in the past; four marathons in four days, a marathon and an ultra on the same day, followed by a marathon the next day. I’ve also completed over 105 miles in less than 24 hours.

Q:  Do you prefer to train with others or by yourself?

A: I have no real preference as such. Sometimes I run alone and other times I may venture out for a group training session.

Q: What/where is your favourite race?

A: I don’t have any favourites really; they’re all good whether they are hot or cold, hilly or flat…I enjoy them all.

Q:  Do you aim to complete another 100 marathons?

A: Yes and my next one will be on the 23rd December, The Bletchley Enigma.

Q: Do you think that you have to be mad to have completed so many marathons?

A: Yes, completely mad!

Q: Why 100 marathons?

A: Because I wanted the 100 Marathon vest.

Q: What your longest qualifying event?

A: The 105 mile ultra-marathon that I completed.

Q: And your toughest?

A: 101 hilly miles in 32.5 hours; which was the ‘Housman’ event held in Shropshire.

Q: What has been your lowest point in any of the events that you’ve taken part in?

A: 70 miles into the 105 mile ultra-marathon. I was told that I could switch over to the 70 mile event so that I would not DNF. I was in the checkpoint and thought about the guys and girls at the club and I didn’t want to let them down or concede to defeat. 

Q: How about your best moment?

A: I’ve set goals throughout my entire running career so far and all of them have been best moments for me.

Q: What will your next challenge be, will it involve water?

A: One of my future goals is to swim the English Channel. It would also be great to complete an additional 100 marathons. Another ambition of mine is to run 10 x 100 mile marathons.

Q: What are the top three tips that you would offer to someone contemplating their first ever marathon?

A: Definitely join a club as it is easier, motivation wise, to train with other people. Follow a training plan from the club coach that is tailored to your abilities. The best tip that I can pass on is to enjoy yourself.

Q: Does it annoy you that ‘Marathons’ are now called ‘Snickers’???

A: No, not at all.

Q: In addition to mileage stats, how many jars of Vaseline have you used during your 100 marathons?

A: I have three jars on the go as we speak, all at various levels of consumption. [I would like to point out that Glyn did not have the jars with him at the time of this interview!]

Q: Do you have any pre-race rituals?

A: No, none at all.

Q: Do you race with any ‘lucky’ charms?

A: No.

Q: If you have a weekend off racing/running what do you do?

A: I don’t know, I'll tell you when it happens!

Q: How keep motivated after so many marathons?

A: I see each one as a new challenge so that keeps my motivation high, plus I also need my fix which definitely keeps me going.

Q: Do you think that you’ll ever stop running?

A: No, it’s something that I’ve never really thought about.

Q: Which marathon would you recommend for a novice?

A: Perhaps aim to complete one of the major big city events. I was personally hooked on marathons after running the Neolithic off road event.

Q: What has been the best running gadget that you have used?

A: Caffeine! You might be able to run a marathon/ultra-marathon without a watch, but without caffeine it’s something else!

Q: Thanks for taking the time to talk to me Glyn, all the best with your future endeavours and thank you for dragging me out this evening…see you are an inspiration!

A:Thank you, it was a pleasure Paul!

And finally here are a few interesting statistics about Glyn’s journey towards his 100th marathon;16 Road Marathons equalling 419.2miles, 56 Trail Marathons equalling 1467.2 miles, 28 Ultra marathons equalling 1148 miles and 2 Greensands Ridge Relay Marathons (as a sole competitor) equalling 66 miles. Grand total of accumulated miles equal to 3100.4 miles all completed wearing a Leighton Fun Runners’  club vest.

Photograph provided by Tom May

The second edition of the Dirt Half Marathon was held on Saturday 19th November in perfect autumn conditions with a field of 500 runners tackling the extremely challenging course. Leighton Fun Runners were represented by 13 of their finest weekend warriors, with additional members of the team who took on support roles during the race.

Chris Taylor was the first male athlete to finish for the club in a time of 1hr 32mins and the first lady back for the team was Kerry Whitfield in a time of 2hrs dead.

The full team results were as follows; Chris Taylor (1hrs 32secs), Neil Warby (1hrs 37secs), Jim Buttleman (1hrs 37secs), Niall Connew (1hrs 51secs), Peter Botham (1hrs 56secs), Kerry Whitford (2hrs 00secs), Deena Bland (2hrs 02secs), Gaynor Wallace (2hrs 05secs), Christine Beaumont (2hrs 17secs), Anna Mead (2hrs 18secs), Peter Bolton (2hrs 29secs), Emma Mayles (2hrs 37secs) and David Dickinson (2hrs 45secs).

Well done to all! 

Photograph provided by Claire Amos