Category Archives: Races

Relays

Green Belt Relay 2024

This year’s edition of the Green Belt Relay will be held on the weekend of 18th and 19th May 2024.

>> 2024 GBR Sign up <<<

For those that are not aware of the event, the Green Belt Relay is a team relay covering 220 miles around London. The start point of the relay is Hampton Court and the finish is in Bushy Park however we go the long way round! The distance is divided into 22 stages. 11 of the stages are run on Saturday by 11 different runners in each team. The same runners then run a second leg somewhere else on Sunday. Stages vary in length and difficulty (both by terrain and navigational challenge). All stages have a fixed start time so being quick to arrive for the next runner is not necessary, in fact nearly nobody arrives at the finish before the next stage starts.

More details can be found here: http://www.greenbeltrelay.org.uk/
In particular, the details of the 22 stages are here.

26.2 RRC will be entering 3 teams into the event. This means we will need 33 runners. We will be entering one more competitive team and 2 mixed teams.

As this is a relay around London, some runners will be running far from home late of Saturday and again early on Sunday. To make this easier, some runners may need to stay out in subsidised hotels. Hotel arrangements are more complicated this year as our usual hotel is a lot more expensive than usual. We will work out something though!

The relay is very much a fun event. As well as the competitive aspect, just completing the relay is a challenge and very rewarding experience. If you want to know more, ask on a club run for more details.

To cover the cost of race entry and help subsidise hotel costs where needed, we will be asking for an entry fee of £20 per runner. Places will be confirmed once this has been received.

If you wish to take part, please sign-up here:  >>> 2024 GBR Sign up <<<
The google form asks for a lot of information. Please provide as much detail as possible.

We encourage all members to take part however as the minimum distance to run on Saturday is 7.5 miles and then 6 miles on Sunday you need to be comfortable running these distances on back to back days within the course cut off times (around 10.5 – 11 mins/mile).

 

Cross Country, Race Reports, Races

Surrey League XC – Lloyd Park

 That’s a wrap for the XC season – well nearly!

On Saturday, 10th Feb, the final round of the Surrey XC league saw the Men and Ladies compete at the traditional final venue of Lloyd Park.

It is not everyone’s favourite, but it is mine and it served up a perfect course – dry and mild weather but gloopy mud and standing puddles, not to mention the odd hill!
See Facebook post for some lovely photos.

Men

The men started at midday with 26.2 having 24 runners, all of which made it to the end of the two-lap course, just!

We were led home by Matt Jiggins and James Senior who had very strong runs to finish 10th and 11th respectively.

Three runners, Joe Brewer, Michael Street and Bob Dean ran their first XC of the season.
Full Results

For the season 44 ran at least one race with special praise to the Magnificent Seven who ran all four fixtures: Ed Francis, Mark Cannings, Harry Kim, David Pimm, Max Riley, Dmitry Selemir and Richard Hall.

26.2 were 5th on the day, but after a strong performance over FOT on the day, we nipped in front of them to finish 4th overall.
A great improvement over last year. Ed Francis was also a superb third in the v50 individual award for the season.
Overall Results

Ladies

The Ladies ran at 2pm over the same 5-mile course with six runners. Daisy Street was our first runner home, followed by Tess Lambert, Jess Waring, Caroline Dawson, Sophie Cooke and Lisa Kingsbury.
Full Results 

Over the season 22 people ran with Daisy and Lisa running all four, so special kudos to them!

The Ladies were 6th on the day and finished 4th overall, a brilliant effort.  
Overall Results

So, to summarize a great XC season:

  • Successfully hosted the first fixture at Epsom Downs
  • Both the Men and the Ladies finished 4th in their league – the highest position for awhile
  • We had a large total of 66 runners representing the club

Finally, good luck to Tom Sellen who will be the sole club representative at the National XC on the 24th. Good luck Tom!

Cross Country, Race Reports, Races

Surrey XC League – Oxshott

That went well!
Saturday 13th Jan, at Oxshott, was the third out of four XC races, and 26.2 had by far the largest team out on the day with 50 runners competing.
It was cold, but excellent conditions, on a very technical course where any footwear seemed to work (nearly, fingers crossed for Ben).

Men


First off, at 12pm, were the Men in their combined Div 3&4 race with 363 runners, 32 of which were from 26.2.
26.2 A team were 4th (out of 10 and only 5 points behind 3rd)  with the B team 1st in the B league.

Ben Chown was a fantastic second, even with nursing an ankle injury. James Senior, a strong addition to the club this year,  an excellent 10th (8th in Div 3).
In the V50 category Rob Buckle was 2nd and Ed Francis 4th.
Callum, Richard T, David T, David W and Lorenzo ran their first XC of the season. Full Results

Overall 26.2 are safely in 5th but are only 51 behind3rd place so all to play for in the last fixture!
Individually, Ben is still in 1st place but needs to run the final fixture as all four scores count.
Rob is 2nd and Ed 5th in the V50 category.

Ladies


The Ladies were in the final race of the day at 2pm in their Div 2&3 race which had 365 runners, 18 of which were from 26.2, our largest turnout in a long time! In Div 3 the 26.2 A team were an amazing 2nd with the B team 10th.

New runner to the club Emma Stringer was our first runner home in 22nd place. As well as Emma, Katherine, Jess, Sophie, Tess and Viola also ran their first XC of the season. Full Results

Overall 26.2 A are 3rd and 26.2 B 15th with one fixture to go.
Individually Jo Buckle is 5th in V50 category

Last fixture is on 10th Feb (day before V10K – please volunteer for that!) and likely to be Lloyd Park but not confirmed yet. No race times yet.

Lastly, thanks to all the great photos uploaded to Facebook from Andrew Eames, Graeme Maisey, Henry Carter, John Matthews and Viola Nicastro

Grand Prix, Races

Tadworth 10 – GP9

Today was the traditional tough start of the year Tadworth 10m race at Epsom Downs, run in cold but ideal conditions for a winter’s race.
It was also Grand Prix 9 (out of 12) and the club fielded an impressive 23 runners.
Ben and Rike headed the field in (chip) times of 0:59:12/1:21:33 respectively.

Runner Chip Time
Ben Chown 0:59:12
Paul Donohoe 1:05:19
Rob Buckle 1:05:56
Max Riley-Gould 1:06:31
Paul Turkington 1:07:17
Joe Chang 1:12:22
Richard Hook 1:15:59
Paul Keddie 1:17:19
David Twaite 1:18:17
Tom Hook 1:19:00
Rike Jones 1:21:33
Andrew Eames 1:21:52
Jo Buckle 1:23:34
Harry Kim 1:23:53
Richard Tomes 1:27:40
John Sweeney 1:27:47
Laura Twomey 1:29:49
Jacqueline Chang 1:29:50
Sophie Cooke 1:32:15
Caroline Dawson 1:32:50
Bob Dean 1:34:13
Liz Histed 1:35:19
Vicky Gardner 1:38:43

Full race results  here

It is very tight at the top of the GP tables with it all depending on who does 9 scoring races. I’ll let you work out who you think is in prime position but this year the First Past The Post winner cannot also claim the Aged Graded prize, so that may will play a factor.
GP Overall

Two of our runners, Daisy Street and Ed Francis, didn’t run Tadworth as they were representing the club at the Surrey XC Champs at Denbies. Well done you two!

Grand Prix, News, Races

Dorney Lake half marathon race report by Sue Garnish

When the alarm goes off at 6am on a very wet and windy Saturday morning you ask yourself … do I really want to be running a half marathon this morning? After deciding the answer had to be yes, I left the house in the dark to head to Dorney Lake near Windsor, Eton College’s home rowing grounds.  For those of you who have not been to this venue there is an impressive 2,200m world famous rowing lake and 3 mile running track around the side of the lake which is pleasurably terrain after many muddy cross countries and good news if you’re wearing white trainers!

26.2 had a total of 16 runners taking part in the half marathon which is our 8th Grand Prix event.  The course consists of 4 laps along the lake to the end and then a nice tail wind taking you back to the clubhouse.  We are delighted that Ben Chown finished 3rd in the men’s field with a fabulous 1:11:39 and our very own Jo Buckle came 3rd out of the women with a super 1:40:57.   Well done to all who ran and extra thanks to Jacqui for keeping me going, otherwise I would have been happy with the 5k.  Here are all the results:

Ben Chown                         1:11:39                                         

Max Riley-Gould            1:19:59     

Paul Donohoe                  1:24:12     

Rob Buckle                        1:25:01   

Richard Hook                   1:33:59    

 David Twaite                   1:37:12

David Pimm                      1:37:41      

Jo Buckle                            1:40:57

Rike Jones                          1:44:01

John Sweeney                  1:44:11                          

Jacqueline Chang          1:52:27                             

Sue Garnish                      1:55:30

Bob Dean                           1:57:32

Tom Hook                          1:57:38

Liz Histed                           2:07:06

Dennis Brandrick          2:31:55

Well done everyone.

Sue Garnish.

Races

UPDATE: Rowing for Runners – The Franckeiss Cup.

Because of the high river levels the Franckeisis Cup has been postponed to the New Year.  This gives us more time to get organised.  There’s definitely enough interest to enter several teams.

Back in 2016 we took part in a rowing race hosted by Teddington Skiff club. We’ve been invited again and the race takes place in the New Year.

Rowers do not need previous experience as up to 3 training sessions are offered and the cost is a very reasonable £7. They can even supply a cox.

There are ladies, mens and mixed races.

Contact me Peter Grecian if you are interested or indicate below.

Cross Country, Race Reports, Races

Surrey XC – Epsom Downs

Saturday, 14th Oct saw the start of the Surrey League Cross Country (XC) season. This is four fixtures held (normally) on the second Saturday in Oct, Nov, Jan and Feb.

This year both the Men and Women are in their respective Div 3 and are running at the same venue.

For Match One 26.2 and E&H were joint host for the three races held at Epsom Downs, and on the day this meant we were responsible for setting up the course, marshaling the races and results processing.

Both on the running and volunteering side I think we can safely say 26.2 had a great day!

First to thank those who stepped up to volunteer: Marshals: Peter Tozer, Maria Higgins, Kevin Furlong, Lizzie and Dave Wilson, Alice Ward, Ed Rowland, Bob Dean, Amy Burton, and Graeme Maisey. Bib collections: Joe and Jacqueline Chang. Race organizers: David  Clarke (E&EH), Gerry Hasson and myself.

On the running side we had a very successful day.

First the Women Div 2&3 race ran at 1pm with 283 runners. We had a team of 15 runners, the 3rd largest team and our ‘A’ team were a brilliant second and the ‘B’ team an even better first!
Our A team scores were: Emma Dalzell (11th, 26:38), Carla Cotton (54, 29:30), Daisy Street (74, 30:59), Jo Buckle (80, 31:11) and Louise Jefferson (99, 31:53). Full Results

The second race at 1:45pm was Men Div 2 and had 203 runners. The heavens decided to open during the race making the “don’t need the Gazebo” decision not our best of the day!

The third race at 2:30pm was the Men Div 3/4 which had 322 runners. We fielded 31 runners, the largest team, with our ‘A’ team third and a very strong ‘B’ team first.
Our A team scores were: Ben Chown (2nd, 29:09), Matt Jiggins (7, 29:55), Rob Buckle (41, 31:58), Paul Donohoe (43, 32:02), Po Shing Pan (47, 32:09), Max Riley (54, 32:28), Ed Francis (55,32:29), Henry Wright (58, 32:37), Eogan O’Neill (87, 33:45) and Tom Sellen (92, 33:55) Full Results

In total there were 818 runners over the three races and our total of 46 runners made us the largest combined team on the day!

With both teams doing so well, there is a great incentive to turn out for the second match on Sat, 11 Nov.
This is being organized by Holland Sports Running Club at Oxted. with the Men running at 1pm and the  Women at 2:30pm

Grand Prix, News

Grand Prix 5 – Old Deer Park parkrun report by Henry Carter.

26.2 Road Runners Club amassed upon Old Deer Park this Saturday for their 5th Grand Prix event this year. A total of 39 club runners managed to dig out a club top and barcode to earn points towards the 2023-2024 GP season. Conditions were mild, clear but fresh; that perfect ‘you’ll warm up as you run’ autumn crispness. After the traditional parkrun briefing and warm welcome from the volunteer team, we set off.

It is quite normal for the likes of Ben Chown and Paul Donohoe to seem very relaxed during a run but in this race they started off uncharacteristically below what should be normal race pace for them. Turns out they weren’t sure of the course, needed a guide and so having held back on the first lap to follow a regular ODP runner, they finally set off, eventually being first and second over the line in 17:20 and 18.30 respectively. Rob Buckle skipped in 4th overall and 3rd for the club but with the top age-graded score of 77.13% followed by Paul Donohoe (77.12%) and David Twaite (75.17%).

Hannah Shaw had the game plan of starting comfortably and cranking up the intensity per lap, and was the first female across the line in a time of 20:54, with a parkrun personal best by 20 seconds and the highest age graded scorer of 70.49%. Jo Buckle took second place and the second place age-graded (67.1%) with Liz Histed taking third past the post but Steph Harvey scoring third for the age-graded element (66.3%).

Laura Twomey also managed a parkrun personal best by 33 seconds and poor Lisa Kingsbury narrowingly missing out on a parkrun personal best by 4 seconds. Hopefully the post-run cafe coffee and pastries will fuel and inspire for next time.

The next GP is the Fleet 10km on the 22nd October, shortly followed by the Leatherhead 10km on the 12th November.

The current Grand Prix standings have Rob Buckle top of the past-the-post competition and second in the age graded competition, with David Twaite leading the way there.

Meanwhile Captain Jacqueline Chang is top of the first past the post table, with Caroline Dawson still sitting pretty in first place in the age graded competition. 

There is still no one person emerging out the top of the leader boards and with 7 more events to go there is still everything to race for.

Coming up:
Monday 25 – Ladder runs 7pm
Wednesday 27th – Track 7pm
Saturday 14th October – Surrey League Cross Country, we are hosting please sign up here
Sunday 22nd October – Grand Prix – 10km Fleet 

Henry Carter.

Grand Prix

Cross Country 14th October 2023

Cross Country season is upon us and we are co-hosting the first race so we need volunteers AND runners.

Please sign up here to help us deliver a safe event. 

Marshal Point info:

 

Roster – subject to change!

Marshal Point Who  Comment Instructions to runners
M1 Maria runners will bare left and start to go up the hill  
M2 Kevin This is a fork, with Ladies one way, Men another Ladies: follow path straight up. Men: baring slight right here
M3 (Ladies) Dave/Lizzie move at 1:45 to M3 (men) follow sand path round
M3 (Men) Dave/Lizzie Care needed here , marshal either side of gallops. Runners to go on to  grass with track rail to their left stay straight until next marshal
M4 (Ladies) Ed/Alice W Stop runners trying to cross race track here and instead stick to path parallel to track. Alice to move at 1:45 to M4(Men), Ed back to start to run at  1:55 follow path to next marshal
M4(Men) Alice W runners turn right  here turn right, stay straight until next marshal
M5(Men) Bob MP is near a house and runners are taking the first left stay on path and back up to race track
M6 Graeme Far side of the track. Slightly different positioning for Ladies vs Men race over track
M7 Amy other side of the track turning righ here, follow outside path all the way round to finish

For further XC info and fixtures see  here

Thank you!

Jacqueline, Paul and Alice.