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  PWAC 100 Club   

Don't forget you can only win if you have a number !!!!

As I have advised before, the 100 Club now raises funds for the new track and as such it is important that all numbers are sold.  We still have approximately 40% that have not yet been taken up so if you, or your friend or family want a number, please contact me on 01892 835332 or email me on david@dlindsey.wanado.co.uk.  If all the numbers are sold the Track Fund will benefit by £500 each year and if the remaining numbers are not sold, then we may break even if we are lucky.  

David Lindsey

 

  Everest Marathon - Wednesday 5th December

The Everest Marathon is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the highest marathon in the world. The start line is at Gorak Shep 5184m (17,000 feet), close to Everest Base Camp in Nepal. The finish is at the Sherpa town of Namche Bazaar at 3446m (11,300 feet) and the course is a measured 42 km (26.2 miles) over rough mountain trails. It is the world's most spectacular race and has been held eleven times since 1987.

To acclimatise naturally to the high altitude, all runners join together for a 25 day trip in Nepal. This trip involves a 16 day trek to the start line alone, under medical supervision and is regarded as one of the most gruelling races in the world.

For more info on the race visit www.everestmarathon.org.uk

As you can see from the 2 photos below I made it and have the medal to prove it, made all the sweeter as I suffered from very bad altitude sickness half way through the trip and had to spend the night on oxygen and then get taken back down to a lower altitude at first light.  After that, I started on the diamox and made a full recovery, there were people who had done the Marathon des Sables and didn't make it to the finish so I'm ultra-chuffed that I completed it and so far have managed to raise over £2,500 including gift aid for Hospice In The Weald, please visit this site to give online www.justgiving.com/jamesdaviesrunningeverest
 
If you fancy this race then remember.. its not just a marathon.. you have to actually make it to the start line too... sleeping in tents for a month, in conditions of -40 and eating very basic food.. escaping the sick bugs/flu and the hacking coughs.. there are up-to-date race reports on http://www.sleepmonsters.com Normal finish times for this race are double your normal marathon time + a bit more for good measure. Click here to see the full results


James Davies

 

   Las Vegas Marathon & 1/2 Marathon - Sunday 2nd December  

Click here to see the results

Click here to see the photos

Paddock Wood AC members took a gamble with the weather and were rewarded with some good times in the 2007 Las Vegas Marathon and Half Marathon on Sunday 2nd December.

After two days of wind and rain the 6am start was blessed with calm conditions and a spectacular sunrise as 12,000 runners set off to run The Strip in the casino capital of the world.

Over 4,000 athletes opted for the full marathon where Kent 20 mile champion, Paul Hasler was 2nd GB finisher in 2 hours 31 minutes 57 seconds for an impressive 13th position overall.

Club chairman Des White was the fifth M50 Master (128th, 3.10.27) after a race long battle with training partner, Pete Buckingham (161st, 3.14.18).

Fiona Buckingham improved her personal best to 3.41.04 to make the top hundred in the women’s race and was joined by Alison White (331st, 4.04.27), who was the 10th W50 Master, in achieving a qualifying time for next year’s Boston Marathon.

On the accompanying Half Marathon race, James Ridger was the 2nd GB finisher (13th, 1.21.02) making a promising long distance debut and Alan Newman (108th, 1.33.38) was 8th M50 Master to finish.

Sue James (46th, 1.41.01) was 2nd in W55 Masters category and her 82% on the age graded tables was only beaten by Paul Hasler’s 82.3% in the full marathon.

For details of international training and racing trips in Cyprus, Lanzarote and Portugal for 2008 visit www.paddockwoodac.co.uk.

Alan Newman

 

 

 British and Irish Masters International Cross Country, Stormont Estate, Belfast

 
Tina Oldershaw (W40) and Sue James (W55) were selected as travelling reserves for England in the 2007 British and Irish Masters International cross country match, which was held in the magnificent grounds of Stormont Estate in Belfast on Saturday 17th November.
 
Club coach, Alan Newman also joined the Kent contingent that included Clare Elms of Dulwich Runners who had been given the nod over Tina by the selectors for the W40 race. Elms was not short of support, either, because she was accompanied by her coach Steve Smythe (M45) and W55 reserve Ros Tabor with her husband, Andy Murray (M45), who were all scheduled to run in the international reserves and open race over the same course as the subsequent representative match races.
 
Cheap flights with Ryanair from Stansted to the George Best Belfast City airport proved to be the most popular travel option and a shared taxi to the Europa Hotel right in the heart of the city cost just £2 per head with no extra charge for the drivers blarny, the first of many incredibly proud ambassadors for this still great part of Britain we met during our stay. 
 
The Europa has the reputation as being the most bombed hotel in Europe and once earned the nickname "hardboard hotel" when glass was rarely a feature of the windows during the troubles. Now it has been fully restored and refurbished with imposing public rooms and fine dining available, apart from our meal on arrival which was a disappointing pasta affair and overpriced at £17 for two courses with coffee.
 
The course was testing yet fast with one steep hill through the woods on each of the 2km laps. Coach Newman's final instructions to the PWAC ladies were to "remember this is your international and your time is what matters in this race", because it should have been possible to directly compare the performances of the reserves with the England vests in the five nations match against Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland - but more of that later. 
 
The open and reserves race was first away with just under 100 athletes competing simultaneously over 6km (womenW35+) and men (65+) and 8km (men 35+). Fortunately the predicted bad weather arrived later in the afternoon and our race was blessed with some sunshine but it was extremely windy, especially on the long drag beside the main drive to the Northern Ireland seat of government.
 
Tina won the women's race in fine style (24.47) and Sue was eleventh (29.55) and second W55 to Ros Tabor (29.06), with all three happy they could have done no more. Steve Smythe was an excellent tenth in the men's race (32.06) with Alan finishing 42nd (35.11) and Andy Murray 60th (38.00). We were unable to establish our age group positions in the men's race because only the M65 and M70s were indicated in the results and they did not complete the fourth lap.
 
In the international race, Clare Elms ran with the W40 leaders for the first two laps but then lost form in the final kilometre to finish fourth W40 in 24.43, apparently a few seconds faster than Tina. However, many of the athletes in the women's race felt that their officially recorded times were around 20-30 seconds faster than their own watch times showed and this was confirmed by reknowned statistician and Athletics Weekly reporter, Steve Smythe who had a personal interest in the results.
 
Both Sue James and Ros Tabor ran faster than the fourth placed W55 England competitor (30.02) so it was with some satisfaction we left Stormont after a cold, wet but very exciting series of races that went almost without exception to teams wearing the red cross of St George with pride on their vests. There is always next year in Wales!
 
Alan Newman