Men in form on the roads

In this generally quiet period between the end of the track season and the start of the cross country season, some of our men have been making their mark on the road racing circuit.  Two weeks ago Simon Beedell (left) knocked almost a minute off his half-marathon PB when he clocked 72.53 for 24th place at the Bristol Half-Marathon. It proved a good pointer to his marathon form, because on Sunday he knocked 2 minutes off his marathon PB, running 2:34.22 in Berlin. He ran a perfectly judged race in Germany, going through halfway in 1:16.59, so clocking 1:17.23 for the second half.

Ben Whitworth also ran a very good race, clocking 2:40.11 after going through halfway in 1:19.44. Ben had run 73.10 at the Richmond Running Festival Half Marathon three weeks ago.

Simon's better-known brother Tom Beedell (Tom joined us in 2012, Simon in 2014, both from Chiltern Harriers) won the long-standing, popular Essex event the Ingatestone 5 a week ago, clocking 26.44 to hold off Springfield Striders' Mark Newton by just 6". Then, on Sunday, he recorded a 27" half-marathon PB on the hilly, and very twisty-turny, Ealing Half Marathon. His time was 71.28 and this placed him 3rd, 7" behind second place.

18" behind Tom at Ealing, running 71.46 for 4th place, was our Daniel Steel. Daniel (right) joined us in 2014, already a more-than-competent marathon runner. For the last 9 months he has worked to develop more speed, and it is beginning to pay off. 3 weeks ago he set a PB at the Maidenhead Half Marathon, with a time of 71.34 for 2nd place. He is currently just beginning his build-up to the Istanbul Marathon in mid-November, which he is going to run with his old school-mate Harold Wyber - both ran 2hours30mins at the London Marathon this year and are ranked in the top 100 in the UK in 2015.

Our third man running the Ealing Half was Tim Prendergast, our Kiwi Paralympian, and he recorded 76.58, which is a PB, though it is only his 3rd attempt at the distance. This was good enough for 22nd on the day.