A dozen members of Waveney Valley Athletic Club competed at the Great Yarmouth ‘ East Coast Run ‘ 10k last sunday, a race which each year attracts a very strong entry of between 400 – 500 runners.

The performance of the day for Waveney Valley came from Tim Groombridge, who after just a handful of races in the club colours of Waveney Valley, is fast emerging as a popular and enthusiastic competitor for the club. He knocked more than two minutes off his previous 10k time to record 42:15, finishing in 69th place.

Jonathon Comyn was 80th in 43:16 and Alan Fairs, having his first race since sustaining injuries in a cycle accident a few weeks ago, did very well to finish 94th, in 44:00. Bill Kingaby was next in 95th, in 44:06 with Mark Nussey just a few places further back in 99th in 44:16.
Waveney Valley’s other places and times: Glenn Doy 139 (46:10), Stephen Gibbs 142 (46:11), David Mower 229 (50:22), Paula Lambert 271 (53:00), David Pimlott 324 (56:30), Stuart Smith 337 (57:34), Angela Mower 388 (1:03.46).

Tim Earl, one of Waveney Valley Athletic Club’s most improved runners over the last few seasons, competed in a 30mile trail run and finished in an excellent second place.

Billed as the J W Ultra, the race, now in it’s fifth year, is held in memory of John Ward, one of the founders of Bournville Harriers Running Club, who tragically died suddenly in May 2007.

For most of the race, which runs along the canal towpath from Stratford-Upon-Avon to Bournville station in Birmingham, Earl was in the lead and was only overtaken by eventual winner Steve Marshall in the latter stages.

Earl’s time was 3:46.02. 48 runners finished the race.

At the world’s largest half marathon, The Great North Run, Jonathon Comyn recorded a p.b. of 1:38.31 finishing in 2,295th place from 37,482 finishers while closer to home, at the Ipswich half marathon, Nigel Herrod was 212th in 1:45.50 and David Pimlott 599th in 2:06.53 from an entry of 857.

Despite a number of Waveney Valley Athletic Club’s members unable to compete in the Scores race due to marshalling and other race organising committments on the day, the club none the less had a good entry of 18 runners take part. WVAC results: 1st Luke Allen 26:06, 10th Tim Earl 30:42, 11th Chris Pimlott 30:43, 19th Chris Booth 33:31, 20th Seb Herrod 33:33, 25th Jonathon Comyn 34:04, 26th Bill Kingaby 34:25, 31st Richard Gallard 35:11, 34th Kevin Booth 35:38, 42nd Nigel Herrod 36:19, 48th Glenn Doy 36:34, 50th Tim Groombridge 36:54, 68th Mark Nussey 37:58, 93rd Paula Lambert 41:03, 104th Paul Harrod 42:35, 111th Catherine Carfoot 43:46, 147th Angela Mower, 152nd Rosie Grieve 55:41.

Waveney Valley Athletic Clubs’ two Tim’s, Earl and Groombridge, took part in the Great Yarmouth Half Marathon and fared very well in the warm conditions to record good finishing times.

Over 250 runners started out from Emerald Park, home of Gorleston F.C. and raced along the lanes of Browston and Lound to finish back at Emerald Park.

Tim Earl finished well inside his previous best time to record a new p.b. of 1:27:30, in 14th place and Tim Groombridge was pleased with his time of 1:38:14 in taking 64th.

At the third and final race in the Broadland 5k series, held at South Walsham, three members of Waveney Valley competed. As the race incorporated the Norfolk 5k road championships there was a very strong entry of 180 runners for an evening race.

Chris Pimlott put in a good run to finish 29th in a time of 18:21. Bill Kingaby and Nigel Herrod have had some close tussles this summer but this race proved to be their closest so far with Kingaby striding ahead in the final stages to finish 79th in a time of 20:55, with Herrod just one place and three seconds behind.

At the Worstead Festival 5 mile it was a family affair with husband and wife Chris and Steph Pimlott and Steph’s dad Stuart Smith all racing. Chris lead the team home in 34th in 31.05, Steph finished 237th in 43.40 and Stuart finished a credible 243rd in 44.07 as there were 322 runners.

On the 24th July New Waveney Valley AC Member Mark Nussey competed in the Spartan Sprint 5K event at Bassingbourn Military base, Royson. This muddy 3.1 mile event has more than 10 obstacles, which included mud runs, cargo net climbs, wall climbs, rope climbs, 200m pitch black drainage tunnel, 100m crawl under barbed wire, a carry of 25kg bucket of rocks round a 100m course, a river crossing either by swimming or using a wobbly bridge, 3 x hill climbs carrying a tyre, fire jump, crawl through a pit of ice under barbed wire and just before crossing the finish line there are two gladiators with pugels trying to smack your legs from under you. It is obstacle racing at it’s toughest. Mark finished in 48.49 minutes, giving him an excellant overall postion of 62nd place from over 1300 competitors.

Waveney Valley Athletic Club’s summer of competition continues with members having several races in the region in the last few weeks to choose from to enter.

At the Broome 10k series (race 1) David Lewis was placed 84th in a time of 52:57 and Dale DePasquale was 93rd in 59:05.

Three members ran in the Broadland 5k series (race 2). From a total of 164 runners, Bill Kingaby finished 60th in 20:59, Nigel Herrod, enjoying his best level of fitness for some time, was placed 67th in 21:20 and David Lewis, not far outside his target time of 25 minutes, finished 118th in 25:31.

At the amusingly named Humpty Dumpty 10k, held at Reedham and named after the local brewery that sponsored the event, Glenn Doy finished 106th in a time of 47:53. In their first race for the club, Stephen Gibbs was placed 192nd in 52:25 and Wayne Freeman 220th in 53:26.

Waveney Valley’s sole entrant in the Broome 10k (race 2) was club stalwart David Pryce who finished 98th from an entry of around 150, in a time of 52:51.

Five Waveney Valley Athletic Club members competed at the Broadland 5k, the first of a series of three races this summer held at South Walsham and organised by Norwich Road Runners.

The event proved particularly satisfying for two club members who improved their finishing times during last winter and have continued their progression into the summer.

Tim Earl ran a personal best time of 19:01, finishing in 37th place from a field of around 230 runners while Alan Fairs took nearly ten seconds off his previous best time to record 20:33, in 76th.

Veteran Bill Kingaby, whose best times remain a distant but pleasant sporting memory, finished 90th in a time of 21:07, with Kevin Booth just a few places behind, running very well in his first race at the 5k distance, in 93rd in 21:16.

Dale DePasquale crossed the line in 174th, in 26:28, despite being affected by a severe stitch in the latter stages of the race.

Over 200 runners converged on Gt Yarmouth seafront for the last of three races in the 5 mile evening series organised by Great Yarmouth Road Runners. There were some strong runs from the eight members of Waveney Valley Athletic Club who entered and most encouraging this year so far has been the number of personal bests attained by WVAC members.

Paula Lambert set a new best time of 39:21, finishing in 132nd position and former local rugby player David Lewis also achieved a p.b of 42:55, in 172nd. Another former rugby player, David Pryce, finished in 159th in a time of 41:32 and though running in the over 60’s category for a few years now, shows no sign of hanging up his racing shoes.

Son and father Chris and Kevin Booth finished 96th in 35:32 and 103rd in 36:37 respectively and are enjoying their first season of competitive running.
Alan Fairs led the team home again in this series finishing 73rd in 33:53 with Bill Kingaby not far behind in 82nd in 34:13. Ravenna Bartholomew, despite injuring her leg, battled bravely to the finish line in 208th in 62:57.

The series has been well organised by Rod Shulver and his friendly team at GYRR and there was a gift of a mug commemerating the recent Royal Wedding to all runners completing all three races.

Waveney Valley’s spring/summer schedule continues apace with races at South Walsham and Broome next for club members.

Waveney Valley AC Member Tracy Mayne ran the Norwich 5k Race For Life on Sunday, despite being injured for the last few months Tracy managed to set a new PB of 32 minutes 56 seconds as well as raising money for a good cause.

Waveney Valley Athletic Club matched their entry of eleven runners in race one, when they competed at the second in the Great Yarmouth Road Runners 5 mile series. The race formed part of the Runners Centre Grand Prix series so a bumper entry of almost 250 runners lined up at the start on the seafront.

Waveney members with performances that stood out include David Pimlott who is benefiting from his recent marathon training. He was very pleased with his time of just under 43 minutes. Catherine Carfoot, accompanied throughout the race by Tim Earl, knocked almost two minutes off her time from race one while Bradwell based Dale De Pasquale shook off a hamstring problem to record a much improved time.

First to finish for Waveney Valley was Alan Fairs, in 59th place in a time of 33:43, just a fraction outside his personal best, with Bill Kingaby close behind in 64th. Chris Booth was next in 78th followed by his father Kevin in 101st. Paula Lambert, David Lewis and Ravenna Bartholomew all had satisfying runs in their first outing in this series this year.

Waveney Valley results: 59th Alan Fairs 33:43, 64th Bill Kingaby 34:06, 78th Chris Booth 34:50, 101st Kevin Booth 36:49, 142nd Catherine Carfoot 39:33, 143rd Tim Earl 39:34, 159th Paula Lambert 40:25, 185th David Pimlott 42:49, 188th David Lewis 43:20, 203rd Dale De Pasquale 45:41, 226th Ravenna Bartholomew 50:31