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

Tim Earl and Alan Fairs were back in their racing shoes two days later, on Good Friday morning, at the Roger Wing memorial trophy 10k hosted by Bungay Black Dog Running Club. They were joined at Broome village by seven other Waveney Valley members in what proved to be very warm and sunny conditions for the field of over 200 runners.

Waveney Valley results: 18th Tim Earl 41:16, 71st Glenn Doy 48:11, 72nd Alan Fairs 48:12, 101st Paula Lambert 52:38, 109th Catherine Carfoot 54:08, 149th Stuart Smith 1-00:38, 151st Stephanie Pimlott 1-01:04, 152nd Chris Pimlott 1-01:05, 191st David Pimlott 1-18:07.

Waveney Valley Athletics Club had an impressive entry of just under a dozen runners for the first in Great Yarmouth Road Runners series of three races covering a distance of 5 miles.

Three new members joined established Waveney Valley athletes for this popular annual spring event covering two laps of Great Yarmouth’s seafront and promenade.

Tim Earl, competing again just a week and a half after setting a personal best at the Bungay Marathon, maintained his recent excellent form, recording another p.b. Alan Fairs also set a new best time for the distance. Teenager Chris Booth has been running for just a few weeks and posted a very fast time for his first race whilst fellow new members Lauren Dixon and Jane Ward finished comfortably inside the one hour mark.

Waveney Valley results: 29th Tim Earl 30:59, 40th Seb Herrod 31:46, 70th Alan Fairs 33:42, 72nd Chris Booth 33:51, 73rd Bill Kingaby 33:53, 87th Nigel Herrod 35:41, 97th Kevin Booth 36:24, 157th Catherine Carfoot 41:21, 200th Dale De Pasquale 48:19, 210th Lauren Dixon 58:23, 211th Jane Ward 58:39.

Four Waveney Valley Athletic Club runners completed this years race. First home was Christopher Pimlott(36) in
his first marathon in a time of 3:25:51, his father David(63) in his third London completed in 4:49:45, Followed by
Paul Harrod(49) in 5:00:21 and Lisa Potter(34) in 5:01:33. It was also Paul and Lisa’s first marathons, Paul only
started running with David’s beginners group in May last year.

The £4,500 raised is going to Sense, Children with Leukaemia, JPH Pallative Care Unit and E.A.C.H. the runners
are most grateful to those who donated.

Waveney Valley Athletic Club member Tim Earl produced an outstanding performance at Sundays Bungay Marathon,
knocking nearly twenty minutes off his personal best for the distance. He finished in an excellent 14th place with a
new best time of 3:09:29.

Competing in the Half Marathon for Waveney Valley were Jonathan Comyn, who recorded a time of 1:42:39 in his first
race at the distance. He was placed 88th. Also running his first Half Marathon was Stuart Smith who finished 347th in
a time of 2:16:00. Stuart’s daughter Stephanie Pimlott finished just ahead of her dad in 326th in 2:13:11.

Further afield, Pat Tuttle ran the Brighton Marathon and from an entry of well over 7,000 runners, finished 5,208th
in 4:47:52.