Members of Waveney Valley Athletic Club competed in hugely popular regional road races and an equally renowned event abroad recently.
In Las Vegas, Suzy and Rob Knights joined more than 23,000 competitors on a very windy day for the GEICO Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon, which started directly opposite the well known Luxor Hotel, the world’s eighth largest, and fourth largest in Las Vegas.
Suzy, in her first half marathon, finished in a time of 2-09.25, in 5,188th place, achieving bronze age category standard, a commendable effort in tough weather conditions. Rob stayed with Suzy through the race and crossed the finish line in 2-09.24 in 5,184th. New member Michael Bird took part in the supporting 10k event for charity and finished in the top half of another big field in a time of 1.17.25.
At Norwich, a dozen club members braved very cold weather for the annual Larking Gowen Norwich Half Marathon. There were more than 3,000 entries, with just over 2,300 runners at the race. First home for Waveney was new member Karim Ouaddane, an age category winner at this years Lowestoft Scores Race in September. Karim finished in a time of 1-28.41 in 126th. Kyle Bowles was 136th in 1-28.48, Steve Carruthers 238th in 1-33.42, Wayne Freeman 264th in a personal best 1-35.19, Bill Kingaby 379th in 1-37.45, Mike Quantrill 397th in a personal best 1-39.03, Mark Smith 458th in 1-40.49, Paul Grant 520th in a personal best 1-41.23, David Mower 717th in 1-47.44, Becky Langford 909th in 1-53.16, Vicky Archard 1,417th in 2-04.33 and Karen Hamilton 1,747th in 2-09.56.
Eleven members took part in the Adnams Southwold 10k out of a field of around 700. Wangford resident Lloyd Scriven was first to finish for Waveney Valley in 27th place in a personal best 40:08 then 148th Stuart Spurgeon 47:35, 171st Rob Knights 47:52, 246th Lisa Joyce 51:08, 275th Alan Varle 52:14, 351st Louise Adamson 54:36, 352nd Suzy Knights 54:22, 359th Karle Howard 54:32, 443rd Jo Fisk 58:14pb, 450th Cheryl Goymer 58:09pb and 667th Michelle Cains 1-15.07.
At the weekly 5k parkruns, 14-year old Harriet Lyman has taken the spotlight for Waveney Valley since the inaugural Lowestoft event at the end of October. She has finished first for the club at each of the races and first lady to finish in all bar the first race. Her best time to date is 19:51. Lisa Wilson, Michael Bird, Joanne Garbutt, Laura Head, Tracie Ashford and Angie Jeffs have all made their debuts for the club at the parkruns during November.