The Hills Were Alive !

There was a fabulous turnout of junior endurance runners at the Welcombe Hills last Sunday, in readiness for the Cross Country season. In the muddy but otherwise good conditions, there was a record Sunday turnout of 35 runners and 6 coaches, who also did a fair bit of running!. Photo courtesy of Emily Adams. Well it was certainly a quiet week this week. You're obviously all in serious winter training mode or saving yourselves for the XC season. This week's newsletter is headed with a wonderful photo of some of our talented junior endurance runners who were training last Sunday on the Welcombe Hills. This is followed by two superb reports from Adam Evans and Jackie Sims, who both competed in the New York Marathon last weekend. Enjoy the rest of your week and good luck to those of you taking part in this weekend's XC fixtures. Best Wishes David Jones. New York, New York ! Adam Evans Jackie Sims New York Marathon. The club had two members competing in last weekend's New York Marathon. They were among the 53508 finishers and below are their stories of the day, in their own words. The race was won by Geoffrey Kamworor in 2:08.13 and the first female finisher was Joyciline Jepkosgei in 2:22.38 Adam Evans. "It was awesome event. I’ve never been to race before where they had free donuts, bagels, Gatorade, fruit, tea and coffee and beanies at the start line. I’d studied the course a lot before the race so I knew there there were 3 hills I had to be weary of (the start, Queensborough Bridge and the climb along Central Park). The race started well and at halfway point I was on track for my goal time (clocked in around 1:31). Just shortly after the 30k mark my race just fell apart. I started cramping up in my right leg. All I kept thinking was let’s get this done. When I got to the 35k mark I was on off walk run till the end. Even though I didn’t hit my goal time, I’m still quiet proud to finish with a 3:28. It was certainly a character building race. Though I must say, the crowds at New York are epic and I’d highly recommend this race to anyone. The event organizers did such a great job. Hopefully I get another opportunity in the future to try this race again." Adam was close to a top 10% finisher and in the top 10% Aussie finishers ! Jackie Sims. "This was my first road marathon and I have nothing therefore to compare it to in terms of organisation, course, or spectator support. To a virgin marathoner in New York though, it seemed pretty spectacular to me. Setting off at 5:40 am from my hotel in Times Square, I walked with thousands of others along the very cold streets to catch a bus at the Library building that would take most of the 50,000 runners across to Staten Island. My…