Evening Chasers, Hope no one has found adjusting to these lower temperatures and darker days too miserable. Don’t miss the race report at the bottom from the Dingle marathon champ, Donal! Another great read.  Tuesday tea rota  Why not come and do the tea rota on a Tuesday evening? Everyone loves a drink, biscuit and a natter after their Tuesday runs. Serving up the tea and squash is a really easy job and a lovely way to speak to other Chasers. You can sign up on the website and find the instructions here.  Upcoming fixtures  Do take a scroll through the calendar as you will see a big long list of exciting events you can participate in over the coming months. Some are on our very doorstep like the Regents Park 10k so they really don’t have to take up a good chunk of your weekend!  Regents Park 10k (first race 1st Oct) - It’s really not that far away now so again here’s my usual reminder to sign yourself up to volunteer! We are also looking for pacers between 40 and 60 minutes for our Regent’s Park 10k on Sunday the 1st of October. No prior experience required other than being able to run the pace fairly comfortably. Please let Nikolas know if you're interested or have any questions.  Supporting these races is super important as it helps generate funds for the club - it’s easy and a great way to meet other people. If you volunteer at an event you will then be able to participate in another event in the series for free - how good is that?!  To volunteer, sign yourself up to the relevant date on the calendar. To register to run, sign yourself up here. If you have signed yourself up to volunteer and want to redeem your free place, please contact Tony Him.  The Chingford League kicks-off on Wednesday 4th October at the Lee Valley Velo centre in the old Olympic park. It’s free, you just need to sign yourself up on the cal!  The Met League’s first fixture is on the 14th October. Again, it’s free but you will need to put your name on the calendar in advance.  Cross Country (XC) - There are also lots of cross country fixtures you can sign up to on the calendar. Some cross country races are not too muddy (especially earlier in the season) and some of the courses are on paths. While having a pair of spikes is great when it’s really muddy, they are not mandatory and a pair of trail running shoes might be a good alternative. If you would like to splash out on a pair of spikes, we do have a few not too costly recommendations for you and remember you can use the SportsShoes discount code in the calendar!! Get on brand with some chaser orange with the Adidas adizero XCS womens spikes  Adidas adizero XCS spikes  New balance XC 7 spikes  Berlin bound  Good luck this weekend at the Berlin Marathon to Lola, Rendy, Janine and Dan. Sending lots of support from the club and I’m sure you will all do great! Viel Glück! Club schedule - St Neots  The club schedule for St Neots is available on the website here which has been put together by Henry. These schedules are great if you want to stick to a good routine in prep for race day.  Meet the committee  Hi my name is Henry and I am the Coaching Coordinator for the club. I organise our team of coaches to pull together training schedules for our club races and to set out the sessions for our coached track sessions on Thursday evenings. I also take part in monthly meetings with the City of London to learn about any updates to do with Parliament Hill running track. Our track sessions are inclusive for any person or ability and that friendly and inclusive atmosphere is what I love about the Chasers! If you are interested in learning more about coaching or our Thursday sessions drop me a message on Instagram @HWJtraining or on Facebook! Donal’s Dingle Marathon race report  All roads lead to Dingle, I’d had this race on my radar for a few years, my dad is from this part of the country and I spent nearly every summer of my childhood and teens there for holidays. I’d done the half marathon a few times and came 4th in my last two outings, just off the podium, close but no cigar. Training had gone well enough, I had the usual few sessions that weren’t great but it’s not single days or even weeks that make the difference it’s the sum of all the parts. Luckily I hadn’t had any injuries or other niggles in close to a year, I had by and large stuck to the plan so I was as happy as a runner can ever be when I got to the 10-day taper. I usually enjoy the taper, the hard work is done and it’s all relatively easy until we get to race, the training is the most difficult thing to navigate, trying to balance work and life commitments yet still have enough time in the day to eat and sleep, sounds much easier than it actually is. Just as I was getting to the taper, Kana arrived back from Ireland and tested positive for Covid, this was not good and I wasn’t sure how the next two weeks were going to work out. A few hasty procedures were put in place to mitigate the risks and the next 10 days were spent living with Covid and the fear. After two days of negative tests, we were back on track and the restrictions eased in the flat, to be fair, I think my protocols were far more stringent than those that BOJO had been working to but we got there in the end. The drive from Kerry airport to Dingle was about an hour and it was around 5pm when we got to the Baywatch B&B which was right in the centre of town. Tom and Veronica were the Irish versions of Faulty Tower’s Basil and Sybil. Tom showed us to the room which was right at the top of the house, a converted attic space, the room was nice, two flights of stairs to get there were playing on my mind for Sunday morning's breakfast! Saturday morning came about, the sun was shining, and there was hardly a breeze, this was good. I woke up feeling well rested and had a couple of those pots of instant oats for breakfast, not my usual go-to but ‘Basil’ wasn’t on board with a 6 a.m. start so I had to make do with what I could. Loaded out the Soar shorts with my gels and I was good to go, having a B&B in the centre of town made things very easy for the race start. Walked down to meet my sister and brother at the Fungie statue, they were both doing the half and Kana was also giving her number to Aoife Cooke, an Irish Olympian from the Tokyo games who has a marathon PB of 2:28, I was just glad that Aoife was only doing the half. It turned out Aoife was planning on running with me for the first few miles, I wasn’t sure how I felt about this, was it adding complexity trying to hang with someone or would it make things easier, I wasn’t sure of the answer to that one. Started my warm-up around 30 minutes before the race, it’s pretty much the same one I always do, 10 to 15 minutes of jogging with a few longer 30s strides thrown in at random, I was feeling good, the gels were bouncing around in the back of my shorts, a familiar feeling. After my warm-up, I lined up at the start where I spoke to a couple of guys from Watford Joggers who Sarah had mentioned were going, potentially a couple of bandits to keep an eye out for but it looked like they were all doing the half, they had the different coloured half bibs on at least. Briefly spoke to John Meade, the guy who wins the half every year, not sure I’ve ever seen him beaten in any of the previous results. Had my usual gel about 5 minutes before the start, the drums and whistles were already going, it was an absolute racket, seemed like the whole place was going bonkers and then we were off. John Meade was gone from the gun with two of the guys from Watford in tow, I was quite curious to see how that one played out. The first 800m from the start is flat, you run out with the Milltown River on your left-hand side where it enters Dingle Bay, then you go left over the bridge and head out past the graveyard and garage, also on your left-hand side, the first small hill. As with all marathons, it’s easy to get carried away in the first few miles, the pace feels easy, with lots of adrenaline, tapered legs and the buzz from the start line. Once the race settled down a bit I reckoned I was in around 10th place overall, including the people in the half, Aoife didn’t think there was anyone in the full ahead of me but at this stage, I wasn’t too pushed, just focused on getting into the race proper. These first few miles went by without any issues, I was trying to keep a consistent effort, keeping it roughly where I felt it should be for a hilly marathon, not that I’d ever done one before but I definitely didn’t want to get carried away. The thing about Dingle is that there are lots of ups and downs, it’s never really flat. Through the 3rd mile, we were heading towards Ventry village with the harbour on the left, I had my first gel and was feeling good. There were a good few people out supporting in Ventry, the cheers and shouts of encouragement were followed by an immediate quickening of pace, I am not sure if many people are immune to this chain reaction or maybe it is just me. The miles were clicking by without any hassle, I was feeling comfortable enough and having the odd bit of chit-chat with Aoife, all was good. Through mile 5 we were coming up to Paudie O’Shea’s pub, many a night I spent in there during my summers in Kerry.  Paudie was a Kerry footballer during the 80s, extremely talented and a bit of a legend in the area, he now has his very own life-sized statue outside the pub, a bit like Fungie only more famous! Through mile 7 we were now heading for one of the nicest parts of the course, you just need to get over the drag of a hill first, it’s nothing major, a steady climb for around half a mile, the sun was still shining, and at this stage, you know you’re in a race. Aoife had decided to drop back a little bit, not because of the pace, she was worried about winning the half while racing under another person’s name. Despite her sending an email asking if she could buy a late entry the organisers couldn’t give her a place stating that the race was full and that numbers were restricted because of health and safety. We continued on past a community hall where I remembered going to Ceili’s when I was younger, this was already the second one, I went to a lot of them during the summer holidays when a huge influx of students would come to Kerry to learn Irish. The next few miles are really nice, the Atlantic Ocean is on your left, at the bottom of a sheer cliff, and there are two islands way off in the distance which are the Skellig’s, old monastic retreats where they recently enough filmed parts of the Star Wars films. We got to mile 10 where there’s a large religious statue on the inside of the road, apparently a tribute to someone who died when the Lusitania was sunk by a torpedo during the 1st world war. The view from here is amazing, postcard stuff, the Blasket Islands are right in front of you and Coumeenoole Beach is just down in front of you, there’s also usually a Garda with the occasional gull perched on the wall. Mile 11 is tough, it climbs up from the beach, past another graveyard and on towards Dunquin where my Dad is from. I was still travelling well enough, I’d had company for the last few miles with a guy who was doing the half, we had caught and passed a few people, we were now in 5th and 6th position overall and were chatting away which helped distract away from the effort. I was staying on top of my gels, one every 3 miles, quite a lot of gels but my stomach can handle them so I stick to what I know and have yet to feel like I’ve run out of juice in a marathon. We got to halfway and my running companion took the left turn to finish his race right outside Kruger's pub, a nice place to finish with plenty of refreshments close to hand, I was on my own from now on. Just 50m after this we pass over a small bridge and on the left immediately after the bridge is the house where my dad was born, way back in 1940, I couldn’t help but wonder what life would have been like back then, certainly no super shoes or Garmin! Up ahead the lead vehicle was stopped on the road, a big diesel jeep, as I approached they started to pull away and I got a massive gulp of diesel fumes, this wasn’t ideal but once they’d checked my number they were gone. I now had 2 motorbikes, a Garda and a marshal, I was leading, this was great, I hadn’t been 100% sure until the runners in the half had finished but this was a nice feeling. As you leave Dunquin there’s another climb, not too bad but I was still feeling the effort. Halfway up this climb, I could see my sister and a group of her friends, they were going mental and I got a great buzz passing them, it really lifted me and despite the effort, I was still travelling well, all good. The next few miles on the way towards Ballyferriter are relatively flat, the scenery through this part of the course is still amazing, it was easy to be alone and in my own head, just keep clicking off the miles. I continued to pass all the places I knew so well, Clogher strand, Dun an Oir and on into ‘Bally’. A local guy on a bike with a high-vis on was cycling with me on the way into Ballyferriter, I wasn’t sure if he was part of the race crew or just out for a cycle, we were chatting away for a mile or two. He told me John Meade and Aoife Cooke had won the halves, no real shock there I thought to myself. He continued to tell me how he had a PB of 2:38 for the marathon and 32 minutes for 10k, great times in old-school shoes, Chomp would be suitably impressed! The next couple of miles after Ballyferriter are a little bit of a blur, I find that this can be a tough section in the marathon, you’ve been running for close to two hours but you’re still not close enough to be able to start pushing for the finish, I was staying on top of my gels and nothing felt like it was out of the ordinary. We got to mile 20 and took a left turn which brings you on an 'out and back' towards the Gallarus Oratory. The out and back is just over a mile in total so this was my opportunity to get some information on where the next person was, the guy in second was well back, in my head I roughly calculated 5 minutes, give or take, this was good and gave me a lift as I headed towards the hill at mile 21. You’ve all heard of the Boston Marathon and the hills there, well if you’re looking for heartbreak in Dingle, this is where you’ll find it, the road climbs slightly over 100m in just 1.4 miles, nothing for the trail junkies who have these for breakfast but not ideal in a road marathon. As you might expect my pace slowed considerably on the climb but I maintained a consistent effort and had the occasional chat with myself about how much I liked hills and how I was retiring after this one, the usual stuff that goes through your head in the later stages of a marathon. After what felt like 30 minutes I eventually got to the top of this last hill to find Kana there, having cycled on a rental bike she’d hired in Dingle, it was great to get her words of encouragement and to have some moral support at the top, I was feeling a bit goosed after the climb. Once I got over the top though, in my head I was home and hosed, all downhill from here, a bit like St Neots, 5k to go, just keep working away and tick off the final few miles, simple enough. However, my left hamstring had other ideas, I tried to pick up the pace at the start of the downhill when everything tightened up, this was not in the script. The thing I find with the last few miles of marathons is that nearly everything hurts but you never really know if it’s just your body giving out a bit from all the effort or if you’re about to have a catastrophic failure and grind to a halt at the side of the road. The hamstring was worrying, I was running at the same pace down the hill as I had been on the way up, so much for a ‘fast’ finish. Kana asked was it may be better if she left me to it, which I agreed to, I needed to get my head together and my hamstring back on side. No sooner had Kana gone when my local friend on the bike was back, this was good and bad. He’d told me I was doing well and that the other guy in 2nd was struggling, ‘His legs are gone’ was all I heard but this was enough for me, being honest, mine weren’t great either. Once I’d got my breath back and was about 800m into the downhill my hamstring was starting to play ball, things were looking up, I just needed to baby myself to the finish and hope the guy in 2nd was having the same issues I was. This road back into Dingle is called ‘An Bother Fada’ in Irish, ‘The long road’, it was feeling every bit of it today. As the road levelled out I was into the last couple of miles, my hamstring was good so I started to push as much as I could, this is the part of marathons that I like the most, digging in for the last few miles, trying to rinse every last bit of energy you have into closing out the race, it’s a feeling that’s hard to describe but it’s what I get a kick out of, I like to look back after races and feel satisfied that I gave as much as I could on the day, this part of the race is what I always remember. My man on the bike was telling me to enjoy it, ‘No Sprinting’, I was laughing in my own head at this, there was zero chance of sprinting and we were still well over a mile away from the finish. The road continued on back towards Milltown and the outskirts of Dingle, my right calf was firing the odd warning shot, nothing bad, short sharp bursts of pain that were enough to cause some concern, I would back off any time this happened but again it’s all relative, I was still trying to push as much as I could. As I took the left at Milltown, heading back over the bridge and towards the roundabout I’d passed a few hours earlier, the crowds were out and I was getting a buzz from all the cheers. I was into the last half mile now and back on the flat smooth road towards the finish, staying focussed and trying to enjoy it as much as I could. My man on the bike was gone but his words of wisdom ‘no sprinting’ were still in my head. Crossing the finish line was a great feeling, mainly down to the fact that I was eventually able to stop running! Kana was there and had her camera right on me, I felt lots of different emotions, I was delighted to win and glad to be finished. It was really nice to tick this marathon off the list, not sure it’s one I’d do again but I do have a free entry for next year’s event, most likely the half marathon where I can finish at Krugers. We celebrated well into the night, Dingle is a great town for food and drink and we certainly made the most of it.   Calendar Here's whats happening over the next few weeks other than our usual Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday runs. You can find our full calendar on the website. 15/10/2023 Cabbage Patch 10 (Club Championship) 04/10/2023 Chingford League Race 1: Lee Valley Velopark Sign up to run - deadline 2023-09-25 01/10/2023 Mornington Chasers Regent's Park 10k marshalling Volunteer (1 of 12 left) - deadline 2023-09-25 14/10/2023 Met League - Fixture 1 - Claybury Sign up to run - deadline 2023-10-13 15/10/2023 Sunday League - Fixture 1 - Cheshunt Sign up to run - deadline 2023-10-14 26/09/2023 Beginners week 3 Volunteer (2 of 5 left) 03/10/2023 Beginners week 4 Volunteer (4 of 5 left) 10/10/2023 Beginners week 5 Volunteer (4 of 5 left) 17/10/2023 Beginners week 6 Volunteer (4 of 5 left) 03/10/2023 SportsShoes Discount code for September! 01/10/2023 Regent's Park Winter Series 10k - October We are also currently taking names for the following events. 10/02/2024 Met League - Fixture 5 - Trent Park Sign up to run 18/02/2024 Sunday League - Fixture 5 - Royston Heath Sign up to run 24/10/2023 Beginners week 7 Volunteer (3 of 5 left) 31/10/2023 Beginners week 8 Volunteer (4 of 5 left) 04/11/2023 Liddiart Trophy - Fryent Country Park Kingsbury Sign up to run 18/11/2023 SEAA London XC Champs Sign up to run 27/01/2024 SEAA XC Main Champs - Beckenham Sign up to run Results If you want to upload a photo or your results are missing, log in to our website and update your picture and Power of 10 ID. The Big Half (Greenwich), 03/09/2023 HM Daniele Biagi 74:26, 133 () [79.38%] NEW PB   Liam Moroney 78:22, 297 () [74.50%] NEW PB   Rendy Prakoso 78:35, 308 () [74.38%] NEW PB   Izzy Gelder 79:12, 335 (12, -) [82.32%] NEW PB   Jamie Parish 80:21, 398 () [72.66%] NEW PB   Callum Gathercole 80:29, 406 () [72.54%] NEW PB   Darren Souster 82:30, 521 () [70.77%]   Nelson Goh 83:47, 620 () [71.22%] NEW PB   Henry Woodward 84:02, 645 () [69.48%]   Lauren Longhurst 86:18, 846 (56, -) [76.30%]   Eitan Mor 87:14, 938 () [68.04%]   Rahul Mohindra 87:20, 949 () [66.85%] NEW PB   Andrew Farrell 88:37, 1100 (35) [74.16%]   Matt Thomas 88:50, 1136 () [65.74%]   Sam Crisp 89:40, 1245 () [65.89%] NEW PB   Philip Barnes 90:24, 1335 () [64.58%]   Jodie Pearlman 92:55, 1612 (136, -) [70.17%] NEW PB   Sarah Funderburk 93:57, 1741 (150, 15) [72.27%]   Esther Curtin 94:22, 1792 (159, -) [69.09%] NEW PB   Danny Baker 95:20, 1944 () [61.73%] NEW PB   Fiona Russell 97:10, 2196 (230, 6) [80.14%]   Joe Howard 97:44, 2277 () [59.89%] NEW PB   Sebastian Jones 98:41, 2462 () [59.16%] NEW PB   Tom Hill 98:56, 2499 () [59.01%] NEW PB   Claire Hackston 99:21, 2592 (301, -) [65.63%] NEW PB   Alex Renton 99:37, 2640 (196) [62.69%]   Marcos Cuevas-Nunez 99:43, 2660 (97) [65.34%]   Danny Beddard 1:42:30, 3153 () [56.96%] NEW PB   Stuart Pearson 1:42:59, 3239 () [56.69%] NEW PB   Daisy Wooller 1:43:38, 3382 (445, -) [62.98%]   Jonathan Wood 1:47:45, 4319 (319) [57.96%] NEW PB   Juliette Westbrook 1:48:32, 4498 (706, -) [60.07%]   Ellie Holloway 1:48:32, 4499 (707, -) [60.07%]   Andy Davies 1:48:32, 4501 () [53.79%]   Emily Morgan 1:49:05, 4631 (745, -) [59.77%]   David Leon 1:51:12, 5117 (2) [70.91%] NEW PB   Aliaksei Shkiruts 1:53:24, 5666 () [51.75%] NEW PB   Alina Williamson 1:54:00, 5822 (1089, -) [58.51%]   Elizabeth Aryeetey 1:55:14, 6130 (1189, 11) [75.11%]   Krush Patel 1:55:39, 6259 () [50.48%]   David Nelson 1:55:59, 6354 () [51.44%]   Rosie Parkinson 1:58:19, 7009 (1500, -) [55.11%]   Matteo Carminati 1:59:28, 7360 () [49.26%] NEW PB   Phil Batchelor 1:59:55, 7467 (85) [61.85%] NEW PB   Kristian Thomas 2:03:03, 8202 () [47.46%] NEW PB   Carmen Harrington 2:03:07, 8216 (1975, -) [53.32%]   Julia Shreeve 2:06:26, 8948 (2307, 233) [53.35%]   Paul Dickens 2:07:16, 9170 () [46.63%]   Amanda Taylor 2:10:01, 9753 (2685, 64) [63.90%] NEW PB   Emma Ley 2:13:43, 10466 (3055, -) [49.25%]   Janet Kidd 2:22:09, 11888 (3787, 104) [56.92%] NEW PB   Julian Fulbrook 2:26:02, 12392 (3) [57.70%] NEW PB   philip moore 2:32:21, 13150 (189) [47.73%] NEW PB Big Half (London), 03/09/2023 HM Yan (Patrick) Li 01:47:16 (01:47:16), 4141 (160) [62.37%] Parkrun 09/09/2023 Dulwich Izzy Gelder 17:34, 12 (1, 1) [84.06%] NEW PB Great North Run (Newcastle-South Shields), 10/09/2023 HM Christopher Leslie 80:50, 230 [72.23%]   Elliot Callard 2:39:01, 31379 [36.76%] NEW PB Friday Night 5K Under the Lights (Battersea Park), 15/09/2023 5K Nicola Payne 19:07 (19:04), 78 (29, 21) [77.45%] Parkrun 16/09/2023 Ally Pally Mike Hurford 21:47, 25 (1) [75.82%]   Lauren Longhurst 23:24, 47 (3, 1) [63.53%] Beacon Hill Country Park Elizabeth Aryeetey 27:19, 49 (-, 1) [69.55%] Coldham’s Common Olivia France 24:24, 99 [60.52%] Finsbury Park Marcos Cuevas-Nunez 23:19, 103 [63.26%]   Eleanor Childs 23:58, 129 [61.61%]   Heather Marshall 25:28, 181 [62.24%]   Rafaele Lamour 31:03, 419 [54.37%] Gladstone Abdul Salam 29:23, 166 [49.46%] Hampstead Heath Daniel Berry 22:15, 51 [72.36%]   Paul Sant 22:44, 60 [62.54%]   Emily Morgan 26:11, 143 [56.40%]   Paul Dickens 27:29, 189 [49.18%]   Gary Homewood 28:53, 230 [54.82%]   alon caspi 29:22, 251 [56.70%]   Julia Shreeve 32:43, 341 [46.36%] Highbury Fields Andrew Farrell 21:12, 43 [70.13%]   Fiona Russell 22:37, 88 (-, 1) [76.34%]   Bruno Papadacci 24:03, 136 [56.20%]   Lizzy Muggeridge 32:32, 399 [50.26%] Lordship Recreation Ground Carmen Harrington 25:08, 57 [59.02%] Mile End Alina Williamson 28:08, 246 [53.38%] Oak Hill George Viner-Price 19:46, 7 [66.19%]   Juliette Westbrook 24:47, 79 (-, 1) [59.58%] Roding Valley Paul Matthews 29:28, 97 (1) [70.36%] Southwark Katrina Kelly 20:10, 50 (2, 1) [73.22%] University of Northampton Andy Davies 29:05, 84 [44.76%] Wormwood Scrubs John H Grigg 43:51, 123 (1) [60.70%] Ultra X England 50K / 110K (Hope Valley), 16/09/2023 50KMT Callum Gathercole 5:47:12, 10 [43.06%] Stainland 10K (Halifax), 17/09/2023 10KMT Carl Heron 53:45 (53:45), 13 (1) [61.58%] Links Send your stories to newsletter@chaser.me.uk. 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