Races Good luck to Cloudy who is running the Maverick Exmoor Trail this weekend. Also bigup to Lydia who is taking on the (double checks) Thames Path 100 bloody miler! Next time you procrastinate before your morning 10k think about Lydia running 100 miles. The record for this course is 16 hours, something for you to aim for Lyds. Trail Running Adventures – Tilly Beinhocker On Saturday 22nd April, a handful of Chasers met at Finchley Road for an adventurous morning of trail running.  Actually, it was more of a "mini-adventure" as the starting point was at Rickmansworth tube station!  Despite the convenience of the jumping off point, a delightful off-road 12 mile route ensued, taking us through bluebell woods, open fields and paddocks, with barely a pavement or road in sight.  Thanks to the technical and navigational skills of Baptiste Cusimano, any deviations from the planned route were barely noticeable, and we 'landed' successfully at Chesham station a couple of hours later.  The sun even came out to celebrate our arrival and part of the group headed back on the Metropolitan line while others elected to head on towards Wendover and Tring.  I'm keen to make this a monthly event, aiming for the third Saturday or Sunday of every month, with routes around 10-12 miles within easy striking distance of North West London.  If anyone is interested in joining, please check out the calendar (the next run is planned for Saturday 20th May), or email me at tilly@beinhocker.com.  All are welcome!" Many thanks in advance and all the best, Tilly Kit Swap Hi everyone, thanks for those that donated from kit swap. We raised £201 for the following fundraising marathoners! We'll divvy out the cash next week between the following people. R x Rosie Parknson https://2023tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/rosie-parkinson Rosie Young https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/rosie-forguidedogs Tony Him https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/alex281 Krush Patel https://justgiving.com/fundraising/krush Megan Brown https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Megan-Brown68?utm_medium=email&utm_source=ExactTarget&utm_campaign=20230410_&mi_u=42216944&mi_ecmp=LFCFRDOUK_Badge50_Guest Maud Fournier https://www.justgiving.com/page/maud-fournier-1671292507688 Jaime Parish https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/JamieParish... Elizabeth Aryeetey https://www.justgiving.com/fundrai.../Elizabeth-Aryeetey1... Jennifer and Anthony’s pre wedding parkrun Before their wedding tomorrow (Saturday the 6th) Jennifer and Anthony are starting their special day with a parkrun at Highbury Fields. Please join them to celebrate their marriage at parkrun! Guess the winning London Marathon record A bit of a competition this week. As well as a speedy Talacre of Chasers there was a whole host of record breakers who ran the London Marathon two weeks ago. Can you guess (without cheating) which of these runners crossed the line first? David Church: Fastest marathon dressed as an insect (male) Peter James Banks:  Fastest marathon dressed as a star (male) Amy Ellett: Fastest marathon dressed as a body part (female) Kirk Millikan: Fastest marathon dressed as a lumberjack (male) Victoria Hill: Fastest marathon dressed as a fairy tale character (female) 12 Hour Crawley Track Race Report – Sarah Funderburk Part 3: Lies and timers and blisters, oh my It took a few laps for it to really sink in that I was in the lead. I kept expecting Juhann to appear back on the track. But, as I looked around, there was no trace of him. Unlike the rest of us, he would be enjoying a night of sleep. As I approached the 5 hour mark, the fact that I still had 7 hours ahead of me felt daunting. I was strong, but the fatigue was just a thought away. If I didn’t stay focused on my topics, surroundings or other runners, it would easily grab hold of me. Another hour and the halfway point passed, and my lead over Andy was growing. “You’re 7 laps ahead,” the friendly lap counter quietly told me as I crossed the timing lap for approximately the 161st time. At one point, my lead increased to 8 laps, but it was getting harder and harder to keep fatigue at bay. The next time I encountered Andy, we ran with each other briefly. “You’re enjoying this way too much,” he said. “This just isn’t for me. I think I’m going to call it quits at 50 miles.” And with that, something in my brain relaxed just a little bit. Andy started to speed up to get his fifty miles in, while I was slowly but surely getting slower and slower. As 4am was inching closer, I was clinging to the idea of getting to turn around - back to the “normal” way of running around a track. It was something to focus on, something different, something to keep me stimulated. Right as I crossed the mat a few minutes before 4am, the officials declared that they would be postponing the turnaround until 4:15. I felt like I died a bit more inside. Ironically, 15 more minutes felt like it would be an eternity. Luckily it wasn’t. Around the same time we turned, 7 hours and 15ish minutes in, I hit the magical 50 mile mark - a whopping 200 laps. At the same time, Andy was whizzing around the track, trying to get in his 50 miles and also making up quite a bit of ground. About 10 min after me, he reached the milestone…and kept going. Internally, you better believe I was cursing him. He looked strong and steady, and my lead continued to wane, even as I was finishing marathon number 2, well within my sub 4 hr goal. Between the hours of 5 and 6am as the sun was rising, my body was giving me all sorts of signals. Twice I had the hint of, “oh…I don’t think this is just a normal fart brewing,” and made my way as gracefully as possible to the port-a-loos by the side of the track. As I slowed for what were becoming more and more frequent walk breaks, an encouraging 24 hour competitor urged me to keep fighting the good fight. I told him that I had a blister that was really getting to me. Just as he was advising me to try to see if the medical tent folks could patch me up, I noticed that my left shoe felt slightly damp and it didn’t hurt quite as much. Who knew you could outrun a blister?! The question remained, however, if I could outrun Andy. He clearly had found new motivation when he saw that he was catching me. The sunrise was just the sort of sunrise that you could hope for, so that was helping me along as night passed into morning. I needed to focus on my own goals and forget Andy, though. I knew I had it in me to get to 75 miles (300 laps), but the goal of a 3rd complete marathon felt like it was slipping. I also knew that Sean would be coming back to the track soon. I wasn't sure when, but I hoped, despite the renewed focus on my original goals, that I could hold on just a bit longer so that he could see my name at the top of the leaderboard. ...to be concluded next week... 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. 18/05/2023 Club Handicap 🏃 Run - deadline 2023-05-14 22/05/2023 Annual General Meeting 20/05/2023 Athletics SAL Fixture 1 - Hornchurch Sign up - deadline 2023-05-18 06/05/2023 Jenny and Anthony’s Pre Wedding Parkrun @ Highbury Fields 13/05/2023 Middlesex AA County Championships - Lee Valley 09/05/2023 Beginners volunteering week 2 volunteer (3 of 5 left) 16/05/2023 Beginners volunteering week 3 volunteer (3 of 5 left) 23/05/2023 Beginners volunteering week 4 volunteer (3 of 5 left) 30/05/2023 Beginners volunteering week 5 volunteer (3 of 5 left) We are also currently taking names for the following events. 06/06/2023 Beginners volunteering week 6 volunteer (3 of 5 left) 13/06/2023 Beginners volunteering week 7 volunteer (3 of 5 left) 20/06/2023 Beginners volunteering week 8 volunteer (3 of 5 left) 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. YVAA Grand Prix 6 (Honley), 23/04/2023 6MMT Carl Heron 49:41, 41 (5) London marathon (London), 23/04/2023 Mar Rosie Young 03:27:43 (03:27:43) [65.19%] NEW PB Highgate Harriers Open Meeting (Parliament Hill), 26/04/2023 5000 Jonathan Thomson 18:40.3, 8 [72.58%] Spring Treble Series Barlaston Ups and Downs 5 (Oulton), 27/04/2023 5MXC Nitesh Thakrar 41:51 (41:40), 49 (3) [62.41%] Parkrun 29/04/2023 Ally Pally Stephanie Mercier 25:08, 91 (-, 1) [59.28%] Birkenhead Paul Sant 20:25, 17 [69.63%] Canons Park Alex Renton 21:53, 10 [64.97%] Clacton Seafront Paul Matthews 29:32, 92 (1) [70.20%] Finsbury Park Simon Fitzmaurice 23:26, 115 [56.61%]   Sarah McGaw 24:04, 148 [61.36%] NEW PB   michele griffiths 27:55, 285 [64.84%] Gladstone Abdul Salam 28:05, 138 [51.34%] Hackney Marshes Juliette Westbrook 26:29, 163 [55.76%]   Elizabeth Aryeetey 26:53, 183 [70.68%]   Andy Davies 26:54, 184 [48.39%] Hampstead Heath John Armstrong 19:47, 8 (1) [74.56%]   Keith Jordan 22:59, 41 [66.21%]   Daniel Lewis 25:02, 75 [57.19%] NEW PB   Yan (Patrick) Li 26:09, 99 [57.74%]   Alice Sullivan 27:32, 141 (-, 1) [59.38%]   Gaby Anderson 28:51, 170 [51.18%]   Ellie Holloway 28:59, 172 [50.95%]   Mabel Ellerker 28:59, 173 [50.95%]   Amanda Taylor 31:29, 237 [58.18%]   Janet Kidd 31:34, 240 [56.02%] Highbury Fields Tom Hill 20:53, 57 [62.17%]   Daniel Berry 21:04, 59 [75.79%]   Philip Rutnam 21:19, 64 (1) [73.10%]   David Renton 23:12, 118 [63.58%] Hilly Fields Brandon Leung 22:28, 45 [63.28%] Lordship Recreation Ground David Nelson 24:03, 40 [56.62%] Northala Fields Alina Williamson 25:25, 85 [59.08%] Philips Park Christopher Leslie 18:29, 3 (1) [70.24%] Rickmansworth Lizzy Muggeridge 37:12, 426 [43.95%] Southwark Lauren Longhurst 20:50, 32 [71.36%] Stratford Park, Stroud David Thorne 22:52, 12 (1) [64.50%] Sunny Hill Meryl Walker 44:15, 62 [41.88%] Victoria Dock Marcos Cuevas-Nunez 20:44, 15 (1) [71.14%]   Eleanor Childs 24:29, 46 (-, 1) [60.31%] Wanstead Flats Camilla Ray 22:26, 29 (1, 1) [68.42%]   Rafaele Lamour 25:52, 77 (-, 1) [64.56%] BigWayRound2023 - 50k (Winchester), 01/05/2023 Other Andrew Disley 7:53:25 (7:53:25), 152 Links Send your stories to newsletter@chaser.me.uk. 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