Centurion Grand Prix Series 2022 / 2023 5 Miles  CGP November 2022 | Organised by Centurion Running Club, consisting of 6 races over a 5 mile traffic free course round parkland in Chelmsley Wood. One small loop and two larger loops.. January: No expectations today. Have been suffering with a bug for 3 weeks. Runny nose, sore throat, and for the last few days a headache and pain behind my right eye. Today was the Over 60 age category run, but I could't raise my game to compete. However when the winner was announced I was about 9 minutes behind him, so in reality I would have to have ran out of my skin to have any chance of comming in the top three. Four weeks ago four young boys drowned in the lake at Babbs Mill, after going out onto the ice covered lake. The spot was marked with flowers and teddy bears. For this to have happened just before Christmas was tragic, a time when those youngsters and their families would have been looking forward to opening presents and spending happy times together, instead their world was thown into sadness and a void that would never heal. So sad. Rest In Peace boys. February: Took it easy at Coventry parkrun yesterday, and was rewarded today with a sesons best (so far) of 40.23. Had to work hard to keep at bay those hot on my heels ! Nice bonus was comming third in the "open" handicap race. No idea what my handicap was, but what the hell ! All the wine prizes had gone, as had the chocolates (but I wouldn't have chosen chocs anyway). So what was left ? A biscuit jar (without contents!), a pack of white socks (but only suitable if your feet are size 9 to 11, and that's not me) a pack of tea towels, some thing else which I cannot remember (so assume not worth having), or the prize I went for, The Guinness book of world records 2023. However, the only way i'll be in it is if I write "This book belongs to Tony Mackness" on the inside cover! March: Not the best of runs today. A night of restless sleep and up early with a dodgy stomach is not ideal preparation for a run. Second slowest time of the 2022/2023, but I'll be back in November for another go. Numbers for the series have been significantly down on pre Covid entries. which is common for most races at the moment. There's a parkrun held round the same route as the CGP (but only 5km) and I wonder if that has taken numbers away from the CGP. The cost to enter the CGP is £9 if entering individual races (cheaper to enter the series of six races), and parkrun is free.Food for thought. Click HERE for the results from the 2022/2023 series Click HERE to view the CGP archive which has results going back to the 2001/2002 series See how many names you recognise ! |
| Race Number | Overall Position | Age Position | Time | |
| Sunday 5th November | 175 | 55 / 96 | 1 | 41.26 |
| Sunday 4th December | 95 | 36 / 73 | 1 | 41.00 |
| Sunday 8th January |
179
|
40 / 84 | 3 |
41.55
|
| Sunday 5th February | 342 |
31 / 59
|
2 |
40.23
|
| Sunday 5th March | 396 |
44 / 67
|
2
|
41.47
|
| Sunday 2nd April | NO RUN THIS MONTH |
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Spa Striders Ryton Pools 5 Miles Thursday 18th May Race Number 208 Finishing Time 41.57 Finishing position 207 / 306 Age Position 5 / 10  | Full results HERE Race organised by Spa Striders Running Club, held at Ryton pools country park. I missed out on this race last year as I had a sore calf muscle and I didn't want to risk it, and potentially miss out on the next two WRRL races. Still a cheap race to enter at £6, no tee shirt, no medal, but there is water and this year a cereal bar to all finishers instead of the customary banana. A warmish evening, with a few spots of rain. I had a target of 42 minutes in mind, and got off to a good start with the first mile at 8.01 pace, and subsequent miles at an average of 8.16. I did notice that the mile markers were not accurate when compared to my Garmin. Each marker was about 100 yards further that the GPS tracking. Nearing the finish I recorded 5 miles in 41:16 which I was pleased with, but unfortunately the course measured long at 5.1 miles, so my official time is recorded at 41.57. Dissapointing but still under my anticipated time by 3 seconds. Part of the Warwickshire Road Race League Race one |
Sphinx AC 5 Miles Wednesday 7th June Race Number 261 Finishing Time 40.44 Finishing position 271 / 422 Age Position 5 / 15 | Full results HERE Race organised by Sphinx AC Coventry held at War Memorial Park Coventry. A warm night for this one that starts at 7.45 I wanted to get under my time for the Spa Striders Ryton 5 a few weeks ago. The first mile at this race is always quick, as it's slightly down hill. My first mile was 7.38, the next three in an average of 8.13, and a final mile of 8.00, the course was over five miles at 5.06 miles. Had a tussle with a couple of other Northbrook runners, and we traded positions a few times, but on the last mile i put in a bit more effort and finished just ahead of them by 5 and 9 seconds. Pleased to finish in 40.44 which was faster by 1 minute and 13 seconds that the Spa Striders 5. My time for 5 miles was 40.17. Part of the Warwickshire Road Race League Race Two |
Two Castles 10k Warwick Castle to Kenilworth Castle Sunday 11th June Race Number 109 Finishing Time 52.13 Finishing position 509 / 2895 Age Position 43/  | Full results HERE Race organised by Leamington Cycling & Athletic Club and The Rotary Club 3000 runners registered for the race I first ran this race on 25th June 1995, recording a finish time of 44.36 Wow, it was a hot day. Thank goodness the race starts at 9am ! Driving to Warwick the temperature was 64F I had drunk plenty of water yesterday afternoon and evening and again on the way over to Warwick, to make sure I was adequately hydrated. Standing at the start I looked around and could see I needed to move back as I didn't want to go off too fast and find myself struggling in the later miles.The start is downhill, and I did 8.06 for the first mile before settling down to a slower pace of 8.18, and then as it gets more hilly 8.35, 8.44, before raising the pace to 8.31 and 8.12. My target was 51/52 minutes, and given the 69 degrees Farenheit (21C) I was pleased to finish in 52.13, which was 2 minutes and 7 seconds faster than last year, so I must be doing something right. Tech Tee shirt (which looks the same as the 2022 shirt except the 2023 date) Medal and a cereal bar at the end. Part of the Warwickshire Road Race League Race Three |
On the 7th of June I made the decision to enter the Benidorm half marathon, which is being held 25th November. Its been seven years since my last half at Bosworth, and I am really looking forward to it. I have been targeting doing a half over the last few years but have suffered niggles at the wrong time. Hopefully I will be able to get all the necessary training in without too many issues. I am not naive enough to think I will get round in an hour and a half, but I hope with good sustained training a 1.45 / 1.50 would be possible. I'm not going there to enjoy the scenery and take it easy. I have always run to challenge myself, and although I'm not as fast anymore, I still have that stubborn competitive streak in me. So here we are, a week to go before Benidorm. The training has been consistent, building up steadily from 6 miles in June, to a 10 and 12 mile run in October the same in November. For some reason the 12 milers messed with my head. I ran with my phone, something I never usually do. I was really aprehensive the day before going out. I had planned to run on country lanes around Berkswell, but changed that so I could stay on main roads. I had this notion in my head that I wouldn't be able to do the distance, and would end up sitting at the side of the road, phoning someone to come and get me. It never came to that, and I have no idea why I had that feeling. Both 12 mile run were slow, and the first one took it all out of me. The following day I was good for nothing. Despite the second 12 being three minutes slower, it didn't have the same draining effect, which was a great confidence booster. Although only 2 miles less, the same didn't occur with the 10 mile runs. Now I have a week to take it easy. 5 miles on Monday and 4 on Wednesday and then Benidorm. Race report down below. |
As part of a parkrun "challenge" I headed off to Germany on September 29th, to do Cologne Rheinpark parkrun on Saturday 30th, and as Tuesday 3rd October is a bank holiday in Germany for "German Unity Day" a chance to do an extra parky run, which I would do at Vestergarten park Dusseldorf. Despite my apprehension of going to Germany, unable to speak German, allthough I did learn to count to ten in German on the basis "eins pilsner, Danke" may come in useful..I was happy to learn that most German's speak English very well. Puts us to shame really. My only difficult encounter was when I couldn't find the parkrun start. A runner was passing by and I asked "Excuse me, do you know where parkrun start?", He kept on running, and replied, "Sorry I dont speak English", but he obviously did !! I got into a panic, thinking I would miss the run, but then I bumped into a fellow parkrunner from the UK, a guy named "Rue", and between us we found the start. They don't start setting up until 8.45. For our local parkrun we are there at 7.20 to get everything set up. But saying that, at both runs there were no marshalls out on the course. All we had to do was follow the arrows and cones. Both parks were very picturesque. Cologne was a single lap course partly run along side the River Rhein, with magnificent views of Koln Dam, otherwise known as Cologne Cathedral. The twin spires of the Gothic Cathedral were the tallest structures in Europe until Gustave Eiffel built his tower in Paris in 1887 - 1889. Vestergarten was two laps round a leafy park with lakes and swans, and I did a volunteer stint at the end helping with the event closedown. So what was the challenge ? My challenge was to achieve parkrun "Gold Obsessive", which entails completing 50 parkruns in a calendar year. At the time of planning the best I could achieve would have been 49 runs, and by going to Germany, the extra run on Unity day would put me on 50, but of course, I still had to run every Saturday AND the Christmas Day special run to get in the 50 runs. We went away for a weekend in Derbyshire in October, and I looked at the nearest parkrun, which was Monsal Trail, about 12 miles from where we were staying in Matlock. Being cautious, I had a plan B and plan C so I could divert to an alternative venue should my first choice be cancelled. I got a bit panicky on the way to Monsal Trail, as Google maps sent me way off track. One minute everything was fine and the next, the route changed and I seemed to be back where I was ten minutes prior. I switched to the sat nav in the car, and that put me on the correct route, getting me there in good time. Panic over. As the months passed, I was dreading parkruns being cancelled due to inclement weather, but thanks to the mild winter that wasn't an issue. I also made a point of staying local, not doing and tourism, incase of traffic problems etc. A missed run would have ended the challenge straight away. But the main thing, thankfully I remained injury free.  And now relax... |
Centurion Grand Prix 2023 / 2024 5 Miles | Full results HERE Race organised by Centurion Running Club. A couple of changes for this season. Race HQ has moved to "The Pavillions Club", which is closer to the race start / finish than in previous years, and the start time has been moved from 11am to 12.15pm. I would have preferred it to be moved to an earlier 10am start, but never mind. November Today I celebrated ten years of running the Centurion Grand Prix. My first was on 3rd November 2013, when I recorded a time of 37:02. I was hoping to get a finish of around 42.50 today (I did a parkrun yesterday), and was more than happy to cross the line in 41:10. Even managed to do the last mile in 7:55. Added bonus being the first M65. December The December race was cancelled, due to issues with first aid provision. |
 | Race Number | Overall Position | Age Position | Time |
| Sunday 5th November | 226 | 44 / 91 | 2 / 4 | 41:10 |
| Sunday 3rd December |
RACE CANCELLED | |||
| Sunday 7th January |
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/ | ||
| Sunday 4th February |
/
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| Sunday 3rd March |
/
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| Sunday 7th April | / | |||
| DECEMBER RE ARRANGED |
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Benidorm Half Marathon 13.1 Miles ACTUAL 13.24 miles Saturday 25th November Race Number 1044 Finishing Time 1:54:00 Finishing position 1014 / 1943 Age Position 12 / 27 Searchable results for both 10k AND Half marathon HERE | Full HALF MARATHON results HERE The 2023 edition was the largest in it's history, with 4,800 taking part in the 10k or half marathon. 1,600 of those runners were from the UK. 5 months after entering the race the weekend was finally here. An early
start at 6.20 am to get to Birmingham airport, ready for the 8.50 flight to
Alicante. A great
turnout from Northbrook AC with 14 taking part in the 10k and 14 in the half
marathon. There were also some non runners there as well. Quite a few
met in Wetherspoons for food and drink, but I chose to have a coffee and bagel
in Starbucks. Before I knew it the flight was being called and I made my way to
gate 54, and onto the plane. All was going well, until we prepared to push
back. The airbridge had got jammed, and an engineer was called, but we did not
know how long the delay would be…. Some 35 minutes later the pilot announced it
had been rectified and we were now waiting for air traffic control to give
permission to take off, which would only turn out to be a 5 minute wait. We made good time thanks to a tail wind, and arrived pretty much on scheduled time. From
Alicante it was a 40 minute coach transfer to “Innside Hotel Costa Blanca”
right on the Levante Beach in Benidorm, surrounded by bars and restaurants, and
importantly only a ten minute walk to the race start. On Friday
we beat the queues and went to the race HQ to collect our numbers and T shirts.
There was a small “expo”, which consisted of no more than 10 stalls selling kit
and accessories. Saturday
morning was spent walking into Old Town, stopping off at Starbucks for a coffee
and some lunch. The race started at 5.30 so spent the rest of the afternoon at
the hotel poolside, before heading off about 4pm to the start.
The course had a few ups and downs, but nothing too bad. There were about
6 switchbacks, which I didn’t particularly like. Not great when you see so many
runners coming towards you, and then you start looking for the turnaround
point, but it seems like it’s never coming. Of course when you get there you
see all the runners coming towards you who are actually behind you, so that give you a buzz. The first mile was the fastest at 8.20 minutes per mile (mpm) and the
third and thirteenth miles were second fastest both at 8.23 mpm. My Garmin recorded the total distance as over 13.1 miles, giving a total
distance run of 13.24 miles. This was consistent with other runners findings.
|
Syned Striders Pudding Run 10 Miles Sunday 10th December Race Number 184 Finishing Time 1:24:10 Finishing position 136 / 293 Age Position 5 / 11  
| Full results HERE Race organised by Syned Striders Running club. Based In Bloxwich, Walsall. It's been a few years, well 15 to be precise since I last did this one. I did every year between 2003 and 2008. Back then it was a single lap course, and there is now a 5 mile option. The weather forecast said rain at 11am. It started early at 10.30am so by the time I crossed the finishing line I was soaked to the skin. My top had collected so much rain I was able to wring it out when I got back to race HQ. The route is not on closed roads, so to have a one lap route requires plenty of marshalls, and by having a two lap route means they can half the number of marshall needed. Getting marshalls is not easy so I see the logic behind this. There is also a new busy road junction, which runners would not be able to safely cross without a road closure, which is probably another reason for the change. The race starts under the M6 motorway and after half a mile goes through a residential area for three quarters of a mile. It then picks up rural main roads, with the last couple of miles retracing the original course. After having done the original course, I much preferred that to the two laps. I had a finish time of 1:25 in mind, which equates to 8:30 minutes per mile pace. However the course measured long at 10.13 miles. This was because of a police incident on the course overnight and a last minute detour had to be made to the course. My Garmin time for 10 miles was 1:23:12 versus my official time of 1:24:10 (for 10.13 miles) so whichever way you look at it I did better than expected. Nice goody bag at the end, containing a banana, technical tee shirt, the customary individual Christmas pudding and a "Nudge Nudge Wink Wink" Breakaway chocolate bar, (depending on your age you may need to look up this reference or to save you the trouble, you can find it on You Tube HERE) And of course the Chrismas pudding medal. Long drive home afterwards, due to the incessant rainfall the M6 was reduced to 50 miles per hour as there was so much standing water on the carriageway. I'd had a decent run so it didn't bother me at all. The heater was blowing out hot air to help dry and warm me, and I had the latest Neil Young album playing. |
 |
2003 1:10:42 |
2004 1:12:50 |
2005 1:18:07 |
2006 1:10:48 |
| 2007 1:08:09 |
2008 1:09:10 |
2023 1:24:15 |
