Weekly Update - 8th April 2026

Brett Lydd Half Marathon & 20 Mile, Romney Marsh (Sun. 29th Mar.)

You shouldn't read too much into the results of a race like the Lydd 20 as many of the runners will be using it as part of their marathon preparation rather than as an end in itself, reports Clem Dixon. One approach is to treat it as a dress rehearsal: run all 20 miles at target marathon pace, but that's tough without much of a taper and it will take a while to recover from. Alternatively, start conservatively and build up to finish at marathon pace. Of course there may end up being a difference between your plan and the reality, it is easy to get carried away when you are in a race (I think that it was the boxer Mike Tyson who said that everyone had a plan until they got hit). 

Whatever the details, we had three runners near the front of this year's race, Jonathan Sargent (No 559) (16th in 2:11:08), Stephen Wood (No 386) (21st in 2:12:35) and Stephen Thompson (No 336) (37th in 2:17:23). Alex Griffith Crowe ran well in 2:50:41 and Vincent Bleu, nervous about taking on his longest race to date, judged things perfectly to squeeze home in just under 3 hours.

Rose Baker opted for the half marathon distance finishing in 1:41:24 and winning her age category.

Berlin Half Marathon (Sun. 29th Mar.)

James Pitts and Nam Bui recorded 1:22:04 and 1:26:55 respectively at the Berlin Half Marathon.

Assembly League, Beckenham Place Park (Thur. 2nd Apr.)

Last Thursday eight Cambridge Harriers ran the first Assembly league at Beckenham Place Park (5k) in the first of six races across London. James Macdonald was the first club runner home in 7th overall with a time of 17:10. He was followed in by Mattia Bernardi (12th in 17:40), and then Oktawiusz Kawecki (20:05), making his Assembly League debut. (Results)

Victoria Park Easter 5k, Hackney (Fri. 3rd Apr.)

Meredith Cummins took the win in the women's 5k, having finished in 13th place overall in a rapid personal best of 18:48. Nam Bui clocked 19.43 in 24th overall and 2nd M40.

Folkestone 10 (Fri. 3rd Apr.)

The wind usually makes sure that the Folkestone 10 is very much a race of two halves and this year was no exception, reports Clem Dixon. An easy wind-assisted canter from Hythe to Folkestone that can have your Garmin congratulating you on your fastest ever 5k is followed by a uey round a traffic cone and then the hard work begins. The out and back format means that you get to shout encouragement at your clubmates as you pass them and there was plenty of opportunity to do so with a total of 25 of us taking part: the Wednesday night clubhouse group and Christine's Thursday group were out in force as well as those from the various Tuesday groups.

This year the race incorporated the Kent Championships: congratulations to Olesya Golovina (our first lady), Rose Baker and Julie Backley for taking team silver in the F45 category. It was also the third counter in our road running grand prix: the table already has a familiar look to it with Rose, winner in '24 and '25, at the top. (Results) : (Road GP Table)