Overwhelmed with receiving multiple awards at the club’s evening and AGM. Winning the outstanding cup and on top of this the cherry on the top was being honored and selected as the club president.
Collecting Centenary Cup for Outstanding Performance
When asked what it meant I responded with “I hope to be a role model to the younger athletes coming through, as well as continuing to be an integral part of the already established and growing women’s team.”
Some of the Team collecting more awards!! With Charlie
Announcing the news, chairman John Gladwin described Sam, who broke three British ultrarunning records in 2022, as “one of the greatest ultra distance athletes this country has ever produced”.
Not the World Champs 100km a DNF due to a sick bug before leaving for Berlin and continued pre, during and post race. Sadly whilst I thought I had recovered I wasn’t over the virus that wiped me out. However some great memories!
Gutted was an understatement and trained well for what should have been a continuation to what had been a year of achievements. Proud of the teams, many PB’d and hopefully for me I will come back stronger!
Having run so many races recently and feeling recovery was going well, the GUCR was on ! it would be the furthest I had run in one go…
Race Organiser Write-up “Belgrave Harriers’ Sam Amend wins this Platinum Jubilee weekend in a new ladies record time of 25 hours 45 minutes! Ian Hammett is 1st Man, arriving at Little Venice in 27 hours 48 minutes ” Official results can be found here and the updated Hall of Fame here. With a few hundred entrants then onto the day we had before 6am 98 Starters and overall 53 Finishers.
Sam & Dick ( RD for GUCR 145)
This race wasn’t just about distance, a year today since my old coach Norman Wilson passed away. Challenging course with length and surface , diversions, navigation was key! , night time , humidity disorientation but a desire to get to that finish line! I made top 10 all time: https://canalrace.org.uk/grand…/results/hall-of-fame/
“Back in Time for Breakfast Saturday 4th June”
From the start to around 65 miles I had the pleasure of running with Ian Hammett, whom I meet at many long races and share chatting time with. We have a great way of supporting each other, banter and what an awesome crew we both had between us!! Indebted to my awesome friends that crewed all through and to Ellie, Matt , Dom and Trevor for running some endless miles with me to the end and keeping me safe! in the twilight shift popping up and getting me home safely. More importantly please to say I once again ”Nailed nutrition “
Cant thank my Crew, runners and Team enough, This one was for your Norm !
A hiatus from running Marlow 5 for many years, feeling great after the Track 100 mile decided to inject some speed. As the event is run in my home town and also many friends I got a last minute entry. Great race and only 9 secs off my PB set in 2014 and last run this 6/7 years ago with 29:12 . Super pleased after a busy March/April smashing a marathon, 100k and 100 miler! Results (runbritainrankings.com)
After my 100k British champs and qualifier early April, this time in Bedford and on the track just much shorter laps and longer ! With my crew in Tow Jo and Trevor we arrived the night before and stayed locally ready for the start at 6am ASadly the weather went from last years sunburn to very windy which made it very challenging to fight during such small laps. Having nailed the nutrition in the 100km I followed the same set up just over a longer period and more carbs with a marginal increase. All of which worked a dream and couldn’t fault the execution especially as we started with 15 and only 4 finished and the wheelchair athlete. With all the classy runners internationally on the track never did I anticipate to win the race outright.
Three weeks after finishing second at the British 100km Championships to my TeamHour 7 team mate I headed for the track. I had written down 3 targets of improving my PB, 12hr and then the overall female Win. I went through to a 12 hour British record of 140.310km and holding on for a huge improvement in my own British 100 mile record of 14:10:51. Along the way improved the British womens FV40 50 mile mark to 6:36:27.
Having run a few weeks earlier a marathon I was back in action again with the team. Elated to be selected again for Team GB after running a 7:48:39 PB at the British 100K champs in Perth, Scotland. Would have loved both the 100k and 24hr GB events but needed to choose between them both.
It was a well executed race with better nutrition than in my past ultras and it helped to be well supported by the England Management. I was fortunate enough to be aided by Mike Stocks, fellow ultra GB teammate and also founder of Teamhour7, the new ultra team on the block.
The goal for this 100km race was to get a
PB and GB selection. A bonus would be to win the event, although I knew there
would be some stiff competition.
Team England !
What was lovely for me, seeing friends I’d made over the years from the other home nations, having spent many hours on long races with them.
Onto
the race itself, and a 5am wake up call. It was frosty at the start and really
cold so the headband/mittens and arm guards were on for roughly a marathon,
then the sun came out with still a chilly wind.
The weather, despite being cold and windy, could have been much worse. I lead for a fair bit of the race but just didn’t have enough kick in the last few miles; fatigue kicked in and I needed too many toilet breaks. What did work well was the nutrition, although I need to supplement some sugary treats for savoury ones. Having Mike Stocks (London Heathside), his wife and Teamhour7 at the event also helped with the psychological part and also not giving me a chance to go near the race tent.
2nd Place in 7hrs 48 mins
I
was very pleased to come in well under the qualification standard, bag a PB and
second place. Having met the GB24hr criteria for the European Champs three
weeks later, I made a decision to focus on the World Champs this year which
will possibly be the strongest team GB send.
I
was delighted to receive the news that “ you’ve made the team!” At nearly 43
years old, never would I have expected to be in this shape and still improving…
age is just a number!
It
was a well executed race with better nutrition than in my past ultras and it
helped to be well supported by the England Management. I was fortunate enough
to be aided by Mike Stocks, fellow ultra GB teammate and also founder of
Teamhour7, the new ultra team on the block.
The goal for this 100km race was to get a
PB and GB selection. A bonus would be to win the event, although I knew there
would be some stiff competition.
What was lovely for me was seeing friends
I’d made over the years from the other home nations, having spent many hours on
long races with them.
Onto
the race itself, and a 5am wake up call. It was frosty at the start and really
cold so the headband/mittens and arm guards were on for roughly a marathon,
then the sun came out with still a chilly wind.
The
weather, despite being cold and windy, could have been much worse. I lead for a
fair bit of the race but just didn’t have enough kick in the last few miles;
fatigue kicked in and I needed too many toilet breaks. What did work well was
the nutrition, although I need to supplement some sugary treats for savoury
ones. Having Mike Stocks (London Heathside), his wife and Teamhour7 at the
event also helped with the psychological part and also not giving me a chance
to go near the race tent.
I
was very pleased to come in well under the qualification standard, bag a PB and
second place. Having met the GB24hr criteria for the European Champs three
weeks later, I made a decision to focus on the World Champs this year which
will possibly be the strongest team GB send.
I
was delighted to receive the news that “ you’ve made the team!” At nearly 43
years old, never would I have expected to be in this shape and still improving…
age is just a number!
3rd overall in the marathon and 1st lady. A lot to negotiate with, not only the wind that made my eyes cry every lap, 4 hills and a cambered chicane on all 10 laps! Yes it was a GP Motor racing circuit for bikes… not runner
I felt in pb shape but impossible as I endured a lonely race against the elements and the clock. Finished in a respectable 2.48 a great step forward for the British 100k next month
Belgrave ran well, we had Sarah came 4th in the South of England Cross Country Championships at Beckenham Place Park, leading home our team who also finished in 4th place. Our team that all 12 who ran finished in the top 100 out of nearly 500 who started the race. The Championship was originally du Although 14 degrees was forecast a stiff breeze lowered the temperature considerably.
The team’s score of 114 points would have often secured either second or third spot in previous races and was a long way ahead of all our local teams. In fact, when I headed the team home in 16th place at Brighton in 2012, Belgrave won the bronze with 239 points, over twice as many as Saturday.
Next to finish was Rachel Brown in
21st. Rachel has been in fine form this season, having won the South of Thames
at the same venue but a different course before Christmas. Then Olivia
Papaoiannou and Alice Reed finished together in the 44th and 45th.
Liv is gradually getting back to her best form after suffering from Covid over
Christmas, and Alice ran remarkably well despite announcing she hadn’t done
much training. That was the scoring four.
A common feature of the Belles team this year has been the strength in depth. A trio of Belles finished together in 60th, 61st and 62nd included Me, despite not feeling too well but supporting the team as well as ever, then the very promising Flora Whyte in only her second race for the team, and Ella-MayHards continuing her improvement with every race. Then not far back was another group of five: Lizzie Goldie-Scot’s 76th was her highest ever position, followed by Mimi Corden-Lloyd in 78th, Laurel Bray smiling as ever in 87th, just ahead of Alix Vermuelen suffering from the stitch and blisters 89th, and finally the ever-dependable Sarah Dewhirst in 96th. It is so important that they all ran – not only pushing other team’s scorers further down but also giving the newer members experience of racing at this level.
Results
J. Gibbons (Reading) 28:16, 2. N. Brown (AFD), 29:06,
3. B. Howley (London Heathside) 29:13, 4. S. Astin 29:16, ……21. R. Brown
31:03, 44. O. Papaoiannou 32:22, 45. A. Reed 32:24, 60, S. Amend 33:02, 61. F.
Whyte 33:05, 62. E-M. Hards 33:06, 76. L. Goldie-Scot 33:30, 78. M.
Corden-Lloyd 33:35, 87. L. Bray 34:13, 89. A. Vermuelen 34:19, 96. S. Dewhirst
34:34.
It was definitely not a day for PB’s today. Thank you to your team for making this possible despite the elements of the weather. Wet/windy and cold not a great mix but very pleased to finish and win the trophy again. I finished first place 6.04 and also missed the start to busy chatting, I had to run fast to overtake, Hit the wall a few times, shivered, went wrong a few times.
What a great feeling being at the end
This was definitely a mental challenge and having experienced a stomach/ bowl issue (great combo) and lost my music device to get me through the win meant alot. lonely times. As always indebted to my friend Trevor for giving me a lift to the start and to my bestie Jo Smith who suprised me with a visit on the canal with the bell.
It felt like I ran 100 miles with the energy zapping first half and no energy second half… what an experience and for those that braved the conditions. Credit for photos Trevor Hunter and Go Beyond Met a few lovely runners along the way for company and played cat and mouse when we kept bonking and near on hyperthermia. Good mental and physical training for many more adventures and start to 2022.
Some brilliant running by the females today along the canal path. 2022 Country to Capital female podium finishers:
Final race of the year last night, I just couldn’t find 5th gear but a respectable run post weekend trace and now being in marathon training. Lovely to catch up with a former team mate and Rachel who raced with me last week at the cross country. I’ve run more miles this year than I can count so wont quibble with 37 mins for 3rd and first vet. That said could have done with another lap and stop tripping up on tree roots
