Milton Keynes marathon - 27th June 2021
Four Buzzards raced in the much re-arranged Milton Keynes marathon on Sunday 27 June 2021. Jack Abbotts, Adam Wilson and Simeon Foreman had been deferred from the 2019 event.
Tim Alford was roped in earlier this year as he planned to use it as a training run for the Gloucester marathon in August. The race had been scheduled for early May but got moved meaning a 24 week training plan was followed (almost six months!) which was challenging for Jack, Adam and Sim as they tried to maintain focus and avoid injury. Tim’s challenge
arose in the week ahead of the race as the Gloucester marathon was cancelled because the
race organiser died. Tim now had to go for it at MK five weeks early and achieve his target of 3 45.
The boys set off on the road trip on the Saturday evening to try and get there for an early tea watching the football and then going to bed, however, Adam realised he had forgotten his watch at the top of the M40 so turned back for a watch collection at Whittington. Special thanks to
Celia Wilson for saving us from coming all the way back to Malvern.
Back on track and arriving at MK South Premier Inn the rest of the evening was quiet with food in
a Harvester style restaurant and then bed at 22:00. Alarms were set for 04:30 to get food into the
athletes and allow for ablutions. The wake gathered at 06:15 and headed to the Stadium MK for the 07:00 start wave.
It was great to experience real race day feeling with 900 runners gathering in socially distanced groups. The eventual start was about 07:13 and the course was two laps of parks and cycle paths. Predominantly flat there were a few twists and turns and some cheeky climbs over road and canal bridges.
Abbotts was first Buzzard home in 2:51:11 finishing in 27th place. Wilson was next in 36th and although he suffered from cramps and had to beg gels and sweets from strangers, he still managed an impressive 2:53:06 and second place in the MV50 age group earning him an England Masters vest (confirmation from England Athletics awaited).
Foreman avoided the burnouts of all his previous attempts and used the time available to get in under the three hour target time in 2:59:07 (65th).
Alford smashed his goal time into bits, finishing in 3:34:58 (259th), despite his training plan
being brought forward by five weeks.
All were agreed that it was great to do a race but they weren’t sure they needed to go to back MK ever again. Some Buzzards may be tempted to do the four runner version of the marathon distance and topple the record set by the Milton Buzzards (maybe a one for next year’s captain to think about...).
Final times:
Jack Abbotts 2:51:11
Adam Wilson 2:53:06
Sim Buzzard 2:59:07
Tim Alford 3:34:58
Tim Alford was roped in earlier this year as he planned to use it as a training run for the Gloucester marathon in August. The race had been scheduled for early May but got moved meaning a 24 week training plan was followed (almost six months!) which was challenging for Jack, Adam and Sim as they tried to maintain focus and avoid injury. Tim’s challenge
arose in the week ahead of the race as the Gloucester marathon was cancelled because the
race organiser died. Tim now had to go for it at MK five weeks early and achieve his target of 3 45.
The boys set off on the road trip on the Saturday evening to try and get there for an early tea watching the football and then going to bed, however, Adam realised he had forgotten his watch at the top of the M40 so turned back for a watch collection at Whittington. Special thanks to
Celia Wilson for saving us from coming all the way back to Malvern.
Back on track and arriving at MK South Premier Inn the rest of the evening was quiet with food in
a Harvester style restaurant and then bed at 22:00. Alarms were set for 04:30 to get food into the
athletes and allow for ablutions. The wake gathered at 06:15 and headed to the Stadium MK for the 07:00 start wave.
It was great to experience real race day feeling with 900 runners gathering in socially distanced groups. The eventual start was about 07:13 and the course was two laps of parks and cycle paths. Predominantly flat there were a few twists and turns and some cheeky climbs over road and canal bridges.
Abbotts was first Buzzard home in 2:51:11 finishing in 27th place. Wilson was next in 36th and although he suffered from cramps and had to beg gels and sweets from strangers, he still managed an impressive 2:53:06 and second place in the MV50 age group earning him an England Masters vest (confirmation from England Athletics awaited).
Foreman avoided the burnouts of all his previous attempts and used the time available to get in under the three hour target time in 2:59:07 (65th).
Alford smashed his goal time into bits, finishing in 3:34:58 (259th), despite his training plan
being brought forward by five weeks.
All were agreed that it was great to do a race but they weren’t sure they needed to go to back MK ever again. Some Buzzards may be tempted to do the four runner version of the marathon distance and topple the record set by the Milton Buzzards (maybe a one for next year’s captain to think about...).
Final times:
Jack Abbotts 2:51:11
Adam Wilson 2:53:06
Sim Buzzard 2:59:07
Tim Alford 3:34:58