Marathon

Goodman's double joy

Brian Sacks — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 15:52:23 +0100

Richard Goodman scored a double victory in the National Junior League in Bromley. He won the 800m in 1:57.54 and the 1,500m in 4:01.50, both by convincing margins. It followed a similar double victory two weeks ago in the NJL, on that occasion over 800m and 3,000m.

Goodman, 18, said: "I have stepped back this month to run at a regional rather than national level, and used the races to try out different strategies I might use in important events.

"One thing I have learned this year is the danger of allowing training to dominate one's life.

"Things are going much better now and all my preparation is focused on the Under 20 3,000 metres at the Crystal Palace Diamond League meet next week."

Ultra-marathon runner Nathaniel Lane (32:55.67) finished second in the Welsh Senior 10,000m Championships in Cardiff.

Sam Shindler-Glass, 14, shaved a fraction from his 800 metres best with 2:02.26 in Watford.Jamie Cohen, 11, cut his 1,500m best to 5:10.19 and won the 'B' string high jump with 1.35m in the Young Athletes League in Hendon.

Lawyer in the fast Lane

Thu, 19 May 2011 14:23:09 +0100

Nathaniel Lane finished fourth at the England Trail Championships at Forest of Dean.

Lane, a solicitor, completed the 31.76-mile multi-terrain course in 3: 26.

Having won the Welsh Veterans five kilometres road race championships in Bridgend in 15:17 minutes last week, Lane was the second Welsh athlete to cross the line. He said: "I treated it as a hard training run, averaging 6:26 per mile for the distance."

His performance looks set to be rewarded with selection for the Commonwealth Ultra Trail Championships in Newborough Forest in September 2. Lane hopes to have his place confirmed today. The Cardiff Reform Synagogue member finished 158th at the Virgin London Marathon.

Langdon resident races to fulﬁl a dream

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 15:03:05 +0100

Daniel Berman, a resident of Manchester Langdon - helping those with learning difficulties to lead independent lives - fulfilled a "lifelong ambition" by taking part in the race, reaching the finish in just under six hours.

"It was an amazing feeling and I am really proud of myself. I have been training for ages and was running around north Manchester and Salford to get fit." He was met at the finish by his uncle Jonathan Goldberg, greeting him: "Sorry unc, I didn't mean to keep you waiting."

Eddie Douek, Natalie Thwaites, Robin Raven and Darren Gale also competed for Langdon, raising £10,000-plus in total.

Runners for special needs charity Kisharon included Elstree grandmother Rolanda Hyams, running her first marathon.

The 56-year-old was inspired by the support Kisharon has given to her relative Elias Castleton, who was born with the rare genetic disorder, Mowat-Wilson syndrome. She recorded a time of five hours 41 minutes, bringing in £11,000-plus. Other Kisharon entrants included Sam Baum (4:11), who raised well over £2,000 and Simon Lande (4:36), who raised £4,000.

Sutton Synagogue members Chloe Sarfaty (Teenage Cancer Trust) and Stuart Wiseglass (Royal Marsden Cancer Campaign) both came home at around the four hour mark, raising £2,000 and £3,000 respectively. Ms Sarfaty recovered sufficiently from her exertions to proclaim: "I'm definitely doing it next year."

Craig Fisher, 36, from Borehamwood overcame pneumonia, knee trouble and an Achilles injury to make the starting line, running for the MS Resource Centre. "My superstitions are unbelievable," he said. "Every training day I woke up two hours before I ran so I could digest breakfast properly. I charged my GPS watch - which records the times and distances I run -three days in advance." In the event, he considered his 4:11 finishing time "pretty good"

Elstree property consultant Mike Hirsch, 55, completed his third and possibly last marathon in 4:47. "I don't know if I've got another one in me," he joked. This time the beneficiary was Beit Issie Shapiro, an Israeli charity helping children with brain damage and developmental disorders. Mr Hirsch, the chairman of the charity's UK board, said of his preparation: "A marathon isn't something you can just get up one day and do." He had run the Watford half-marathon as part of his training.

"Beit Issie Shapiro do amazing work and are leaders in the treatment of problems like autism," he said. To date he has raised £8,000-plus.

It was a ninth London Marathon for Lloyd Rakusen, 63, benefiting Leeds Jewish Welfare Board. As other LJWB runners withdrew, Mr Rakusen felt pressure to make the starting line. "Pounding the roads in training, it was great to feel supporters out there encouraging me."

He came home in 4:44, well ahead of fellow LJWB runners Jo Grainger and Kim Copitch, Leeds ex-pats living in London.

Len Siskind raised £27,000 for The Speech, Language and Hearing Centre, otherwise known as Christopher Place, where his younger son Ben was the first child to attend in 1995. He "got round comfortably" in 5:53.

Marathon first timer Ben Fraser, 28, from Kenton participated in support of Phab Kids, a charity which helps integrate people with disabilities and provides activities and residential holidays for both disabled and non-disabled children.

Supporting Children with Leukaemia, medical student Gabriel Chain, 19, finished in 4:45.

Manchester delighted

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 15:02:49 +0100

For Manchester King David deputy head boy Charles Burns, the marathon was the second element of a London sporting double.

Having taken in the all-Manchester FA Cup semi-final at Wembley with family and friends, the Prestwich teenager ran to raise £3,000 for the Children with Leukaemia charity.

"My biggest running achievement before this was winning the 1,500 metres at school, but that's nothing compared to a marathon," he said.

Charles reached the 22-mile mark in three hours, but took 90 minutes to cover the final four miles or so because of a knee problem - "an old football injury which had ironically set me off on my fitness regime two-and-a-half years ago. I had loads of energy left. I know that next year I could easily run a sub-three hour time."

BA leader lands £3k

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 13:40:45 +0100

Bnei Akiva worker Rafi Saltman, 22, was inspired to compete by the memory of his former King Solomon High School teacher Helene Conway, who died of cancer in 2006.

Mr Saltman has raised more than £3,000 for Israeli cancer charity Zichron Menachem, and additionally for Nathan Ellul, a severely disabled five-year-old child who requires 24 hour care and adaptations to his family house.

"I am by no means a natural athlete and have not run any marathons before," the Wanstead and Woodford Synagogue member said.

Mr Saltman finished the marathon in four hours 56 minutes having "suffered a great deal of pain during the race".

Nightingale in the money

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 13:40:33 +0100

The contingent running for south London care home Nightingale included Sam Vickers (4:50), whose mother Marion Davids is a Nightingale resident. "The atmosphere was incredible and along with the many family and friends there, the crowds cheered me through every mile," he said. "I feel so proud of my achievement and the money I raised for Nightingale. I said I would never run it again, but who knows?"

For Dena Ryness (5:42) it was a fourth completed marathon. "Unfortunately, I hadn't fully recovered from a kickboxing injury I sustained a few weeks ago, which really slowed me down. However, I enjoyed every second of it. No other experience compares to running alongside 37,000 people on a sunny day, with the iconic sights of London as a backdrop."

Jo Grant, Jacqui Levere and Ilana Pizer Mason also ran for Nightingale, contributing to a fundraising total of £12,000-plus.

Nightingale chief executive Leon Smith said: "We make sure that no-body is ever turned away purely on the grounds of finance and it is fundraising activities like this that allows us to continue to do so."

It's a Relief to complete the race

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 13:40:29 +0100

Mark Sankey, 47, from Prestwich finished in three hours 44 minutes, one of a team of World Jewish Relief runners which brought in a combined £30,000. Mr Sankey, who works in computing, fundraised by offering his IT skills in return for a donation.

"WJR is a charity that means so much to me and running the marathon was a perfect opportunity to not only keep fit but also to give something back to the organisation."

Another WJR runner was Richard Verber, 26, originally from Manchester and now living in Golders Green, who finished in 4:42 and raised more than £2,000.

Mr Verber, director of education at the Union of Jewish Students, has no love of running and has "never done anything like this before.

"A friend who ran it last year bullied me into doing it by being nice and encouraging me.

"I ran for WJR because I think it's really important to have a professional Jewish charity that is able to act as a conduit for Jewish donations to go to non-Jewish causes as well as doing excellent work for Jewish communities across Eastern Europe and elsewhere.

"I've worked with them over the last few years since I've been at UJS and have been really impressed by how they operate."

Parker Crockford (4:40) said completing the race had given him "a great sense of accomplishment - but I don't want to think about how my legs will feel in an hour".

Other WJR runners were Steven Chait (4:30), Gabriela Halmová (4:20), Elliot Goodman (4;40), Jonathan Rubins (4:54), Alastair Curtis (4:14), Gael McKowen-Oldfield (4:12), Bernard Manson (4:48) and Marc Umhoefer (4:13).

"They all did us proud," said WJR's Laura Grossman, "raising vital funds to support the vulnerable communities we work with around the world".

Rabbi sets the pace before leading Seder

Jennifer Lipman — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 13:40:25 +0100

Chabad rabbi Odom Brandman was in good shape for Pesach having completed his first marathon in four hours 45 minutes, raising a higher than anticipated £8,000-plus. The money will go to the Buckhurst Hill Chabad Centre in Essex which Rabbi Brandman, 29, established in 2005.

He decided to enter the race more than a year ago and for the last six months has trained three times a week, sneaking in runs at dawn or late at night to fit them in with his Chabad commitments. On one occasion, a leisurely jog turned into a sprint so he could grab his suit and be on time for a shivah. Rabbi Brandman said he wanted to show that rabbis were "real people. At the Chabad centre we try to think outside the box. We can be approachable, down to earth and take on challenges out of the comfort zone.

"I'm not an athlete so this was pretty much the most extreme and crazy idea I could think of."

He had filled up on pasta before his run, to give him energy and to help finish up the chametz. His wife had supported his participation, on the condition he would be in a fit state to lead a Seder for 40 people the following evening.

Twenty members of his community cheered him on at various points of the course "and a lot of people came over to wish me a happy Pesach. It was an exhilarating experience."

It's no pain, no gain for brave Lara

Jennifer Lipman — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 13:40:23 +0100

A woman with a rare tissue condition completed the marathon in eight hours 18 minutes.

Lara Bloom from Bushey decided to enter after watching others pass the finish line last year while she was collecting for charity. As her condition prevented her from running, she decided to walk the 26 miles instead.

"I thought, how hard can it be to walk it?" said Ms Bloom, 30. She knew the challenge would be "pretty drastic" for someone with Ehlers-Danlos, a connective tissue disorder.

She had got around "on sheer determination - I think I broke a bone in my foot. But I had to get that medal. As most of the crowds had dispersed by the time I finished, I was so grateful for the 50 family and friends who cheered me on to the end. It was just incredible." She is well on the way to her £10,000 target.

Ms Bloom said she had at times regretted setting her self the challenge. "I underestimated how hard it would be. "I've gone through every kind of pain threshold imaginable. I was going against everything my body wanted." A few weeks before the marathon, she was hospitalised with a chest infection. Friends and family appealed to her to drop out but she was too stubborn to quit. "I decided I was still going to do it whether I finished or not. I always try not to let my health get in the way of living an ordinary life."

Age no barrier for 86-year-old charity runner

Jessica Elgot — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 13:40:19 +0100

Having watched his beloved West Ham lose to Aston Villa the previous day, the oldest 2011 race entrant, 86-year-old Paul Freedman, enjoyed a more satisfying end to his weekend.

The 20-time London Marathon man came home in six hours 43 minutes, with sponsorship money bringing to nearly £60,000 the amount raised down the years from various activities for St Francis Hospice, where his wife Renee died in 2007.

Clare McPartland of the hospice said: "He's one of our most dedicated and biggest fundraisers and is very actively involved. Everybody knows him."

The Romford Synagogue member - who has in the past run for Jewish Care and Jewish Blind and Disabled - was a late fitness convert, taking up jogging at the age of 61.

He said of his latest race: "I had a special shirt printed from the hospice which said I was the oldest runner. All the way along the route people were tapping me on the shoulder, asking me how old I was. They couldn't believe it when I told them."

He has also completed five Beachy Head marathons and the Breast Cancer MoonWalk, wearing a bra.

Mr Freedman plans to be back on the starting line in 2012, but sees younger athletic talent in the family. "My grandson Samuel has just had his barmitzvah and he's shaping up to be a good runner and has joined a local club. He can take over from me in five years time, when he's 18."

He said that being introduced to the Upton Park crowd at half-time during Saturday's game had been "quite good fun, although we had to sit near the tunnel and the seats weren't quite as good as our usual ones." Asked how he thought he would fare, he amused the fans by replying: "I'm looking forward to it but I don't expect to win."

His next challenge will be somewhat gentler - a sponsored two-mile walk with his shul to raise money for trees in Israel.