Distance Running News, 13-19 May 2019

20 May 2019

There was a win for Dan Owen as Cheltenham Harriers athletes filled the top three places in the 2000m steeplechase at the club’s the Midland League Division Two match in Gloucester. Owen hit the front from the gun to open up a lead over teammate Joe Turner whilst Luke Kearns sat in fourth place for the opening kilometer. Extending his lead in the second half of the race, Owen ran negative splits to stop the clock at an impressive time of 5:55.7. Turner followed in 6:12.5 to finish second and claim the B string win before non-scorer Kearns moved up into third to set a new personal best of 6:27.9.

Owen was also in action later in the afternoon in the 1500m where he and Richard de-Camps sat in the front pack led by Wolverhampton’s Jack Bonser for the first kilometre. With 450m remaining it was Owen who hit the front and opened up daylight over Wolverhampton’s Psalm Roberts-Nash and de-Camps who led the chase. The duo then passed Owen with around 200m to go with de-Camps clawing back ground on Roberts-Nash in the final 100m. However the Wolverhampton man hung on to take the win in 4:00.4 with de-Camps just 0.4 seconds adrift in second place. Owen’s 4:02.5 earned him third place as he also took the B string win before guest runner Turner finished sixth in 4:17.5.

The 5000m saw Gloucester’s James Denne open up an early lead as Doug Wight led the chasing pack, that also contained fellow Harriers Dan Thomas and John Parker, through the opening kilometre in 3:07. Denne’s lead grew to twelve seconds by 3000m, with Wight now in fourth in 9:26 as the second group was reduced to just three runners. Wight then moved clear into second in the fourth kilometre before a strong 3:04 final kilometre saw him set a new PB of 15:37.2 as Denne took the win in 15:25.8. Having opened up a gap over Parker, Thomas just held off the challenge of the fast finishing Parker as he claimed a PB of 16:03.9 for fifth place and the B string win. Parker’s consolation in sixth place was a new Cheltenham Harriers V45 record of 16:04.2. In the 800m Corin Hughes made a rare appearance where he recorded a time of 2:14.7 for fifth place in the A race. For the ladies team Rachel See ran well in the 3000m to finish third in 11:10.2 whilst LV60 runner Kathryn Morton posting a time of 13:02.5 for eighth place. See later ran the 1500m where she finished fifth in 5:21.8 in a race that also saw Caroline Cotterell finish second B runner in 5:30.4.

Running as a guest in a high quality 3000m field at the Loughborough International meeting, George Watson was just three seconds outside his PB with a time of 8:41.95 for 21st place. Meanwhile at the Irish Milers Club meeting in Dublin Liam Roarty finished fifth in the 5000m B race in a time of 15:54.81

On the roads three Harriers masters athletes headed to the Plymouth Half Marathon in the knowledge that a top four finish in their age group would guarantee them an England Masters vest later in the year. Fee Maycock yet again excelled on the tough course as she finished as first LV50 runner and sixth lady overall in a time of 88:36 to earn her place on the team. Dave Tomlin’s 77:02 earned him sixteenth place overall as he finished as sixth V45 runner whilst Dave Rantell finished as seventh V50 runner in 82:35.

At the Gloucester 10k Charlie Jones and Marcus England finished second and third with times of 3304 and 3306 as Harry Bishop took the win in 32:20. The Harriers ladies were represented by Leah Hopton and Lucy Goode who recorded times of 47:54 and 48:06 respectively whilst Ed Grazier (31:10) and Les Hampton (39:26) were the first two wheelchair racers home.

Midweek action at the Berkeley 10k saw Richard Dare lead the field through the opening 5km lap in 16:20 to hold a three second lead over Gloucester’s Steve Millward, with fellow Harrier John Parker a further eight seconds back in third. However, Millward ran a strong second half to take the win in 32:56 and Dare had to be content with second place in a tome of 33:31. Parker also dropped back a place on the second circuit, but still finished as first V45 runner in fourth place. In sixth position Mark James (35:36) was the third veteran home as the Harriers continued to pack well and claimed the team prize as Andrew Kaighin (35:54) placed ninth. Elliot Prince (36:45) and Dan Schofield (36:42) soon followed before Dave Rantell (37:39) finished as second V50 runner, Martin Soakell (38:34) set a PB and Paul Barnes (41:46) completed the nine man squad.

Weekend parkruns saw Phil Beastall (15:22) lower his own course record as led the field home in Tewkesbury where Chloe Sheppard (21:41) was the first lady home. There was also a first place for Rob Herbert (18:09) in Cirencester where the Harriers were well represented with Marc Fallows (18:26) third, Gareth Edwards (18:59) fifth, Matt Lambourne (19:38) eighth and Jo Wilkie (22:30) the second lady. Second place finishes also came from Dave Tomlin (17:50) at the Haldon Forest event in Devon, Mark James (18:02) at Gloucester City and Dave Aubrey (17:05) in Cheltenham where James Bingham (17:19)  placed fourth. Caroline Cotterrell (21:14) was the fourth lady at the Worcester Pitchcroft parkrun where Nick Holliday (19:08) finished seventh whilst Henry James (16:52) placed fifth in Hastings.