Distance Running News, 14-15 March 2020

15 March 2020

Phil Wylie rolled back the years as he set a new personal best to finish as second veteran and lead Cheltenham Harriers to a team win at the Bath Half Marathon. The 41 year old finished ninth overall as he took half a minute off his ten year old PB to stop the clock at 66:47, just 29 seconds outside the Harriers club record. Also knocking over half a minute off his old PB was Alex Lee moved through the field well in the second half of the race to cross the line in an impressive 68:15 for sixteenth place to put the disappointment of the postponement of the London Marathon to one side.

Similarly, Joe Turner put his marathon training to good use to set a new PB of 69:11 to finish in twentieth position, Just eight places later Marcus England completed the victorious four man team as equalled his PB to the exact second with a time of 70:20. Just one place later James Bingham continued his rich vein of form as he knocked two minutes off his previous best time to finish as third veteran in an excellent 70:26. Equally impressive was Dave Aubrey’s two and a half minute PB of 71:52 as he pulled clear of Richard Dare (72:17) in the closing two miles.

Chris Roxburgh (76:50) then followed before Dan Schofield lowered his PB to 77:43 whilst there were also PBs for Jonathan Floyd and Charlie Marshall who recorded 87:30 and 88:06 respectively. V60 athlete Michael Ede crossed the line in 98:41 before V75 runner Martin Ford’s time of 99:50 put him at the top of the UK 2020 rankings for his age group as well as earning him first place in the over 70 category. Hannah D’Ambrosio completed the strong Harriers squad with a time of 1:41:45.

Also competing over the classic 13.1 mile distance was Andy Gore at the Stafford Half Marathon where he finished second in his V50 age group with a time of 84:23. Simon Critchley was the leading Harrier at the Gloucester 20 where he finished thirtieth in 2:12:08 whilst Dave Rantell finished as third V50 runner with 2:14:56 and Leah Hopton crossed the line in 3:07:03.

Marc Fallows travelled to Corwen in North Wales to compete in the British Masters Cross Country Championships where he finished sixteenth overall and fourth in his V45-49 category. Meanwhile, in the under 19 races at the English Schools Cross Country Championship in Liverpool Georgia Palmer finished 120th in the senior girls race whilst Luke Pennington and Henry James placed 135th and 158th respectively,

The weekend’s parkruns saw Amber Watson become the first lady to break the twenty minute barrier at the King George V Playing field event as she took over a minute off the previous course record. Watson’s time of 19:59 also earned her third place overall as she closed in on second placed Gareth Edwards (19:41) in the closing stages. Rachel Underhill (19:53) also finished as first lady home, and tenth overall, at the Gloucester City parkrun where Milly Foster (22:36) was the fifth lady. Jacob Pickering (16:48) led the field home at the Cheltenham parkun in Pittville Park, Dave Tomlin (18:01) was first home at the Kingsway event in Gloucester and Chris Cleary (19:45) placed eighth in Hereford.