Distance Running News, 18-22 July 2018

06 August 2018

Richard de-Camps enjoyed an excellent week as he followed up a fine 3000m personal best at Tipton with an excellent win in the Bourton Mile road race. At the British Milers’ Club race in the West Midlands, de-Camps ran a measured and well-paced race to pick up places in the second half of the race to finish in seventh position. His time of 8:38.97 took almost five seconds off his previous best time in a race that saw fellow Cheltenham athlete Dan Owen place ninth in 8:43.95. The weekend then saw de-Camps line up in the picturesque Cotswold village for the one mile race into the village centre. Former GB 1500m international James Thie of Cardiiff and Ben Robinson of Bristol provided quality opposition, as the three athletes quickly broke clear of the large field. Still locked together as they reached the three quarters of a mile mark, both Thie and Robinson kicked for home and opened a slight gap over the Cheltenham athlete. However, de-Camps managed to get back on terms and made his move as they entered the village with around 200m to go. Hitting the front, the Midland 1500m silver medallist just managed to stay ahead of his rivals to cross the line in 4:22 with both second placed Thie and third placed Robinson a single second behind. V45 athlete John Parker ran a canny race and was content to sit in the second group for much of the way before pipping David Halloway (Tadworth) for fourth by a second as he stopped the clock in 4:45. Fellow veterans Mark James (4:47) and Marc Fallows (4:49) finished sixth and ninth respectively before Russell Forsbroook (5:06), Matt Lambourne (5:15) and Dave Rantell (5:27) followed them home. Marathon runner Fee Maycock took on the relative sprint to finish eighth lady and first LV50 athlete in a pleasing 5:47 before Paul Barnes (6:08), Adrain Higgs (7:18) and Christina See (9:53) completed the Harriers contingent.

Earlier in the week four Harriers contested the Gloucester 5k road race at Haresfield. Mark James had led the race from the start,but was overtaken by Luke Byrne in the final mile as he had to settle for second in 17:25 as the Swindon athlete took the win by eleven seconds. Dave Rantell was the second over 45 runner home in 18:46 as he finished tenth overall. In a strong ladies field Harriers debutant Tara Grovsenor finished in a fine third place in 18:55 as unattached athlete Gemma Hargraves (18:36) and Tewkesbury’s Shona Crombie Hicks (18:48) took the top two spots. In fifth place Fee Maycock again won her age category with a personal best of 19:14. Also on the roads Garaham Rush won the Durham City 5k as he completed the hilly course in 15:27 for a 32 second winning margin. Martin Ford meanwhile continued his return to fitness with a bronze medal in the over 70s age group at the British Masters Half Marathon Championship in Worthing where he recorded a time of 1:45:09.

On the track Rachel Longstaff lowered her 3000m personal best to 10:07.93 as she was the first lady in a mixed race at the Oxford Open. There was also a win for Andrew van Kints as he won the 5000m at the Guernsey Open by eight seconds in 15:56.13. At the club’s third Midsummer Open at the Prince of Wales Stadium Russell Forsbrook was the sole male Harrier in the A race where he placed eleventh in a pleasing 4:37.2 whilst the B race saw Rachel See finish as third lady in 5:13.1 and Katerina Horrocks set a PB of 5:23.8. Weekend parkruns saw Rhys Park take 44 seconds off the Hereford course record with a 15:27 win whilst Phil Wylie trimmed his own course record by four seconds with a 15:02 victory at the Exeter Riverside event. Alex Doherty (18:34) was the first across the line in Evesham whilst Dan Minors (18:30) was the leading Harrier at the Cheltenham parkrun in fifth position.