Distance Running News, 23 December
24 December 2017
Cheltenham Harriers athletes enjoyed parkrun wins in five different locations and in three different countries with Doug Wight’s 16:01 clocking for victory at St Andrews the quickest by a club member on the pre-Christmas weekend. As well as Wight’s victory in Scotland, Liam Roarty (18:05) was first across the line at the River Valley event in Ireland, whilst back in England there were wins at the far flung destinations of Cheltenham, Gloucester and Hereford. Jamie Harper (16:48) took the home win in Cheltenham where Hannah D’Ambrosio (20:34) was the first lady home in her fastest time of the year to make it a Harriers double. The Pittville Park event also saw George Hawthorne (17:11) post a course PB for second place, Simon Critchley (18:59) take eighth and new club member Matt Lambourne (19:42) enjoy a run out. The club also took the top two places at the Kingsway event in Gloucester where James Denne and Richard Dare put in impressive performances. Denne’s winning time of 16:13 was the third fastest time at the event behind whilst Dare’s 16:40 earned him fifth place alongside teammate Mark James on the event’s all time ranking list that is headed by Stroud’s Tom Mortimer and Bristol’s Ben Robinson. The Hereford parkrun brought the sixth win of the morning as Charlie Jones set a course PB of 16:35 to stay clear of the teammate Dan King who posted 16:52 for second place. Further second place finishes came from James Wilkinson (18:46) at the Gloucester North event and for Dave Tomlin (19:35) at the challenging Parke parkrun in Devon. Russell Forsbrook (17:47) and Alister Brown (19:20) earned third place finishes at the Burnham and Wyre Forest events whist Dave Aubrey (19:15) finished fourth at the Ludlow parkrun.