Distance Running News, 7-11 August 2019

12 August 2019

Joe Turner enjoyed an impressive victory as Stroud AC hosted the Standish Woodland Chase 10 mile multi-terrain race. Using the race as part of his training for an Autumn marathon, Turner finished 49 seconds clear of second placed Michael Towler of Avon Valley. Andrew Kaighin was heading for fifth place, before a wrong turn late on cost him time and he had to settle for sixth position. Naomi Eaton finished as third lady home, just seven seconds behind Westbury’s Sophie Voller after Weston’s Susan Duncan enjoyed a comfortable win.

Phil Wylie was in fine form at the Newark Half Marathon where he split the Lincoln runners Joe Wilkinson (67:29) and Will Strangeway (69:09) to finish in second placed in a time of 68:41. A comfortable winner of the veteran category, the 40 year old’s time also earned him eighth place on the 2019 UK V40 rankings for the distance.

A quartet of Harriers took part in the British Masters Track and Field Championships in Birmingham over the weekend, targeting the 5000m across the age ranges. Kathryn Morton took Gold in F60 in a seasons best of 22:40,67. There then followed a succession of bronze medals with Nick Holliday V60 in 19:11.15, Caroline Cotterell F45 in 21:05.27 and Martin Ford V75 in 21:31.66. Ford later claimed siver over 800m in a time of 3:00.89. Earlier in the week both Holliday and Cotterell also contested the mile at the Worcester Open meeting where they posted time of 5:35.5 and 6:05.0 respectively.

Also on the track Richard de-Camps and George Watson made the trip to Manchester for the final British Milers Club Grand Prix of the season at Trafford AC’s Longford Park. Contesting the D race on a blustery evening, the duo reached the bell in 2:56 with the whole field still bunched together and within a second of each other. A strong last lap by Watson saw him move up to fifth place to stop the clock at 3:57.03, just one second outside his personal best, whilst de-Camps finished thirteenth in 4:01.51 in a race won by Lasswade’s Cameron Steven in 3:55.85.

The club’s veterans enjoyed success at the Bugatti 10k road race with Dave Rantell, Paul Barnes and Martin Ford all winning their age groups. The event, which starts at the Prescott Hill climb near Gotherington and is known for its tough hills and inability to produce fast times, saw Dan Schofield (39:18) as the leading Harrier in eleventh place. Rantell (39:24) finished one place later to win the V50 age group with Steve Hall (39:49) not far behind as he crossed the line with James Bingham who kept him company throughout. Barnes (42:36) took the V60 honours in his first race in the age group before Hannah D’Ambrosio (42:48) finished as second lady home behind Tewkesbury’s Shona Crombie-Hicks. Ford (48:13) then completed the Harriers squad as he finished as first V70 runner home.

Having finished as first lady home in her previous twenty parkruns, it was no surprise that Beth Hawling repeated the feat at the Burgess parkrun in London. However, on this occasion she also finished clear of all the men to claim her first outright first place finish in a time of 17:29. The Tewekesbury parkrun also brought success as Alex Lee and James Bingham finished first and second, with their respective times of 16:50 and 16:52 also seeing them place third and fourth on all the all-time ranking list for the event. At the same event Chloe Sheppard (21:02) was the first lady home in tenth place overall. Marc Fallows (18:31) was first home at the Cirencester parkrun whilst Gareth Edwards (19:21), Mike Hughes (19:22) and Matt Wood (19:45) had a run out at the Cheltenham event in Pittville Park.