Stubbington Green Runners

The heat was definitely on at the final Hampshire Road Race League fixture of the season, the Brading 10k, on Sunday, with both the mens' and ladies' individual overall titles still up for grabs.

Despite being a tad too hot to trot, ten mad dog Stubbies made the crossing from the mainland to the Isle of Wight for a run in the sun.

And, after the dust had finally settled, there was cause for celebration as Stubbington's Mark Le Gassick was crowned as the 2005/6 Hampshire Road Race League Champion (well, kind of!).

Going into the race, Mark led closest rival, Southampton Running Club's, Andy Morgan Lee, by a narrow 3-point margin - with the pair's previous best six league scores totalling 653 and 650 points respectively.

This meant that Mark had to finish in front of Andy in order to claim the overall title outright - a tall order given Andy's recent amazing form both on and off road.

The two protagonists were together at the head of the field up until about the 2k point before the Salford first-claim runner began to gradually ease away from the league leader.

Around the hilly country lanes of the Isle of Wight course, the mid-summer heat was as relentless as Morgan Lee's pace and by the halfway point, the race was all but won.

After heading back into the Smallbrook Stadium, Andy crossed the line in a time of 31 minutes 33 seconds - a superb achievement given the severity of the course and conditions.

Mark held on to second place with a time of 33 minutes, 15 seconds and Winchester 's Matt King took third spot in 33 minutes 46 seconds.

This meant that at the end of the ten-race series, Le Gassick and Morgan Lee were tied for the league with a total of 665 points each from their six best finishes.

Good performances by both Andy Simpson, who finished in 19th place (37.21) and Ray Gunner who was not far behind in 22nd spot (38.14) gave Stubbington's men the third team prize, with 37 points, behind winners Winchester & District AC (27 points) and second placed Southampton Running Club (28 points). Ray's run was also good enough to take third in the Vet40 category.

Despite a recent hamstring injury, Tim Crumpton was the fourth runner home for Stubbington in 65th position (42.25), with new club member, Sean Jones also running well in the heat to finish in 129th place (47.43).

The other Stubbington men were; Colin Elderfield (131st , 47.53), Chris Munro (143rd , 49.39) and young Ryan Gunner (211th , 58.20).

In a close fought ladies' race, a Winchester & District AC clean sweep ensured that they comfortably took the team prize (6 points), with winner Michaela McCallum finishing just two seconds in front of team mate, Karen Hazlitt in a time of 37 minutes, 6 seconds.

They were followed in 30-seconds later by Winchester 's Emma Patel, who took third place in 37 minutes, 37 seconds. The second place team prize went to Overton Harriers & AC (21 points) with Winchester & District AC in third place (24 points).

The HRRL title contenders were Southampton Running Club's Karen Rushton and Overton Harrier's Rachel Kenchington, with Kenchington needing a top three finish to leapfrog the absent Rushton.

However, with Winchester runners claiming the first four places, she could only manage fifth place on the day (38.49) and had to settle for second place overall with a total of 607 points (from six finishes) behind league winner, Rushton, who scored 612 points (also from six finishes).

Unfortunately, due to some last-minute withdrawals, there were only two Stubbington ladies running at Brading. Ladies captain, Chris Haskell, finished in 52nd place (56.04, 192nd overall) and young Rachel Openshaw, who found the going very tough in the heat, came home in 79th spot (1.04.10, 175th overall).

There were 247 finishers with the Isle of Wight AC's David Gammage crossing the line in 247th place, in a time of 1 hour 27 minutes 48 seconds and taking the 1st Vet80 prize in the process!

With the curtain now firmly down on the 2005/6 road-race season, it's finally time to heave a sigh of relief and hang up your road racing flats - that is, until it all starts again at the Overton 5 on Saturday 3rd September!

Click here for photos. A full list of the 2006/7 HRRL is now available at www.hrrl.org.uk.