Clarendon Way Marathon, 1st October 2006
LAUREN Coates ran one of the toughest marathons going – and survived!
She competed in the ever-popular Clarendon Marathon from Winchester College to the Five Rivers Leisure Centre in Salisbury to finish fifth senior lady, and 21st female overall in a very respectable time of 4hrs 27min 58sec.
The event is now in its ninth year and attracted runners from across the country. Besides the distance, the route is undulating at best, and runners were forced to endure some wet conditions at times.
Craig Davey from City of Bath AC won the marathon in 2hrs 52min 28sec, which was faster than all of the competing marathon relay teams, and Vicky Skelton from North Devon Road Runners was victorious in the ladies’ event in 3:27.49.
A total of 305 runners took part in the marathon, while 75 four-strong teams took part in the relay marathon.
For Stubbington, Andy James came in as a replacement for Glen Street, who injured himself chasing too many ladies at the Thursday night training session, and he ran a strong opening leg before handing on to Caroline Street, Paul Hammond and Kay Sadler who finished 24th in 3:48.02.
Gary Littlecott, Mark Dyer, Kathy McKain and Tracie Jarvis joined forces to place 49th in 4:11.23.
Besides the marathon, there was also a half marathon which set off from Broughton Village Hall and finished in Salisbury and which attracted 515 runners.
Stubbington’s Nick Crane and Graham Watts wore their green vests for this one with Nick finishing 139th overall in 1hr 56min 58sec and Graham placing 271st in 2:10.04.
Southampton-based doctor, Andrew Hennessey, running for Wells City Harriers, once again won the 13.1-mile race in a time of 1:20.29, while Tanya Brady from Liss Runners headed the 181-strong female entry in 1:37.33.