Stubbington Green Runners

ONE hasn't run a half marathon for 10 years, the other has never completed the fabled 13-miles before, but both typified the spirit of Stubbington at the Hardley A Half.

 

This was the second race in the Hampshire Road Race League series which attracted 350 runners on a picturesque route which skirted the New Forest and the western edge of the Solent.

 

For Ray Gunner, this was a testing run. "I've not run one of these for 10 years," he said at the end. "I tried to stick with Mike Harper, but he went ahead at nine miles and the last few miles were tough."

 

Ray still managed to post a very respectable time of 1hr 25min 36sec for 48th position, with the evergreen Mike Harper the first scoring Stubby in 28th place in 1:23.12.

 

By contrast, this was Annie Tomlinson's first half marathon, and watched at the finish by her husband she was thrilled to duck under the magic two-hour mark. She did it with not much to spare, by checking in with a time of 1:59.37 and 294th overall. "I had a good run and enjoyed it," said Annie at the finish by Gangwarily Community Centre.

 

The race start was delayed by five minutes because of an accident along the route. But unlike previous years when the race has been dogged by windy and cold weather, Sunday's race was graced by bright sunshine and just a slight breeze.

 

Winchester & District Athletic Club dominated the race, which was won last year by Stubbington's Mark Le Gassick who was running the Denmead 10km race along with a number of other Stubbies. Nick Anderson won the race in a rapid time of 1:10.47 ahead of Chichester Runners' James Baker in 1:12.07.

 

Winchester's Emma Patel smashed the course record in winning the ladies race. She placed 16th overall in 1:19.33, with team-mate Deborah Coslett second in 1:20.57 and 19th place.

 

For Stubbington, the men's A team was made up of Mike Harper and Ray Gunner, along with Paul Hammond who was 76th in 1:31.04, Dave King with 112th in 1:35.27 and Keith Whittaker who was 168th in 1:42.28.

 

Keith was followed by Sean Jones in 196th with 1:45.00 and Graham Watts in 273rd with 1:55.40.

 

Lauren Coates was Stubbington's top lady. Lauren has recently moved to Eastbourne to start a new job, but still intends to turn out for the club, and with an iPod packed with the latest dance music, Lauren finished 216th overall in a time of 1:46.56.

 

Margie Pritchard also broke two hours for the half with a time of 1:56.36 and 280th place. Annie counted as Stubbington's third and final scorer for the A team.

 

Kay Sadler, who joined the club on the back of the beginner's course last March, took on the half marathon and triumphed in 2:00.27 and 296th, and just behind her was Chris Haskel in 299th with 2:01.26.

 

Tracie Jarvis looked glad to see the finish with husband Neil waiting for her and she made up the third B team scorer in a time of 2:11.31 for 336th.

 

Caroline Watts, who had journeyed over from their Somerset home for the race, completed an impressive seven-strong turn-out of Stubby ladies by finishing in 2:25.23 and 350th.