Hayling 10 - 26th November 2006
FROM Malaga to Manchester, it was destination Hayling Island on Sunday for the Stubbington survivors.
John Tussler, in his final race before heading home to Spain later this week, and Chris Munro, who was down on the south coast for the weekend from his studies at the University of Manchester, donned the green vest for the Hayling 10.
With the Stubbington awards evening the night before, most Stubbies chose to miss the latest round of the Hampshire Road Race League and lie-in on Sunday morning. But 10 hardy souls chose to take to the roads of Hayling Island for the flat as a pancake 10-miler.
John, who will be returning back to Hampshire later in December, finished 395th with a time of 1hr 23min 00sec, while Chris, who admitted he was still short of distance running, clocked 1:13.16 for 224th place.
A slightly hungover Tim Crumpton was Stubbington's best performer of the day. He revealed later he had no idea where miles three to seven went, as he finished 91st in 1:05.33.
Dave King, despite being sent sprawling after two miles by a runner who clipped him from behind, had a steady run for 190th in 1:11.05, and Nick Kimber, who after a blistering sub 6min 30sec first mile which he was to later regret, finished not far behind in 208th with 1:11.53.
Chris Munro was the fourth scorer and Keith Whittaker completed the men's scoring with 242nd place and a time of 1:14.33. Sean Jones had a good run with 1:20.38 and 355th spot.
For the women, it was good to see Lauren Coates back in good form after disappointing run at Gosport the week before when she had to pull out at just over half way. Just the night after picking up the senior female runner of the year award, Lauren was 50th fastest woman in the race with a time of 1:16.22 and 322nd overall.
Liz Hall placed 63rd in 1:17.42 and 364th overall, and Clair Miles wrapped up the ladies' scoring in a time of 1:29.11 - just under nine minute mile pace - for 143rd and 589th.
A total of 785 runners took part, with City of Portsmouth runner Thomas Payn knocking a minute off his personal best to win in a time of 51min 46sec - beating James Baker, a convincing winner of the Gosport Half Marathon a week earlier, by almost two minutes.
Jo Kelsey from Winchester & District AC won the women's race as the city club filled the first three ladies' places, in a time of 58.48.