RR10 Itchen Valley - 5th July 2006
THE rain clouds held off but Stubbington's RR10ers served up a storming performance at Itchen Valley Country Park near Eastleigh on Wednesday evening.
For the first time this season, Stubbington was able to field a full compliment of 20 runners, with Gary Littlecott, Mike Harper and Dave King waiting in the wings, along with the sidelined Helen Kimber, who sat out the race after recent physio.
As it was, the Stubby Score ran well in the 4.5-mile race which featured two-and-a-half loops of Itchen Valley , over a mixture of grassland, including one hill, and muddy woodland tracks.
Three ladies teams featured, with Lucy Simmons (25th) and Lesley Harding (29th) running together for most of the way, before Lucy opened out towards the finish.
Claire Borrowdale (49th) completed the scoring for the first team, with Margaret Pritchard (55th), Chris Haskell (64th), and Sarah White (69th) making up the second team, and Gemma Henry (82nd), Donna Shaw (87th) and Liz Hall (95th) rounding off the scoring for a third ladies trio.
Southampton Running Club's Andy Morgan-Lee won the men's race, and not far behind in fifth was Stubbington's Mark Le Gassick in fifth.
Run of the day was from Ray Gunner who had an absolute stormer in 12th. Andy Simpson reckons he is not running as well as he should be, but he still pulled out a useful run in 32nd , with Ryan Gunner, despite a school day out with the Army, posting a superb 49th. Following behind in the finishing straight was Tim Crumpton to make up the men's team in 51st .
Jon Leigh has been the model of consistency in the RR10 this summer, and his 60th place was well deserved.
Barely a month after clocking just over four hours for the Mont St Michel Marathon, Paul Hammond (84th ) had a fine, measured run, as did Simon Holford (92nd ), who was closely followed by Nick Kimber (98th ) and Marcus Lee (99th ). Colin Elderfield, sporting his traditional Union Jack shorts, and happy to pose on the run for Happy Snapper Gary Littlecott, was 103rd .
The next round of the RR10 takes place on Wednesday, July 19th , at Janesmoor Pond, Stoney Cross in the New Forest, which is just off the A31. Start time is 7.30pm. This will be round eight of the RR10, with two races more to follow.
If you want to take part, can you please let either Dave King at peekay63@aol.com or Mark Le Gassick at mlegass2003@yahoo.co.uk know your availability.