New Forest 10
THEY took out the smelly farmyard this year, but still Mark Le Gassick refused to make a pig's ear of the New Forest 10 by coasting to a fragrant win and his second successive victory in the prestigious race.
The Stubbington sec led home a field of 880 runners to win in a time of 54min 10sec, a good minute faster than his victory 12 months earlier.
Mark admitted conditions had been warm, but the shady forest sections provided some much-needed respite from the sun
He said: "I had a good run. I started steadily and took the lead just after the mile mark and then pushed on for the rest of the race - it was like doing a nine mile time trial. I haven't really been doing any distance work but wanted to try to run a decent time in the race so that I have a marker to work from later in the year when I plan to run a quicker 10-mile time on the road."
Mark was pleased with the time, his third quickest ten-miler ever, to finish ahead of Philip Hails from Witney Road Runners in Oxfordshire who clocked 56.23, while Robin Ward from Portsmouth Joggers, was third in 56.29, ahead of Winchester & District's Matt King with 56.59.
If Mark's result at New Park Farm near Brockenhurst was good, so too was the women's. They finished second in the team rankings behind Dubai Road Runners thanks to 10th from Lynne Speirs in 1hr 10min 47sec, 24th from Susie MacGregor (1:14.31) and 91st from Margie Pritchard (1:25.45).
Kath Bailey from Winchester & District AC won the ladies race in a time of 1hr 00min 20sec for 13th overall.
Stubbington's men finished 11th in the team rankings, in an event won by Southampton Running Club, though mysteriously Mark Le Gassick's result wasn't counted in the standings, as he was classed as an unattached runner. Had the results done so, Stubbington's quartet of Mark, Marcus, Nick and Eric would have come eighth.
Stubbington results
1 Mark Le Gassick 54min 10sec
80th Marcus Lee 1hr 9min 56sec (PB)
91st Lynne Speirs 1:10.47
108th Nick Kimber 1:11.32
172nd Susie MacGregor 1:14.31
177th Eric Beck 1:15.20
180th Richard Simms 1:15.39
198th Tim Crumpton 1:17.24
401st Paul Winter 1:24.45
423rd Margie Pritchard 1:25.45
488th Chris Haskell 1:28:22
532nd Lauren Coates 1:29.42
552nd Gilbert Yeates 1:30.37
577th Heather Bowers 1:31.29
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