Stubbington Green Runners

WINDY Miller and James Baker are probably the only two men around who enjoy running in the kind of conditions that greeted runners at race one of the Promenade 5k series, on Wednesday.

Sadly, however, Windy had to miss out on the head-to-head with the Baker man due to his last minute call up to the bag-o-flour putt contest at the eagerly awaited annual grudge match between Trumpton AC and Camberwick Green Runners & AC.

Okay - back to reality and the 150-strong field at the Promenade 5k were wind assisted for the first half of the race, which starts from the Mountbatten Centre car park and follows an out-and-back course, along the Stamshaw promenades, and around Hilsea Lido.

On the way back, the strong headwind brought to mind nightmarish memories of last December's Victory 5 where gale force winds, flooding, and driving rain made staying upright a challenge in itself! At least, on Wednesday, it was dry, but the wind meant that fast finishing times were always going to be difficult to come by.

However, the windy conditions didn't seem to bother James Baker too much. The Chichester Runner, who finished second behind Andy Morgan-Lee, at the Marwell 10k, a few weeks ago, was a comfortable winner in a superb time of 15.46. Stubbington's Mark Le Gassick was second in a time of 16.19, with Aldershot's Stephen Laidler taking third place in 16.25, and finishing as first vet40.

In the ladies' race, a classy performance by Sophie Morris of Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow, gave her a comfortable victory in an impressive time of 16.39 for 5th place overall. Morris does most of her competitive running on the track, and this year she has the 7th fastest time over 3000m (9.23), and is the 15th quickest over 1500m (4.22). Winchester & District AC's Karen Hazlitt finished in second place, clocking 17.23, with team mate Barbara Yff taking third in 17.37.

Stubbington's Susie MacGregor found the speed and endurance training she's been doing recently came in pretty handy in the final few yards of the 3.1 mile course. Susie was able to comfortably overtake two ladies in the run to the line, to finish in a very good time of 20.35 (2nd V35).

Not far behind Susie, Richard Simms ran well in his first Promenade 5k for the club, finishing in 57th place in a time of 20.54. The only other Stubbington runner to brave the mid-week wind was Lauren Coates, who finished inside the top 100 in 96th place with a time of 24.05.

Race two of the popular Promendae 5k series takes place on Wednesday 4th July, with the third, and final, fixture on Wednesday 8th August. The start time of both races is 7.30pm.