Victory 5
TWELVE months ago it was wet and windy at the Victory 5 road race, and it was the same again for the prestigious five-mile road race in Portsmouth.
The last mile to the finish at the Mountbatten Centre was hellish, with a headwind battering runners to the end. “The last mile felt like running up Butser Hill,” said one runner. “Blimey, it was like running into a wind tunnel at the end,” said another.
That didn’t stop Stubbington’s finest from braving a brutal 35mph gusts to produce some excellent performances in a race which formed part of the Hampshire Road Race League.
Mark Le Gassick continued his return from injury with an excellent 19th place in a time of 27min 13sec.
He was running in a quality field which included Commonwealth Games’ 1500m gold medallist, Michael East, the Portsmouth athlete who runs for Newham & Essex Beagles, who came third in 24.57, just three seconds ahead of Winchester’s Toby Lambert who won last week’s Gosport Half Marathon.
The race was won by Scott Overall from Blackheath & Bromley AC in a time of 24.43.
Mark was the fourth fastest of the Hampshire Road Race League runners, just behind Southampton Running Club’s Andy Morgan-Lee in 10th who has returned after a back injury.
Mark helped the men’s team to 15th position in the team standings, supported by Mike Harper in 82nd in 31.31 (Vet45, 6th), Mike James in 120th with 33.14, and Malcolm Lavery 138th in 33.53 (Vet45, 20th). The Vet’s men’s team were 14th.
Other Stubbington finishers:
160th Dave Marrott 34.38
181st Aaron Kingston 35.25
185th Richard Snell 35.41 (Vet 40, 29th)
196th Phil May 35.56 (Vet50, 22nd)
209th Zac Conaty 36.21
262nd John Fairhurst 38.46 (Vet65, 2nd)
268th Christopher Green 39.07 (Vet40, 42nd)
287th Steve Wylie 39.54 (Vet45, 43rd)
347th John Simister 42.40 (Vet45, 57th)
However, it was the ladies who blew away the opposition with a hurricane-like performance in the gales, as both the seniors and the veterans finished fourth in the team standings against high class opposition. Stubbington’s women’s B team were 14th.
Susie MacGregor battled her way to a terrific 17th place in the women’s race with a time of 34.25 for second in the Vet35 age category, and she was superbly supported by a pack of Greens following in her slipstream.
Lucy Simmons rounded off an excellent year just 30 seconds behind Susie with 25th place in 34.55, Bev Lavery was a few metres behind in 30th with 35.17 and seventh in the Vet40 age group, with Louise James claiming 34th in 36.06.
Kath Bailey from Winchester & District AC secured a one-two in the women’s race for the city club with victory in a time of 29.02 leading home a field of 242 ladies.
64th Gill Rose 39.11 (Vet35, 6th)
66th Annie Tomlinson 39.13 (Vet35, 7th)
87th Lucy May 41.00
202nd Geraldine May 51.31 (Vet45, 22nd)
205th Anne Fairhurst 51.34 (Vet65, 2nd)