Lakeside Canal Run
THINK of the Lakeside in Frimley Green, Surrey, and for many it is the home of darts.
The Lakeside International Centre hosts the World Darts Championships every January, and John and Anne Fairhurst were on the oche for the Lakeside Canal Run. Conditions were cool, sunny and with no wind for the 8.2-mile run.
“What a change from the rain and wind of recent races,” they said.“It was an undulating course with the first four miles on road and then most of the remainder along the Basingstoke Canal towpath.
It was a bit muddy in places with 12 locks all going up. “The chip timing was particularly well organised - on completing the race you could type your number into a laptop and the display showed your finishing time, place etc.”Some 356 runners took part with Winchester & District AC’s Toby Lambert, the winner of our Stubbington 10km race, coming home first in a time of 42min 48sec.
Caroline Payne was the leading lady in 1hr 1min 20sec. John was second in the Vet60 age group with 76th place in 1:04.47, and Anne clocked 1:27.25 for 327th and third in the Vet60 category. Their son and former Stubby Roger Fairhurst was 14th overall in 56.11 and fifth Vet35.