Clarendon Way
RELAY running is all about teamwork, co-ordination and timing, but an unfortunate call of nature almost undid all that careful preparation for a quartet of Stubbies at the Clarendon Way Marathon.
The Stubbington Dragsters were made up of Andrew Briggs, Gill Rose, Annie Tomlinson and Richard Snell, who competed in the four-stage mixed relay, with each leg consisting of 10.5km in length.
All was going well in the race from The Godophin School in Salisbury to Kings' School in Winchester, until they arrived at the second handover point near Broughton.
Richard Snell explained: "Unfortunately we lost about five seconds when, on the second transition point, Andrew arrived for the handover to Annie who was still in the loo.
"There was a very funny image of Andrew looking desperately for someone to pass the coloured band to and 100 yards behind Annie sprinting towards the start line pulling her underwear up with one hand and setting her Garmin with the other."
Flushed with their successful handover, the race turned out to be pretty bog standard for the Dragsters who finished 19th of the 66 teams in a time of 3hrs 43min 34sec in a relay won by City of Salisbury A with 2:50.23.
Tara Doherty was the lone Stubbie who completed the whole marathon in pretty difficult conditions which made for a slippery race. It was raining for the start of the full marathon, though by the time the half marathoners got under way at Broughton, it had stopped.
Tara was the 22nd fastest lady and 133rd overall among the 293 runners with an impressive finishing time of 4hrs 36.32. Winchester & District AC veteran runner, Michaela McCallum won the race in a time of 3:20.06 for seventh overall. Nathan Montague from Swindon Harriers won the marathon in 2:53.17.
A handful of Stubbies took part in the half marathon, among them Mark Hindry. "Conditions leading up to the event were pretty horrendous which made for a slippery race," said Mark.
"When I got up on Sunday morning and looked out of the window it couldn't have been a less pleasant site. However, at 12pm (the half marathon start time) the rain stopped and it stayed dry for the whole event. In fact, the sun came out for a reasonable part of the event.
"Overall, an excellent well organised event. Marshalls were located all the way along the course and there were many drink stations. Best of all were two little children giving out Jelly Babies at three miles to go!"
Mark finished 139th in 2:03.10 (Vet 40, 51st), however it was left to Clarendon Way regular, Nick Crane, to lead the way for the 13-milers with 40th place in 1:44.06 and fourth Vet 50. Another Vet 50, the young at heart Nick Kimber was fifth in his age group and 56th overall with 1:48.29.
Also taking part were Gordon Westley in 89th (Vet 40, 33rd) in 1:55.22, and Paul Hailwood finished in 2:10.40 for 176th. Kay and Holly Bayliss finished in close order with Kay 124th in the ladies' race with 2:30.45 (Vet 45, 31st) and Holly checking in with 2:31.23 for 126th.
Some 465 runners took part in the half marathon which was won by Winchester & District AC's Matthew King in 1:20.41, while unattached runner Kate Towerton secured the ladies' title with a time of 1:37.54.
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