Stubbington Green Runners

IT was a New Year’s cobweb clearer with a sting. The rain and stormy weather which had been predicted for the weekend managed to hold off for the Stubbington 10k road race. Instead, strong south-westerly winds buffeted runners on Sunday for the latest edition of one of the south’s most popular 10km races.

A total of 1,109 runners (46 more than 2007) set out from Stubbington village for the race, which formed part of the Hampshire Road Race League.

They faced a stiff headwind going along the Lee-on-the-Solent seafront, before cutting into the town and the protection of the shops.

It was a clear-cut two-horse race with defending champion Toby Lambert, who works at a sports shop in Alton, going head-to-head with British international Keith Gerrard from Newham & Essex Beagles. By the 5km mark near the golf course, the two elite runners were well out in front, a good minute ahead of nearest challenger, Andy Morgan-Lee (Southampton Running Club).

Andy, who continues to be dogged by injury but seems to be getting back to full fitness, had clear water between himself and a pack of 20 runners who seemed to be sticking close together to protect against the strong winds.

Some of the traffic problems which have dogged the race in previous years had been overcome thanks to close co-operation with Hampshire Police, as runners headed past the golf course, into Rowner and then on the hook back to Stubbington with the wind behind them.

Toby, who used to run for Alton Runners, but has now moved across to train with Nick Anderson and his top team of runners at Winchester & District AC, forged ahead in the closing stages to secure his third successive Stubbington 10k title.

He crossed the finish line first in a time of 30min 29sec, just eight seconds down on his winning time of 12 months ago.

Gerrard, who ran for Great Britain at the European Cross Country Championships in Spain last month, helping the British under-23 team to gold, was second in 30.57, with Morgan-Lee third in 33.04.

There was an interesting battle of the brothers in fourth and five with former Lordshill Road Runner, James Buis, who is now based in the north-east and running for Heaton Harriers, finishing six seconds ahead of Nick Buis (Southampton Running Club), crossing the finish line in 33.18 to Nick’s 33.24.

With Stubbington’s top runner Mark Le Gassick out injured, it was left to Zippy Grice to lead home the green charge, placing 17th in 34.29.

Stubbington’s men came fourth in the team honours behind Winchester & District AC thanks to a fine run from Andy Simpson in 28th with 36.10, Barry Hards in 40th with 37.12 closely followed by Richard Thomas in 42nd with 37.16.

In the veteran’s category, Barry was fifth Vet 45 and Richard sixth Vet 40.

The ladies’ race was a Winchester one-two-three, with Karen Hazlitt, third a year ago, taking the title in a time of 35.50. She was a good minute ahead of team-mate Emma Patel (36.51) with Debbie Coslett in third (37.24).

For Stubbington, Bev Lavery led the ladies into sixth in the team standings with 20th place in 42.11 and fourth in the Vet 40 age group.

Susie MacGregor was just behind Bev in the finishing straight in 27th spot with 42.47 for second among the Vet 35’s, Lucy Simmons was tucked in 31st in 43.25 and Lou James ran strongly for 36th in a time of 43.51. Mention too for a fine run from young Lucy May who looked impressive with 55th place in a time of 45.18.

This was Georgie Gair's first ever 10km and she won the Junior 10km prize with 40m58s. She can't wait to do another 10km!

There were also two fine runs from Stubbington juniors with James Lee, son of Andy and Jennie, coming seventh in his category with a time of 47.26, just three minutes down on his dad, and Peter Hailwood, who was ninth junior in 51.10, beat dad Paul by just over a minute.

Besides the main race, there was also a children’s fun run staged on the recreation ground with 142 runners taking part in several age groups around the one-mile course.

Josh Longhurst-Gent won the boys’ 11-14 year race in a time of 5min 56sec, followed by Joe Riley and Charlie Stubbings. Rosanna Stewart, who was sixth overall, won the girls’ 11-14 years’ race in 6.38, Melanie Johnston, who was eighth overall, took line honours in the girls’ 7-10 years’ run in 6.52, and 19th placed Callum Jarvis won the boys’ 7-10 years’ event in 7.33.

There were a few problems with the funnels and it is possible that some runners were misplaced around 49 minutes (where the timekeeper had more times than numbers). 

Also the following numbers were recorded twice:
336 (Simon Mason, Totton RC) at 39:19 and 44:44
1126 (Heidi Williams, Romsey RR) at 46:43 and 57:51
363 (Andy Carton, Winchester & D AC) at 43:10 and 1:00:21
If you have any queries, then please contact Dave King on peekay63@aol.com and he will liaise with the timekeeper.

Stubbington runners:

Men:
17th Zippy Grice 34.29
28th Andy Simpson 36.10
40th Barry Hards 37.12 (Vet45, 5th)
42nd Richard Thomas 37.16 (Vet40, 6th)
114th Dave Marrott 40.48
135th Jon Leigh 41.18 (Vet45, 21st)
143rd Malcolm Lavery 41.35 (Vet45, 23rd)
182nd Nick Kimber 42.54 (Vet45, 35th).
193rd Richard Simms 43.14 (Vet40, 33rd)
200th Chris Munro 43.21
228th Richard Snell 43.53 (Vet40, 38th)
230th Steve Martin 44.01 (Vet45, 43rd)
232nd Andy Lee 44.04 (Vet45, 44th)
256th John Flynn 44.44 (Vet45, 49th)
270th Jon Henderson 45.18
275th Raymond Oliver 45.26 (Vet50, 30th)
293rd James Keen 46.05
312nd Mark Hindry 46.47 (Vet45, 53rd)
326th James Lee 47.26 (Junior, 7th)
347th Ashley Lovell 48.03 (Vet45, 61st)
353rd Richard Roche 48.06 (Vet40, 64th)
396th Christopher Green 49.16 (Vet40, 74th)
402nd David Langrish 49.27 (Vet55, 24th)
457th Peter Hailwood 51.10 (Junior, 9th)
492nd Paul Hailwood 52.17 (Vet40, 96th)
511th Mike Harper 52.49 (Vet45, 84th)
544th Gilbert Yeates 54.09 (Vet70, 10th)
547th John Simister 54.18 (Vet45, 87th)
587th Andy Tomlinson 56.28 (Vet40, 118th)
690th Michael Aimable 1hr 24min 41sec (Vet70, 14th)

Team: Men’s A: 4th.
Vets A: 6th.

Women:
20th Bev Lavery 42.11 (Vet40, 4th)
27th Susie MacGregor 42.47 (Vet35, 2nd)
31st Lucy Simmons 43.25
36th Lou James 43.51
55th Lucy May 45.18
82nd Annie Tomlinson 47.44 (Vet35, 12th)
84th Gill Rose 47.49 (Vet35, 14th)
179th Sarah White 54.19 (Vet35, 38th)
221st Eunice Hoare 57.26 (Vet35, 47th)
253rd Julie Ashman 59.04 (Vet40, 45th)
294th Verity Wright 1hr 0min 43sec (Vet 35, 64th)
333rd Sharon White 1:03.24 (Vet35, 68th)
359th Jennie Lee 1:06.41 (Vet45, 49th)
372nd Linda Kopinska 1:09.20 (Vet50, 33rd)
384th Gill Adamson 1:10.22 (Vet40, 71st)
386th Kelly Sunderland 1:11.21
400th Celia Martin 1:14.21 (Vet40, 74th)

Team:
Women’s A: 6th
Vets A: 4th.

Photo above by Zac Conaty, click here for more photos.