Solent Half Marathon
THE race referee and organisers of the Solent Half Marathon had seriously considered delaying the start of the popular race as early morning mist drifted over Gang Warily Playing Fields.
However, the sun soon burst through for the staging of the second Hampshire Road Race League event of the year with some idyllic and contrasting conditions - the misty New Forest and sun-drenched boats on the Solent. Towards the end of the race, runners had to contend with unbroken sunshine and temperatures which hit 21c.
For Stubbington, with a Hampshire League Cross Country fixture the previous day, and the draw of a star-studded field for the Chichester 10k, HRRL secretary Mike Harper had to pull out all the stops to get a strong contingent to travel to the New Forest.
"Thanks to several sterling efforts we had 12 finishers on this cracking Sunday in the New Forest," said Mike.
"I can't mention everyone, but Phil May was a star, running a day after racing at the cross country on Saturday. Both Eric Beck and Liz Hall gave up their Chichester numbers to help the club in this league race. While Darrell Milner entered late on to help us get two teams."
There were two personal bests with Annie Tomlinson running a half marathon pb to be the first Stubby finisher in 1hr 43min 54sec for 156th overall and eight Vet 35. There was also another PB for Georgie Wallis, who knocked nearly three minutes off her best personal best despite having a fever and a chill on the Friday. She recorded a time of 1:53.27 for 234th place in the race (Vet 45, 11th).
With Gill Rose clocking 1:50.42 for 219th overall (Vet 35, 18th) and Liz running 2:12.28 for 329th (Vet 45, 20th), the Stubbettes finished 7th in Division 1, leaving us 5th overall.
The Men's A team are a model of consistency with a 5th place at the opener in Overton and then a 5th place at the Solent Half, so we too are 5th in Division 1 after two races.
Top individual performance must go to Alasdair Ewing, who was the first over 50 runner with 17th overall in 1:23.47, followed by Mike Harper in 22nd with 1:24.45 (Vet 40, 5th). After his exploits over the New Forest Marathon last month, Darrell Milner settled down with a gentle 1:37.21 and 96th overall (Vet 40, 32nd), while Phil May managed to squeeze into the A team less than 24 hours after the cross country at Farley Mount with a 1:38.02 half marathon and 101st (Vet 50, 20th).
Robert Blackmore led home the B team in 115th spot in 1:39.30 (Vet 40, 39th), and with Marcus Lee (158th, 1:44.08), Eric Beck (200th, 1:48.25, Vet 40, 61st) and Richard Snell (250th, 1:55.12, Vet 40, 71st), and they finished 2nd in Division 2 to go with our 2nd at Overton this leaves us leading Division 2 as the only club to finish eight runners in both fixtures.
Toby Lambert of Winchester& District AC led from the gun and time trialled to a very respectable time of 1:09.20. Toby's winning margin over his team mate Andy Greenleaf was over two minutes, with third-placed Paul Cameron of Isle of Wight Runners less than 30 seconds later in 1:12.04.
The Ladies race was won even more convincingly by Winchester's Michaela McCallum, who had also won the first race of the Hampshire Cross Country League less than 24 hours earlier. Michaela finished in 13th position overall in a time of 1:22:07 with a winning margin of over 10 minutes from Victoria Lincoln, an unattached visitor from London.
Third placed Rachel Byers was close behind in 1:34.15 and helped Winchester to the Ladies team race. New forest Runners were 2nd Ladies team with Winchester B in third spot.
The men's team race was won by Winchester from Alton Runners, with Winchester B in third place. There were 372 finishers who enjoyed one of the most scenic courses on the south coast.
The next race in the series is the Lordshill 10 on November 2nd. Mike Harper added: "If you enter this week it's under a tenner; not far to travel and an ideal preparation race for the Gosport Half later in the month.
"If you have entered could you send me an e-mail so I don't have to chase everyone up just before the race. We need at least eight men and six women, just finishers, any pace."
You can contact Mike Harper on 07722-870258 or email: theharpers12@hotmail.com