Stubbington Green Runners & AC

It's difficult to usurp the Men's A and B teams winning at Ryde, but the ladies managed it!

All 5 of our ladies ran superbly on probably the hilliest course in the HRRL series. The conditions were pretty good, cold enough for a few thermal vests and extra t-shirts, but many just wore club vests. One of those, of course, was our Ladies' Captain. Susie had run 15 miles on Saturday, but that didn't stop her running sub 7 minute miles, to finish in 6th place. Hot on her heels was Tina, whose marathon training appears to be going well, taking 11 minutes off her best 10 miles time!

Our other ladies all ran well under 8 minute miles; Gill was just a few seconds off her p.b. in closing our A team in 4th place; Georgie and Lucy both ran p.b.'s. So it was a real shame to be one lady short of a full B team. With 2 runners completing you are given a third runner in last place, and with Georgie and Lucy finishing so well, we finished 7th B team out of 16 in Division 1.

Now to the men! The leading pack of 8 contained 2 green vests, Lewis and Andy, and unusually a top lady runner. Although the ultimate winner, Julian Manning from Denmead, got away to finish a minute clear of Lewis, barely half a minute separated the rest of the front runners. Louise Damen, now running for Winchester, was 2nd across the line, with Andy 1 minute back, in 7th place. So a 2nd and 7th place will consolidate their top ten placings in the individual HRRL standings.

Completing the winning A team were Mike and Tony, running just over 6 minute miles on those tough hills. Both have run 5 of the 6 HRRL races this season, so are a major part of our team currently heading the Hampshire League. Mike was also 3rd V50 here.

Not far behind, the B team of Dave, me, Ray and Graham again beat almost all the A teams, and are in a very strong position to win the B league, for the first time ever.

Tim had just lost out to Graham near the end, and Kev had a good 8 miles before finding the last couple a struggle. Both Phil and Nick had strong runs, with Phil finishing very well. Along with a fast improving John Blake, Phil and Nick should move up significantly in the individual rankings, as their results continue to improve and others with less races run get caught up.

Richard also ran well here, just keeping ahead of Gill. Alan made it 6 out of 6 races completed with a decent run, and John was next home, matching last year's time. A special mention to Robert, who maintained his HRRL 100% completion this season, despite feeling really unwell before and during the race.

We currently have 11 men and 6 women on the top 60 leaderboard, more than any other club. This strength in depth is a major reason that our B teams are doing so well.

Let's keep this up with lots of runners at Salisbury and Eastleigh. Enter now to get in these races. Eastleigh always fills up early, and for what it's worth Salisbury was my fave HRRL race last year! Mike Harper.

Men				Ladies
2nd	Lewis Chalk	00:57:07		7th	Susie MacGregor	01:09:00
7th	Andy Simpson	00:57:43		10th	Tina Chantrey	01:10:32
17th	Mike White	01:01:04		36th	Gill Rose	01:16:40
20th	Tony Smith	01:01:26		37th	Georgie Wallis	01:17:10
24th	Dave Jeffery	01:01:51		45th	Lucy May	01:18:29
26th	Mike Harper	01:02:10
35th	Ray Gunner	01:03:40
48th	Graham Bell	01:05:14
52d	Tim Sullivan	01:05:40
67th	Kev Wheeler	01:08:00
101st	Phil Martin	01:11:56
105th	Nick Kimber	01:12:07
110th	John Blake	01:12:35
141st	Richard Snell	01:16:29
173rd	Alan White	01:22:01
185th	John Simister	01:26:00
219th	Robert Spencer	01:50:38