Stubbington Green Runners

A bright and sunny Autumn day greeted the 16 Stubby runners who took on the challenge of the Solent Half Marathon. This was the 3rd race of 12 in the HRRL 2010/11 season, and as usual was dominated by Hampshire Road Race League runners.

Stubbington Green’s very own version of bionic man, Andy Simpson, lead the team home with a fantastic run of 1:23:44, which although a little down on his pb, was an amazing run considering the pain and suffering he is currently enduring with his left  knee. Fortunately for him there were no drugs testers present at this event, because I am sure that "kryptonite" is on the banned list of performance enhancing drugs. Andy was joined in the A team by Tony Smith, who was out of a last training/jog round before the Abingdon marathon this weekend. Good luck Tony for that one, by the looks of things that alpine training you recently undertook has had the positive effect on your running. Mike Harper finished strongly as usual in the last half mile, chasing down the first lady, and out sprinted the dispirited writer who “blew up” in the last half. (Note to self, 10k training is all very well, but don’t forget the long runs)

Dave Jeffery lead home the mens B team, although he too did not perform to his usual high standards, and was not happy with his run. But at least Dave can cite a bout of Noro Virus in the week preceding the race as a contributing factor. Mr marathon man himself Nick Kimber returned to action after refuelling himself in the beer cellars of Berlin (you’d best ask Jon Leigh for directions), recording a time bang on 7:15 m/m. Colin too had a good run breaking the 1hr 40 which was exactly 1 minute quicker than last year. John Simister completed the B team line up with a strong run, but slightly down on last years  time, in what turned out to be breeze but warm conditions.

The mens C team, which unfortunately was not complete, still managed to rank 8 out of 14 teams in Div 2 of the B league. Well done to Nigel, returning after a niggly calf strain, Alan White, running in his normal relaxed style, and Robert Spencer for making the effort and counting for the Stubbington Green team.

The ladies team was lead home by the ladies captain Susie, also making a return after the Berlin marathon exploits. Tina ran well again and despite pulling out for the New Forest Marathon showed that she is continuing to improve, with a time over 1 minute quicker than last year. Donna, making her debut at the half marathon, finished in a very respectable time, well under the 2 hour barrier. It was a another great effort from Donna as she continues to make big strides forward with her running since joining the club earlier in the year. Unfortunately Georgie Wallis was unable to complete the race, and pulled out after a couple of miles. Hopefully only a precautionary measure, but we hope to see you back racing soon.

Full individual and team results for the HRRL are available via the HRRL website

Name	M/F Pos	Cat	Cat Pos.	Chip time	Min/Mile Pace
-	-	-	-	-	-
Susie MacGregor	14	F35	5	01:37:06	07:24:00
Tina Chantrey	25	F35	9	01:41:50	07:46:00
Donna Mitchell	61	F35	22	01:54:35	08:44:00
-	-	-	-	-	-
Andy Simpson	22	SM	18	01:23:44	06:23:00
Tony Smith	25	SM	19	01:24:39	06:27:00
Mike Harper	26	M50	3	01:25:04	06:29:00
Graham Bell	27	M40	5	01:25:13	06:30:00
David Jeffery	31	M40	7	01:26:36	06:36:00
Nick Kimber	85	M50	11	01:34:58	07:15:00
Colin Elderfield	113	M40	41	01:39:04	07:33:00
John Simister	190	M50	44	01:53:37	08:40:00
Nigel Whitcher	193	M40	65	01:53:54	08:41:00
Alan White	207	M50	48	02:01:12	09:15:00
Robert Spencer	220	M50	50	02:17:28	10:29:00

Current League  Position	Mens	Ladies
A Team	5	4
B Team	4	7
C Team	3	1

The next races on the HRRL calendar are below, and a full programme including links to the various websites and entry forms can be found on the HRRL page on this website. Or here

07/11/10 - Lordshill 10

21/11/10 – Gosport Half Marathon (incorporating the Hampshire Half Marathon Championships)

16/01/10 – Stubbington Green 10k

Photos of the Solent Half here.