The Southerns 2010
The South of England Championships took place on Hampstead Heath on Saturday and was attended by a good contingent from Stubbington Green Runners.
First event for us was the Ladies race which included five Stubbettes Penny, Georgie, Lucy and making their debut in this race Jaz and Sharon.
The race was won by Jessica Sparke from Woodford Green in a time of 30.05 mins which was well over a minute ahead of second place Harriet Scott and third place Andrea Whitcombe who pushed each other all the way to the line. The race was a good strengthener for Andrea as she prepares for the Triathlon Series this coming year. I expected the course to be really boggy following the snow and rain we’ve had over the recent weeks but on the day it was a little frozen and so not as muddy but still soft underfoot.
On arrival the girls hadn’t had numbers allocated to them due to a clerical error but we had a receipt so Penny’s moment of glee at not being able to run was short lived! Penny led home the girls with a fine performance and was one of two former Olympians in the race; the other of course was Andrea Whitcombe. Georgie and Lucy followed Penny home and then Jaz and Sharon. Both Jaz and Sharon thoroughly enjoyed mixing it with the big guns in the athletics world and are up for next year’s race!!
In the under 20 women’s race former Stubbette Becky Gough finished 8th in her race and still had a smile at the end of it.
The positions are:
Penny 174 40.01mins
Georgie 253 43.35mins
Lucy 271 44.43mins
Jaz 335 50.53mins
Sharon 348 54.53mins
The ladies were 47th team and there were 357 finishers.
77th team in mens race
In the men’s race the lead changed hands quite a few times before Neilson Hall of Bedford came through victorious in a time of 50.57 for 9 miles of cross country! Second place went to Jon Pepper just ahead of Kevin Heywood from Bideford.
The speed at which these guys went across the mud was astounding and it was surprising to see Mike Harper, who is a very good runner, coming in 20 minutes after the leaders along with others that were recognisable from Hampshire races. Dan Gueran didn’t manage to register a time but came in between Mike and Kev. Maybe the chip didn’t register but he had enough at the end for a sprint finish. Kev Wheeler followed in on his first outing and once again thoroughly enjoyed his day in London.
Mike Bell had a good steady run, Nick looked to be still suffering from the Todays Runner at Rogate last week and twisted his ankle twice on the sprint in at the end. Gordon had a good run getting ahead of other runners he comes up against in the Hampshires, John fell on the second lap but managed to pull through to finish the race and maintain his run of competing in every Southerns for the last 25 years! In only his second outing for the club Dave Docherty held a good pace to come home in an hour and a half.
Well done to all our runners and good bragging rights for the rest of the year! Phil May.
The positions are
Mike Harper 463 1:10:44
Dan Gueran ??? ?????
Kev Wheeler 581 1:15:06
Mike Bell 616 1:17:23
Nick Crane 636 1:18:23
Gordon Westley 673 1:20:30
John Gueran 712 1:23:45
Dave Docherty 775 1:31:04
The men were 77th team and there were 806 finishers.
Click links for photos Georgie Wallis | Chris Gallagher | 42 Run (just enter your race no.)