Stubbington Green Runners

Glastonbury had nothing on the scene that greeted the team from Stubbington!!!  Everywhere we looked was a sea of mud.  Gordon had reported that there was a covering of snow in the morning of the race but after 2000 people descended on the site it got churned up and was a mire of sloppy mud.  Not even Parliament Hill has been this bad!!!

After charging up the M40 with the rest of Sussex, footy fans from Crawley and Brighton, we got there just in time for the Ladies race, setting Lucy off into the Somme.   Louise Damon won a tough battle with steeplechaser Hattie Dean leaving Liz Yelling in third, Lucy then finished just behind in 371st! Afterwards the chip strap had made a nasty mark on her Achilles and has become terribly sore. To be honest, I didn’t want the chip coming off and being lost in the mud forever, so it’s my fault!

The Men’s race started off with about 1500 runners and after the first 20 yards looked like a herd of wildebeest going over a hill, then we hit the mud, all grades being experienced by us that day.  Dan Gueran had been told by Dad to come inside the top 500 and he did just that, giving a superb performance to finish 372nd.  The race was won by Steve Vernon who looked like he flew over the mud in 35 minutes.  Gordon just failed to get inside the 1000 mark with 1006th, closely followed by Nick in 1036th.  John had the power to get the better of Phil in this race and just continued to progress through the field to finish in 1092nd and then Phil came in 1174th.  Unfortunately Chris Gallagher had to retire as the going sapped his strength and his footwear wasn’t up to giving him any grip.

At the end of the race a legend of British running completed the course, Ron Hill, aged 73.  Great to see him still running, a hero of Phil’s from way back in the 60’s. Phil May.

Lucy        371st       35.30

Dan         372nd       45:28
Gordon    1006        56.55
Nick         1039        57:37
John         1092         59:32
Phil           1174       1:02:32