Todays Runner, QE Park
The first of the Todays Runner winter series took place at QE Country Park in glorious warm sunny weather which was more reminiscent of early summer than mid autumn. As a consequence this led to very comfortable conditions for the 29 Stubbies who ran and many other club members who turned up to support them.
It was the ladies who took the honours in this first event. Very strong runs from Tanya and Emily saw them cross the line in 3rd and 4th places but with runners from Midhurst taking the first two places it was then left to which of each club's third placed runner was next across the line to determine which club took the team first place. Fortunately Susie triumphed in this respect with a top ten finish to edge out the third Midhurst runner by seven places to ensure the ladies secured the first place on the day.
Unfortunately the men did not fair quite so well. An excellent run from Andy saw him lead the team home with a comfortable 2nd place. Second Stubbie home was Chris who was pushed all the way during a private battle with Tanya before collapsing over the line in 21st place. Jon Leigh was our next finisher in 65th place whilst the final scoring positions were taken by Paul Hammond (73rd) closely followed by Graham James (75th). As a result of these placings the 236 points meant the men's team finished in 9th place on the day which when combined with the ladies result left us in 4th equal place with Portsmouth Joggers.
The next race takes place on Sunday 4th December at Bourne Woods, near Farnham starting at 11.00am. For directions see the Cross Country section on the website. For those wishing to stay and take advantage of the food supplied afterwards please note that the cost will be £1.50.
Results
Men Ladies
2 Andy Simpson 3 Tanya Brady
21 Chris Hall 4 Emily Foran
65 Jon Leigh 10 Susie MacGregor
73 Paul Hammond 18 Sally McGrath
75 Graham James 24 Gill Rose
79 Mike Bell 28 Donna Mitchell
101 Nick Kimber 46 Lucy May
110 Richard Snell 73 Jane Butler
111 Nick Crane 87 Katherine Briggs
123 Andy Lee 91 Lynda Hunt
154 Eric Beck 94 Sarah Martin
166 John Simister 115 Sharon White
188 Richard Scott
210 John Vose
211 David Richards
214 Mike Harper
216 Kevin Ashman
Photos - Peter Hutchison | Rita Leigh