Thanks to Tom for this update from Ryde Harriers running club. Ed
The start of the month saw proper cross-country weather for the second in this season’s Hampshire XC League fixtures.
Gusty winds and squally showers hammered the junior athletes especially and it wasn’t until most people were leaving, that the sun teased its way out to shine on the now mud-splattered Popham Airfield. Performance of the day from an Island athlete came from Izzac Kent of IWAC whose gutsy run was finished with pace to secure him third in the U13 Boys race.
Senior races
In the senior races Ryde Harriers fielded full teams again the men’s and women’s races. Sarah Kavanagh showed her returning form as she finished 40th with team mates Elaine Parry (96th) and Rosie Eldridge (102nd) also showing strongly in the draining conditions. This leaves the women equal eleventh in the league but well with range of the top seven.
For the men Jake Brougham was again the first Harrier home finishing in 117th followed by Tom Blackwell (128th), Les Cupis (141st), Andy Keehn (177th), Trevor Mcalister (207th), Rowland Silitto (209th) and Ken Beak (231st). The men were especially appreciative for their three and a half laps to full assess the heavy ground and badly rutted course. The team sits in third in division three battling hard for a promotion spot again.
Gosport Half Marathon
On a viciously windy morning in the middle of month a large contingent of Harriers made the short journey across the water (twice) to the annual Gosport Half Marathon. This very popular race is fixture four in the Hampshire Road Race League and its November date almost guarantees so interesting conditions during the 13.1 miles of almost dead flat running.
First home for the club was Simon Spencer in 1:35:13, a new personal best for him, closely followed by Andy Keehn in 1:35:21 showing his returning form.
Luke Gardner laid down a great marker in his first ever half marathon with a time of 1:39:54 (first half) just ahead of first female Harrier Tracey Dillon who finished in 1:40:51, another pb.
Trevor McAllister came next with an enormous pb of 10 minutes as he crossed in 1:41:40. Elaine Parry (1:44:20), Sam Cleare (1:46:31), Rose Eldridge (1:46:51), Abi Cooke (1:47:20), Graham Gardner (1:51:16) and Ken Beak (1:51:34) also laid down personal bests with Samantha Fancourt (1:47.08) in her first half and Sally Roberts (1:50:23) sandwiched in between the record breakers. The club contingent was completed by Cherry Shannon (1:54:48), Steve Lee (2:00:09), Clayre Brown (2:52:07), Deb Joy (2:52:10) and Cath Love (2:59:34).
Club nights
The November club nights opened up with a 5 mile race which was won by Adam Tuck who showed his continuing good form after a brilliant sub-60 minute Great South Run. Tuck finished in 30:35 followed by new Harrier Luke Gardner in 33:30.
Winner of the women’s race was Sarah Kavanagh in 33:35 with Julie King second in 36:53. Next up was a 10km nominated around the roads of Binstead. Winner of the points was Graham Gardner who was only two seconds inside his stated time of 49 minutes with Harry Furmidge second just six seconds out from his time. Fastest on the night was Adam Tuck in 39:15.
5km handicap race
Later in the month, Rob Wilkinson improved on his second place in the previous 5km handicap race with a win in November’s race ahead of Graham Gardner and Andy Keehn.
In the women’s race Sally Roberts couldn’t match Wilkinson’s feat as she had to settle for another second place, this time beaten by Kath Levrier who demonstrated her hard training was paying dividends with a narrow victory. This was followed by a close contest for the latest five mile nominated run as master pacer Andy Lewis just managed to grab the first place points as he finished within one second of his stated time to leave Tom Blackwell in second place, despite Blackwell being within five seconds of his time.
Find out more
The club will be opening their 2016 race program with the annual cross-country series and the Ryde 10 mile road race.
Details of both can be found on the website or call in at a Tuesday club night to join in and find out more.
