With the cross country season now in full swing, with club members performing well over the country, it must not be forgotten that other club members are still competing in other athletic disciplines, so this update is aimed at capturing and reporting on these performances.
We start in Spain where a handful of our road runners travelled over to Benidorm for a half-marathon or 10km on 27th November. In the half-marathon Keith Dungate (M70) was the first Harrier home in 2:03:29 followed twenty seconds later by Maria Macdonald (W65) in 2:03:48. Stephanie Dungate (W65) clocked 2:21.47. In the 10km Anna Rowland recorded a time of 1:03:14.
At the Run Through Victoria Park 10km on 4th December, Emily Meins finished 18th overall and first woman with 39:01.
On 4th December, Ed Adigwe (pictured below) made his indoor track debut at the Veterans AC and Eastern Masters AC Indoor Championships at Lee Valley. He dominated the M45 1500m winning by 16 seconds in a time of 4:25.27. Also in action were throwers Peter Wishart (M60) and Natalie Mann (W35) who produced throws of 10.28m and 7.13m respectively in the shot competitions.
Back over to Spain for the Valencia Marathon on 5th December, which featured Ben and Rob Shearer. Ben crossed the line in 130th position with a time of 2:25:37 with younger brother Rob finishing in 951st in 2:49:22.
Significantly closer to home, five club members contested the Alan Green Memorial 10 Mile in Margate (5th Dec.). Luke Ford had a fine run finishing in 9th place with 1:02:14. Keith Dungate was 95th in 1:28:41, Maria Macdonald - 121st in 1:34.41, Helen Jousselin – 162nd in 1:47:59, and Stephanie Dungate – 163rd with 1:48:01.
At the RunThrough Battersea Park 10km on 11th December, Chris Loudon (M35) secured a personal best of 33:31 for 11th place.
Two of the clubs’ race walkers were in action over 5000m at the Alf Palmer Memorial Track Races in Horsham on 11th December. Luc Legon (25:07.7), who was recovering from a cold, decided to pace Hannah Hopper (U20), doing a brilliant job helping her record a time of 25:08.4 removing nearly 40 seconds from her personal best and strengthening her position at the top of the U20W UK-Rankings.
(Photograph courtesy of Ralph Hyde - Veterans AC)