Race Walking
Hannah Hopper was selected to represent England in the junior women's 10km at the World Athletics Race Walking Tour - Gold Standard race in the spa town of Podebrady in the Czech Republic on Sat. 2nd April. Although she nearly did not make the start line, following the cancellation of her 9am easyJet flight from Gatwick on Friday, which meant Hannah and her coach had to travel to Birmingham airport for a hastily rearranged flight and arrived in Podebrady much later than anticipated.
Race day started very cold with snowy and blustery weather conditions, a distinct contrast to the spring like conditions the last time Hannah had raced in Coventry a fortnight previously.
This was Hannah's first outing in an England vest and she performed consistently throughout the race, passing 5km in 25:42 a substantial road personal best, racing hard in a small group taking advantage of a good field until she was dropped slightly, but she maintained her focus and finished in a massive personal best of 51:19 a 1 minute 23 second improvement on her previous best achieved in Dublin in December.
Road Running
Fourteen club members travelled to Manchester for the Therme Manchester Marathon, with a number of impressive performances. The highlight was James Macdonald finally getting a sub-2:30 clocking, crossing the line in 11th position with 2:27:14. Next Harrier home was Phil Dickens in 2:32:48 and David Worden improved his personal best to 2:47:13. Thomas Brooke recorded his first sub-2:45 time with 2:44:29. Luke Martin (2:50:46), Alex Tringham (2:54:27) and Raymond Ramsay (2:55:17) all went sub-3 for the first time.
Other finishers were: Clem Dixon (3:13:50); Akbar Farid (3:15:14); Richard Piggford (3:31:18), John Dawe (3:33:52); Joanne McCaffrey (3:57:39), Maria Macdonald (4:29:38) and Anna Rowland (4:47:55).
Tom Loia recorded a personal best of 3:20.04 for the marathon at the Schneider Electric Marathon de Paris.
Emily Meins finished 57th overall and second women at The London Landmarks Half-Marathon, a closed road, central London run and the only half marathon to go through both the City of London and City of Westminster, with a time of 1:23:51.
At the Regents Park Summer10km, Jordan Leblanc finished in 3rd place with a time of 35:17.
Life Time Achievement Award
Mick Bond has received a lifetime achievement award from Royal Borough of Greenwich for 30 years of organising the Greenwich Schools annual track and cross country championships.
