Medals galore at Corfe Mullen Carnival – 8 June 2010
Ian Kennedy reports.
The junior squad – Abbie Hine, Grace Copeland, Pippa Hine, Chloe Morris,
Piers Copeland, Ryan Walbridge, Sharon Hutchings and Alex Diment – are
raring to go at Corfe Mullen.
The Corfe Mullen Carnival races have been an annual event since 2004,
but it wasn’t until last year that I competed here for the first time.
This is a really well run event, and for the last two years we have run
in near perfect conditions. One thing the organisers do really well here
is the junior races, it’s great to see so many kids out there enjoying
their running.
Ed’s regular Tuesday session was cancelled for the night in order to
allow us all to compete. The junior ‘Endurance’ squad were there in
numbers. Sharon was the only young WACer, to have run here before, and
she was hoping to repeat last year’s win, but if she was going to do
that she faced a serious challenge from some of her own team-mates.
The hooter sounded and the juniors’ mile race was off. From the outset
Piers was challenging at the front, Ryan had a very poor getaway and had
to pick his way through the field. We hadn’t seen much of Alex since the
end of the cross-country season and it was terrific to have him back in
action, he’s a good athlete and it would be great to see him competing
on the track too.
We have a strong girls’ team and our three big hitters (Sharon, Abbie
and Chloe) were always likely to be at the business end of the race.
Grace (fresh from a fantastic age-group win at the Festival of Running
the previous Sunday – and she was to claim another one here) and
Pippa were conceding a few years to many of the other runners, but both
gave excellent accounts of themselves.
The young WACers certainly gave us something to cheer. A fine run by
Poole Runners’ Tom East saw him take the victory, while Ryan and Piers
had a ding-dong battle in the later stages to sort out second and third
places, with Ryan edging it. The girls did even better, taking all three
podium positions. Abbie had led for much of the way, but a
lightning-quick finish saw Sharon out sprint her team-mate in the last
50 metres. Chloe had a fine run too, making it a clean sweep for the WAC
girls. The juniors had given our seniors a fine spectacle, and rather a
lot to live up to.
The junior race trophy winners.
Tom East of Poole Runners (1st boy) is surrounded by WACers.
In the senior race Roy Long (2nd in his age group)
looks leaner and faster every week and there were strong runs from the
Andys (McDonald – 1st his age group, Porter and Olden). It was
great to see two returnees from injury, with a solid performance from
David Long (knee), and Steve Headley’s metatarsal withstood the test
also. It was a great day for the Hutchings family all round, as John
looks better every time he laces up a pair of running shoes at the
moment, and Gerry was 2nd in his age group.
Quite a few Wimborne men took part, but only two of our ladies had
entered, Lynn Hutchings and Debbie King. Debbie really enjoyed her race,
while Lynn upstaged the rest of us seniors. Lynn seems to have found
some extra endurance to go with her pace. She got a good start and I
never looked like catching her. It wasn’t just me she turned over, she
beat half the Wimborne men’s team. Lynn was third lady, a very fine
performance.
All in all, a great evening at a very friendly, well run event, a big
thank you to the race organisers and marshals. If you missed it this
time around make sure you are there next year. See you all at Corfe
Mullen in 2011.
Ian K
Results
One mile – junior race (113 runners)
2 – Ryan Walbridge – 5:35 – (2nd boy overall) – (2nd
boy aged 13)
3 – Piers Copeland – 5:38 – (3rd boy overall) – (1st
boy aged 11)
8 – Alex Diment – 6:07 – (2nd boy aged 12)
10 – Sharon Hutchings 6:09 – (Winner of girls’ race) (1st
girl aged 13)
11 – Abbie Hine 6:12 – (2nd girl overall) – (1st
girl aged 12)
17 – Chloe Morris 6:33 – (3rd girl overall) – (2nd
girl aged 13)
19 – Grace Copeland 6:36 – (1st girl aged 9)
61 – Pippa Hine 8:05 – (3rd girl aged 10)
5k senior race (185 runners)
11 – Roy Long – 18:28 (2nd 45-49)
12 – Andy McDonald – 18:37 (1st 40-44)
20 – Andy Porter – 19:18
23 – David Long – 19:47
30 – John Hutchings – 20:38
38 – Andy Olden – 21:05
45 – Lynn Hutchings – 21:25 (3rd lady overall, 1st F45-49)
47 – Paul Teck – 21:28
55 – Ian Kennedy – 21:45
56 – Jeff Hinsley – 21:49
64 – Gerry Hutchings – 22:24 (2nd 60-64)
73 – Mike Hilborne – 23:46
103 – Steve Headley – 24:10
138 – Debbie King – 26:07
