Report and results.
What, no heatwave? To any
Stur Half regular it was a let-off, this race is normally reserved for
the hottest day of the year. As the course has been tweaked over the
years to remove some of the more horrible gradients I reckon this race
will never get easier than it was this time around. In fact the
conditions were as close to perfect as any of us has any right to expect
for an August race.
We had a little unwanted
drama before the races started when Wendy had to be treated for a wasp
sting. She went on to have a good race despite some worries about a
niggly heel perhaps that wasp got the adrenalin flowing.
In the half marathon Jerry
Shield was first WACer home and there were excellent runs from Rich
House (smashing his PB by six and a half minutes), Neil Hopkinson and
Andy Olden. Roy Long rarely does half-marathon distance so decided to
start at the very back and treat it as a training run. I was one of 14
WACers that he effortlessly cruised past. John Hutchings continues to
get better and better, and he was running 13.1 miles for the first time.
Dave Wild is enjoying a purple patch and he also had a very good day.
Nicki Roe, Jools Maskell
and Wendy were the points scorers for the ladies team. Kelly was fourth
lady in, and she recorded a PB. Julie Gosling was running with an injury
and as a result her time suffered, but well done to her for keeping the
Fidelity bid alive. Also racing was WACer Shirley Billingtons daughter,
Jessica. Jessica finished sandwiched between Wendy and Kelly, she is
closing in on her first sub-two hour half marathon.
In the mid-field of the
race Kev Elliott was clearly ahead of a group of us that included Jeff
Hinsley, me, Phil Whitehurst and Nicki Roe. Jeff, Nicki and Phil ran
together for quite a long way. I thought I had broken away from them,
but on the last hill they made up ground on me and Jeff passed me with
about one mile to go. I closed the gap to Jeff on the final descent, but
had left myself too much to do to catch him. Coming through the gate
onto the field with about 50m to go I went over on my ankle so then it
was my turn to visit the first-aiders. Guy Miller hasnt trained since
the London Marathon and this was reflected in the time he was able to
record.
The 5k race started a
little while after the half marathon and we had 10 runners in it. Unlike
support races at some events we take part in, this is not a junior race,
all over-15s can compete. Three of the Wayfarers junior team were there
Callum Kennedy, David Long and Ross Kirkpatrick, and they were on
fire, packing in 3rd, 4th & 5th places.
(The fourth member of that team was of course John Hutchings, who being
a little older was able to take part in the half marathon.) Sharon
Hutchings did brilliantly, she was only just eligible to take part in
the 5k and she won the First Ladys Award. That gave Sharon bragging
rights, as no quarter was given when she beat both mum (Lynn) and dad
(Gerry) the three of them all finished within 20 seconds of each
other. (I bet John was relieved he was doing the half marathon!) Trudi
Carter won the award for first local lady. Meanwhile Bob Caines slapped
in another solid performance and it was great to see Annmarie Pearson in
races once again (thats two in quick succession), with husband Dave out
there piloting her around the course.
The Stur Half is a
friendly, well-organized race handled with supreme competence by
Christine Willis and her team and it is all done with a touch of humour
too. The water station at 10 miles was offering peace and love as well
as water! Its often good when competing in other clubs races to clock
what they are doing and take it on board and use it in our own race. So
whos up for manning a water station in November in a gold
lamι
bikini?
A great day. If none of
this convinces you to come and take part in next years race, consider
doing it just for the delicious Honeybuns flapjacks awaiting us
at the finish line.
Ian K
WACers results:
5k
race (57 runners)
3
Callum Kennedy 19:33
4 David Long 19:42
5 Ross Kirkpatrick 19:48
12 Sharon Hutchings 22:20 (First lady)
13 Lynn Hutchings 22:26
15 Gerry Hutchings 22:38
22 Trudi Carter 24:51 (First local lady)
33 Bob Caines 28:22
39 Annmarie Pearson 29:38
40 Dave Pearson 29:39
Half Marathon (453 runners)
30
Jerry Shield 1:25:37
55 Rich House 1:31:02
66 Neil Hopkinson 1:32:07
86 Roy Long 1:34:11
88 Andrew Olden 1:34:32
140 Jon Braund 1:39:15
145 John Hutchings 1:39:36
154 Dave Wild 1:40:47
183 Kevin Elliott 1:44:33
195 Jeff Hinsley 1:45:02
197 Ian Kennedy 1:45:15
200 Phil Whitehurst 1:46:00
233 Nicki Roe 1:50:04
292 Jools Maskell 1:55:58
352 Wendy Kennedy 2:02:49
353 Jessica Billington 2:02:53
356 Kelly Williams 2:03:24
428 Guy Miller 2:23:38
449 Julie Gosling 2:41:59
