HRRL Gosport Half Marathon, Basingstoke Time Trials and Amsterdam Marathon

HRRL Gosport Half Marathon

Farnham Runners ladies’ and men’s teams lie second and third respectively of ten teams in the top division of the Hampshire Road Race League after four races of the series. The Farnham men have an added incentive as, with only 5 more races in the club’s own Grand Prix calendar, competition is fierce for points near the top of the table.

The fourth event was the Gosport half marathon, this year on a new course. Although flat, time comparisons showed it may not have been as fast as the previous route. Nevertheless the Farnham Runners clocked a number of impressive personal bests.

Most notable of these was from Ian Carley whose 1.20. 06 was an improvement by 3 ½ minutes as he prepares for the forthcoming Luton marathon. His time of 1hour 20mins 6secs put him in 52nd place, which illustrates the competitiveness of the event. The tough training regime of Steve Kitney paid off as he started well and then overtook to come home close to Carley in a PB by over 1 minute (1.20.15, 55th). Andy Eakins feeling below par on the day still managed an enviable 1.22.00, just ahead of Graham Wilton in 1.22.18. These four gave the A team 6th place in the HRRL Div 1 on the day.

Club chairman Dan Smith had to be consoled that his 1.22.29 was not enough for a first team position. The star performer was probably Julian Mann who is new to racing and demolished his 1.30 target with an incredible 1.23.54. Bob Brimicombe was not far behind (1.24.03) while Charles Ashby had to settle for 1.26.17 after very little training due to injury. This B team was 4th (3rd on aggregate).

The ladies took 4th in the HRRL on the day. Jane Georghiou kept up a consistent pace for 1.32.20 to go 4th in the W55 UK 2008 rankings. Angela Epps was very close till the last few miles (1.33.18) while Lucie White was justifiably pleased with 1.42.58 in her first attempt at the distance. Lindsay Bamford led in the B team (1.44.27) ahead of Emma Doven (1.55.28) and Rebecca Payne (1.57.04) (5th /aggregate 5th).

Other Farnham times:

Michael Smith 1.28.36, Mike Walberton 1.30.04 (PB), Steve Gillingham 1.30.17, Mike Ashworth 1.32.13 (PB), Simon Clyde 1.33.22 (PB), Tim Cummins 1.33.22 (PB), Paul Beesley 1.33.29 (PB), Andy Tweed 1.37.41, Nick Hill 1.41.04, Graham Higgins 1.43.59, Christopher Cramp (debut) 1.45.51, Steve Payne 1.46.21, Hillary Carter 1.48.31, Richard Sheppard 1.51.56, Andrew Perrin 1.59.37, Mark Beeson 2.02.52, Diane Cox 2.05.30, Peter Strange 2.09.03.

Basingstoke time trial

Several members have notable results in the Saturday morning 5km time trials at Basingstoke.

Dan Smith has now won the event twice, with a new personal best of 18.22.

Steve Gillingham tops the gent’s points table for the season so far having completed all possible 17 runs, his best time 19.18.

Mike Anderson has posted the quickest Farnham Runners’ time of 17.48 to go 4th in the age-graded table (83.52% of world class). He has also recently won a Bushy Park time trial in the same time and has set a new M50 course (and M50 Farnham Runners) record there of 17.21.

Back at Basingstoke Ian Carley has recorded the 2nd fastest Farnham time (17.59) and Steve Murphy has the 2nd best club age-graded performance (77.22% with 18.48).

Amsterdam Marathon

Two Farnham Runners took part in the Amsterdam marathon, both with creditable results: Rob Horton completed his first 26.2 miles in 3.42.22 while Wendy Carley clocked 3.49.36 (48th F35 of 207).