HRRL Gosport Half Marathon

Six of the fifteen Farnham Runners who braved the weather and travelled to Gosport for the half marathon were rewarded with personal bests. Storm Angus that caused the cancellation of the Brighton 10km had fortunately passed over by the start of the race, but there was still a very strong headwind for almost half of the two lap route.

Rob Gilchrist posted a fine 1 hour 25 minutes 43 seconds, his 100th place of over 1,500 finishers illustrating the competitive standard of this race as its flat course attracts runners from far and wide.

Neil Ambrose (1:31:04), sportingly paced by Ian Carley (1:31:05), was delighted to deduct 2.5 minutes from his previous best. Jason East in 1:32:19 snatched the final “A” squad score from Alistair Hardaway, who, with 1:32:34, clocked another PB (by one minute).

Dressed up for the weather was Mikey Taylor in 1:33:05 followed by Chris Cramp in 1:40:36. Regular parkrunner Tim Cummins stepped up his distance for 1:46:59. These four made up a complete “B” team. The teams have another nine races of the 12 event series to show they can stay in Division One.

For the Farnham ladies, Eloise Stradling continues to get stronger each race and she took another 1.5 minutes from her PB with 1:34:30, as 15th senior lady.

A finish sprint from Lindsay Bamford (1:44:13,) gained her 4th in her category and saw her pip Tara Hunt whose 1:44:31 gave her a PB by 4.5 minutes. This A team clinched a very useful 5th league slot in Division One, to lie 7th on aggregate.

Jane Georghiou earned an age category win with 1:46:27. Tina Harrison, newcomer Kate Townsend and Mary D Fitzgerald improved by 5 minutes, 9 minutes and 6 seconds respectively for 1:52:24, 1:53:19 and 1:56:20. The “B”s were 6th in B Division One (13th on aggregate).