South of England Cross-country Championships and Farnborough Half Marathon

South of England Cross-country Championships

An enthusiastic Farnham ladies’ team travelled to the South of England cross-country championships at the iconic venue of Parliament |Hill for the fourth consecutive year. With a field of over 700 senior ladies (from age 20 upwards), the starting line is about 100 metres across and groups runners in pens. After the first long challenging hill, the whole course is tough with uneven ground, though not as muddy this year as it often is.

Strong performances gave them 44th place of 71 complete teams of four. First for Farnham in an impressive time of 36 minutes 20 seconds was Emma Pearson, 236th of over 700 runners with Kayleigh Copeland in 36:44 (260th) and Susie Chan in 37:12 (280th), not far behind. Linda Tyler was the final scorer in 40:46 (451st), with Jane Georghiou following in 42:31(507th) and Kay Copeland in 43:14 (535th).

Farnborough Half Marathon

The next day, twenty-one members of Farnham Runners took on the different challenge of the Farnborough half marathon, in chilly conditions. Jason East came home first for the club, 76th of almost 1,800 finishers in a fine time of 1 hour 22 minutes 18 seconds. Safely under 1 hour 30 minutes were Stephen Elliott-Nicholls in 1:26:24, Harvey Wickham in 1:29:23. Keith Marshall was delighted to be first M60 in 1:34:48, with Mike Anderson 3rd M60 in 1:37:20. Sarah McCulloch was 10th F45 in 1:43:57, while Linda Tyler took 3rd F55 slot in 1:46:33, after the tough run at Parliament Hill the day before.

Other times: John Walker 1:34:51, Stephen Tarrant 1:41:29, Damian Probett 1:41:49, Emma Russ 1:45:15, Adam Harrison 1:47:38, Terry Steadman 1:48:30, Keith Toms 1:55:34, Rebecca Martin 1:54:52, Steve Bailey 2:07:05, Clair Bailey 2:07:06, Philip Masters 2:08:29, Kate Townsend 2:10:03, Emma Dawson 2:14:34, Lina Haines 2:25:08.