HRRL Eastleigh 10k, Hampshire Hoppit Marathon, South Downs Relay Half Marathon, British Masters Athletics Federation 10000m and Southdowns Way 100 Mile Relay

Eastleigh 10k

The penultimate Hampshire Road League event was the Eastleigh 10km where competition is always fierce as competitors travel from far and wide for this fast, flat course. Farnham Runners put out a strong men’s squad with both A and Bs battling for promotion from their respective second divisions. Eight of them finished under 40 mins 30 seconds.

In good form after taking part in the Endure 24 the previous weekend came James Clarke in 35 minutes 55 seconds 52nd of over 2000 finishers. Andrew Ellison was just one second off third in the M50 category based on time from the gun on which all prizes are based, but equal on chip timing and only six seconds away from second. His chip time was 36:58 and he placed 77th overall. He was just ahead of seventh M45, Matt Saker in 36:59, while Matthew Morgan in 38:32 completed this impressive team that came second in A Division two. Farnham Runners lie third and all depends on the last race, the Lordshill 10km.

Leading in the Bs was Harvey Wickham in 39:28. Not far behind him in another very competitive age group, Mike Anderson was fourth M60 in 39:49. Just missing out on a sub 40, came Neil Ambrose in 40:01, while Ali Hardaway was pleased with a new personal best of 40:29. This team placed second and stay a safe second on aggregate.

Pushed into the C team was Colin Addison in 40:39, while Chris Cramp 44:03, Kevin Laurie 48:40 on his debut and Stuart Laurie 56:11 made a worthy contribution for the C team to stay mid table in ninth. Douglas Blyth was seventh M70 in 1:00:38.

In training for a 100km ultra marathon Emma Russ had run the tough South Downs marathon the previous day but clocked 47:27 to lead in the ladies, followed by second W65, Jane Georghiou in 50:15 and Tina Harrison in 53:05. This trio was ninth in Division One and stay eighth on aggregate.

Hampshire Hoppit Marathon

On the same day Sarah Hill ran the hilly trail Hampshire Hoppit Marathon over the North Hampshire Downs in an incredible time of 3 hours 3 minutes, over 23 minutes ahead of the second lady and just 13 seconds behind the overall winner. Stuart Haig was an impressive 12th in 3:23:53 followed by John Hill-Venning in 3:36:30 and Charlie Hill-Venning in 3:58:30, 24th and 54th respectively of 272 finishers. Sarah Hill also recently clocked 2:57:48 the Exeter marathon.

South Downs Relay Half Marathon

Linda Tyler was a worthy winner of her category at the South Downs Relay Half Marathon, completing the 13.15 mile distance, with ascents of over 1,500m, in 1:54:38, 15th lady of 188.

British Masters Athletics Federation 10000m

Jane Georghiou collected a British Masters Athletics Federation age group silver medal by completing 25 laps of a track in the 2018 10,000m championships on a warm day at Oxford in 53:49.

Southdowns Way 100 Mile Relay

A team from Farnham Runners recently completed the Southdowns Way 100 Mile Relay 2018 from Eastbourne to Winchester. It’s only open to invited running clubs, with teams of six runners doing three non-consecutive legs. The Farnham Runners’ team consisted of Matt Dellar, Sarah Hill, Richard Lovejoy, Rob Gilchrist, Colin Addison and James Warren, with Craig Tate-Grimes taking on the vital role of driver while youngster Tom Dellar helped provide water at the changeover stations.

Farnham Runners’ team planning started in January when it was decided who is best to take on which legs. This gave everyone time to recce their three legs before the day. After a very early start the team arrived at Beachy Head at 7.15am ahead of their 8.15 start. There was mist and visibility was so bad that the first two miles of leg one were neutralized with teams running together.

There is a trophy up for grabs between rivals Haslemere Border A.C. and Farnham Runners and this made for an exciting day with the runners giving their all on a warm day with very little shade along the challenging route. Farnham Runners started off behind Haslemere but gradually pulled away to finish in a total of 11:35:26 which made them fifth overall while Haslemere were seventh, so Farnham Runners took the cup this year for the first time.