Farnham Runners keep busy – Gosport Half and Bourne Woods cross country

HRRL Gosport Half

Farnham Runners group before the start of the 2022 HRRL Gosport half marathon

Eighteen Farnham Runners made the journey to the annual Gosport half marathon, expertly organised by Gosport Road Runners. Sportingly, in order to provide sufficient marshals and helpers, no members of the Gosport club take part in the race.

The route is renowned for being flat and a possible personal best course but this year there was a strong wind from the West which hampered plans for a fast pace. Otherwise the weather was good, about 10 degrees and sunny.

Despite the wind, Matt Saker powered round for a new personal best of 1:20:05 to take the second M50 slot out of 131 finishers in this competitive group and to beat his previous club record by two minutes!

Next was Chris Matthews in a fine 1:25:37, 116th of 1229 finishers. Chris Raby was 5th M60 in an increasingly competitive group in 1:33:32, while Neil Ambrose was final A team scorer in 1:34:21. This team placed 9th out of 10 in the top flight but they lie 8th on aggregate.

For the B team came Tony Jones in 1:35:39, Ivan Chunnett in1:39:33, Paul Keogh in 1:41:20 and Joseph Lee who settled for 1:48:10 this time.

In an incomplete C team were Stephen Collings in 2:05:34 and Craig Tate-Grimes in 2:05:49.

First back for the ladies was 2nd F60 Linda Tyler in an excellent 1:43:28. Bella Weetch, in her first race for a while, took the second A team spot in 1:48:11. First F70 was Jane Georghiou in 1:55:03 to go 9th in the Run Britain age group half marathon ranking for 2022. Lindsay Bamford went round steadily for 1:59:06 and was 10th F55. The team placed 8th in Division one but lie 7th after 4 of the 12 races in the series.

Leading the B team, Colette Grist clocked a new PB of 2:02:04. Vicky Goodluck in 2:03:39, Jane Barry in 2:03:35 and Laura Quinn in 2:03:43 helped this team to a useful 5th place in B Division One and they lie 8th/16 clubs.

SXCL Bourne Woods

Farnham Runners assemble before the start of the 2022-23 SXCL Bourne Woods cross-country in Farnham

Just one week later it was Farnham Runners turn to host a race, the second round of the Southern Cross-Country League. The club welcomed over 450 runners to the popular race in the Bourne Woods, a few more than the previous record in 2018. It was organised by Farnham Runners race director Craig Tate-Grimes who planned the whole thing, with help from a large number of club members on the day.

Rain the day and night before gave muddy conditions for much of the way and it was hardly ever flat, a real cross-country course. It now starts from near the Rural Life Centre and Farnham Runners would like to express their thanks to RSPB and the Rural Life Centre with help putting on this event.

Craig is able to hire a field for parking from Pierrepont Farm. Nigel Marchant from Hart Road Runners was present as the England Athletics official. Neil Ambrose calculated the team results.

Club Secretary Julia Tagg organised the refreshments provided afterwards with ten members supplying trays of sandwiches, while many others made or bought cakes. Craig had set up a marquee and Julia Tagg and Linda Tyler organised the serving of the food and drinks on the day.

Almost 170 stayed to enjoy the lunch.

Despite the large number of marshals and other helpers from Farnham Runners, 10%, 46 of the runners were from the club and they were rewarded with third place on the day out of the 23 clubs in the league. The men came eighth and the ladies third.

The first four men and the first four ladies count for each team with the scores combined for the overall result. Farnham Runners lie fourth after two of the six events.

Terry Steadman, Kay Copeland and Jane Barry running down a steep downhillin the 2022-23 SXCL Bourne Woods cross-country in Farnham

First back for the club was Joe Collins in an excellent 5th place. Also in the team were Charlie Hill-Venning in a fine 35th, followed by Chris Matthews in 54th and Neil Ambrose in 69th. Also in the top 100 were Colin Addison in 78th, with Chris Raby in 101 and Sam Angell in 104 just outside it.

Kayleigh Copeland put in an excellent performance as 10th lady while Louise Granell was very pleased with her splendid 14th place. Ali Falkiner and Bella Weetch both enjoyed their first cross country and their 27th and 43rd placings also gave a boost to the team result.

Not far back were Linda Tyler 55th and Lindsay Bamford 59th, with Lina Haines 67th, Billy McCulloch 75th, Jane Barry 84th, Jane Georghiou 86th and Kay Copeland 87th also in the top 100 ladies.

Other results

Men: Ivan Chunnett 129, Tim Farrant 141, Andy Brown 143, Paul Keogh 151, Toby Loomis 156, Terry Copeland 184, Tony Hollands 199, Terry Steadman 224, Howard Inns 232, Hallam Foster 233, Chris Gill 261.

Ladies: Colette Grist 105, Amanda Muir 108, Penny Schnabel 113, Clair Bailey 116, Alison Lamb 120, Sally Lawrence 129, Julia Jones 132, Vicky Goodluck 136, Georgina Anderson 138, Pauline Hamilton 154, Sue Taylor 155, Julia Tagg 164, Jackie Wilkinson 173, Rachel Morris 187, Tori Shaw 188, Carolyn Wickham 189, Nicola O’Connor 190.

See the Photo Gallery 2022 for more photos from the above races