Monthly archives: March 2018

Looking for a challenge Romsey’s Ben Sharman travelled East to take part in the Jerusalem Marathon on the 9th March. The race was started by the legendary long distance runner Haile Gebrselassie and considering the 631m of climb Ben did very well to complete the course in a great time of 4 hours 14 mins.

On Sat 10th March Dorota Hatch made her debut at one of the Maverick Inov8 events and was very happy to complete the middle-distance trail of 13km in 1 hour 21 mins. There was more action further west at The White star Larmer Tree events this weekend. Set in the gardens of the Rushmore estate, that were created for public enlightenment and entertainment, Romsey’s runners were not disappointed by the beautiful surroundings and peacocks! First to run was Hannah Semeraro who completed the 10mile course finishing as 10th Lady in 1 hour 31 mins. Mark Stileman and Sue Sleath had remarkable results in the half marathon finishing 2nd male and 2nd female in times of 1 hour 40 mins and 1 hour 56 mins respectively. Ian Winkworth had to wait for the light to close so he could don his head torch and complete the Dark Larmer. Ian had a good run, finishing the 9mile course in 1 hour 5 mins earning him 9th place overall and 1st in age group. Abi Cooke and Francesca Hough both travelled down on the Sunday to take part in the marathon distance, completing the tough course in great times, Abi finished in 5 hours 16 mins closely followed by Fran in 5 hours 21 mins.

Not too far away Tamatha Ryan and Stewart Liesnham were taking part in the Imber Ultra 33mile race, a friendly charity event incorporating the Salisbury plains and the Imber Range. The race is surrounded by iron age hill forts and mainly run on metalled roads, bridleways and tracks. Tamatha completed the windy course in 5 hours 23 mins earning her 2nd Lady overall whilst Stewart set a new PB in 5 hours 31 mins.

Sadly, snow stopped play for many races the following weekend but several Romsey Road Runners got the opportunity to brave the elements. Anna Duignan, Wendy Couper and Alice Lane took part in another of the Endurance life events, Anna and Wendy completed the 10km distance finishing 2nd and 4th in age groups. Meanwhile, Alice fought her way through high winds and snow to bravely complete the 34mile ultra in 8 hours and was rewarded by coming 1st in her age group.

Hannah Semeraro and John Horton made the journey to Seaton in Devon to take part in the popular Grizzly race. Organisers were forced to shorten the technical course to 10miles which Hannah completed in 1 hour 31 mins and John and his family in 1 hour 44 mins.

On the 11th February Nigel Hemsted took part in the popular Bramley 20mile race. Ran on quiet country lanes, the race consists of two loops and is deemed as a good training run for a spring marathon, also offering a 10mile option. Romsey’s Nigel finished in a very respectable time of 2hours 29minutes. Meanwhile Cliff Reeves earned himself a new personal best in the rescheduled Twixmas 10km held on the 18th February in Porchester. Despite being off road and slightly over the 10km distance, Cliff completed the race in superb time of 52.12minutes.

Alice Lane and Julie Shanker made the long journey north on the 24th February to take part in the Northumberland Endurance life Ultra Marathon starting in Benthall and finishing at Bamburgh castle. Julie sadly had to make the hard decision to pull out at 20miles due to injury but Alice was able to finish, completing the 35mile route in a time of 7hours 32minutes. The following day, a cold crisp Sunday, saw the Winchester 10km road race. This one lap route with a mix of urban and countryside starts outside Winchester Guildhall and finishes at the City of Winchester football club. Representing Romsey were Alex Prinsep finishing in a time of 38.36 followed by Steve Cleeves 42.07, Ben Sharman 47.23, Paul Whitaker 48.25, Liz Prinsep 51.41 and Sue Stileman in 55.32minutes.

Sue Sleath and Tamatha Ryan took on the long-distance walkers association New Forest challenge marathon, a self-navigating route through the beautiful surroundings of the scenic forest starting and finishing in Burley. The pair made it back for a welcome hot meal in a little over five and half hours.

Becky Tovey was fortunate enough to travel to Abu Dhabi again for the ITU world triathlon. Whilst most of us were dealing with snow, Becky enjoyed a warm swim and was trying to avoid tan lines as she cycled around the formula 1 course before finishing with a half marathon run. Completing in an overall time of 5hours 32minutes Becky pitched each discipline well and enjoyed the race.