Monthly archives: September 2018

On Saturday 8th October Abigail Cooke and Tamatha Ryan challenged themselves with the Chiltern Wonderland 50 race. A 50mile single loop with 5600ft of climb around the Chiltern countryside and picturesque villages made famous by British film and television. Tamatha completed the very challenging course in 9hrs 10mins, 5th lady, 1st in age and 30th overall. Abigail followed closely in 9hrs 50mins, 10th lady and 61st out of 211 finishers. Elsewhere, Alex and Liz Prinsep took part in the Eaton Dorney triathlon. Alex completed the Olympic distance in 2hrs 34mins whilst Liz made her debut in the Sprint finishing in a time of 1hr 56mins.

Brothers Mark and Ian Winkworth travelled to Germany to take part in the 45th Berlin marathon which saw Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge set a new world record in 2.01.39! Ian completed the fast course in a personal best time of 3hrs 27mins and Mark finished in 4hrs 7mins. Meanwhile, Liz Slade and Annie Tomlinson ran the Goodwood 20mile as a training run for the New York marathon. Liz finished in 3hrs 15mins and 2nd in her age category and Annie in 3hrs 18mins.

Hursley 10km is always popular with Romsey Road Runners and this year was no exception. Mark Stileman was first to finish in a time of 39.04mins placing him 7th overall and 2nd in his age category, he was followed by Nigel Hemsted in 46.25mins, 1st in his age category, Paul Whitaker in 47.58mins, Sue Sleath in 49.18mins, 1st in her age category, Alice Lane in 54.37mins and Sue Stileman in 55.35mins.

The following weekend Daniel Lurcock completed the Solent half marathon, part of the Hampshire Road Race League, Dan finished in a fantastic time of 1hr 33.29mins. A slightly hillier option was the Winchester half marathon which saw James Cole first to finish in 1hr 34.11mins, closely followed by Becky Tovey in 1hr 36.49mins. Next home for Romsey was Ben Sharman in 1hr 49.10mins followed by Alice Lane in 1hr 56.38mins, Anna Duignan in 2hr 03.04min, 1st in her age category, and Paul Davies in 2hr 05.38mins.

September has had a spectacular start for Romsey Road Runners so far and it hasn’t all been about running! Sunday 2nd Sept saw the start of the Hampshire road race league, the first race, the Overton 5 mile, is an undulating 5-mile loop. Alex Prinsep was first home for Romsey in 30.04 minutes (PB) closely followed by Mark Stileman in 30.52 mins. Sue Sleath came 2nd in her age category finishing in 35.22 mins followed by Liz Prinsep 42.21 mins, Sue Stileman 41.19 mins and Brenda Topliss in 43.33 mins.

Meanwhile, Steve Bullock was fortunate enough to take part in the Half Ironman 70.3 Isuzu world championship in South Africa. Steve finished in a total time of 4 hours 57 mins with a swim time of 35.54 mins, bike time of 2 hours 35 mins and half marathon run in 1 hour 39 mins.

The popular New forest Marathon took place on Sunday the 9th September offering runners various distances. Amanda Hull came 2nd lady in the 10km finishing in a time of 42.51 mins and Anna Duignan completed the race in 1 hour. Alex Prinsep had a great run in the half finishing 13th overall in a new personal best of 1 hour 22 mins, and the PB’s just kept coming, Remi Francois 1 hour 33 mins (PB), Liz Prinsep 1 hour 48 mins (PB), Keith Morris 1 hour 48 mins (first half marathon, PB), Liz Slade 2 hours 1 min and Susie Parker 2 hours 6 mins (PB). Alice Lane toughed it out in the marathon finishing in 5 hours 11 mins.

Cliff Reeves completed the Bournemouth Sprint distance triathlon in 2 hours 37 mins and even managed to finish the 10km run with a PB!

The grand finale has to go to Becky Tovey making

her debut at the Iron Man triathlon distance in Wales. One of the toughest Iron Man courses set in the seaside town of Tenby the 2.4-mile swim takes place in the choppy seas of Tenby’s north beach. The 112-mile bike ride is set around some brutal country lanes of Pembrokeshire with narrow sections and sharp turns. The course ends back in Tenby with the small matter of 26.2 miles to run. The crowds came into force to cheer on the tiring runners completing 4 laps around the town of Tenby. Becky finished the challenging course to the unforgettable words “BECKY TOVEY YOU ARE NOW AN IRONMAN!!” in the fantastic time of 12 hours 59 mins 19 seconds. Her swim time was 1 hour 23 mins, bike time 7 hours 4 mins and run time 4 hours 18 mins. Becky came 8th in her age category, 47th out of 203 females and 726th out of 2044 overall