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.
