Romsey Road Runners have had a busy summer far and wide. At the end of August Ken West completed the Quebec half marathon in a time of 1hr 58mins while Sue Stileman achieved a personal best by 13 minutes in the Portishead half marathon with a time of 2hrs 2mins. The first weekend in September saw four of our runners brave the elements and complete the race called “The Beast”, a very challenging 12 mile off road route centered around Corfe castle in Dorset with beautiful coastal views, aptly re-named each year to reflect the features of the course; This year’s course entitled “24 Again”. Mark Stileman was first home for Romsey in 1hr 35mins; Sue Sleath was next in 1hr 52mins closely followed by Jim Wright in 1hr 53mins. Sue Stileman toughed it out with an injury finishing in 2hrs 44mins.
Elsewhere, our new member Abby Cooke made her debut for Romsey in one of the Hampshire road league races The Overton 5mile finishing in 37mins 7secs. Whilst it was a big day on Sunday 10th September with the New Forest Marathon team offering an array of distances to challenge competing runners. With a mix of road & trail Sue Sleath, Julie Shanker and Alice Lane completed the marathon distance finishing in some great times Sue in 3hrs 44mins placing her 2nd in her age category, Julie in 4hrs 47mins, and Alice in 4hrs 49mins. In the popular half marathon a stellar performance from James Battle saw him finish in 1hr 20mins earning him a personal best and a place of 11th overall out of 1905 finishers! Keith Morris also accomplishhed a PB completing the half marathon in 1hr 52mins. Finally, Alex Prinsep completed the 10km distance finishing in 41mins 43secs and 16th overall out of 1291 finishers. Other impressive runs were recorded by Richard Cross achieving 51mins 54secs, Elizabeth Prinsep in 54mins 04secs, Anna Duignan 1hr 04mins and Jennifer Willis in 1hr 11mins.
Becky Tovey had been fortunate enough to gain a place in the Great North Run through the ballot entry, and although the journey was long and the sheer volume of runners made the race slightly challenging, the atmosphere was electric. Becky had an enjoyable solid run, realising an ambition, and finishing in 1hr 38mins. Other races last weekend included the friendly Stockbridge 10km which Jo Mckenzie completed in 50mins 31secs, positioning her a commendable 7th lady overall. Also back in Dorset was another of the highly entertaining white star events called “the Bad Cow weekend” offering runners various distances. Peter & Maria Hartley-Oinn completed the half marathon in 2hrs 5mins and 2hrs 24mins respectively.
