Twenty-three runners and one VI guide lined up for the annual track mile on Wednesday night. Luckily, the wind had died down in the course of the day, and the temperature was mild for the time of year, so conditions were right for some good times.
After John Falvey blew the whistle, athletes settled quickly into what was to be pretty much the final running order, but there were some impressive finishing bursts from Dave Cobb, Sean Hanrahan, Sarah Harris and Dorothy Johnstone.
Dave (who is 20th on the M45 rankings this year with his 5:00.12 PB) was a clear winner, though there was a good battle between Adam Goodman, Armando Lamagna and Mark Delahunty for the next three places. There was also a good tussle between Sean, Andy Price and first female Sarah Gerrie. Andy was pleased to beat his PB… set as a 16 year old, apparently!
This must have been the first time many people had run this distance, and Sean probably spoke for several when he admitted he hadn’t known how to pace it.
Of course, for many people, the mile race was just the appetizer for the main event of the evening: the London Marathon Draw. Janice did the customary honours of pulling the names from the “hat”. The first place drawn goes to a club member who was unlucky in the previous year’s draw, and this year’s winner was Steve Curd. All other names are eligible for the second place, which went to Bruce Li. Helen Leadbetter was named as the reserve, should Steve or Bruce be unable to take up their places.
Road Running Manager Malcolm Woolsey had organised an evening at the Duke of Kent afterwards, to celebrate marathons and other running achievements through the year to date, and many impressive medals were on show.
Thanks to Cath Gunnewicht for this photo
Thanks to John Falvey for starting and recording, to timekeepers Fiona Kennedy and Shona Cowper, to VI guide Phil York, and to Malcolm Woolsey for organising the draw and the evening at the Duke of Kent.
Results:
Dave Cobb (M45) 5:09.6, Adam Goodman 5:21.1, Armando Lamagna (M40) 5:23.5, Mark Delahunty (M45) 5:25.4, Sean Hanrahan 5:36.5, Andy Price (M40) 5:39.6, Sarah Gerrie (W35) 5:44.1, Sarah Harris (W40) 5:58.1, Martin Daoud (M55) 6:00.9, Wilton Grey (M60) 6:18.5, Andy Leung (M45) 6:19.8, Kevin Falvey (M35) 6:21.1, Michael Charles (M45) 6:23.7, Kylie Goodman 6:58.5, Bill Lonsdale (M65) 7:04.1, George Davidson (M50) 7:16.3, Gurmeet Lally (W55) 7:28.5, Sarah Holroyd (W55) 7:56.9, Tracey Cliff (W45) 8:05.2, Janice Newman (W70) 9:07.2, Dorothy Johnstone (W70) 9:08.8, Susannah Cliff 10:23.3