Kentish Express Ashford & District
Hobbs walks tall with bronze
Athletics
Race walker Chris Hobbs helped Great Britain clinch a team bronze medal in the World Masters Athletics Championships in Lyon.
The 60-year-old Ashford AC coach finished fourth in the 5,000m track race, fifth in the 10k in his quickest time for 15 years and 11th in the 20k.
Hobbs said: “It was my first time on a rostrum at an international event in 40 years of competition.
“We stood for the singing of the French national anthem but all I wanted to do was get into a cold bath.
“Temperatures for the track race were 38 degrees and I wondered what it would be like on the track with no shade.
“Staying in a cold bath for an hour in the morning wasn’t much fun but gave me a slight advantage.
“I planned to start off at about 95% normal race pace and hope for the best.
“The leaders started fast and I found myself in 14th and a long way behind the French and Spanish leaders.
“It was so hot that officials used a hosepipe to spray cold water over the competitors to stop them overheating.”
Hobbs gradually overtook his Mexican and Russian rivals, growing in confidence.
He said: “They were suffering more than I was.”
A final big effort saw him pass former Commonwealth Games champion Mike Parker of New Zealand, into fourth place, happy to find a place in the shade.
Temperatures dropped but humidity increased for the 10k road race four days later as Britain finished fourth behind the Russians. A week later, a tired Hobbs lined up in the 20k event.
He said: “I wasn’t looking forward to it but the GB team were still hoping for a medal. It was another hot day and the race was dominated by a strong French team.
“I suffered in the heat but was relieved to finish 11th and help win a medal.”
Jon Wells led a host of excellent performances by Ashford and District RRC members in the 10th Folkestone Half-Marathon on Sunday.
Starting on The Leas in Folkestone, the course took the runners along the seafront to Sandgate and on the way back they had to battle a headwind.
Wells was first home for the club, finishing 31st in a new personal best time of 1 hour 33 minutes and 37seconds.
Half-marathon debutant Anthony Brown (37th in 1:35.36) was next best, while Keith Haynes was sixth male vet40 and 49th overall in 1:38.07 and Dexter Hogben (1:39.06) produced a strong finish to claim a new pb.
Other Ashford times were: Rhian Shrimplin (1:55.04), Danyel Giles (1:59.04), Toby Calnan (2:05.46) and, on his half-marathon debut, Andrew Smith (2:26.43)
Rik Holden made the trip to Germany on Sunday to take part in the Berlin Marathon and, in a field of more than 41,000 runners, clocked 3:34.13.
Steve Hickman completed his 114th marathon, the Tolkien marathon run along Samphire Hoe last Wednesday, and finished sixth in 4:31.39.
He was also busy over the weekend, running three races as part of the South East Fell Running Championship on the Isle of Wight.
On Saturday morning, Hickman ran a three-mile race from Ventnor seafront to the highest point on the island, Boniface Down, finishing in 30.02.
He followed that up in the afternoon by clocking 1:32.19 in a seven-mile race, again to Boniface Down and on Sunday, he ran a hilly half-marathon course around Ventnor in 2:25.10s.
Ingvild Firth ran the Windsor Half-Marathon on Sunday in 2:01.56, while in Saturday’s Ashford parkrun, the stand-out performance was from Mark Attenborough (19.54), whose first sub-20 minute 5k put him 15th in 19.54.
Paul Moses finished seventh in 19.02, Pat Butler ninth in 19.23, Rob Carpenter 11th in 19.30 and Jon Wells 12th in 19.41.