Kentish Express Ashford & District
Hodgson more than meets the challenge
Ashford & District RRC
The high winds did not deter the athletes of Ashford & District RRC from racing a total of more than 400 miles at the weekend.
Becky Hodgson provided a tremendous start, completing more than 50 miles in the Samphire Challenge Endurance Run.
First finisher for the club at the Big Half in London was Tracey Calnan with a personal best of 1hr 41min 20sec, followed by Don Dewar with a time of 1:49.05. Ingvild Drake finished in 1:51.12, Shane Snowwolf Harris ran a time of 1:52.29, Aurelie Claudel Morris – only three months after surgery – ran an impressive 2:00.32, while Shelly Gwilt Blake completed the course in 2:44.30.
The Lydd 20 mile and half-marathon races felt the full force of the high winds on Sunday, where fallen trees were an added challenge. Andrew Noble led the runners home over 20 miles finishing 34th in 2:19.47, Paul Ridley 46th (2:22.12) and Scott Lynch 49th (2:22.49), all reaping the benefit from an intense marathon training programme. Rob Barton, getting stronger with every run, finished in 2:35.53, while Carl Ireland finished in 2:39.46.
Chris Costiff took first place in the ladies’ V55 category in 2:38.31. Filiz Salah and Sophie Edmonds ran 3:26.43 and 3:26.45 respectively. Sarah Taylor completed the course in 3:50.27.
First finisher for the club in the halfmarathon was Jon Wells in 1:30.00. Keith Hayes, despite the dreadful conditions, achieved a PB time of 1:34.48, 28th overall and seventh in the V40 competition. Laura Segust also ran a strong race to finish with a time of 1:58.21.
Mike Davis ran the Liverpool HalfMarathon, finishing in second place in his age category with a time of 1:45.08 and further strengthening an already impressive runbritain ranking.
Ashford & District RRC members at Ashford parkun: Jon
Pearce, Dan Green, Tomasz Latala (all top 10 finishers), Mark Attenborough, Mark Harrison, Ian Grundy, Carl Ireland, Nicola Moffat (23.47 on debut),William Whittington, Terry Sellen, Rod Kessack, Lisa Jones Keith Lynn, Elodie Paviot, Lucy Johnstone, Rachel Jenkins, Verity Dunbar (30.51 on debut), Emma Jenkins (31.18 PB), Sarah Taylor, Lesley Moody, Deborah Payne, and Julie Foster.