Kentish Express Ashford & District
Age not a problem as Margaret sets new best time
A successful start was made this weekend when Margaret Connolly made an essential trip to London for medical reasons.
It meant she was able to run in the London Park 5K race where her weekly speed sessions really paid dividends. Despite the challenging course which consisted of several right twists and turns as well as steep climbs, Connolly took almost a minute off her personal best time to finish in 23min 51secs.
She is proving that age isn’t a problem when it comes to improvement in distance running.
Closer to home in the Black Knight Challenge Half Marathon Challenge organised by Saxons, Vikings and Normans at Betteshanger, both Gary Frake and Illyan Tytel repeated last week’s gruelling challenge by once again running three halfmarathons in three days. On this occasion, Frake finished first in all three half-marathons which was a better return than last week when he won two out of three. Tytel ran well too as both athletes showed superb fitness and endurance which should translate into some good performances over the marathon distance.
South Kent Harriers were out in force when six runners took part in the New Romney 10K road race.
The race was held in good conditions apart from the wind which was a problem for runners who were sent off in later waves and had to contend with 30mph wind.
Fastest for the Harriers was Paul Hannay who was pleased to record a personal best of 49.29. This was Hannay’s first sub-50 minutes 10k.
Suffering in the wind was Jane Wren who ran 51.15 which was still a good run despite her feeling slightly disappointed.
Lance Boseley ran well to achieve a 52.25 clocking as his consistent training is beginning to pay off.
Showing excellent team spirit, Melanie Satchwell and Royd Powell decided to stay with Sarah Harvey who wanted to run the distance in under an hour to help her achieve
this goal. Sadly it wasn’t to be on this occasion and she was closed on 1:01.09 - maybe next time?
Marie Watson was the fastest South Kent Harrier in a time of 46.57 while there were good runs for Nick Hilditch (1:05.44), Barbara Hunt (1:15.09) and Rebecca Edwards (1:18.55).