Dom on song Personal best for James as he leads county team
CHELTENHAM Harrier Dom James continued his excellent recent form with a big personal best as he led the Gloucestershire team home at the South West Inter-counties 10k championship held within the Gloucester 10k road race.
Starting off in the second pack, thedave Newport coached athlete ran even splits as he picked off a couple of runners in thesecond half of the race to move up into seventh place in an impressive time of 31:38 as Bristol’s Peter Le Grice led home a high quality field in 29:43.
On a course that waspredominantly flat with a few testing sections, Alex Lee ran well for 13th position, and third Gloucestershire athlete behind Cirencester’s Dave Bell, as he was just 11 seconds outside his PB with 31:55.
In 16th Marcus England was frustratingly two seconds outside his road PB with 32:36 before John Parker’s 32:49 ensured he was the first veteran home in a time of 32:49 that puts him 11th on the UK V45 rankings for the year.
Rich Dare made a return to race action with 33:25, Dave Aubrey recorded 33:39 to finish seven seconds outside his PB, Gareth Edwards posted 36:52 and Dave Rantell crossed the line in 37:47.
Fee Maycock and Amber Watson were part of the Gloucestershire ladies team and placed 22nd and 23rd ladies respectively as Maycock was the first LV50 runner home in 39:13 and Watson lowered her PB to 39:39.
Lucy Goode ran well in her first 10k race for a pleasing 46:31.
Earlier Ed Grazier won a competitive wheelchair race by 14 seconds in 31:26 with fellow wheelchair athlete Les Hampton smashing his personal best with 37:10.
Alex Bampton warmed up for the cross country season with a win at the Hyde Park Last Friday of the Month 5k in a time of 15:19.
Jon Barnes made his ultra-distance debut as he finished second in the Stort 30 mile race along the river banks of the River Stort in a time of 3:09:01.
Harriers claimed six parkrun first places at a variety of locations.
Charlie Jones (17:24) and Scott Jones (18:35) filled the top two places in Hereford whilst Mark James (17:28) headed the field at the Kingsway event in Gloucester.
James Bingham (17:50) was first home in Corby and Russell Forsbrook (18:26) and Kaitlyn Sheppard (21:35) were first man and lady in Tewkesbury.
Naomi Eaton (19:41) was the first lady and third overall at Stonehouse whilst Andrew Kaighin (18:31) was fourth at the Gloucester City event.
Simon Critchley (18:07), Matt Lambourne (18:21) and Oliver Doherty (18:24) all set course PBS in Cheltenham as they finished second, third and fourth before Dan Schofield (18:56) placed sixth.