The extremely high winds did not deter the athletes of Ashford and District Road Running Club from racing a total of over 400 miles this weekend.
Becky Hodgson provided a tremendous start to the weekend running over 50 miles in the Samphire Challenge Endurance Run.
The club were well represented at the Big Half in London. First finisher for the club was Tracey Calnan with a personal best of 1:41:20, 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 3 months after surgery ran an impressive 2:00:32, 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 morning. Conditions were extremely difficult with fallen trees an added challenge. Andrew Noble led the runners home 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. Carl Ireland continues his recent good form with 2:39:46.
Chris Costiff took first place in the ladies V55 category with a time of 2:38:31. Filiz Salah Running alongside 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 half marathon was Jon Wells in 1:30:00. Keith Hayes, despite the dreadful conditions achieved a personal best time of 1:34:48, 28th overall and 7th 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 half marathon finishing in second place in his age category with a time of 1:45:08. Further strengthening an already impressive run Britain ranking.
The club were well represented at Ashford Park Run on Saturday morning. Jon Pearce, Dan Green and Tomasz Latala all finished in the top ten. Mark Attenborough, Mark Harrison, Ian Grundy and Carl Ireland, warming up for the Lydd race, also took part. Nicola Moffat made her park run debut with a time of 23:47 and was 4th lady finisher. Other club runners included William Whittington, Terry Sellen, Rod Kessack, Lisa Jones Keith Lynn, Elodie Paviot, Lucy Johnstone, Rachel Jenkins, Verity Dunbar, also making her park run debut with 30:51, Emma Jenkins with a personal best time of 31:18, Sarah Taylor, Lesley Moody, Deborah Payne, and Julie Foster showing continued improvement.
By Paul Moses