Heat is on and it's time for cool heads
A SUDDEN and dramatic rise in temperature during the course of the latest race in the Leicestershire Road Running League saw Fleckney and Kibworth RC respond to the challenge in forthright fashion to put their 2009 targets right back on track.
The latest event was The Prestwold 10K, run over a fast, flat circuit featuring a combination of former runways in the old RAF site and local roads.
As the race started all seemed well set for record times, with still conditions and ample cloud cover. Abruptly, however, around ten minutes into the race, the sun burst throught and within a short space of time the 700-strong field were having to cope with sweltering and humid conditions.
Two members of the women’s team were badly affected by the turn in the weather and the club were also reeling from the news that leading runner Kate Dormer has been sidelined by injury for the rest of the year.
There were, nevertheless, very solid performances across the board as the club look to consolidate what has been a very successful campaign so far in division one.
Women’s results were: Rachael Campbell 214th in 43:18; Lorna Waters 256th 44:42, Clare Beach 279th 45:35, Bernadette Owen 354th 48:31, Aileen Collins 368th 49:18, Jody Ward 400th 50:19,Sarah Cockerill 530th 57:03, Sarah Cripps 532nd 57:13, Anna Willsdon 571st 59:18
For the men, Noel Houlihan took on the mantle of lead runner with three of the club’s aces in the pack Karl Beardall, Adam Taylor and Steve Hollingsworth all unavailable through a combination of injury and holidays. Houlihan can reflect with much satisfaction on a fine 52nd place in a high quality field, which apart from featuring the cream of the county’s endurance runners saw one of the country’s leading road running clubs, Tipton Harriers, send over a strong squad from the West Midlands. Houlihan's 36:59 was a personal best for the distance. Behind came some outstanding packing with the first six men all inside the top 100 of the stellar field. The vital seventh and ninth scoring places went to debutant Alex Prettyman, who at 18 was one of the top junior men in 132rd place, and Dave Wheeler dipped under 42 minutes in his fifth attempt this campaign at the 10K distance.
Hero of the day, however, was unquestionably Steve Bishop, who appeared to be joining the long list of walking wounded with a freak injury last Tuesday. Having confirmed 48 hours earlier that he was out of contention, he made a last-minute decision to take part arriving at the race venue just as the field was assembling and picked his way through for 98th place.
Full results for Fleckney and Kibworth men: Noel Houlihan 52nd 36:59, Sergio Gisbert 73rd 38:04, Duncan Campbell 78th 38:16, Chris Wiley 87th 38:28, Steve Bishop 98th 38:53, Stacey Voss 99th 38:54, Alex Prettyman 132nd 40:18, Dave Wheeler 168th 41:41, Terry Challoner 186th 42:23, Mike Turner 215th 43:19, Tom Ingram 232nd 43:48, John Redfearn 295th 46:27, Anthony Grimmett 306th 46:45; Lee Pickering 310th 46:54, 606th 1:02:55.
There were also some fine results for the club earlier in the week, at The Hinckley One Mile and 5K races. In the mile race, Jocelyn Parkes Bowen ws ninth in the girls’ section and Jenny Ward right behind her in tenth spot, although many of the girls ahead were several years older.
In the 5K event, fell running specialist Adam Taylor found the conditions a touch alien but neverthless posted a competitive 18:16 for 32nd place. The star turn, however, was a debut on the road at 5K and a boys under-15 club record to boot for Chris Parkes Bowen, whose 20:13 for 64th place give him the satisfaction of a one second advantage over coach Dave Wheeler.
Another debutant – and in fact undertaking her first race of any description – was Jane Petcher, who stopped the clock at 28:43 in 227th place. There were 321 finishers.
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Weather for Harborough
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 13 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North east
