Aldershot woman takes gold in Tonbridge just one week after running 2:44:47 at the Pisa Marathon, while Gibbens spearheads Tonbridge domination in men’s race
SOUTH OF THE THAMES 7.5-MILE CHAMPIONSHIP, Tonbridge, Kent
Somerhill School played host to the event that has been on the calendar since 1888 for the men and 2004 for the women and Georgie Bruinvels extended her domination of the Association’s women’s events with another victory.
The Aldershot master had won the South of the Thames team race in November to make it three victories in the shorter five-mile event to go with two second places and here, Bruinvels made it three wins over the tougher seven-and-a-half-mile championship distance.
The victory marked a swift recovery for the 36-year-old as it came just six days after a 2:44:47 marathon in Pisa, a time which compared to her 2:38:22 for third in last year’s Manchester Marathon, a race she had won in 2017 in 2:37:03.
Bruinvels noted how it was good to run on a different but difficult course and said: “It was insanely muddy and slippery, so the biggest aim was to stay standing.
“I would say that I felt good, it is always fun running in mixed races, especially over the cross and when they are longer. I just worked hard when it was good underfoot and tried to stay upright when it wasn’t. It was nice to do a different course too.”
Just as in the shorter November race, Belgrave Harriers easily took the women’s team medals and it was second placed Rachel Brown who got the better of team-mate Emily Robbins to lead them to victory.
Cole Gibbens (Mark Hookway)
The men’s race saw hosts Tonbridge dominate, as their Cole Gibbens, who has two Kent 10-mile victories under his belt this year, led home their six runners into the top nine scoring places.
It was Stuart Brown who took second for Tonbridge as third placed Findlay Dyer helped Belgrave to narrowly take the second placed men’s team medals from Tonbridge’s B team.
Overall: 1 C Gibbens (Ton) 43:21; 2 S Brown (Ton) 43:39; 3 F Dyer (Belg) 43:49; 4 L Mills (Ton) 43:59; 5 M Taylor (Ton) 44:06; 6 A Howard (Ton) 44:49; 7 E Mallett (HW) 44:55; 8 M Grindrod (B&H) 45:06; 9 P Chambers (High, gst) 45:09; 10 J Goodge (Ton) 45:17
M40: 1 M Evans (B&B) 48:46
M45: 1 J Lane (M&M) 50:07
M50: 1 S Winder (E&E) 49:54
M55: 1 T Booth (G&G) 52:06
M60: 1 M Tennyson (G&G) 56:29
M65: 1 S Bean (E&E) 61:40
M75: 1 G Newton (B’mth) 75:31
DEWER SHIELD TEAM (6 to score): 1 Tonbridge 27; 2 Belgrave 95; 3 Tonbridge B 112; 4 Blackheath & Bromley) 241; 5 Tunbridge Wells H 356; 6 Tonbridge C 360
COLMAN CUP TEAM (12 to score): 1 Tonbridge 139; 2 Tunbridge Wells 921; 3 Tunbridge Wells B 1505
Tonbridge AC (Mark Hookway)
Women: 1 G Bruinvels (AFD, W35) 50:33; 2 R Brown (Belg) 51:16; 3 E Robbins (Belg) 51:40; 4 B Murray (THH) 52:52; 5 E Bradley (Belg) 54:34; 6 A Roydon (M&M, U20) 55;58; 7 A Karlsson (Tun W) 56:43; 8 S Glecross (E&E, U20) 57:48; 9 L Mangan (Belg) 58:05; 10 L Goodson (Belg) 58:06
W40: 1 M Armstrong-Plieth (Croy) 62:14
W55: 1 T Oldershaw (Ton) 63:55; 2 O Balme (Dulw R) 64:19
W60: 1 T Taylor (Tun W) 64:28; 2 A Norris (Dulw R) 65:21
W65: 1 P Iannella (S Lon) 71:38
W70: 1 M Statham-Berry (Ling) 72:38
TEAM: 1 Belgrave 40; 2 Dulwich R 126; 3 Tunbridge Wells 145
Saltwell 10km (David Hewitson)
SALTWELL 10km ROAD RACE, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, December 21
Linton Taylor and Lucy Crookes came out on top of an event that claims to be “England’s oldest road race.”
Over a three-lap undulating course, Taylor, the 2020 English National cross-country bronze medallist, had a comfortable men’s race win in 32:44, while Crookes, a former team-mate of Taylor at City of Leeds, added the women’s title from W45 and three-time English Schools winner, Justina Heslop in 37:20.
It was only Crookes second outing of the year following a win in the Heaton Harriers Memorial race in November which was her first outing for more than a year.
Linton Taylor (David Hewitson)
Overall: 1 L Taylor (Leeds) 32:44; 2 D Hughes (B’hill) 33:10; 3 N Marsh (Leeds) 33:24
M40: 1 S Jackson (Sund) 33:33
M50: 1 M Anderson (Clare) 37:18
M60: 1 I Norman (Heat) 40:17
Women: 1 L Crookes (Tyne B) 37:20; 2 J Heslop (Elsw, W45) 38:37
Lucy Crookes (David Hewitson)
FRIDAY NIGHT UNDER THE LIGHTS 5, Battersea Park, London, December 20
Bournemouth’s asylum seeker Abdinasir Elmi had a comfortable victory over Cameron Allan and Andrew Penney in 23:10 as he acted as pace-maker for the entire field.
After travelling to the UK from Somalia, Elmi is now unbeaten in nine races since his first in the Poole 10km at the end of September and his club said that: “Whilst he was in Somalia, Abdinasir spent some time training with some of the world’s top athletes including Mo Farah and Bashir Abdi. He’s run half marathons in 63 minutes and 64 minutes.”
Here, Alland and Penney had no answer as Elmi went away right from the start, establishing a nine-second lead over a big group after just over a kilometre, clocked at 2:35.
The chasing group numbered more than a dozen at this point with Jonathan Collier narrowly ahead of the rest.
The chasers were whittled down to eight, led by Ben Alcock, at two thirds distance, before the final shoot out saw Elmi’s 28 second lead then pegged back to 21 seconds as Allan got the nod over Penney and Sam Gebreselassie in 23;31.
The women’s section saw Naomi Taschimowitz come out on top in 26:57 with a ten second margin over Kate Estlea-Morris, with Ruby Carter a distant third in 27:31.
This was the Shaftesbury over-35 athlete’s first outing since a 2:40:30 marathon debut in Amsterdam in October.
Runners from older age groups generally gave the race a miss but one over-60, Clare Elms did toe the line and was given 30:47, a time just three seconds outside her own British W60 best set at Wolverton in November. This was in the first and slower race of the two on offer.
Overall (Race 2): 1 A Elmi (B’mth) 23:10; 2 C Allan (Hought) 23:31; 3 A Penney (HW) 23:32; 4 S Gebreselassie (Belg) 23:35; 5 B Alcock (Bed C) 23:38; 6 B Bradley (AFD) 23:40; 7 A Fyfe (Belg) 23:43; 8 T Butler (SB) 23:48; 9 J Collier (Kent) 23:53; 10 D Mulryan (TVH) 24:18; 11 A Milne (HW) 24:21; 12 H Brodie (Bed C) 24:23; 13 B Dewer (Herne H) 24:34; 14 J Hancock (Belg) 24:37; 15 A Parkinson (Corby) 24:43; 16 M Harrison (Bed C) 24:45; 17 L Laylee (Herne H) 24:48; 18 B Sporle (S’end) 24:48; 19 R McCawley (AFD) 24:48; 20 C Walker-Powell (Ports) 24:51
M40: 1 Z Hale (B&H) 26:05
M45: 1 S Fell (P’boro &NV) 27:14
M50: 1 J Lawler (High) 27:17
M55: 1 T Booth (G&G) 28:22
Women: 1 N Taschimowitz (SB, W35) 26:57; 2 K Estlea-Morris (AFD) 27:07; 3 R Carter (HW) 27:31; 4 E Howsham (Read) 27:47; 5 G Kersey (Bas) 27:48; 6 E Apsley (THH) 28:03; 7 L Thompson (VP&TH, W35) 28:27; 8 S Forbes-Smith (Clap) 28:52; 9 K Natkiel (Phoe) 28:58; 10 R Piggott (Lon H, W35) 29:20
Race 1
Women: 1 K McArthur (Best A) 30:14; 2 S Delderfield (VoA, W40) 29:49; 3 C Elms (Kent, W60) 30:47
HULAVINGTON SECRET SANTA 10, Wiltshire, December 22
Overall: 1 A Daniel (T Bath) 53:17; 2 J Bellward (Chipp, M40) 54:17; 3 J Cracknell (L Goat, M40) 54:32
Women: 1 S Trahair-Williams 65:06
LOFTUS POULTRY RUN MULTI-TERRAIN, North Yorkshire, December 22
Overall (7.5M MT): 1 M Creasey (Mandale) 38:33; 2 H Allan (High) 38:33; 3 L Gamble-Thompson (N Marske) 39:59
M50: 1 A Ackersley (N York M) 45:53
Women: 1 A Pigford (Hought) 47:14
W50: 1 S Thornton (N Marske) 50:28
TORRINGTON CHRISTMAS CAPER 10 MULTI-TERRAIN, DEVON, December 22
James Baker took his lifetime winning tally over all distances and Park Runs to 1158 with victory in this event described as ‘10 miles of mud, forest trails, rivers and hills.’
The Chichester racing machine had good company as 1989 English Schools 3000m fourth placer and junior international Ceri Rees, who is now over-50 and into off-road long-distance running, took second.
Overall (9M Approx. MT): 1 J Baker (Chich R, M45) 62:07; 2 C Rees (Tav, M50) 63:39
Women: 1 R Ezra-Hamm (Tamar) 69:51
WOLVERHAMPTON TURKEY TROT 5, West Midlands, December 22
Overall: 1 A Davies (Maldwyn) 24:58
Women: 1 B Tabor (Tip) 29:17
LEE VALLEY VELOPARK HALF-MARATHON, Stratford, London, December 20
Overall: 1 J Campbell (Clap) 71:25
Women: 1 E Gordon (Belg) 83:00
WESTON PROM 5, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, December 19
Overall: 1 J Williamson (S’burn) 25:28; 2 S Rodda (Read) 25:36; 3 N Williams (Vale R) 25:43
M50: 1 K Summers (Weston) 27:29
M70: 1 J Malone (Nailsea) 35:55
Women: 1 C Baker (B&W) 28:32; 2 J Heffer (B&W) 29:51
W50: 1 K Hughes (W’bury) 31:14
W60: 1 S Masters (W’bury) 34:52
CHASE THE MOON BATTERSEA PARK, London, December 18
Overall (5km): 1 N Bester (Best A) 15:18; 2 O Garrod (Belg) 15:31
M70: 1 D Pitt (Serp) 20:56
Women: 1 I Padfield 16:43
W40: 1 L Bailey 17:26
Overall (10km): 1 H Hart (Belg) 31:58; 2 T Holliday (VP&TH) 32:01
M55: 1 M Morris (Serp) 36:39
Women: 1 G Reynolds (Herne H, W40) 35:16; 2 E Doull 36:04
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