What better way for PHH to start 2015 than to be sitting proudly at the top of the WSFRL rankings after securing 83 points from the first race of the year.
25 Hedgehoppers made the journey to Goring, on what proved to be a cold overcast day, bang on the number of runners needed to secure maximum ”participant” points.
For a Full Photo set of this event, visit HERE (Photo’s courtesy of Jenny Cass)
I wasn’t able to run the event myself, still recovering from a calf tear, so I took the opportunity to find myself a strategic location upon which to video the race, once as they passed me at about 1 mile in and then again at the top of the hill as they passed me at about 4 1/4 miles (The video is on right hand side of this very page).
It’s interesting being a spectator as you can get to see the various running styles of each runner as well as get an idea of just how far ahead the front runners are towards the end of the run (us mere mortals only get to see them at the start line).
A Fell runner from Scotland was the first to reach my location at the 4 1/4 mile mark, making the ascent up the hill below me look like childs play, gracefully sprinting all the way and down out of sight toward the finish, completing the 5 mile course with 500 foot of climb in an insanely fast 28:49 there was then quite a large gap of some 2 1/2 minutes between him and the next racer, who was in turn hotly persued by our very own Stewart Gregory coming home in 31:32, securing a maximum 10 points in the process.
There was then another big gap after Stewart went whizzing past me and a few racers later I saw the imposing figure of John Russell come bounding up the hill coming home in 11th place and securing maximum points along with Stewart in a time of 35:16.
There was a further wait of another 3 minutes before I next clamped eyes on another Hedgehopper vest, this then came in the guise of Darren Elliot, who came home in a time of 38:36 and secured us 9 points in the process.
A minutes later and Rob Clarke was the next Hedgehopper to run by, looking strong and an impressive performance from Rob coming home in 62nd and a time of 39:34
Not too far behind Rob and another impressive performance being the first lady PHH home and 6th Female overall was Catherine Page, who has impressed of late with some Parkrun PB’s , she ran past me looking fresh and came home in 78th place overall in a time of 40:22, securing another 10 points for us.
Colin was next through with his unique endurance runners gait, it’s good to see Colin getting back in the mix after having been out for most of 2014 with an injury, he came home in 101st place in a time of 41:35.
a fair gap between Colin and the next PHH who was Judith Carder, 15th Female and 2nd PHH lady, coming back in 44:00 exactly and scoring us another Maximum 10 points.
Our next point scorer, bringing us home 9 points was Gill Cammack in a time of 45:54.
Overall there were some impressive performances by the PHH contingent and if the provisional results stand then we are in pole position going into the next event on the 25th
Can we maintain No 1 ?
Photographs courtesy of Jenny Cass
PHH provisionally scored 83 points in today’s Worthing Lido 4 mile WSFRL event, with a huge PHH contingent of 41 runners taking part.
I am still out injured so couldn’t take part, Roy Taylor has kindly sent us in a full race report which you can read HERE
photo’s courtesy of Ann Eke
Once again the Hedgehoppers turned out in force to grab another 80 points provisionally to keep us there or thereabouts hovering close to the top of the WSFRL event. No official review of this race, once again I had to sit this one out due to my continued injury problems, the race was by all accounts a very muddy affair, as is born out by the photo’s that I found below..pictures courtesy of Horsham Joggers 🙂
Another good turn out for the Hedgehoppers saw 37 runners turn up for the Easter Monday Lewes 10K.
There seems to be an injury plague effecting the mighty Hedgehoppers this year with several regular names out, myself included (still) so despite the good turnout we managed only 77 points (provisionally) which will no doubt move us a few places down the league standings.
BROOKS 10K Race report
This weekend saw the Brighton Brooks 10Km.
The rain held off and over 3,000 runners turned out for 31st running of this event.
This year the race was run along the seafront road leading to very fast times, especially among the PHH fraternity, with several PB’s being achieved among our ranks.
Well done to everyone that took part, there really were some quite outstanding performances from the Hedgehoppers.
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