2010 Reports
Last updated: Sunday, 18 April, 2010Fernandez & Craft Victorious
Event: 28th White Horse Half Marathon
Time: 10:00am
Date: Sunday, 11 April, 2010
Venue: Old Mill Hall, Grove
The 28th White Horse Half Marathon, incorporating the Oxfordshire County Half Marathon Championships and also constituting one of the Oxfordshire Grand Prix Series events, took place on Sunday once again drawing a sizeable crowd to welcome the athletes home at the finish on the green adjacent to Denchworth Road in Grove. Thankfully, the organisers and athletes were blessed with some of the best weather we have witnessed since the beginning of the year. Conditions under foot were dry although it has to be said that the roads themselves were still suffering from the wear and tear of the winter weather.
Photos: Richard Jégou
With the sun on their backs Paul Fernandez (Abingdon Ambers AC) and Stephen Male (Oxford City AC) lead from the outset and by the first mile had already started to break awy from the chasing pack. In a closely fought contest the result was always in doubt right up until the finish. In the end Paul Fernandez prevailed coming from behind to outsprint his rival, Stephen Male, over the final run in to the line recording a time of 1:12:39 to claim the overall victory along with the Oxfordshire County Half Marathon title. Gary Harris (Headington Road Runners) was the next athlete home securing his podium position finishing over a minute and a half adrift of the leading pair.
The ladies were lead home by Jude Craft (Headington Road Runners) who produced a convincing performance to claim victory just shy of six minutes clear of her closest rivals crossing the line in a time of 1:20:55 securing 19th place overall in the race. In so doing Jude smashed the Oxfordshire County Half Marathon record for the L35 category over the course by almost three minutes to claim the overall and L35 ladies’ Oxfordshire County Half Marathon titles. In a close scrap for the remaining podium places Sophie Carter (Kidlington R&AC) held off the challenge of Emma–Kate Lidbury (Unattached) crossing the line in 41st place overall just one place ahead of her rival.
A notable highlight of the day for the spectators was the appearance of the cartoon character Danger Mouse – aka Paul Jégou (White Horse Harriers AC) – who drew plenty of encouragement from the crowds on his way to raising considerable funds for his nominated local charity Helen & Douglas House. Danger Mouse completed the course in a highly respectable time of 1:23:54, despite being hampered by blisters, crossing the line in 30th position overall much to the delight of the spectators at the finish. Danger Mouse is also intending to compete in this year’s Virgin London Marathon. We wish him all the best.
The leading athlete over the line for the home club contingent this year was John Peake who finished in 17th place overall completing the course in a time of 1:20:26. In doing so John smashed his personal best for the half marathon distance. Lucia Singer, the sole home club female representative in the race for the second year running, managed to shave six seconds off of her 2009 performance crossing the line in a time of 1:37:44 to secure 129th position overall.
In finishing in second place overall Stephen Male (Oxford City AC) won the M40 men’s category in the Open and Oxfordshire County events recording a time of 1:12:41 while Brian O’Connor (Woodstock Harriers AC) secured the Oxfordshire County V40 title by finishing 8th position overall in a time of 1:17:39. In the V50 men’s class John Nelson (Alchester RC) secured victory, ahead of last year’s category winner Bryan Vaughan (Woodstock Harriers AC), with a time of 1:20:16 to finish in 15th position overall and claim both the men’s V50 class Open and Oxfordshire County titles. Likewise Phil Kimber (Oxford City AC) repeated the feat of teammate Roy Treadwell last year finishing in 90th position overall to claim both the Open and Oxfordshire County titles. This year there was no winner of the Oxfordshire County M70 category title.
In the ladies’ categories Sophie Carter (Kidlington R&AC) with her second place overall secured the senior ladies’ Open and Oxfordshire County titles in a time of 1:26:54. In the L45 category Lucy Gettins (Compton Harriers RC) saw off her challengers with a comfortable margin of victory of well in excess of seven minutes recording a time of 1:31:26 to claim both the Open and Oxfordshire County titles finishing in 72nd position overall. Breeda Hickman (Unattached) was the comfortable victor in the L55 Open class producing an excellent performance to cross the line over 11 minutes ahead of her closest rival recording a time of 1:36:09. Breeda finished in 112th position overall and smashed the course record for the class by over four minutes in doing so. Susan Harrison (Woodstock Harriers AC) took the L55 class Oxfordshire County Championships title crossing the line comfortably ahead of her closest challengers in a time of 1:47:29 to record 232nd position overall. There was no winner of the Oxfordshire County L65 category title.
The men’s team events were again dominated by the Oxfordshire clubs with the Woodstock Harriers AC team of James Bolton (4th), Brian O’Connor (8th), David Cantwell (13th) and Kevin Game (18th) retaining both the Open and County team titles for the third year in succession. Headington Road Runners again had to settle for the runners up spot despite improving their points tally by 20 points. The Alchester RC men’s team rounded off the top three teams in both the Open and Oxfordshire County events.
Similarly, the ladies’ Open and Oxfordshire Championships team events were also dominated by the Oxfordshire clubs with the Headington Road Runners team of Jude Craft (19th), Charlotte Harris (77th) and Adrienne Hopkins (102nd) in a reversal of their men’s fortunes taking the Open and Oxfordshire County titles comfortably ahead of their nearest challengers Woodstock Harriers AC and Alchester RC who finished in second and third place respectively in both the Open and Oxfordshire County Championship events.
At the awards ceremony held following the race in Old Mill Hall, Grove the prizes were presented to the winners this year by Margaret Strange, a well–known official in the Oxfordshire athletics community and wife of the late Barrie Strange.
The organisers would once again like to thank all of the contributors and volunteers for their efforts this year in helping to make this event another great success, in particular, the officials, the recorders, St. John Ambulance, and all of the marshals and helpers without whom the race could not take place. Thanks also go to our sponsors Nick Ponting Windows, Doors & Conservatories; Fit2Run; Hunter, Marshall & Company Ltd and APT Planning to whom we are indebted for their invaluable support.
For the full results you can click on the link below:
Finally, for pictures of the race taken on the day go to the official race photo site www.philoconnor.com using the following link:
Photos will be available shortly, so watch this space!
Dene Stringfellow