Vale athletes are again competing in this year’s Grand Prix with the top three in the series winning financial prizes and a Club Membership to the overall winner; it offers a competition where all ages and abilities have a chance of winning.
The Bearbrook 10k is part of the series and is held in August. First Vale athlete to cross the line this year was Ben Davies in 6th position in a time of 34:50, just over a minute behind winner Tom Crouch of St Albans. Tom had an emphatic win; he was over 30 seconds ahead of the athlete in 2nd place.
Vale’s Sean Wilson was our next runner home in 10th place (35:34) followed by Adam Bowller 13th (36:06), Declan Hamblin (37:11) who was 3rd V40 to finish; David Maisey and Tim Jones who was end V50 across the line.
Vale was missing its’ main man this year. Anuradha Cooray holds the course record for the event (30:42) and has won on each of his four outings. He is currently training in a high altitude camp in Kenya as an important part of his preparations for the South Asian Games to be held in South Korea in October.
The Vale Men’s team finished in 2nd place on the day, and the Ladies Team was 5th.
Sophie Green was our top lady who finished 5th overall but 2nd in her age category in a time of 39:31. Charlotte Steptoe was 4th senior lady to finish in 42:21, and Sue Barnes was 5th V55 lady.
There are now three Grand Prix races left followed by the paper 20 miles and Marathon. The next event is the Bedford 10k on 7 September followed by the Leighton Buzzard 10 miles and the South Bucks 10k. For the mathematicians in the Club, there are still 10 men and 10 women who could still win the event and a further 10 who could make the podium depending on performances when they play their jokers. It’s all nail biting stuff!
Finally an apology, Vale omitted to thank Apex Sports of Farnham Common in their report on the Waddesden 5k. Apex is a great supporter of local Road Running, and we apologise for omitting them from the sponsorship listing for that race.