20 Harriers braved the rain in the Corby 5 at the beautiful East Carlton park on Wednesday evening. It’s a tough course with steep ups and downs. The marshals and organisers deserve a mention for standing around on a night far better suited for running.
There was success for the male vets again, securing first place by over 6 minutes for the four-man team of Matt Fowler, Phil West, Steve Thompson and Rafal Buzuk. The senior men were unlucky to finish 3rd with the top five breaking the half hour (sub 6-minute miles!). A great night for a strong women’s team was rewarded with 2nd Vet team and 3rd in the senior race.
Individual winners on the night were Kerry Munn and Phil West. Kerry won the F50 class in 37:15 and Phil was first M45 in 29:38. Matt, looking at a clean sweep as first Harrier for the series, Finished in 29:18 and 2nd M40. William Howells was hot on the heels of the oldies to finish 3rd Harrier (29:47 and 14th MS), closely followed by Steve Thompson (29:53) who finished 4th in the competitive M50 category. Luke Myers smashed his PB by a whole second to finish in 29:58 (17th MS). Rafal persevered up the dreaded last hill to achieve 31:23 and 17th M40. Achieving top ten in the 50s again was Ady King (31:53 and 7th M50). Bill Robinson (35:06) continued his successful debut season to finish 5th M55. First female Harrier home was Natasha Martin (35:24 and 5th FS). Well done Natasha! Simon Rowe’s first EMGP outing this season eclipsed his previous year’s East Carlton time by over a minute (35:51 and 8th M55). Also putting in a shift up the hill was Sean Gallagher (36:04 and 43rd MS). Elaine Fairbrother continues to threaten the F45 group, coming 4th in 36:42. Welcome to Martin Young (37:38 and 19th M45) and Chrissi Stewart (38:13 and 7th F35) on your first outings this year. The course and conditions did not phase Ant Poncia (39:22 and 29th M40), Babs Poncia (40:56 and 3rd F50), Jackie King (44:32 and 11th F55). Babs amazingly managed to improve on the gentler Banbury course of last week! It was brilliant to see two F35s complete their first ever EMGP: Rebecca Johnson-Sutcliffe (11th in 45:09) and Nicola McCann (13th in 55:02). And, what a night to do it on!
The cake situation is critical, with nothing to tempt the palate in the first half of the series. It’s a good job we have Weedon on Tuesday 18th June; the cake capital of the EMGP. We’ll need something refuel after the most gruelling course of the season.
See you next week!
Team KTH happy that the rain drenched race had finished!