There was a festival flavour for the City of Salisbury Athletics and Running Club’s (CoSARC) road runners this weekend.
Several of the club’s athletes headed to Bowood House near Calne for the inaugural RunFestRun event launched by radio presenter Chris Evans.
Over the weekend teams were heading by famous sporting names, including Steve Cram, Paula Radcliffe and Colin Jackson, with long-distance runner Jo Pavey one of several motivational speakers.
The club had plenty of reason to celebrate, as Jaymee Domoney took the 10k prize in 35:53. His dad, Gary, was the club’s next runner home in 52:21 and 81st place. Stuart Robertson also completed the course, in 1:03:33, Cat Rynne in 1:11:22, and Carol and Jackie Chlebowski in 1:21:00.
Stuart was out again on the Sunday, completing the festival’s half marathon in 1:55:46, with Joe Cunningham following him home in 1:57:12.
And those still able to party after the races were entertained by headline acts Razorlight, The Coral and Olly Murs, among others. “Would definitely recommend the festival to anyone of any age who is into running and live music,” said Gary.
Those runners who headed to Romsey for the 5 Mile Beer Race were rewarded with a pint after their exertions – and some top prizes. Stuart Holloway was the race winner in 27:01, Ruth Thom was 2nd woman home in 32:33, while dad Melvyn made it a family affair in 41:54; Michael Brewster also ran, finishing 12th overall in 32:17.
Another contingent of CoSARC athletes headed south for Poole Festival of Running. On the Saturday, the club’s young stars dominated the Minithon, with Art Mitchell (8-9 yrs), Issac Routledge (10-11 yrs) and Guy Mitchell (12-14 yrs) all winning their age categories. Neve Cousins was 4th girl in her category (10-11 yrs) and Evie Routledge 6th in hers (12-14 yrs), and young Florence Routledge was 16th in the 6-7-year-old event.
On the Sunday, Lee Syrett – still fresh after his recent marathon PB – took 22nd place in the Poole Festival 10k in 37:12. Esther Horwood, who only joined the club in January, was next home in 54:19, knocking an impressive 4 minutes off her PB. Marilyn Hunt finished in 1:07:39.
In the half marathon, Sam Hibdige took 4th place in the women’s race in 1:37, with John Turley coming home in 1:49, 4th in his age category.
Meanwhile, 49 of CoSARC’s finest junior track stars headed to Swindon on a wet and windy Sunday for the second match of the season in the Wessex Young Athletes League. There were stand-out performances from Josh Dyer (u17), who completed a 100m and 200m double win; Alicia Hy-Finnis (u15), who won the 1500m; Will Barnard (u13) and Lucy Wilkinson (u17) both won their javelin events; there were 1st place performances from Hannah Norton (u13) and Bea Wood (u17) in the 800m; while Kaitlin Miller won the u13s discus.
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