Bishop's Stortford Running Club round-up: Henry Ward and Andrea Thorpe claim championship maximums in The Bishop's Stortford High School's Mitre 10k
Hot weather greeted the 25 Bishop's Stortford Running Club members who took part in Sunday's Mitre 10k organised by The Bishop's Stortford High School.
Starting and finishing at the school's Jobbers Wood sports complex off Great Hadham Road, it took the field on an undulating course towards Much Hadham and back.
It is a championship race for BSRC where members score points for their position relative to other members.
Claiming top points in the men’s championship was Henry Ward, who finished sixth of over 100 finishers in a time of 37:57. He was first in the male 20-29 category.
The full 50 points also went to Andrea Thorpe, who was the leading lady in green and gold and the eighth woman overall, in 51:16.
The club's septuagenarians ran well to fill the first three positions in the M70-79 category. Ian McClymont claimed victory in 59:09, closely followed by George Thomas in 59:21 with Peter Wenzel completing the trio in 1:01:07.
There was also a category win for club newcomer Rebecca Dolan, who joined team green and gold at the start of this season. She finished in 55:39 to claim first F30-39.
Rob Thorpe powered home in 44:00, Kevin Gillespie in 51:07 and Andy Pooley in 55:27. Mark Booker and Mike Grant both crossed the line in 56:57, whilst Frances Iwaschkin finished in 1:04:38.
In the 5k race, Catherine Gage, a recent graduate of the club's '10 weeks to 10k' course, smashed her 5k personal best by over three minutes as she finished in 44:21.
TBSHS student and BSRC junior member Luke Dunham won the 5k in 16:56, well over three minutes ahead of the runner-up.
Luke's win came just two days after competing in the English Schools Track and Field Championships in Manchester, where he ran 4:18 in the 1500m.
Sixteen members of BSRC took part last Wednesday in the final summer race for the Mid-week League in Welwyn Garden City. They included team captain Gary Jones, who ran all five league races as well being the club rep for the series.
The mob match is a friendly race involving the clubs from all three divisions. Times and positions are recorded but do not count towards club points.
Four BSRC members were awarded prizes for their achievements in the four scoring races. Archie Gilbey and Janet Howes were able to collect their awards in person; Archie won the male under-20 category and Janet the female 65+ category. Joanna Jurd was declared winner of F35-44 while Ben Pickford was awarded third place in the M40-49 category.
