THE stormy overnight weather relented in time, for the start of the Chelmsford 10K on Sunday afternoon. The very fast course allowed 6 of Thurrock’s 11 athletes to produce personal bests, the other 5 ran close to their best.
Stars of the whole proceedings was the women’s team. Individually Toni Noble clinched her Grand Prix medals, silver in the V35 age group and bronze overall. These medals are given for the aggregate performance over the 6 road race championships held in the calendar year and are hotly contested by the road running fraternity.
Toni led in the women’s team by finishing 8th place in 41m14s. Silvia Bognarova-Meredith had her best race for the Club by finishing 14th in 43m12s and Victoria Peacock was 24th with a time of 44m57s (also a personal best). All 3 were jubilant at winning the women’s team gold medal.
This week these three supermums will be joined by three more in the shape of Sarah Driver, Sam Tuck and Jodie Farrell when they tackle the Essex Veteran’s Championships at Claybury. They should be able to add to their medal haul at this event.
The men’s section returned many excellent performances. Steve Prosser, back on the road for the first time in many months, finished 17th pleased to break the 35 minute barrier with a time of 34m36s. David Johnson put his poor cross country form behind him by finishing 42nd with a pb of 36m44s. A rewarding performance for this steadily
improving athlete.
Two first class performances came next, Antony Tobin shaved 30 seconds from his pb finishing 59th in 38m34s. Just 1 place behind him was Justin Renda, also 30 seconds up on his pb with 38m36s. Veterans Jason Syrett and Rob Russell made the first hundred with times of 40m02s and 40m25s. 55 year old Bernie Johnson had an excellent ‘special pb’ of 42m48s. He returned to the sport about 3 years ago after many years absence and this is by far his best effort since his return.
Bernie will be part of the mens 50+ team which also go into the Veterans Championships with hopes of medals. Much will depend on Mick Bumstead’s recovery from a hamstring strain suffered during Sunday’s race.
In the Essex Grand Prix the Club had another medal winner in the shape of Pat Dobbs who took the bronze medal in the V70 age group. Pat’s season has been drastically curtailed by injury but his performances in the 3 races he was fit for were good enough to take 3rd place.
