THURROCK Veteran’s excelled at Saturday’s Essex Road Relay
Championship at Chelmsford’s Melbourne Park.
The Ladies V35 team took silver medals only beaten by the more
experienced Colchester squad. The team consisted of Toni Noble, Sam
Tuck and Jodie Farrell. Sam Tuck gave the team a good start with
in-form run of 26.47. Toni Noble lifted the team to the lead with 24.36
stint. She is back to her best after an injury plagued winter. Jodie
Farrell’s 25.30 effort, although good, couldn’t hold off Colchester’s
very experienced Lyn Higgs. In her own FV45 age group she would have
been second fastest.
The Men’s V50 team of Jon Metcalf, Mick Bumstead and Bernie Johnson
took bronze medals. Their times are being reviewed at the time of
writing but there was no doubt of the medal status after Jon Metcalf
gave them an excellent start putting them straight into silver medal
contention. Mick Bumstead held on to this with a strong run against
runners up to 12 years younger than himself.
Bernie Johnson ran strongly but could not hold off Colchester’s Dave
Wright. Nevertheless, after over 30 years in the sport, he was
delighted to win his first County medal of any description.
The V40 team finished in the middle of the field of 13. Don Lawless’
21.52 was the Club’s fastest of the day. Gary Cahill (25.26) and Nigel
Instance 23.46 ran well to bring the team home to a respectable 6th
place.
The Brentwood Half-Marathon saw the usual huge field of 2000 toe the
line and the return to Essex of David Johnson. He acquitted himself
well in 14th place with a time of 79 minutes an improvement of almost a
minute. Most pleased with his effort was Jason Syrett who returned a pb effort 86.46 in 66th place.
Another big pb was returned by Victoria Peacock. She was in the top 20
in the women’s race with a time of 98.44. John Russell had an
indication that his training is going well with a 54th and a time of
85.45. Hopefully, Chadwell based Marc Tobin will join his brother
Anthony as a club member in the near future. On Saturday he was 85th in 88.56.
