Meridian 10k provides Cambridge winner

Meridian 10k
A glorious, if chilly morning greeted the runners at greenwich Park in this years Greenwich Meridian 10km.

Jermain Mayes of Kent A.C. was the first runner to cross the Meridian line, but was soon overtaken by Dean lacy who stretched out a sizaeble lead on the first lap.

Dean continued his recent good form to win the race from Mays by 46 seconds in a time of 31:50.

Wojciech Gajny of Notts A.C. was the third man home in 32:51.

The first woman to finish was Sutcliffe Park regular Elaine Murty in a time of 36:49. Claire Elms of Dulwich had to settle for seconds place this year in 37:17 while Jenny Lundgren of Thameside runners was third in 38:08.

Of the other Cambridge Harriers that competed, Mark Penny ran well to finish 11th in 35:56.

Other Cambridge Harriers to finish were:
Monica Whitefield 47:27
Sandra Gaster 48:32
Roger Portis 48:42
Gerti Hofmann 01:02:39
Carolyn Jack 01:02:56
Anna Rowland 01:03:06
Elizabeth Horsley 01:07:32

Full results from the race are available here. Photos are available here.

Once again a big thank you must go to all those who turned out to marshall the course and provide help and especially to Paul Lewis and Les Wright for their organisation for another year.

U13/u15 Open meeting and pentathlon, Lea Valley
Tobi Adeniyi grabbed gold in a thrilling finish to the pentathlon at Lea Valley this weekend.
 
In a close fought pentathlon Tobi started well with a win in the shot 8.25, following a second place in the 60 hurdles 10.2,third in the high jump 1.49,second in the long jump 4.96

This left Tobi in second place with the 800m to go. He had to beat the current leader by about 70m to take the gold. The first lap was tentative with Tobi leading after 100m, he then saw the field fading behind him so he went for the victory.

In a sprint finish he raced to a considerable win. It was not until the medal ceremony that it transpired that Tobi had snatched the gold with a points tally of 1975, just 15 points ahead of the second placed athlete.
 
The results for the open meeting
u15 boys
Reece McLawrence 60m 8.1 / 60h 10.8
Jack Parris 60m 8.8/ 200m 27.8
Stephen Ball 800m 2 16.5(pb). Stephen gained second after also finishing runner up in the Mayor's XC at Sparrows Lane on Wednesday.
 
u15 girls
Ruth Barker 60h 12.6/ 60m 9.3/ 200m 31.0
Laura Deacon 60h 12.5/ 60m 9.4/200m 32.2

London Schools Cross Country
A number of younger club members represented their Borough at the London Schools Cross county championship for year 7 & 8’s in the week. Held locally in Avery Hill Park and organised by Mick Bond the event saw some good performances by club members.

Natasha Sinha Coe won the year 8 girls race and was abely backed up by Elle Evans in 7thth, Omolade Taiwo in 9th and Fiona Basham in 10th. Heather butcher meanwhile took a commendable 8th place in the year 7 girl’s race

World Masters Indoor Championships
Barry Ferguson made the trip to kamloops, Canada this week to compete in the 60m hurdles and 200m in the World Indoor Masters event.

Barry describes the event in his own words, “I messed up my race and ended up 5th. I really wanted heat and finals but it was not to be. I used starting blocks for the first time in ages and moved so fast that I stumbled slightly in the first few strides. However,instead of a controlled run to the first, I really blasted it and got too
close, I had to slow down. After that, there was no time to catch up.

Still, last night the winner and his wife bought me an expensive dinner
which I thoroughly enjoyed and we are now looking forward to meeting in
Hungary this summer.”

Running and Life podcast
Episode 4 of club member, Kevin White's podcast on the world of running, Running and Life is now available for free from itunes or by going to the website at www.runningandlife.co.uk.