Elite athlete Stephen Harrison romped to a dominant victory in Round 4 of this year’s cross-country championship in Watford on Sunday.
In cool but dry conditions, Harrison, a member of Hitchin-based triathlon club Team Trisports, recorded a time of 32:07 over the challenging 5 mile course, held in Cassiobury Park, to secure overall victory by nearly an entire minute from his nearest rival.
Also putting in an impressive performance; Ironman specialist and veteran athlete Gavin May showed no signs of fatigue from his heavy training load to finish 2nd for the club on the day and 3rd in the M40 age-group with a time of 34:35; which secured an excellent finishing position of 11th overall.
And rounding out the club’s top three; Steffan Ford recorded a time of 35:20 and 17th place overall out of the 265 athletes that took part. This once again highlighted the raw pace that Ford has demonstrated throughout the past year.
Paula Adams once again put in a great turn of speed to be the first female athlete home for the club. Her time of 38:52 was only just outside the club’s top ten overall and meant that plenty of male athletes got “chicked” on the day.
Gemma Sargent was the second female athlete home for the club and enjoyed a close battle with team mate Kate Turner which meant the pair finished in 40:07 and 40:36 respectively. Turner’s performance showed great commitment as she managed to fit her 3rd place finish around three children, Ironman training and moving house!
This means that the club head into the final round at Royston leading the overall Mens A, Womens A, Mens B and Womens B Team competitions and holding second place in the Mens and Womens Masters competition.
Full results (35 competed): Steve Harrison 32:07, Gavin May 34:35, Steffan Ford 35:20, Mark Harris 35:50, Peter Ryan 35:59, James Bedford 36:25, Mike Russell 37:31, Brian White 37:46, Steve Chalk 37:59, Sean Storey 38:22, Paula Adams 38:52, Rob Davies 38:57, James Cox 39:04, Mark Grayson 39:30, Gemma Sargent 40:07, Kate Turner 40:36, Jo Ravenhill 41:11, Pete Eames 42:02, Andy Mussett 42:10, Steve Moakes 42:36, Ross Riddleston 42:46, Richard Thomas 44:38, Anna Holden 44:48, Heather Storey 45:18, Michael Clark 45:42, Lesley Dutton 46:02, Jackie Perry 46:18, Simon Douglas 46:26, Zoe Bentley 47:18, Elodie Irving 48:43, Paul Dutton 49:17, Steve Mussett 50:58, Alyson Sprawson 52:06, Liz Woodcock 54:36, Brenda Bosworth-Davies 58:37.
And finally; Pete Eames got his 2011 off to an early start, running the Serpentine New Years Day 10k race in London’s Hyde Park. In ideal running conditions Eames knocked nearly one and a half minutes off his previous 10k race three months ago, finishing in 44 minutes 45 seconds, 146th overall from 600 entrants.
Race Report: Bam
