Louise does best!

Louise Insley capped a very busy week for the Club’s runners when she mixed it with the elite of British road racing in recording a personal best of 38.10 in Monday’s BUPA London 10k.
Louise’s time was good enough to give her the 2^nd WV40 slot in the race won for the 5^th consecutive time by Mo Farah. On Sunday, Chris Mason and Chris Gunstone were also performing in a capital city, this time in the half and full marathons at the Edinburgh Marathon Festival of running. On a very hot morning Chris Mason continued his good recent form to record 1.27.26, 125^th place overall and the 1^st MV60 prize in the half marathon. Chris G, after getting to half way in sub 3.20 schedule in the marathon suffered, as many did on the day, with bad cramp and recorded 3.47.06.
On the previous Wednesday there were some excellent performances in the Washlands Relays, particularly by a number of runners making their competitive debuts for the Club. Fastest on the night was Louise Insley, who gave an early indication of the form she reproduced in London, with a superb 11.17 and the second fastest women’s spot on the night. Showing he was in good form, Chris Gunstone sharpened up for the Edinburgh Marathon with 11.27 followed by a resurgent Colin Mee in 11.38.
Just 20 seconds separated the next four finishers with Shane Chapman (11.41), Dave Littlewood (11.48) and Paul Chapman (12.02) performing superbly on their competitive debuts. Chris Mason also recorded 11.41 over the 2.1 mile course. Gavin Horton at last gave a glimpse of his capabilities with a 12.12 leg which, on this occasion, just gave him the edge over Andy Orme (12.26). Steve Leafe’s 12.55 was the next fastest leg with Mark Nixon, Steve Fowler and Ray Udall completing the solid performances on the night with 12.58, 13.02 & 13.03 respectively.
Team wise Louise, Andy and the two Chris’s collectively won the Mixed Vet Team Prize in finishing 8^th team overall with Chris G and Chris M winning the MV50 and MV60 prizes respectively.  Shane, Paul, Dave and Gavin performed well as the ‘seniors’ to finish in 13^th place with Colin, Mark, Ray & Steve (Ancient & Modern) finished in 20^th place overall as a mixed vet team. Steve Fowler, on this occasion, was temporarily lent to Tamworth AC to make up a shortfall in one of their teams. No fee was involved in this move.