A cohort of 36 Ryde Harriers travelled to compete in one of the most popular 10km races in the South of England with a starting lineup of over 2,000 athletes in this year’s Stubbington 10k.
In good running conditions, the field set off and super-fast Bournemouth’s Elmi Mohamoud Abdinasir took up the running with Harrier’s Matt Sharp in hot pursuit.
With a strong team, Chris Newnham was in the next group of 6 athletes with the two Masters 40 year olds Dave Hunt and Gary Marshall in the top 25 athletes. In the ladies section Carly Scoble looked comfortable as she sat in 6th place.
Through 5k Abdinasir had increased his lead over Sharp who was clear of Newnham and the chasing group and a further down the field all the Harriers were running well.
Up front there was no change in positions as they entered the last one kilometre but Newnham had broken away and running in 3 place overall and looking very strong with Scoble moving up one place to 5th. The impressive Abdinasir crossed the line in a very fast 29min 00sec to established a course record.
Matt was pleased with his 30min 04sec in 2nd place and there was a big PB for Chris in 3rd with 31min 20sec. They were brilliantly backed up by Dave Hunt in 32min 29sec in 15th place and Gary Marshall in a PB of 33min 21sec in 19th overall. Carly held her form to record a PB as well in 37min 55sec to finish 5th overall.
With 4 of the men’s Harriers in the top 20 they were easily the team winners over strong clubs of Southampton, Bournemouth and Portsmouth.
In the age group categories evergreen Pete Young easily won the M75 IN 48.33 in 701st place overall, finishing well into the top half of the field.
Dave Hunt and Gary Marshall were 2nd and 3rd respectively in the M40 group and Carly Scoble 2nd in the W35 category in 145th overall.
This was a very successful day for Ryde Harriers with many of the runners achieving personal best times.
Athletes will now prepare for the next Hampshire League race which is the Ryde 10 Mile on Sunday February 2nd starting opposite the Castle Hotel at 11:00.

Race Report by Geoff Watkin
Results for Stubbington 10km (HRRL) 12th January
(Travel Sponsored by Wightlink)
Matt Sharp 00:30:04 (2nd Overall)
Chris Newnham 00:31:20 (3rd Overall)
Dave Hunt 00:32:29 (15th Overall, 2nd Vet40)
Gary Marshall 00:33:21 (19th Overall, 3rd Vet40)
Leon Newnham 00:36:31
Simon Newman 00:36:39
Trevor McAlister 00:37:13
Carly Scoble 00:37:55 (5th Lady, 2nd Vet35)
James Darling 00:39:09
Matthew Jacobs 00:40:07
Rebecca Wilkinson 00:41:44 (30th Lady)
Martin Dyer 00:43:57
Tim Regan-Morris 00:44:33
Richard Marsh 00:45:45
Andrew Lewis 00:46:42
Peter Young 00:48:33 (1st Vet 75)
Emma Clemens 00:49:18
Gemma Maddocks 00:49:21
Diana Swyers 00:50:17
Catherine Young 00:50:36
Ken Oatley 00:50:44
Natalie Rose 00:51:40
Ken Beak 00:51:26
Bridget Lewis 00:52:13
Mike Dignan 00:52:39
Geoff Kite 00:54:10
Elizabeth Galbraith 00:55:35
Peter Jolliffe 00:58:00 (3rd Vet 75)
Anne Payne 01:00:01
Loren Allen 01:01:34
Alison Critchley 01:00:26
Graham Thompson 01:00:27
Reniera O’Donnell 01:02:27
Jo Beak 01:04:52
Brian Warren 01:10:26
Jackie May 01:13:16
1st Men’s Team (Matt Sharp, Chris Newnham, Dave Hunt, Gary Marshall)