Representatives from Ryde Harries have enjoyed success at events of varying length and pace recently. Harrier Daniel Eckersley had the honour of competing at a special British Milers track meeting celebrating 70 years since Sir Roger Bannister ran the first-ever sub-4-minute mile on Monday 6th May. The same venue, Iffley Road, Oxford staged a series of races all of one mile in distance for club runners to elite athletes along with a 1-mile fun run. Daniel was invited to compete in a one-mile steeplechase race and being an ex-Oxford graduate was delighted to compete in his specialist track event, although normally run over 3000m. In monsoon-like conditions, Dan was soon battling it out with Jamie Grose from Poole AC as international Battershill led the field. Daniel raced hard to try to break Grose and it wasn’t until the last 100m that Daniel had to dig deeply to out-kick his rival for an excellent 2nd position in a time of 4min 46.48 seconds. This race was the first time that a steeplechase race has ever been run over the classic mile distance and Daniel’s time will be a World Best for his Masters 35 Age Category. An outstanding achievement. He will now race the Loughborough International and then will represent England at the Masters International at the Manchester Half Marathon.
Elsewhere, a squad of Ryde Harriers travelled to Alton in Hampshire last weekend (12th May) to tackle the tough 10 mile road race which is part of the Hampshire Road Running League. On a relatively new course the undulating hills, on the hottest day of the year made it a tough race for the 400 competing athletes. From the gun, Harrier Chris Newnham was soon into his running and set off at a pace he knew he could hold despite the course and conditions and was soon drawing away from the field. Chris continued in this manner to the half way point before picking up the pace which increased his lead even further. Crossing the line in 55min 14sec, he was over three minutes ahead of second placer Joshua Price. Keaan Amin was the next Harrier home in 1h 02min 20sec. Geoff Watkins:
“Chris is a real newcomer to athletics and I’m delighted to see what progress he has made in the last year. Despite a full time job at Northwood House and guitarist with the internationalist Plastic Mermaids, Chris has the work ethic required to perform at a high level in distance running fitting in the required training.”
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Harriers Results
- Chris Newnham 00:55:14 – 1st Overall
- Keaan Amin 01:02:20 – 9th Overall
- Trevor McAlister 01:12:01
- Paul Newnham 01:17:44 – 4th Vet 60
- Ken Oatley 01:25:51
- Gemma Maddocks 01:29:36
- Natalie Jane Rose 01:37:39
- Sasha Levrier 01:52:47
- Elizabeth Galbraith 01:57:32
