7:57pm Wednesday 23rd July 2008
THE Thrift Green 10km is always popular with Springfield Striders despite it being a tough course with two notable climbs.
It will certainly remain popular after this year's race where the club claimed the majority of the prizes with many excellent performances.
Tracey Ranson bounced back to form with a clear win in the ladies' race - clocking an excellent time of 38.39. Lucy Westcott and Sarah Colbert who are both enjoying running the roads again joined Ranson in the winning team with strong runs.
The Strider ladies also picked up the third team prize with Jo Gemmill, Nikki Brockbank and Jennifer Macaulay making up the team.
If the ladies' packing was good the men's was nothing short of remarkable. Paul Molyneux finished second to race favourite Crispian Bloomfield of Billericay and there then followed a parade of white and yellow vests.
Gary Chandler, third, Mark Crook, fourth, Paul Dobson, fifth, Chris Burgoyne sixth and Mark Newton in seventh claimed the first and second team prizes. Dave Norman, Ben Heighton and Tim Brockington also packed well to finish as fourth team.
Dobson, who was in the unusual position of not scoring in the first team, claimed the over 40 prize with a winning margin of almost two minutes.
There were personal bests from Bob Gear, Alan Chapman and Chris Burgoyne and a debut run from Belinda Deeprose.
The Striders held their own championships within the race and the 45 club members in the 400 strong field acclaimed new champions Tracey Ranson and Paul Molyneux.
The fell runners were in Wales for the Brecon Beacons weekend series. The Pen Y Fan race is one of the short race classics with an almost cliff like descent from the summit ridge.
Andy Mason, Julian Catmull, Jon Legge, Andy Kettles and John Williams all successfully completed the course and tackled the ten mile Fan Y Big race on the Sunday.
Sarah Knowles with an excellent run won the club's summer handicap on Thursday evening from Hugh Bullard and Suzanne Kuyser. Mark Newton ran the fastest time of the night to finish in sixth place.
The Striders send their congratulations to two members, Catherine Dodd and Darran Hull, who were married at Lytham St Annes on Friday.
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