Springfield Striders runners success

6:51pm Thursday 7th August 2008

SPRINGFIELD Striders trail runners were on top form this weekend with races at Black Notley and Fuller Street.

Back on form Gary Chandler ran to convincing victories in both races which were fast and runnable, but tricky enough to catch out the unwary.

A very warm and sultry evening at Black Notley saw a quality field race over a seven mile course.

Chandler won despite a slight navigational error early on and just managed to hold off Andy Mason and Jason Praill as the Striders again filled the top places.

Sarah Colbert in 11th place was the first Strider lady to finish. The club also dominated a shorter three mile race run from the same venue With Liz Turk, Helen Walker and Len Clark taking the top spots. Unfortunately Ann Miller broke her ankle in the first mile and will be out of action for some time. Sunday's race at Fuller Street was a counter in the Tour of Terling and even with the cloudy skies and occasional showers of rain still saw many runners suffer with the humidity and heat.

Chandler clocked the eight mile course in 56 minutes but due to a time penalty only just held out from a speedy Chris Burgoyne. Jamie Woodyard was close behind with Praill again prominent. Tracy Woodyard was next and first lady, obviously suffering no ill effects from climbing Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis last week.

The Tour continues this week with races on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and will see a new winner as last year's title holder Anthony Marsh was a spectator on Sunday following a heavy fall in training on Saturday.

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