Round 5 Borders League
Mold, 9/3/2008

Sixteen Abergele Harriers travelled to the 5^th Round of the North Wales Borders Road Running League on Sunday, while three other members were in competitive action in Lanzarote. With Borders League Manager Darren Blazier one of those in Lanzarote, stand-in Manager Sean McCormack, followed his example and lead the team home in a fantastic time of 27mins 58secs, 57 seconds better than he had ever run the course before, and equalling his personal best time for five miles, and good enough for 2^nd MV40 on the day. Just one position further back in 18^th overall, was John Earlston in an equally impressive time of 28mins 6secs, over the difficult, undulating five mile course, which was run in perfect conditions, again giving him second position in his age category on the day. Third Harrier home, just over a minute further back, was Tim Cahill in 29mins 8secs, for 35^th, proving that he is almost right back to form. Another Harrier relentlessly continuing his journey back up the rankings was Steven McCormack, who produced his best Borders League performance of the season, to finish 40^th overall in a very satisfying 29mins 33secs, while Matthew Ashton continued to work off his recent injury by finishing in an excellent 30mins 7secs for 48^th. Ed Reid produced another very powerful performance with a 31mins 28secs for 75^th, while Grahame Shone was just behind in 31mins 56secs for 80^th. Keith Elliott had another one of the performances of the day by, not taking only 56 seconds off his time last year, but also taking 49 seconds off his five mile personal best, with a fantastic 33mins 21secs for 110^th. Not far behind, with another very strong performance, in his third race in as many weeks, was Haydn Jones, who finished a very satisfying 118^th overall, in a wonderful time of 33mins 47secs. Tenth counter on the day, once again travelling from Poole for the race, was Peter Smith in 36mins 44secs for 144^th, a superb time, especially as he is currently right in the middle of his London Marathon training. Another Harrier training for London, and running the best he has done for several years, is Alan Lucas, who finished in an outstanding 37mins 36secs for 149^th, just over a minute ahead of Borders League ever-present John Essary who raced home in 38mins 42secs run for 155^th. Steve McCarten again ran tremendously well, finishing in 41mins 13secs for 166^th, while the men’s team was completed by Steve Ward with a brilliant 47mins 27secs for 173^rd, giving the men an overall total of 685 points to keep them third in the first division.

Two ladies turned up for the Harriers both performing outstandingly well to keep their hopes of this season’s Improvers title still in place. First home, proving that marathon training and fast racing can go hand in hand, was Carol Willgoose, whose fantastic time of 32mins 57secs was not only good enough for 7^th lady overall and winner of her age category on the day, but also meant she counted in the overall Veterans team for the second time this season and keeps the club right on track to win that title. Alex Dutton, making her Borders League debut for the club, also performed outstandingly well, to finish in 39mins 46secs for a very well deserved 37^th lady and tenth in her age category.

Abergele Men’s Team Results;

Total Points; 685

 Abergele Ladies Team Results; 

Total Points; 207

Individual Results
Team Results
Team Standings after Round 5
Photos