Bromsgrove Leukaemia Research Fund 10 km & 5 km Fun Runs

Sunday 14th May 2006

Wins for Richard, Tom and LRF

Left: Richard Malin takes the weight off his feet. Right: 5km winner Tom Richardson collects his award.

Last year’s Bromsgrove LRF races had raised over £8,000 and the figure might be beaten this year with over 400 runners tackling the two challenging courses in ideal conditions. In earlier years the 10 km run has had various start locations - on the roads nearer the town centre, on the playing fields by Parkside School (with the route running up to Worms Ash and back) and in the grounds of Barnsley Hall (running out along the A38 and through Catshill). This eighteenth running of the event used the now well-established course from Bromsgrove Rugby club taking in the quiet country lanes to Upper Bentley and towards Tardebigge.

The 10 km runners set off first, up and over the hill on Walnut Lane and then right on to Dusthouse Lane, the fastest stretch of the course with B&R’s Tony Woodward leading the way (on his bike). Then there was the long climb up Upper Gambolds Lane, past fields of yellow rapeseed and over the Birmingham & Worcester Canal. The legs got a rest for the next half mile until the left turn on to Copyholt Lane. Another mile led to Sheltwood Lane at about the half way mark and then the long drag up to the turn at London Lane. At last, the course changed to downhill and the runners thundered past Tyler’s Lock, re-crossing the canal, only slowing slightly for the short rise back to Dusthouse Lane. This was the last quarter of the race and the runners tried to pick up the pace as they sensed that they were nearly home. Right at the cross roads and back on to Walnut Lane to retrace the first part of the course in reverse and now of course it was stiff uphill for tired legs. But the left turn on to Finstall Road brought the rugby club in to sight and fresh energy as small groups of spectators cheered from the other side of the road. Back in to the club car park and a last sprint to the line where the finish marshals had to cope with finishers from both distances.

Above: Mark (left) and Paul Atkins (right) look worried as Huw prepares to launch into song.

It was great to see so many red & blue vested runners supporting a local event with fifteen of the 256 finishers in the 10km coming from B&R. Richard Malin won the race in 33-07, nearly three minutes ahead of Mark Lewis from Royal Navy AC. On this familiar route there was never going to be a repeat of last week’s debacle – (Whilst leading last Sunday’s Shakespeare Half Marathon at Stratford, Richard had twice run off course due to lack of directions. The second mishap when he had a good lead with only one km to go had surely cost him first place.) Ian Keyte took third place (and an MP3 player as his prize) whilst running strongly to beat Paul Collins and reverse their placings from the Halesowen Hillock. Paul had some consolation in a bottle of wine as first male vet O35. The regular training group of Huw Jenkins, Mark Graham and Paul Atkins were split by just half a minute with Huw leading this trio. Unattached runner Chris Ward (13 th in 39-08) took the prize for first male vet O50. Paul Knight, a lapsed B&R runner and three times previous winner of this race, was not far behind in fourteenth. Rowena Bales had finished fourth woman at the Stratford Half last week in 1 hour 32 minutes and continued her good form with second place here in 42-16, just under a minute behind Bournville Harrier Melanie James. Jane Hawkins was four minutes slower than when she won the race in 2005 but still clinched third place. Jane Anderson was fourth and claimed the bottle of bubbly as first woman veteran O35.

Left: 10 km women’s runner-up Rowena Bales. Right: Paul Collins collects the veteran’s prize.

The 5 km race attracted 140 runners but with most of the B&R runners having opted for the longer distance, there were only three of us taking part. The runners set off fifteen minutes after the 10 km field and followed the same route up to the canal. Here we turned sharp left and followed the canal towpath for over half a mile before crossing the canal on the bridge just by the reservoir. The fast downhill of Grimley Lane led to the crossroads at the bottom of Walnut Lane where we met up with the 10 km runners coming along Dusthouse Lane and ran with them to the finish. B&R’s Tom Richards got the best of a sprint finish to be first back in 21-37, showing his father Phil (10 th in 25-00) a clean pair of heels. Similarly, Phil Anderson was beaten by one second in a dash to the line by his 8 year old son Lewis (23 rd in 29-53). There were 140 finishers in the 5km fun run.

With the rugby club bar being open and the barbecue pumping out burgers, many runners and supporters hung round to enjoy the warm weather. It made a nice change from most races where after a quick cuppa only the prize winners and die-hards hang on for the awards. There was even a post-race massage available with ex-B&R hurdler Lisa drawing the short straw and having to work on Ian Keyte’s legs.

Leading male finishers in 10km

1 Richard Malin (B&R) 33-07

2 Mark Lewis (Royal Navy AC) 35-59

3 Ian Keyte (B&R) 36-17

Leading female finishers in 10km

1 (21) Melanie James (Bournville H) 41-19

2 (28) Rowena Bales (B&R) 42-16

3 (48) Jane Hawkins (B&R) 44-30

Other B&R finishers:

4 Paul Collins 36-33

10 Huw Jenkins 38-16

11 Mark Graham 38-29

12 Paul Atkins 38-48

15 Gavin Moorhead 39-41

23 Barry Cooke 41-00

35 Dave Whipp 43-07

57 Jane Anderson 45-10

62 Ann Stuart 45-47

160 Fiona Osborne 53-04

199 Bill Tucker 57-12

Click here to link to full 10 km results on Bromsgrove LRF website.

Leading male finishers in 5km

1 Tom Richardson (B&R) 21-37

2 James Byng (U/A) 21-38

3 Anthony Davis (U/A) 21-50

Leading female finishers in 5km

1 (6) Lauren Woodwiss (U/A) 24-51

2 (11) Lucy Ward (U/A) 26-48

3 (20) Samantha Caseley (Malvern Joggers) 28-40

Other B&R runners in 5km

7 Phil Richardson 25-00

24 Phil Anderson 29-54

Click here to link to full 5km results on Bromsgrove LRF site.

(PA)