Leinthall Starkes 5mile – Mick Ligema memorial cup

Report by Sam Harper

Tuesday evening saw a welcome return to the Croft Ambrey Club Handicap series.

A record breaking 49 runners turned out to run the traditional 5mile road route.

Unfortunately Mike wasn’t well enough to come along and be our official starter and time keeper, so that job fell to Tori and myself and so after a few words at the start line to provide a brief description for the 14 runners who were taking part for the first time the runners were off.

This is a tough run – no easy flat road races for Croft Ambrey Runners!

It starts off relatively level and dips down a little approaching Elton but through the village there is a bit of a pull. Out of Elton and a left hand turn towards Burrington is a long stretch of road where you can see runners ahead for quite a distance which helps to motivate to catch them up and not be overtaken. The left hand turn after Burrington is the start of the steady uphill which can be steep in parts and the finish line seems so near yet so far with it’s uphill pull.

Eric was first across the line and winner of the Mick Ligema cup in an impressive 27.04m, a PB by 9 seconds and taking him to third place on the all time leader board. Gareth was second, another PB – 40s this time and 8th fastest all time. Jasper knocked a cracking 5mins30 seconds off his best time to finish third in 31.12.

Charlotte was first lady over the line to take home the memorial cup, with a debut time of 32.53 – taking her to the 6th fastest lady of all time. Kelly was second lady – only 2 seconds off her PB and is currently in 12th place on the all time ladies fastest times. Lucy Austin was debuting and finished third in 36.37.

Gary Gunner did not get an announcement on the evening as we didn’t know everyones age catagory, but his finishing time of 40.48 was enough to see him break the MV75 course record – Well done Gary!

A full list of results can be found on the results page of the website and below the photos. It was a fantastic evening and I think Tori and I coped on the finish line, but it was made so much easier with the help of Tonia and Sue F who had set off a bit early and self timed – so first accross the line – and provided us with a back up and Kelly helped by shouting everyones name as they crossed the line to make sure we had accurate timing.

The next race in the series will be handicapped – I will bow to Mike to allocate start times. This will be tricky for those who self timed and anyone who wants to run who didn’t run in this first race – please get in touch with him with as much time as possible if you didn’t run but want to run next time.

Next race Tuesday 24th May.