HAC Ladies continue to climb higher at Spire 10K

When two ladies from Dacoram AC finished 4th and 8th, and two Chiltern Harriers crossed the line in 3rd and 9th positions they all looked expectantly at the splendid shield for the top ladies team whilst they eagerly awaited one further team mate to join them. How the faces changed from smiles to despondency as the wave of red and white vests swarmed over the line and swamped the finish area to their dismay! Another strong run by Lynn Hyde to finished 7th lady in 45.31 and fellow marathon runner Melanie Spencer, 11th in 47.19, were chased home by the fast improving Karen O’Rourke , 12th lady in 47.44 and ensured the trophy will reside at the HAC clubhouse for the next year! With Zoe Dobbs (48.26,17th), new star Paula Jones (49.07,21st) , Lucy Duncan (51.41, 33rd) , Amanda Kersen (58.36) and the evergreen Angela Duncan (1.02.42) keeping the opposition at bay the day was looking good for the ladies who are making a habit of being top ladies team having won the Concorde 5 a few weeks earlier!!

Not to be totally outdone the men finished in a respectable 2nd place, having won it last year, with debutant Matt Zalewski living up to his promise in training finishing 3rd overall in 36.16. Paul Hull (12th overall in 38.59) and Dave Smith (32nd in 41.46) completed the scoring trio. Also supporting and running well were Steve O’Keefe (39th, 42.27), Andy Torrance (84th, 46.24) , Tony Shaw (119th , 48.55) and Summer Series leader Dennis Carey (120th, 48.55).

Individual awards were won by Matt Zalewski 3rd overall, Lynn Hyde 1st FV40 and Angela Duncan, 1st FV70. Karen O’Rourke narrowly missed out by being 2nd FV50 lady by just over a minute. There were 415 finishers at the race which has proved a happy hunting ground for HAC having won several awards there last year. The course was reversed from last year and the organisers somehow managed to find a mountain in a park somewhere in Bushey which they kindly included in this otherwise pleasant road and trail run!!!