The first set of the latest batch of beginners performed superbly in their  challenge at the Itchen Valley RR10. Well done to all.

ERC member Pete Steele took the front page in Southampton University Hospital NHS Trust magazine "Connect". Pete talks about his recovery after spine surgery. Well worth a look and read. You will need Adobe Reader to view this .pdf file Click Here.

Guess what ? they did it again. Well done to Mary Corbett and Norman Harvey who once again got on their bike and did the business. This time it was the Veterans National 50 mile tandem championship event which was held at Kirklevington near Middleborough. What a trek up and back that was - especially with a 50 mile race in between. We beat our standard time by 15 minutes 37 seconds, 3 minutes 48 seconds ahead of the second placed tandem.

ERC won 2nd Prize in a Hampshire Photo Competition with our photo from Marwell Zoo 10KM where the Panda (alias David Hawkins!) was being chased on his bike at speed by 200 children in the fun run. You may have seen the winning photo's briefly on BBC South Today last week. The competition was to celebrate 'National Volunteers Week' organised by the Hampshire Volunteer Centres Network. We thought it appropriate as so many Volunteers are needed for our Marwell event. The Club relies on Volunteers, in many different ways, to maintain and grow all our activities so the £200 prize money is well deserved.

Congratulations go to Mary Corbett and her tandem partner, Norman Harvey who won the Veterans National Tandem 10 mile time trial Championship event on Saturday 30th May 2009. It was held on a new course in Cambridge.

Veterans (riders over the age of 40) are given age related standard times and your actual finishing time is set off against your standard time. The winners are those who beat their standard time by the biggest margin. Norman and Mary finished with a 'plus' of 4 minutes 18 seconds which was 24 seconds quicker than the runners up.

Congratulations to Sonia Rushby, who picked up 3rd FV35 in the Hampshire 10k championships, which was part of the Eastleigh 10k.

Sonia has already won the Hampshire 10 mile FV35 category, as part of the Ryde 10 (at which Noel O'Dowd won the MV50 and Jon Osman was 3rd MV45).

Eastleigh 10k: Great weather and a fantastic turn out from ERC. 72 members took part (30 ladies, 42 men) which is a record for us. Thanks also to all those ERC members cheering the runners on - it made for  quite a carnival atmosphere!

 

MALTA - ERC World Island Tour 2009. 22 travelled overseas to Malta to represent the Club at the Malta Marathon and Half Marathon. Steve Wellby, Jim Whitmarsh and Richard read successfully completed the Marathon.

Ian White, Jo White, Anna Brown, Karen Carver, Brendan Ridge, Kathy Johnson, Tim Johnson, Diane Ronald, Keith Davis, Charlie Free, Barry Reeves and Rona Buley all completed the Half Marathon.

They were all supported by Lorraine Read, Diane Reeves, Angie Whitmarsh, Hayden and Beth Brown, Mark Jennings and Clive Deacon.

Well done to Ian White who finished in 1hr 15min 1st Vet 45 and brought home a trophy.

FIVE COUNTRY CYCLE CHALLENGE 19 to 21/9: David Hawkins and three colleagues from Lloyds Bank are cycling 535 miles in three days.
Starting today in northern France, through Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany to Switzerland. Good luck David.

Two stalwart members completed the recent Downland Ultra 30 Mile Challenge. Jim Whitmarsh in 5.28, and Kevin Smith in 6.31. Kevin ran out of energy in the last part of the race, and persuaded an ice-cream man to give him a free ice-cream, enabling him to complete the race!

Ironman Zurich: Sue O'Dowd took 53 minutes off her previous time to finish in 15:15:49, and she is now officially an Ironman. She came 8th in the F50 category (12 in the category, 4 did not finish!). Marc Barfoot completed his 6th Ironman in 15:25:45.
 

In the SIX MOOR MILES race in Devon last week, first man in for ERC was Brian Rumary, and first lady in for ERC was Dawn Rumary. (They were the only ERC runners in the race!!)
 

BEGINNERS : Congratulations to the following who have completed the hilly 5K Challenge and now own a t shirt to prove it: Sue Boote, Zoie Brown, Shirley Brownhill, Mandy Byrne, Angela Clarke, Steph Cooley, Dawn Frankham, Michelle Lacey, Vicky Mant, Sheila Marsh, Margaret McFarlane, Kerry Miller, Alison Shurville, Sarah Symonds, and Steph Wood.
* Huge thanks to David Harden and Suzanne Hines and their helpers for running the Beginners Course.
 

IRONMAN FRANCE 22 June 2008: Congratulations to Tim Wilks who completed the 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and a marathon in lovely Nice in 14:06:46. What a guy!

COMRADES MARATHON: Malc Smith finished Comrades - he says it was a fantastic event. Unfortunately he finished 6 minutes over the 12 hour cut-off time, so received no medal, no official time and no mention in results. Cruel or what? He says he will have to try again next year.

VANCOUVER TRIATHLON: Report from Dave Murchie: After a week of unremitting bad weather Saturday arrived dry! So on with the wetsuit plus covered my face with factor 30 sun block to counter cold water as advised by the channel swimmer on the team. But before they sent the old men off they tried some young ladies. The temp was rumoured to be
11 degrees in the water and it was getting choppier by the minute.
Well it seems the rescue boats got overwhelmed by pulling skinny girls out of the water so they announced (or rather a rumour spread) that there was a delay of an hour. It was not the best organised tri I have
done. So repaired to a nearby coffee house to be summoned by a
harrassed official an hour later with news. The swim is cancelled, it is now a duathlon. Hiked a mile to start, where we learned amidst some confusion that we had a 3k run 40k bike and 10k run. First 3k ok, then onto bike, long ride out to course, very technical. Got round in about 1.20. 10k run was a bit laboured (need to do remedial intervals with Kevin on return) Ended up at 2.25 and was 9th out of 29 . Must go party now. Greeting from sunshine coast as they call it. (Submitted by Kevin Royle)
 

Stephanie Dibden was 2nd in her age category at the Bishops Waltham
5 miles on Sunday.

Dave Murchie is out in Vancouver to compete for Great Britain in the 70-75 age group category in the World triathlon championships this weekend. This entails swimming 1500m in open water, then cycling for 40km, then running 10km, without stopping. To put it into perspective how many 70 year olds do you know who can run 10km - let alone swim and bike before that !! Superman or what.

ATTACK IN CASTLE LANE: A lone lady runner was recently attacked on the Castle Lane cycle path between Templars Way and Misslebrook Lane by a man who had been drinking. She was hit over the head with a bottle and dragged towards the woods, at which time a dog-walker interfered and stopped the attack.

RR10: A very wet evening on Wednesday saw 27 Eastleigh runners brave the conditions at the Deer Leap Inclosure, Ashurst for the 4th RR10 in the series. First in for the Mens team with another excellent run was young `Rooky` Tom Johnson in a superb 14th place followed in closely by the wise owl Godfrey Rhimes in 22nd and Jon Osman in 37th. Next in was proud Welshman Martin Davies in 53rd and on his shoulder in 54th was Ian Rogers to complete the first team home.
We now have a month off of running in the RR10 series, our next race being on the 25th June at Blackfield Recreation ground.
RR10 Ladies results: Well Done to everyone who ran. 1st Sonia Rushby 11th, 2nd Sara Rhimes V 18, 3rd Kathy Johnson 35th, 4th Fiona Churcher 50th, 5th Dawn Rumary V 96.
 

 EDINBURGH MARATHON: Jim Whitmarsh 3.28, Garry Gross 4.14, others to follow.
 

20 ERC runners braved the hot conditions to complete the hilly Alton 10. An excellent performance from Joseph Rye in 6th place and from Sonia Rushby, who had a scorcher, finishing in 19th place! All the ERC runners appreciated the whistle blowing support from Jacqui Bruce`s family.
 

The Brisbane Times published this photo of Malc Smith at the London Marathon. Worldwide coverage!

Jurassic Challenge - 3 marathons in 3 days along the Jurassic Coast from Lyme Regis to Studland last weekend. Andy Moore did it in17 hrs 34 mins, 22nd position. Good one Andy!
 

Graeme Rasmussen achieved two PBs: Reading 1/2 Marathon 2008 - 1.13.
Maidenhead Easter 10 mile - 21st March - 56.03. Excellent times!
Malc Smith completed the Rome Marathon, he says it was brilliant, very well organised and a great route past amazing sights - highly recommended for next year. Then he finished the Compton 40 Mile last Saturday (6 days after Rome) and was not last, well almost last, 9h20m and 4 behind him. Mark Jennings finished in 8:47.
 

EASTLEIGH 10k - 16/03: Well done to all those who took part - 59 ERC finishers! The girls are 2nd and the boys 3rd in Division 2 - promotion possible! PBs that we know about were achieved by: Steve Mant (3 mins off), Carla Marsh, Mark Pocock (first time under 40 mins) and Andrea Williamson (first time under 1 hour). (Martin Davies)
* Thanks to all those who turned out in the wind and rain last Sunday to cheer on the ERC runners at the Eastleigh 10k race. Much appreciated. (Colin the Chairman)