Chiltern Harriers men had a very good day out on the south coast finishing 15th of 45 teams in the Chichester Priory 10K road race which incorporates the UK, AAA and South East Athletics Association Championships. The race also featured an inter-county and inter-area element.
Given the profile of the race, the standard was extremely high with 10 athletes breaking 30 minutes for the distance and 248 breaking 40 minutes. The four Chiltern men who made the trip were Stuart Ellerby, Matt Bennett, Kingsley Nanton and Eddie O'Gorman. From a finishing total of 1071 runners, Stuart was first Chiltern man home in 77th in 33.21, two seconds ahead of Matt in 79th. Kingsley finished 91st in 33.55 with Eddie 107th in 34.25. Stuart, Matt and Kingsley were the three counters bringing Chiltern home as 15th team overall.
In the inter-county match Stuart and Matt were joined as the Buckinghamshire team by Vale Of Aylesbury AC's Paul Gregory, who ran 32.48 and was 68th, to finish as 10th county.
Not to be outdone Laura Butt also had an exceptional run, breaking her 10k PB with 39.41 and finishing as 56th lady from 378 finishers. Laura also featured for her county with Aylesbury's Liz Tapper (48th in 38.30) and Burnham Joggers Tamsin Meadows (58th in 40.06) to bring Buckinghamshire home in 8th place.
Steve Perkin