Ryston athletes show a different GEAR

The big local athletics event of the weekend was, of course, the Run For All GEAR.Of the mass of runners taking to the streets of Lynn were almost 100 Ryston Runners, many of whom had come to the club off the back of last year’s GEAR training sessions, which were repeated for this year’s edition, attracting more than 200 athletes a week.It was long-standing members who “made the podium” in four categories: Lesley Robins (169th/43:55) and Pauline Sparrow (1000th/54:03) winners in the F50 and F70 age groups, and Linda Marshall (554th/48:41) and Jeff Reed (23240th/1:17:18) third in the F60 and M80s.Almost 20 personal bests were reported, many of them achieved by members, attributing their improvement to regular training with the club.The Whitehouse family, Dylan (16th/34:56), Jake (127th/40:57), and Claire (1199th/56:13), clocked up one apiece, while the greatest improvement reported was that made by Daniel Timms(1027th), by 11 minutes, to 54:05.Adam Matthews, whose debut in GEAR as a teenager saw him win the then prestigious Gooderson Memorial Trophy (no longer awarded since the race moved from being under the auspices of West Norfolk Council), and now vice-chair of Ryston, was first of the club across the line, in eighth place overall (5th SM) with a PB of 34:16.Three places behind, Ben Keeley clocked 34:38, before Dylan Whitehouse came in with a PB by over a minute.Cody Pearman and Daniel Barnes had a tight battle for 29th and 30th places, resulting in an excellent PB of 36:35 for Pearman as he bested Daniel (36:38) by three seconds. Daniel Yallop (44th/10thM40/37:37) and Andy Williamson (49th/37:52 PB) dipped into the top 50, with Nic Bensley (51st/6thM50/37:56) just the wrong side of it.Bensley is among the dwindling number of members who have competed in every edition of GEAR, the others being Stewart Robins (116th/40:36), Mark Doughty (460th/47:32), and David Lane, mainly walking the course after knee surgery, 2483rd/1:26:08. The Ryston tally, a mixture of first-timers and more regular competitors, also included: 64 Chris Chaplin 38:22 (PB), 96 Mark Ramsden 39:48, 107 Luke Jarvis 40:14 (PB), 163 Brad Melville 42:19, 173 Jurgita Jovasiene 42:23, 185 Christopher Cann 42:28,194 James Trim 42:42 (PB), 204 Tristan Langley 42:43, 209 Sam Doughty 43:09, 219 Thomas Semmons 43:18, 238 Mark Judd 43:40, 253 Ian Wiggins 43:56, 276 Richard Grant 44:04, 312 Graeme Reynolds 44:51, 322 Julie Williamson 44:57, 345 Chris Vurley 45:38 (PB), 349 Andy Wicklen 45:29, 410 Jan Knight 46:06, 411 Tony Savage 46:12, 413 Les Scott 46:54, 425 Matthew Dobie, 46:14 (PB), 521 Dani Sparkes 47:45, 539 Lucy McDowie 48:26, 542 Graeme Leeson 48:33, 612 Kate Penn 49:00, 629 Olivia Chaplin 49:32 (PB), 642 Jon Pentelow 49:14, 643 Alicia Pentelow 49:14, 686 Wiktoria Marcinek 49:30, 687 Irena Marcinek 49:30, 690 Joel Espley 49:06, 693 Wim Seffelaar 49:08, 698 John Crowley 50:28 (PB), 773 Lisa Harris 51:29, 775 Craig Harris 51:31, 905 Charlie Moore 55:00, 936 George Pettit 52:09, 1013 Wendy Fisher 54:15, 1136 Lynne Howlett 54:38, 1149 Chris Brockbank 55:19, 1241 Charlotte Price 57:21, 1243 Darren Price 57:22, 1247 Peter Donger 57:01, 1350 Louise Perry Vurley 58:18, 1433 Martin Blackburn 58:40, 1498 Ian Milburn 57:58, 1537 Gavin Reynolds 59:19, 1570 Wayne Sheppard 58:50, 1571 Rebecca Sheppard 58:50, 1594 Lindsay Daymond 59:55, 1688 Liz Blakie 61:23, 1738 Mia Howard 64:09 (PB), 1765 Helen Reed 63:19 (PB), 1784 Heather Pocklington 63:02, 1790 Kellie Stevens 62:42 (PB), 1891 Martin Elsegood 65:34, 1899 Rebecca Keeley 64:42, 1908 Elaine Knight 65:56, 2034 Sophie Williamson 67:07 (PB), 2044 Jade Langley 67:16, 2139 Keith Doughty 69:21, 2226 Caroline Carter 71:36, 2301 Gill Hart 76:18, 2305 Arnold Benson 75:05 2325, Helen Driver 75:27 2464, Claire Chamberlain 83:07, 2502 Lily Jean Goult 86:08, 2550 Jean Goult 96:44, 2587 Keith Morris 1:50:34.Also over 10k, but under bluer skies and in rather more enregy-sapping heat, Jane Ashby finished 379th in 55:39 in the Animal 10k in San Javier, Murcia, Spain. Cath Duhig walked the course in just over 70 minutes for 538th place out of 558 finishers.Something completely different was on the menu for Justin Willaiamson and Karen Smith at the weekend as they took on the challenge of the Centrurion Running Thames Path 100 mile race.Williamson finished in 22 hours 28 minutes 40 seconds, in 40th place overall and as second M50. Smith was second F50 to finish, in 119th overall, after 25 hours 54 minutes and 23 seconds of effort.Rebecca Tuff and Lindsey Clare recreated their joint running experience, forged in London two years ago, by taking part in the AJ Bell Great Birmingham Run, finishing together in 2:14:46.5.Gareth Hunt, reserving his 10k efforts for Bank Holiday Monday, and spending GEAR behind the lens of his camera, warmed up for the weekend by being placed 19th overall/ 11th SM in the second race of the Great Yarmouth Promenade five-mile series in 30:41.