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| Rochdale
Harriers & A.C.
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Wilmslow Half Marathon 25th March 2007
Rochdale's
first finisher, David Bentley, crossing the finishing line at Wilmslow Picture Reproduced with the kind permission of Keith Parkinson ROCHDALE HARRIERS travelled to Wilmslow on 25th March 2007 to
take part in the increasingly popular Wilmslow Half Marathon. The weather conditions were nearly perfect,
cool and dry and with a medium strength breeze.
The local athletes were made to feel at home amongst the
3500-strong field by the official race commentator, our very own Andy
O’Sullivan MBE. He
greeted the Rochdale contingent over the sound system as they arrived
and encouraged each and every one of them individually as they
approached the finish line. In the first half of the race most of the Rochdale runners
put in pleasing mile splits, not realising the breeze was helping them
along. The second half was
a different story, with the tired legs beginning to feel the strain and
the head on breeze making the going more difficult. The race was won by Thomas Abyu from Salford Harriers,
his second victory in this event in 3 years.
Next was Andi Jones, current North of England Cross Country
Champion also from Salford, and third was Gareth Raven from Sale, the
third place finisher at this year’s English Cross Country
Championships in Sunderland. First home from Rochdale Harriers was marathon runner David
Bentley (pictured), crossing line still looking remarkably fresh in 1 hr
23 min 46 sec. Rochdale’s
two lady entrants, Huma Rahman and Anna Blomfield, both put in
impressive performances in their preparation for the London Marathon.
Huma was the 7th lady in the FV35 category, clocking 1
.34.28. Anna slashed her
2006 time by 89 seconds to take 5th place in the FV 45
category (1.35.48). These
performances were all the more impressive considering both ladies had
completed the Spen 20 mile race under awful conditions only the week
before. The individual results form members of Rochdale Harriers were as follows: 111 David Bentley , 01:23:46; 245 Paul Leary, 01:28:41; 286 Chris Armour, 01:29:47; 347; Kevin Fox , 01:31:22; 374 ; Mark Walker, 01:32:07; 471; Huma Rahman, 01:34:28; 537(7th L35) ; Anna Blomfield, 01:35:48 (5th L45); 626 John Mayall, 01:37:37; 879 Chris Telford, 01:41:57; 1843 Stephen Wild, 01:55:44. 3450 finishers.
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