The Dave Dellar run always marks the start of Summer. The clocks have just changed, the evenings are lighter and we celebrate the end of the Winter series.
Dave Dellar and his wife Iris were founding members of the Isle of Wight Road Runners back in 1988 when there was only a handful of members. He has sadly passed away, but would be beaming with pride if he could see how his tiny little running club has grown into the biggest club on the Island.
So as a nominated race, speed is not the essence to winning the coveted trophies for this race. Runners must accurately guess how long they think it will take them to complete the 5 mile course. This leaves the competition wide open to every single entrant and an exciting reveal during the presentation.
Runners started out from the Riverside Centre and made their way out to Blackwater along the cycle path. They then came back along Marvel Lane and up the cheeky hill in Watergate Road to bring them into Shide. Straight through to St James Street, before turning right at Sainsbury’s Petrol station to make their way back to the Riverside Centre, where the time keepers were frantically scribbling down everyone’s times.
First over the line were…..
For the boys
1st Stuart Backhouse
2nd Ross Wilkes
3rd Darren Cole
And for the ladies….
1st Trish Train
2nd Lizzie Pilcher
3rd Polly Segar
But as already mentioned, the bling winners were not those out in front, but those that paced themselves accurately.
Male
1st Garry Sharp – 16 seconds out
2nd Brian Canning/Glen Jones – 24 seconds out
3rd Steve Rumsey/Nick Dover – 30 seconds out
Female
1st Abigail Farwell – 12 seconds out
2nd Bel Rockall – 19 seconds out
3rd Trish Train – 29 seconds out
Well done to all the winners.
Last but by no means least the winners of the Winter Series were announced. This is a calendar of 12 nominated races (again, runners guessing their times most accurately) spanning 4 to 7 miles. Each week, each nomination will score points correlating with the runners estimated time.
This years winners are….
1st Dave Wilcock – 226 points
2nd Richard Bezer – 217 points
3rd Steve Bennett – 197points
Massive congratulations to Dave.
“I’m never going to be first over the line in a race, so I am really pleased to win this trophy… I’ve no idea how I did it however haha!” He beams clutching his award
Dave celebrated on the way home with what he described on Facebook as a “dinner of champions”
