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 those long winter months.
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 one of the biggest clubs 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.
43 awesome looking runners started out from Halfords and made their way out past the Bargemans to the cycle path. They ran out past the end of Dodnor lane taking a right turn down to the side of the river medina and doing a little loop around the pond coming back up to join Dodnor Lane. Under the underpass they followed the road up to join Forest road, but not for long as a cheeky left down the footpath brought them out onto Albany Road where those that didn’t take the wrong turning continued along to bring them out onto Hunnyhill. Down the hill they went, being mindful of their nominated times and trying their best not to get carried away with the pace, turning right into the never ending Sylvan Drive and up to the top of the hill turning left onto petticoat lane. From here our runners ran through town following their noses and being spurred on by the promise of a free drink and made their way back to Halfords where our awesome time keepers, Ian Dyer, Stew Barbour and Kev Rann were frantically scribbling down everyone’s times.
Fastest over the line were…..
For the boys
1st Andy Macarthur
2nd Phil Mannall
3rd Tom Forster
And for the ladies….
1st Clare Pendreich
2nd Hayley Baxter
3rd Trish Train
But as already mentioned, the bling winners were not those out in front, but those that paced themselves accurately.
Male
1st Tom Forster – 1 second out
2nd Garry Sharp – 40 seconds out
3rd Peter Hudson – 53 seconds out
Female
1st Hannah East – 11 seconds out
2nd Trish Train- 20 seconds out
3rd Carolyn Ruth – 43 seconds out
And last but certainly not least, as well as the Dave Dellar event we drew the lucky winner of October’s Club London Marathon ballot place – and that lucky runner was Zoe Elliott.
Well done to Zoe – we are sure that she will do the club proud.
A really fantastic evening was had by all!
It was such a fantastic sight to see everyone together in their club colours again after what feels like such a long time and so great to all be together for a celebratory ‘on the club’ drink afterwards.
Well done to all the winners and special thanks to Ian Dyer, Kev Rann and Stew Barbour for time keeping, and Sarah Ward and Kev Winchcombe for back marking.
