Nopesport

This year’s British Night Championships were held on the rather pleasant Hawley and Hornley on a cold but clear night in Hampshire.

The event started on time (unlike last year where starts had to be put back due to it not being dark!) with runners heading off from 17:45, and the forest was awash with lights for the next couple of hours.

The courses started in the relatively fast and easy open area on the North-West of the area. However, the courses then went into the forest around the tank training area where you had to be certain to stay on line and count the number of line features you were crossing to avoid making mistakes. With the large path network, it was always easy to relocate fairly quickly, although this is still never very easy to do at night.

The forest led to some fast times being posted by some of the country’s top athletes. Sarah Rollins (BAOC) stormed round the W21L course in 6.6mins/km to win by nearly 5 minutes from SYO’s Jenny Peel. On the M21L course GB Squad runner Nick Barrable was pushed all the way by the Finn Tuomas Tala of Thames Valley, Nick eventually prevailing by a mere 2 seconds. Jeremy Edwards (WAROC) was just 36 seconds back, and Ant Squire had a great run to finish just another half minute behind.

Congratulations to all the newly crowned British Night Champions:

M16 Peter Hodkinson NOC
M18 Chris Smithard DEE
M20 James Bennett EUOC
M21 Nick Barrable FVO
M35 Martin Ward SPOOK
M40 Clive Hallett BOK
M45 Mark Saunders BOK
M50 Colin Dickson BAOC
M55 Andy Hemsted HOC
M60 Tony Ludford BADO
M65 Arthur Boyt KERNO
M70 Alan Heron SELOC

W16 Bryony Crickmore SO
W18 Stefanie Blomquist BAOC
W20 Rosemary Hodkinson NOC
W21 Sarah Rollins BAOC
W35 Catherine Hughes NOC
W40 Woo Allen BAOC
W45 Jackie Hallett BOK
W50 Beryl Offley LOC
W55 Julianna Grant MV
W60 Monika Cooper SYO
W65 Judith Powell SWOC
W70 Alison Sloman HOC

For a full set of results click here