Tiptree Road Runners

The Benfleet 15 saw another great run from Laura Shewbridge, setting a personal best of 1:50:08 to finish 5^th lady and 79^th overall in a field of over 700 runners. Her time was almost four and a half minutes faster than last year when the event was run in much drier conditions. Jamie Fairfull also made a big improvement on his previous best, finishing in 2:06:05, while Jim Slater improved his best time by a minute and a half with a run of 2:09:24 which gave him 3^rd place in the V60 category. First home for Tiptree’s men was Darren Foy who put a persistent knee injury behind him to break the 2 hour barrier in 1:59:06. Phill Clarke (2:03:10) and Damien Hartshorne (2:03:11) had a close tussle, with both just outside their personal bests. Martin Avent just missed his best mark with an encouraging run of 2:09:57 in his first race for some time, while Vicky Sheldon shook off the effects of a recent virus with a strong run of 2:11:52. Dave Payne finished in 2:18:19, followed by Anthony Knight in 2:20:50 and Paul Shewbridge in 2:40:07. Dawn Shilling made her 15 mile debut in 2:53:12, followed by a group of four who all finished in 2:53:46 - Carolyn Bownes, Tina Clark, Barry Dobson and Helen Ivory.