Wells Fun Run - Sunday 29 May 2011

 

Wells Town Hall was once again the venue for the start of the seventh Wells Fun Run held on the bank holiday Sunday morning.  Organisers, supporters, spectators, and over 500 runners, coming from far and wide, gradually spilled into the sleepy market square under an overcast sky, transforming it into a hive of intense purpose and activity.

 

Runners from ages 1 to 73 years had come to run in one of the four races:  Junior, 1k, 3-mile and 10k and with near perfect conditions, and streamlined co-ordination, all the races proceeded with barely a hitch.

Jordan Cook and Adam Spencer from Avalon Leisure, accompanied by Toby Tiger, led the excited Juniors to their start in the Recreation Field, while the Mayor, Daniel Unwin, controlled the hooter to signal the start of the senior races from the square.

The 1^st boy home in the Junior race was Finley Hopkins and the 1st girl was Ellie Chivers, who said afterwards, ‘It’s great fun, but very tiring’.  2^nd boy and girl was Shay Markham and Rosie Gaines, while in 3^rd place was Noah Free and Jessica Clarke.

 

Age category prizes were awarded in the 1k race to James Reilly and Holly Bigger (1^st 8yrs), Crofton Woodhatch and Victoria McCabe (1^st 9yrs), Ollie Thorner and Elise Thorner (1^st 10yrs), Albie Hopkins and Louise Rusca (1^st 11yrs) and Finley Marsh and Kayleigh Sullivan (1^st 12yrs).  10yr old twins, Ollie Thorner and Elise Thorner,  commented,  ‘It was hard’ and ‘It was fun’, after proudly receiving their trophies from the Mayor in the Town Hall.

 

The three-mile race was won by Luke Jacobs, aged 16, from Hutton in a time of 16:54 with the Harrier's Oliver Fox in 2nd place.  Shortly after  crossing the finish line Luke said, ‘I’ve never done it before, but I really enjoyed it because it’s such a nice route’.  The first female home was Wells Harrier Esme Sheridan, aged 15, from Bowlish in a time of 23:22.

 

First across the finish line in the 10k race was Robert Farley from Bitton RR of Bristol with a time of 33:42 with the Harrier's Pete Grist in 2nd place.  The first lady was the Harrier's Amber Gasgoine, completing the race in 37:56.  She admitted afterwards that she hadn’t raced for several years apart from the Glastonbury 10k two weeks ago but added, ‘The more races you do, the better you get, but the last hill nearly killed me’.  Amber was the first Harrier ever to wear a TeamGB vest when she competed as a junior woman in the World XC Championships at the end of the 1990's and she put last year’s lady winner, Clare Prosser, a sub 3-hour marathon runner, into second place this year.  The final runner in the 10k race was expertly ‘swept’ across the finish line by Martyn Cox, one of the many Mendip H4 volunteers, and his broom.

 

Every runner who finished received a medal, and a T-shirt was presented to all three-mile and 10k finishers.

The Wells Fun Run committee are grateful, once again to Scott and his team from Tri&Enter Events for the chip-timing service and would like to thank the various sponsors, Avalon Leisure, Digitech, MG Couriers, Roderick Thomas,  Running Bath,  Shipshape, Tesco, Tuckers, Wells Reclamation and the Wells Journal.  The organisers, Mike Brown and Elly Milln would also like to thank all the friends and volunteers who gave their willing support and help to make the day such a success.

As well as promoting health and fitness, monies raised from the event are donated to various local charities and youth organisations.