Bungay Festival of Running

On Sunday 2nd April at the Bungay Festival of Running fifteen members of Lowestoft Road Runners competed among a field of 372 (134 ladies) around the undulating course. Twelve of those competing were in the half marathon event, which for three was their very first half marathon. First home in the half marathon was Tom Galley in 15th place with a new personal best time of 1:27:56. Next across the line for the club, was Karen Archbold in 59th place overall , and 4th lady also winning her age group with a time of 1:40:48. Matthew Reynolds finished in 74th place in 1:43:57, a course best, “Shotgun” Shaun Kay finished in 94th in 1:46:56, his first half marathon. Second lady for Lowestoft was Karen Evans in position 148, (20th lady), with a personal best of 1:54:40. Stevie Bullen finished 161st with a time of 1:56:06. Together across both the start and finish lines husband and wife Marie and Philip Ayers finished in 2:00:32 in positions 195 (31st lady) and 196 respectively. Debra Kay, also a half marathon first timer, finished in 2:01:10 position 202 (34th lady). Emma Garrard was 245th (56th lady) in 2:07:37, Vanessa May 263 (64th lady) 2:11:47 and Gina Warford, who only started running in January, completing her goal of a half marathon before her next birthday with a time of 2:30:57 in 344th place (114th lady).
Karen Archbold, Karen Evans and Marie Ayers also won the women's team prize.
In the marathon Matthew Sutton finished in 14th place, winning his age group with a time of 3:14:17. Hot on his heels was John Jervis in 16th with a time of 3:14:38 knocking well over an hour off of his previous best marathon time. Simon Bunting finished in 4:33:00 in 127th. There were 177 finishers.
Elsewhere in the region Mark Elflett and Elayne Hilton both achieved personal bests at Diss Duathlon, consisting of a 30km cycle ride sandwiched between two 5km runs. Mark finished with a personal best time of 1:57:27 and Elayne also had a personal best finishing 3rd in her age category in 2:02:57