WOODSTOCK Harriers totally dominated the men's race of the Abingdon Marathon on Sunday to scoop a triple medal haul.

Simon Lund made an impressive breakaway in the later stages of the race and took gold in 2hrs 33mins 39secs after clocking a blistering 5.40 mile pace for the last six miles.

Teammate Richard Shipway couldn't match that and clocked 2.37.59. However, the race also incorporated the county championship and silver was enough to give Shipway the title. Greg Dell (2.39.36) was third.

That guaranteed Woodstock team gold on a day when the faster runners who finished in under three hours escaped some treacherous conditions.

Entries were up ten per cent on last year and Toby Laver, wearing the purple colours of University of Reading AC, led for the first ten miles, clocking 59.07 and establishing a 200-metre lead.

He faded, however, and made way for Woodstock's Dell, who hit the halfway stage in 1hr 19 mins, but was caught by teammates Shipway and Lund before the end. In the ladies' race, Katrina White from Milton Keynes AC broke the magical three-hour barrier with a time of 2.58.09, easily beating her personal best of 3.04.00.

White led the ladies' race for most of the 26 miles, shutting out Lisa Godding-Feltham (White Horse Harriers), a previous winner in 1998 and 1993.

Godding-Feltham came second in 3.01.04 but won the county championship. Trudy Evans, from Cirencester, finished third in 3.07.33.

The veteran category winners were David Thomson (M40), Sandy Johnston (M50), David Clark (M60) and John Borland (M70).

Borland wiped 15 minutes off the M70 course record in a fantastic 4.04.45.

Kidlington's Gerry Smith ran close to his personal best to finish 14th overall to claim a county gold in the M40 section. He clocked 2.50 which he last bettered five years ago.

In the ladies section, the winners were Lesley Whiley (L35), Liz Prideaux (L45) and Christine Usher (L55). Five wheelchair competitors finished the race with Geoff Allen, a previous winner in 1997, winning the race in a rain-affected time of 2.34.30.

Reading Road Runners won the ladies' team event while Abingdon retained the Twin Towns Trophy, beating Argentan, Abingdon's twin town in Normandy, for the second year running.

Story date: Wednesday 27 October

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.