Baker enjoys Southsea visit... Wellington first in Fareham

James Baker warmed up for the Chichester Half Marathon with a first-place finish at Southsea parkrun on Saturday
By The Newsroom
Published 12th Oct 2016, 06:30 BST
Updated 25th Oct 2016, 18:24 BST
James BakerJames Baker
James Baker

The Chichester athlete is making his way back to top form after injury.

He finished the Southsea course in 16min 45sec before going on to finish first in the Chichester half marathon on Sunday.

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Baker & Co enjoyed good conditions for running on Saturday in Southsea.

It was a good temperature and minimal breeze ensured lots of personal bests.

James Johnson finished second and he beat his previous quickest time with a 17.18 clocking.

Samuel Chandler and Craig Winter also set new personal bests of 18.06 and 18.07 respectively as they finished fifth and sixth.

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Talented youngster Luke Blay, who is in the 15-to-17 age category finished eighth.

His time of 18.33 was also his quickest Southsea time.

Emma Jolley finished first lady with a time of 19.21, with Karen Grinsted, of Tadley Runners, second (20.05).

Xiaopei Wang, who runs with Jolley for Baffins Fitclub, finished third lady in 21.04.

In total 284 runners completed the 157th Southsea parkrun.

The event takes place every Saturday at Speakers’ Corner (9am).

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All the parkrun events rely on volunteers to make them happen with various different roles for people to try, including timekeeper, photographer, finish tokens, funnel manager, marshal and report writer.

Fareham parkrun

Lachlan Wellington led the way on Saturday with a time of 16.54.

The talented City of Portsmouth runner, 15, has finished first on all four occasions he has visited the Fareham parkrun.

It was event number 27 at Cams Hall Estate.

James Sawyer finished second (18.03) with Tom Bertram third (18.21).

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Tina Al-Romaithi was first lady to finish with a time of 20.54, ahead of Rachel Walklate (23.37).

The total of 188 runners was the second biggest in Fareham with 219 still the record attendance from event number one.

On Saturday 34 were first timers, while 55 runners recorded new personal bests.

The course is a simple clockwise out-and-back route, using the Hampshire County Council Easy Access Trail.

It starts at 9am every Saturday.

Related topics:SouthseaJames JohnsonChichesterFareham