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Bramley 20 library picture

'Rocket' Ronnie Richmond

Bramley 20 record put under pressure as Richmond races clear

There were 724 runners in action across two race distances at Reading Roadrunners' annual spring marathon preparation event – Bramley 20 and 10 – on Sunday 12 February.

Numbers were down on previous standards but there was still plenty of quality at the front and valuable lessons learned by everyone with London or another massive 26.2-mile project in mind.

Straight to the action, then, and news of a phenomenal performance in the Bramley 20 by the race winner Ronnie Richmond (M40, Bideford AAC) who clearly has plans to revise his marathon best (2:16:59) set in Manchester last year. Ronnie's range includes sub-30 minutes for 10K; sub-50 minutes for 10 miles and sub-3 hours for 50K while representing GB in the IAU 50K European Championships in Spain last October.

On the quiet roads from Bramley Primary School, deep in the Berkshire countryside south of Reading, the 26th Bramley 20 miles race was won by nearly 10 minutes by Devon's very own 'Rocket Ronnie' with 1:43:04, putting the revered 2016 course record of 1:42:43 by Jonny Hay (Aldershot, Farnham & District AC) under severe pressure.

The runners-up were Aldershot athletes Stephen Blake (1:52:36), Ian Bailey (1:53:05) and Richard Lovejoy (1:53:50) as eight men beat two hours.

The top four women were all master athletes and led by W45 Lesley Locks (Aldershot, 2:07:30) – with an over-40 course record – from W40 Leanne James (Reading AC, 2:19:56), W50 Edwina McDowall (Headington RRC, 2:20:44) and W50 Victoria Carter (Thames Valley Harriers, 2:25:10).

The supporting 10-mile race was won by Adam Stokes (Bristol & West AC, 53:45) by just six seconds from Tom Harding (Basingstoke & Mid Hants AC, 53:51) with Daniel Hawkins (Newbury AC, 54:26) third.

Two women were among the 21 athletes who went under the hour for 10 miles: Chelsea Rose Baker (Bristol & West AC, 58:13) and Charlotte Ragan (Basingstoke & Mid Hants AC, 59:44). Rebecca Sleap (Basingstoke & Mid Hants AC, 1:00:17) just missed that particular threshold.

Results and event preview at runABC South race listing here

Image from a previous Bramley 20 by Chris Drew courtesy of Reading Roadrunners on Facebook

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