Lizzie Hawker wins Ultra Gold

The women’s team that attended the IAU 100km World event – consisting of  Susan Bruce ( Tewksbury AC), Elizabeth Hawker (Road Runners Club) and Heather Foundling-Hawker ( Honiton Running Club)  rose to the challenge in an outstanding fashion.

Hawker showed the tenacity of a true champion to lead from the front from the start and to hold off the determined fightback from Monica Carlin ( Italy) with a sprint finish to gain the gold medal.  She hacked a massive 38 minutes from her previous personal best to win in a time of 7:29:12.  This was the second fastest ever by a British athlete whilst running only her 3^rd 100km.

Foundling-Hawker showed her true potential for the event by demolishing her personal best by over 50 minutes to record a time of 7:50:54 and finish in 9^th place in the World Cup. Although Bruce, with a pb of 7:56, was running well early in the race, she soon developed sciatic problems and was running in considerable discomfort for over 30km. She eventually retired from the event to prevent any long term damage.

The men’s race was an exciting affair in the early stages with the lead changing hands however the Frenchman Yannick Djouadi took the lead in the last phase of the race to win in an excellent time of   6:38:41.  The minor medals were shared by the two Russians  Oleg Kharitinov and   Denis Zhalybin running in together under four minutes later in  6 42.18.