The first ever Andover foodbank Lake Run took place on Sunday 18 September 2016.
Both the 10k and 3k fun runs started and ended at Charlton Athletics centre. The 10k course passed through the beautiful scenery and backwaters of Anton Lakes. Nearly 250 people entered the 10k including elite runners, those keen to support the Andover foodbank and others wanting to enjoy this new community event.
The event was opened by Vassos Alexander, the well known sports commentator, who spoke before the run and afterwards awarded the prizes. Vassos asked Ronnie Bungay, who was celebrating his birthday and running the 10k, to count down and start the race.
The first male runner home was Tim Smales, followed by Stuart Holloway and John Kane. Kate Towerton led the women with Emma Haley in second place and Victoria Hall in third. The team from Team TVBC were the winners of the Andover Advertiser Fittest Company Cup having seen off competition from Office Depot.
98 competitors entered the fun run mainly children with some in fancy dress. The first boy home was Jacob Miller and the first girl Amy Low.
Local companies were generous in their sponsorship of the event. These included Alton Sports, The Dormy House, Graham & Co, Hampshire IT Solutions, Simply Health, Tesco and Vitacress.
Bel Pertwee, a member of the organising committee said that ‘after a tremendous amount of work, we were delighted with the wonderful turnout and great atmosphere. We’d like to thank all those who ran and volunteered to make it such a special and successful day’. Michael Valenzia, Race Director, pointed out that ‘everyone enjoyed the event and, most importantly of all, we raised a good deal of money for a very worthy cause’.
The event raised much needed money for the Andover foodbank which will be used to fund the cost of running the operation and in particular warehouse costs.
You can view and order the the photos taken of the run by DE photos and see the race times recorded by Splitsecondtiming