In spite of the heavy rain, over 250 runners took part in the Andover Lake Run 5k and 10k on Sunday 22 September 2019. In addition around 50 children ran in the 2k fun run. Kate Howey, winner of two Olympic medals in judo, opened the event and presented prizes to the winners. Kate said that she had huge admiration for those running the 10K because she used to find long distance running exhausting when she was training! She also said that she was delighted to be supporting the Andover foodbank and to see so much support for such a worthy cause coming from her home community. Jamie Symington, Chairman Andover foodbank, said ‘Kate Howey was an inspiration to the runners on the day. She is a local person who has excelled on the global stage. The Andover Foodbank is grateful to her showing her support for this cause and the local community.’
Timings have now been published. It was a close finish for the 5k with Jake Dinkele winning with a time of 17:52 minutes, James Pay second with 17:55 and Marianna Sawyer in third place with 17:56 and the fastest female by four minutes. The fastest male runner in the 10k was Cameron Maguire with 36:40 and the fastest female was Hannah Kidston with 48:21. The team from Aster won the Andover Advertiser Fittest Company Cup.
The Lake Run is the main fundraising event for the Andover foodbank. The lead sponsor this year was the Aster Foundation. The event was also supported by the Simply Health, Alton Sports, the Co-op, Tesco and Snap Fitness. Nathan James Film Production, photographer Andrea Vassallo and Hampshire IT Solutions donated their time and expertise. All the money raised at the Lake Run goes to the foodbank enabling it to help local people in need.
