The Lake Run!

The Andover foodbank Lake Run took place on Sunday 17 September 2017.

The 10k, 5k and 2k fun runs started and ended at Charlton Athletics centre, passing through the beautiful scenery of Anton Lakes.   Nearly 320 people ran the 10k, 80 the 5k and there were over 40 in the fun run with Bertie North the youngest entrant at 15 months finishing with help from his father and sisters!

The event was opened by Steve Holder, a Hampshire firefighter who completed 20 marathons in 2016 as a tribute to his late wife who died in February 2015 after a long battle with breast cancer.  Steve completed the 10k in 41 minutes and 37 seconds and Test Valley Mayor Cllr Carl Borg-Neal completed the 5k before distributing the prizes.

Jhon Cosgrove was the first male runner home in 37 minutes and 44 seconds.  Kate Towerton led the women for the second year in succession finishing in 40 minutes and 12 seconds.  The 5k winners were Ross Wayne and Abi Wollaston.  The team from Vitacress were the winners of the Andover Advertiser Fittest Company Cup followed by Simply Health and Office Depot.   The winner of the fun run was Frankie Arnold (aged 10) and Jack Searle (aged 11) was second.

Local companies including Vitacress, Simply Health, Alton Sports and Hampshire IT Solutions were generous in their sponsorship of the event and trainers from Snap Fitness provided a warm up for the runners.  Cllrs Jim Neal and Sandra Hawke from Milway Ward supported the event with a donation of £600.  The runners received a medal and goody bag with water donated by Asda and a cereal bar from Sainsburys.  Vitacress also provided Wild for Watercress Supershots and information about the benefits of watercress to all the finishers.

Tony Reid, head of marketing at Vitacress, who also took part in the event and completed the race in a time of 50:23 said: “As a local business, it’s really important to us to be involved in community events. The Andover Lake Run is a fantastic, fun event which raises money for an important cause. I’d like to say a massive thank you to everyone who ran, supported or helped us give out watercress shots. The watercress powers shots certainly helped our team and we’re delighted to have been named as the Andover Advertiser’s Fittest Company too – it was an excellent team performance.”

Bel Pertwee, a member of the organising committee said ‘we were delighted with the increased numbers for this year’s Lake Run.  The atmosphere was fantastic with local runners of all abilities supporting and encouraging each other to complete the runs’. 

There was further good news for the Andover foodbank this week when planning permission was granted for a small extension to the premises in Alexandra Road.  The money raised from the Lake Run will be used to fund the project and the running of the foodbank, ensuring that those in crisis in the local community can be helped now and in the future.