Matt Lynas ran a very well judged race in the AAAs 50km ultra championships at Boddington. Placed in 6th position at the half-way stage, Matt drew on all his experience to surge through the field and finish 2nd in a superb 3 hr 13:06. Second claimer Chris Finill also excelled with a terrific 5th place in 3 hrs 20 mins.

Nick Altmann won a 5k race in Bedford and in doing so demolished two GB internationals. With a final 400 metre surge of 60 seconds, Nick flew past World Championship-bound Huw Lobb and also left AAAs 10,000 metre champion Gavin Thompson in his wake. This form is very encouraging as Nick (and a number of other club members) build towards the Berlin marathon in late September.

Thames men feature heavily in the September edition of Running Fitness. Ian Harkness and Peter Giles are featured as fine examples of age being no barrier to achievement, Ben Reynolds is shown leading a field of V40 cross county runners and John Macfarlane shares tips on running a better road race including a reminder to always pack your fruit and fibre when racing away from home. Available at your local newsagent while stocks last!

The silver anniversary of the Stragglers Wedding Day Race saw the Thames team of Matt Jones, David Symons, Andy Howse and Mike Farmery retain the Stag for first team. Second claim Julia Bleasdale ran well for first lady, Matt Jones was third man and Peter Giles and Keith Spacie maintained their fine recent form for first V60 and V70 with Keith also winning first overall age graded performance.

1	Scott Overall (B.hth)	21.50
2	Stuart Major (NEB)		22.27
3	Matt Jones		22.39
6	David Symons		23.19
11	Julia Bleasdale		23.50
16	Andy Howse		24.33
44	Mike Farmery		26.30
54	Peter Giles		26.53
58	Tim Nightingale		26.58
66	Ian Trotter		27.25
79	Keith Spacie		27.51
81	Al Irvine			27.54
131	Robin Dickson		29.50
159	Kate Symons		30.52
340	Anthony Eady		37.15
414	Anna Jones		39.24

A clutch of Thames runners ran the third in the Surrey Road League on Sunday. Pick of the squad were Peter Giles and Keith Spacie who won their age events, and Naomi Warner who also had a strong run.

10	David Symons	33.29
30	Bill Snelgrove	35.57
85	Peter Giles	38.38
89	Naomi Warner	38.49
99	Dan Pescod	39.14
112	Keith Spacie	39.37

Anna Garnier clocked a fine 41.58 for 8th lady. Despite the hilly course, this represents a PB and suggests that more is yet to come.

Sharp eyed viewers of BBCs "secrets of the sexes" will have seen Nic Gould in action, attempting to show that the difference in ring and index finger length is correlated to exposure to testosterone in the womb and - similarly - running speed. The results? A cautious yes.

Dave Symons took victory in 1hr 22mins and avenged his defeat to the Winchester AC runner on his Castles leg.

Peter Giles stormed to his first ever British title with a fine victory in the M60 5000m, clocking 18.16, just 0.4 of a second ahead of Martin Ford.

5000 metres M60 
1 Peter Giles 61 VAC  18-16.45   
2 Martin Ford 61 MVAC  18-16.89   
3 Mike Cunningham 60 NVAC  19-07.12   
4 Andrew Johnson 61 SCVAC  19-51.09   
5 Alan Peers 64 NVAC  20-57.56   
6 George Lawson 64 NVAC  21-24.31   
7 Martin Duff 61 SCVAC  22-36.23 

Matt Jones was an impressive 5th in 74.36 with Nic Gould 14th in 80.29.

Keith Spacie took the M60/70 title in 47.13 with Dave Walsh close behind in 55.09.

David Symons lowered his best time on the weekly 5k time trial in Bushy Park with a strong 16.17 to take the victory spoils. Sonia grabbed second with 16.40.

Ben Reynolds got his race account off to a great start in New York with a highly respectable 74.03 for 8th place, narrowly pipped to the first veteran prize by a Polish Olympian.

Nick Altmann stormed to victory in the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge. Recording a time of 17.10 for the 3.5 mile Battersea Park course, Nick led home the field of 12,546 on the day that the Olympic Games were awarded to London.

Congratulations to Matt Lynas who earned his latest GB vest, and acquitted himself well to finish a fine 40th in 7h 58. As well as the challenges of 100k, runners also had the fun of extreme heat.

Thames men secured an impressive clean sweep of the prizes. Richard Turner, Bill Snelgrove and Jeremy Denny each won their respective age categories and Phill Sly won the race with a sub 40-minute course record leading home John Macfarlane, Andy Weir and Matt Jones to take first team. Was this fine display of running a result of the financial incentives offered by the race organiser or the promise of homemade fruitcake at the post race tea? Not to be outdone Alison Carpenter was fourth lady and first v45 with Alison, Kate and new faces Kay and Melissa taking second ladies team. The real race, of course, was for the Quentin Clough handicap won by Richard Turner with Frank Carpenter hot on his virtual heels in second place. Many thanks to Jeremy for stirling work yet again as handicapper.

Posn	Name		Finish	Hcap	Time	Hcap Place
1	Sly, Phill	39.22	0.0	39.22	4
2	McFarlane, John	40.47	0.32	40.15	7
3	Weir, Andy	43.19	1.04	42.15	13
4	Jones, Matt	43.39	1.36	42.03	11
5	Symons, Dave	43.47	2.08	41.39	10
6	Gould, Nick	44.14	4.48	39.26	5
7	Kennis, Al	45.26	3.12	42.14	12
8	Howse, Andy	46.10	3.12	42.58	14
9	Snelgrove, Bill	47.19	8.00	39.19	3
10	Turner, Rick	49.01	12.48	36.13	1
11	Farmery, Mike	49.21	8.00	41.21	9
12	Ward, James	50.22	6.24	43.58	16
13	Irvine, Al	51.41	7.28	44.13	17
14	Carpenter, A	53.06	13.20	39.46	6
15	Denny, Jeremy	54.49			
16	Symons, Kate	57.41	12.16	45.25	18
17	Walsh, Dave	61.05	17.36	43.29	15
18	Bright, Ian	61.29	20.16	41.13	8
19	Eady, Anthony	69.29	21.52	47.37	19
20	Carpenter, F	70.56	33.04	37.52	2