Close Finish at North Lincs Challenge
Ken Collier (Lincsquad) / 29.05.2008
The race is run annually on the last Sunday of May with three disciplines consisting of: a 36 kilometre cycle race on the roads around Brigg, two laps in a canoe or kayak around the Brigg \'Island\' and a 10K trail run finishing in Brigg Market Place. The weather once again proved difficult with strong winds battering the competitors on the cycle, the 1st of the three disciplines.
Last years winner Keith Longney once again returned to defend his crown with some tough opposition ready to challenge him for the top spot. Joe Andrews - VOtwo.co.uk set his stall out by posting the fastest bike leg with an impressive 53:46, ahead of nearest rival John Parker of Worcester Canoe Club with 54:35, and local challenger Steve Clark (Lincsquad) with a 54:48 leaving Keith Longney down in 4th place.
Next up it was the kayak leg and John Parker dominated here with a 47:41 with only Andy Grimwood managing to post a sub 50 minute kayak time behind him. This put Parker into 1st place with Joe Andrews (51:28) pushed down to 2nd position by 3 minutes, Keith Longney took 3rd spot from Steve Clark who was now in 4th place.
The final run saw Andrews push hard to try and claw back his lead and he posted the fastest run of the day with 40:43. Parker then finished in 43:27 which meant that he took the victory by just 14 seconds! He also won the £100 for smashing the course record by nearly 4 minutes posting a total time of 2:25:43.
This left the battle for 3rd place and Keith Longney managed to hold off Steve Clark who pushed hard on his run but missed out by just over a minute. So the top 5 are as follows
1st Place - John Parker - Worcester Canoe Club - 2:25:43
2nd Place - Joe Andrews - www.VOtwo.co.uk - 2:25:57
3rd Place - Keith Longney - BQA - 2:30:03
4th Place - Steve Clark - Lincsquad - 2:31:27
5th Place - Peter Connolly - Lincsquad -2:37:27
1st Lady - Jean Ashley - Lincsquad - 2:56:16
1st Team - Five Training Regiment - 2:52:31
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