2017 Macmillan Winchester PPP Race report
This year’s race went off without a hitch, guided by over 50 volunteer marshals along the race route. The weather was perfect with some cloud cover keeping the viaduct much cooler than previous years. Spirits were high, with over 400 of you making it to the start line, including over 40 teams.
The bike leg was the same as 2016 due to the continued closure of Barfield Close, coming in a little short of 20km, followed by a 5k loop along the Sustrans loop from Palmer’s Field to the Hockley Viaduct. Water levels were good and we had perfect paddling conditions for the 2k finishing kayak leg.
With none of the 2016 top 3 gents competing, Julian Mann won the men’s trophy with a total time of 01:02:38 after a close race with Matthew Robinson. They were followed in by Ed Chase in 3rd place. Lloyd Hoarton, managing partner of our main sponsor, Forresters, completed the cycle leg on a tandem with his stoker John Darlington in a very respectable 39 minutes.
Fran Upson relinquished her title to newcomer Charlotte Hoskins in the women’s race, completing the course in 01:12:23 to become the PPP’s first lady. Leanne Watters came in 2nd and Kate Pryde was 3rd (after doubling up on the 5k run after a chip malfunction!).
With a record 45 teams entered, the winning companies from the last two years battled it out again for the Creedon Cup, with AECOM Elite emerging victorious, finishing 3 minutes ahead of Forresters A team, with Procurement Heads finishing 3rd.
Heart-warming tale of the day were couple Rob and Jo Britton. Jo suffered a bike malfunction in Easton and ever the gentleman, Rob handed over his bike so Jo could finish the bike leg and proceeded to run the rest of the course with her bike on his shoulder. What a husband!
Male Individual
1st Julian Mann 01:02:38
2nd Matthew Robinson 01:03:21
3rd Ed Chase 01:06:27
Female Individual
1st Charlotte Hoskins 01:12:23
2nd Leanne Watters 01:13:06
3rd Kate Pryde 01:14:23
Team
1st AECOM Elite 01:06:21
2nd Forresters A 01:09:23
3rd Procurement Heads 01:10:07
Click HERE for provisional results.
For relay teams, please search by race number as some of those results still need adjusting.
As always, we couldn’t do this event without all our sponsors and partners so a big thank you to Forresters, Northgate Vehicle Hire, Alton Sports, Bovis Homes, Safe Access Solutions, Williams Ewan, CycleTours UK, Hargroves Cycles, Woodmill Kayak, New Forest Activities, Liquid Logistics, Import Services, Condor, Fitique, Kingsgate Tennis Club, Winchester College, Winchester City Council, the village of Easton and many more.
Upwards of £25,000 has been raised for Macmillan Cancer Support as of this week. We can’t track them all, but special mentions to : Import Services, Blue Jelly (> £3K between these two companies alone) Conor Logan, Matthew Cox, Brian Beagan, Peter Dobson, Mike Hill, Harriet McGarry for their efforts.
Provisional date for 2018 is Sunday 15th July