Basildon Athletic Club provided the winner of both the main race and the ladies event when the Pitsea 5 was staged over a course starting and finishing at Gloucester Park.

Off and running -- the Pitsea 5 field hits the road. Picture: TERENCE BUNCH 8UFKU8C

Overall honours went to Mark Sanford with a time of 26 mins. 01 secs, while teenager Stacey Ward was tops for the women.

Her time of 30.31 saw her 28th overall from a finishing field of 221, but she beat the next female home, 43rd-placed lady vet Tracey Apps, from Springfield Striders, by exactly 90 seconds.

In the main race Sanford had a 26-second success over second-placed Gary Preston (unattached), while his new town colleague Andrew Lingard was just 11 further seconds back. Fourth place went to Southend AC's Colin Miles in 26.43.

Organisers Pitsea Running Club had moved the race to a new Spring date from its usual place in the schedule in early winter in the hope that runners-up getting set for the coming weekend's London Marathon might take part as a "loosener".

They had hoped for a starting field of up to 1,000 and admitted disappointment at the size of the field.

Said organiser Peter McLaughlin: "I think one of the problems was the the surrounding roads were closed a little earlier than was really necessary which meant that some athletes never got to the start.

"We had hoped to make a profit which would have gone to the Muscular Dystrophy charity but as things stand at the moment we will incur a loss. However, this was very much experimental in the race being run at this time of year for the first time and we shall certainly continue staging the Pitsea 5 in the spring.

"We fully expect to become better established in years to come with larger fields and are confident that we can overcome certain teething troubles which we suffered from this time."

The near gale-force winds which prevailed on the day also robbed organisers of the super-quick times they'd been hoping for.

Full results of the race in Friday's Evening Echo

Published Tuesday, April 9, 2002