The Jersey Spartan Athletic Club Annual 5km Handicap for the Wilson Trophy
Saturday 24 March 2012
The Wilson Trophy 2012 2403 times
The Jersey Spartan Athletic Club held their Annual 5km Handicap race for the Wilson Trophy at West Park at the weekend in sunny but windy conditions. Before the race, the competitors had a one minute silence in memory of their club president Richardson Wilkinson who died recently. This was then followed by a burst of applause.
The race itself was won by 17 year old sensation Elliot Dorey. Starting last, having given the first runner a 6 and a half minute start, Dorey sliced through the field like a hot knife through butter, overtaking all of the other 22 competitors. It was a phenomenal performance from the youngest who finished in a time of 15 minutes 57 seconds, which also won him the run of the day award.
The runner-up was Clayton Lidster who finished 9 seconds down on Dorey. He had taken over in front from long-time early front-runner Ana Goncalves, and held on till he was overtaken in the final 200 metres. Third place went to Kevin Lovatt who overtook Dave Woodsford on the line. Both runners were given the same time, finishing 13 seconds behind Lidster. Thirteen runners finished within a minute of the winner so the handicapper seems to have got it right this time, a statement backed up by Mike Stafford who presented the Trophy to the victor at the end of the race. Stafford represented Jersey in the British and Empire Commonwealth Games in Cardiff in 1958, and had a best time of 1 minute 52 seconds for the 880 yards.
