GIAAC Church to Church
19.7 Mile Road Race South Esplanade
17th March 2002

Winner Mike Doyle was justifiably pleased with himself for executing a perfect race plan and laying to rest the painful experience of his previous three Church to Church events.

Prior to the start there was some anticipation that Doyle would be unable to control his natural exuberance and start too quickly, a tactic that had put paid to his previous OChurch¹ attempts, but to the surprise of many onlookers he bided his time before employing a mid-race surge that took him past early leader, Brian Holden, just before halfway.

The affable Sark resident then moved steadily clear to comfortably win the longest event in the GIAAC calendar in a time of 2 hrs 6 minutes 30 seconds. Holden held on to cross the line nearly four minutes behind in second place with London Marathon hopeful, Tim Johns, claiming third.

Penny Buckingham, one of only four local track & field athletes shortlisted for the Commonwealth Games, was a clear winner of the women's event. Buckingham, a marathon specialist, barely looked troubled as she cruised home in 2 hrs 14 minutes 55 seconds to claim 5th overall just 5 seconds behind Paul Cherry.

Gal Merrien stayed in touch with Buckingham before retiring at the Vauxbelets halfway point. With Caroline Wickham also dropping out it was left to comparative newcomer, Lisa Herve, to finish second woman in 15th place overall. The diminutive Herve has not been seen since making a promising debut in last summers Abacus All-Terrain Challenge but again proved her ability with a superb run.

While the running version of the Church to Church event may not have the history of the September staged walking race there is no denying it¹s importance as one of the major distance running events with that special local flavour.

29 athletes finished the gruelling 19.7 mile event.