TAMARA Jordan completed a clean-sweep of victories at this summer's Friday Five Series, thanks to a fifth successive win at the Great Bentley five-mile road race.

By Carl Marston

TAMARA Jordan completed a clean-sweep of victories at this summer's Friday Five Series, thanks to a fifth successive win at the Great Bentley five-mile road race.

Just like at the previous four races, staged at Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich, Kirton and Stowmarket, Jordan triumphed ahead of Helen Decker, who was a runner-up at each of these events.

Jordan, of Stowmarket Striders, set a scorching time of 29mins 52secs for the fast rural route from Great Bentley Village Hall. She finished 26th overall on an evening when 27 runners ducked under the 30-minute barrier.

Decker, of Ipswich Jaffa, has enjoyed racing against Jordan this season, but once again she had to settle for second position in 30.20.

The 1-2-3 in the ladies' race has in fact had a familiar ring to it, and Valerie Gladwell, of Hadleigh Hares, repeated her recent third placings with an impressive 31.44. She finished just 10 seconds ahead of leading junior, Danielle Hurley.

Jaffa once again featured highly in the veteran rankings. Jayne Williams was first in the over-35 class, as was club-mate Julie Brown in the over-45 section.

Brigid Wallen spearheaded a large party from Witham Running Club, and she duly topped the over-40 age group with 33.19. Christine Marsh and Pam Jones won the over-50 and over-55 categories respectively.

Meanwhile, David Miller wrapped up the overall Series title in the men's race, thanks to his fourth win in five races - he missed the Kirton Friday Five to watch his wife, Sarah, compete for Great Britain at the European Duathlon Championships in Edinburgh.

Three men clocked sub-27 minute times. Miller led the way in 26.27, just 16 seconds ahead of Graeme Knott, from Harwich Runners. Miller's up-and-coming Woodbridge Shufflers' club-mate, Aaron Scott, took third with 26.58.

Jaffa's David Laing was fourth home and the leading veteran in 27.05, and there was another consistent run from David Reed, of Saint Edmund Pacers, who was fifth and the first over-45 veteran in 27.20.

There was a strong run from Alex Gladley, of Colchester & Tendring AC. He was the first under-17 junior in 27.42, while at the other end of the age scale there were veteran victories for Stowmarket Striders' Malcolm Penn (over-50), Felixstowe Road Runners' Ray Roberts (over-55) and Essex-based John Hardy (over-60).

For Tiptree Road Runners, Simon Morgan set a personal best time of 32.23, which was an improvement of almost 20 seconds. Mark Brewer was the first Tiptree runner home in 32.08, while Roger Duffield ran his fastest five-miler of the season (36.21) to finish third overall in the over-60 Series standings.

Chris Sellens flew the flag for Colchester Harriers. He stayed with the leading bunch during the early stages, going through the first mile in 5mins 04secs. This proved a little too fast, but he stayed on well to finish 13th.

Fellow Harriers Rob Gibby (30.12) and Leigh Berrenger (30.27) both narrowly missed out on their target of beating 30 minutes, but there was another PB for the in-form Pat Marsh.

Kevin Harper was the first Witham Running Club member to cross the line in 30.15. His club-mate Phil Martin bounced back from injury to record 33.13, and there were PBs for Matt Pearsons (34.06), Liz Stuckey (34.52) and Shelley Wray (41.47).

Results from the Great Bentley 5

Top 40 men: 1 D Miller (Woodbridge Shufflers) 26.27; 2 G Knott (Harwich Runners) 26.43; 3 A Scott (Woodbridge) 26.58; 3 D Laing (Ipswich Jaffa) 27.05; 5 D Reed (Saint Edmund Pacers) 27.20; 6 R Chenery (Jaffa) 27.29; 7 R Aldis (Stowmarket Striders) 27.36; 8 A Gadley (Colchester & Tendring) 27.42; 9 M Crook (Springfield Striders) 27.43; 10 K Sharman (Lowestoft RR) 27.48.

11 M Bridgeland (Chelmsford AC) 27.54; 12 C Cooke (Pacers) 28.13; 13 C Sellens (Colchester Harriers) 28.18; 14 G Davies (Jaffa) 28.20; 15 J Beeton (Newmarket Joggers) 28.23; 16 D Green (Gt Bentley RC) 28.56; 17 D Moss (Unattaced) 29.03; 18 N Palmer (Stowmarket) 29.16; 19 J Long (Pacers) 29.18; 20 C Starmer (Stowmarket) 29.24

21 D Lawrence (Springfield) 29.27; 22 L Jones (Un) 29.28; 23 N Stephens (Stowmarket) 29.43; 24 N Moulton (Jaffa) 29.49; 25 P Preston (Sudbury Joggers) 29.51; 26 C Thomas (Gt Bentley RC) 29.57; 27 D Thorrington (Ipswich Tri Club) 30.02; 28 S Harrison (Jaffa) 30.03; 29 W Benton (Sudbury) 30.07; 30 G Bryden (Pacers) 30.09.

31 R Gibby (Col/Harr) 30.12; 32 B Caisey (Un) 30.12; 33 K Harper (Witham RC) 30.15; 34 M Nelhams (Pacers) 30.25; 35 L Barrenger (Col/Harr) 30.27; 36 T Hanman (Un) 30.30; 37 S Phillips (Pacers) 30.33; 38 R Sharp (Un) 30.41; 39 M Barnes-Smith (Pacers) 30.44; 40 M Penn (Stowmarket) 30.45.

Top 30 ladies: 1 T Jordan (Stowmarket) 29.52; 2 H Decker (Jaffa) 30.20; 3 V Gladwell (Hadleigh Hares) 31.44; 4 D Hurley (Southend AC) 31.54; 5 A Oakman (Chelmsford AC) 31.58; 6 J Williams (JAffa) 32.18; 7 N Belsom (Jaffa) 32.21; 8 B Wallen (Witham RC) 33.19; 9 V Jennings (Jaffa) 33.23; 10 N Pyle (Col/Tend) 33.32.

11 J Brown (Jaffa) 33.38; 12 H Suttle (Stowmarket) 34.10; 13 B McCorquodale (Gt Bentley RC) 34.24; 14 L Staunton (Jaffa) 34.30; 15 N Hale (Jaffa) 34.35; 16 A Henry (Sudbury) 34.37; 17 R Jordan (Stowmarket) 34.40; 18 F Richmond (Un) 34.46; 19 L Stuckey (Witham RC) 34.52; 20 M Jones (Ilford AC) 35.46.

21 S Golding (Pacers) 35.51; 22 S Vick (Saxmundham Saxons) 36.20; 23 K Wooldridge (Jaffa) 36.37; 24 L Mills (Stowmarket) 36.45; 25 M Shirley (CATs) 36.58; 26 V Hollingworth (Felixstowe RR) 37.03; 27 L Wilkin (CATs) 37.06; 28 H Bingham (Stowmarket) 37.10; 29 R O'Connor (Witham RC) 37.31; 30 C Howland (Felixstowe RR) 37.40.

Male veterans, over-40: 1 Laing, 2 Beeton, 3 Stephens. Over-45: 1 Reed, 2 Bridgeland, 3 Cooke. Over-50: 1 Penn, 2 K Macrosson (Jaffa) 32.26; 3 P Dewison (Cambridge & Coleridge) 32.37. Over-55: 1 R Roberts (Felixstowe RR) 31.38; 2 C Cook (Pacers) 36.43; 3 R Ames (Stowmarket) 37.07. Over-60: 1 J Hardy (Grange Farm & Dunmow) 34.39; 2 G Everitt (Jaffa) 34.54; 3 G Peck (Harwich) 35.32.

Female veterans, over-35: 1 Williams, 2 Vick, 3 Mills. Over-40: 1 Wallen, 2 Jennings, 3 Pyle. Over-45: 1 Brown, 2 M Jones, 3 D Lewis (Witham) 38.29. Over-50: 1 C Marsh (Un) 38.56; 2 G Dean (Jaffa) 39.27; 3 C Holroyd (Harwich) 41.05. Over-55: 1 P Jones (Ilford AC) 39.45; 2 M Wright (Jaffa) 39.56; 3 M Brown (Stowmarket) 41.57.

Juniors (15-17 years), male: 1 Gladley, 2 Moss, 3 Bryden. Female: 1 Hurley.