Winter 5K Time Trial – Records Tumble
25 January 2018 - By Martyn Byford
On a perfect night for running the 23 runners that turned out were rewarded with excellent runs.
Whilst the course is not Certified by England Athletics it cannot be counted for PB purposes however Course Records are always up for the grabs and tonight whist Heydon was away in London his previous CR of 18.06, achieved in 2016, was bettered by 3 men. Similarly Vicky Hunt’s 20.32 in November 2016 was also removed from the record book.
That said I could point to any runner and highlight an aspect of their running tonight such was the quality.
In the Ladies race Rachel Sweatt had her first experience of the Freebournes two lapper and having cruised round the first lap opened up the throttle on the second to finish 4th overall and First lady in an excellent 18.41. Second Lady and just having made a welcome return to the Club was Anna Sutton in 25.44. Making a rare Thursday night appearance and keeping the Mizon family on the podium was Ruth Mizon who beat her previous time by over a minute crossing the line in 25.57.
Just behind and also running bests were Karen Flowers and Sue Shippey who crossed the line together in keeping with their Marathon Training Plan in 26.25. Sylvie Bullen-Bell ran an excellent 28.05 having just returned from injury with new member Ami Sawran sprinting home in a very good 29.15.
In the mens race it soon became apparent that times were going to be swift and so it turned out. David Stevens opened up an early gap over James Crisp and David Church which he never relinquished crossing the line in an exciting 17.24 which was 30 seconds clear of James who was pushed all the way by a rapidly improving David in times of 17.54 and 17.56 respectively.
Had the course been certified Giles Sowerby’s 18.49 would have earned him a PB whilst Pete Riley can be well pleased with his 19.09. After a brief gap Bill Smyth and Mark Austin finished close together both recovering from their excursion over the mud and hills of Benfleet on Sunday in 20.50 and 20.55 respectively.
A minute back an excellent run from Brad Jestico(21.31) in his first 5k followed shortly by Dave Mason (21.42), Mark Lynch (21.44) and new man Richard Green ( 21.50). Danny `topknot’ Connor 23.22, Matt Lucas 23.39, Lee Blake 23.45, Ian Lucas 24.31 and David Grainger 25.51 completed the mens field.
A big thank you to all the marshals that turned out to ensure that all road junctions on the course were covered and that our runners remained safe. Those stepping forward to take a bow please Mat and Rachel Pearsons, Carina, Scott Darney, Elizabeth Prior, Anita, Jo and Caitlin, Sasha and Phil Cherry.
Martyn
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