The Selways go on tour…

Race Report

On Saturday Richard and I crept out of the house at the crack of dawn (well, 06:45 certainly felt like it)  to catch a couple of trains to Battersea Park. It was a cool but dry morning with promise of some sun a bit later. As our beloved Norman Park parkrun was cancelled for this week we used the opportunity to double the pain in a 10k race on a lovely flat course. We registered on the day for the wonderfully low key  but well organised leafy park race and set off at 8am on a 3 and a bit lap course. At a guess there were at most a couple of hundred runners so no start of the race argy bargy  to get into the flow of the race. It was well marshalled and a lovely flat course so no excuses I thought for a good time. Richard was pacing a friend and colleague who was hoping to break 40 min and true to form he, Richard, achieved his goal precisely. Our time at the half way point was called out to is which was a great touch.  I strived to keep a 7min 30 pace but with a fairly sparse number of runners lost my concentration as the chap I was running alongside for half the race took off into the distance at an increased pace. Couldn’t keep up and  my pace slipped by. The beauty of doing laps I found was that I could try to claw back some pace on the last lap and with Richard cheering like mad on the home straight I did a fairly good impression of a sprint finish. The finishing time was called out as runners crossed the line and yes I achieved a PB in 47min 04  which leaves me with the next goal of running sub 47! Always looking to the next goal. I d recommend a Battersea race, there are several scheduled over the summer of various distances.

Results

Georgina

Coach Helen ran in the above race, and has filed the following report. Well done Helen!

‘Having not raced since the Brighton 10k in November and with various
circumstances meaning I will miss many of the Grand Prix races for 2011, I
thought I should enter a few races on my own. The Ashford 10k appealed being
not too far either in race distance or travel distance. I only made up my
mind to actually race it the night before and so had to hurriedly go through
my ‘pre race routine’ getting everything ready for the next day.

Felt a bit lonely when I first got there being the only Beckenham runner,
but it didn’t take too long to find some runners I knew to chat to and warm
up with.

The race itself started a 5 minute run away along a narrow country lane. The
race progressed through pretty country lanes, slightly undulating but not
too hilly until the advertised hill at 7k. This wasn’t actually that bad and
if I were to do the race again would attack it more. The final 3k was meant
to be all downhill – but it certainly didn’t feel like it!

The course is fast, attracting a good field of runners. Unfortunately, the
winds buffeting most of the south of England did not miss Ashford and the
wind was so strong that you could feel most of the way, either hitting you
from the side across open fields or directly in your face (I’m sure it must
have been behind me at some point but it didn’t feel like it!).

I finished with a chip time of 43.56, not too bad for a windy day. Would
definitely recommend for a future Grand Prix race.’

Helen