On Sunday 23rd Sept Chris Gay set an all time 10 mile PB of 59:49 in the Leighton 10 in Bedfordshire, finishing 4th of 313 runners on a hilly course. He’s having a really good season, from 5k to marathon, after injury problems laid him low in 2017.
Meanwhile, Daisy Glover was in blistering form in her first 10 mile race for 6 years, the Felixstowe Coastal 10, despite her huge effort in the Great East Half Marathon only 7 days earlier. She was 1st of 203 female finishers in 1:01:53 and 9th of 415 overall, close to her all-time PB of 1:00:28 set in 2012. This was the day after finishing first female at Gt Cornard parkrun in her season’s best 5K time of 18:04. Swashbuckling stuff!
On the same day, Neville Clarke (42:33) had a super run and clocked his best 10K time for 4 years in the Jolly Jaguar 10K at Coltishall, finishing 1st of 12 in his MV60 age group. This run puts him into the highest Newmarket Joggers club standard of Sapphire, with an age grade of 80.02%, so very well done indeed. He joins Paul Holley, Greg Davis, Neil Pollard and Daisy Glover, who have all achieved this distinction in 2018.
Andrew Taylor (47:57) and Clive Purbrook (49:08) went for the Bourn to Run 10K near Cambridge, both running close to their season’s best times. Clive also ran in the Dedham 10K the previous week, clocking 49:24 and was 2nd MV60, so in very consistent form with his season’s best time at 48:31 in the Sutton Beast 10K in June.
Sianie Painter gained a big PB and her first sub 60 time (59:05) in the Sandringham XK 10K in the grounds of the Royal Sandringham Estate. She will be taking on the Bure Valley 10 near Cromer, Norfolk in a week’s time, which will be an exciting, new challenge.
On a lighter note, Rebecca Hannah and Sarah Kinston ran together in the Disneyland Paris Magic 10K, stopping for some photos on the way, but still clocking around 1:06 PBs in a run which wasn’t officially timed. This was a total fun experience and a bit of escapism no doubt! The real challenge will come in the Abington 10K in two weeks time and the Perkins Great Eastern HM a week later, when they both should be confident of good performances after their long, steady, targeted, training build-up.