Gainsborough & Morton 10k

Sam, Paul, Naomi and Louise

Five members of Grantham Running Club were able to secure places and take part in the eighth Gainsborough and Morton 10k Road Race, round four of the club’s 2019 Grand Prix series. Hosted by Gainsborough & Morton Striders Athletic Club the popularity of the race, which takes place in the height of the spring half marathon and 20 mile race season, caught many interested GRC runners by surprise - the race filling its quota of 1050 entrants months ahead of the scheduled closing date.

The clear and bright early spring day, coupled with cool but not cold temperatures, made it near ideal conditions for racing, save for a stiff westerly breeze that made the going tough from around 2.5K through to just past the 6K marker on unsheltered roads.  Starting and ending in the village of Morton, the flat and fast one lap course headed northeast on quiet country lanes towards Blyton Carr. At Blyton the course headed west to the village of East Stockwith. The second half of the race briefly mirrored the path of the River Trent to Walkerith before leaving the Trent behind on the march back to the finish line in Morton.

First home for the Green Army was the ever impressive Grant Davies, finishing a fine eithteenth. Quick out of the blocks for the first mile he was pegged back by the aforementioned wind, but dug deep to finish in 37:23, just ten seconds outside his 10K PB.

Next home was Sam Jepson-Rivers. Continuing a fine run of form in March, he beat his 10k PB by over three minutes to finish in 42:42. Initially targeting sub 45 minutes, he passed halfway feeling good and decided to push hard to finish in sub 43, much to his own delight and surprise! Sam’s father, Paul Jepson put in a solid performance to finish in 52:37 resulting in an age grading of 65.75%. Whilst not quite at his best, he was pleased given a recent spate of injuries and illness.

Perhaps the performance of the day came from Naomi Jepson-Rivers, who capped off a fantastic day for the Jepson-Rivers family by shattering her previous personal best by over five and a half minutes! Naomi had come to the race with a goal of ‘Breaking 60’, only to find herself well ahead of target pace at the half way point. Maintaining the pace she was more than delighted to bring it home in a fantastic 54:50.

Louise Kennedy rounded off a positive day for the GRC contingent. Initially pegged back by the stiff breeze, she rallied to finish better than expected with a clocking of 1:07:17 which included a sprint finish. Her time is just one minute shy of her PB set in November last year.

Each of the race’s 830 finishers were presented with a 22 piece goodie bag (!) that also included a delightfully detailed medal. The well organised event had ample parking at the local school just 5 minutes from the start line. There was also plenty of local support along the course on a day that also featured a 1k family fun run.

 The race was won by Rob Payne of Castor Running Club in 32:45 with Laura Wilkinson of Lincoln Wellington AC the winning woman in 36:06.