Woodhall Spa 10K

Some of the runners before the start

A total of 42 members of Grantham Running Club took part in the Woodhall Spa 10K on Sunday. The annual road race is a favourite with runners looking for a personal best time due to it’s flat course. The route is all on country lanes & starts close to Jubilee Park taking in Edlington Moor, Reeds Beck & Stixwould before finishing in Jubilee Park itself. Weather conditions, whilst not as hot as April’s London Marathon or May’s Sleaford Half Marathon, were still very warm meaning that some runners were a minute or two slower than their personal best time.

Holly was 5th lady and MKL was 5th man

First home for GRC in 5th position overall was Matthew Kingston-Lee with a time of 34:45 - just 25 seconds slower than his PB. He also picked up a prize for placing 1st in the Male 40 category. He was followed by Tony Johnson who continued his fine run of form by also picking up an age category prize for placing 2nd in the Male 50 category. His time of 38:45 placed him in 34th position overall.

Five seconds and two positions behind Tony on his 10K debut was Grant Davies with a time of 38:50. As expected he comfortably broke 40 minutes and will no doubt go faster still in cooler conditions. Having spent most of the race battling against each other & driving each other on, Andrew Pask (40:11 - 56th) & Gav Meadows (40:17 - 59th) got as close to their PB’s as they could’ve hoped in the heat.

With arguably the most impressive GRC performance of the day, Holly Durham was the first lady home for the club. She picked up a prize for placing 1st in the Female 35 category. She was also the 5th lady in the whole race & placed 73rd overall. Her time of 41:21 is a new personal best - beating her previous best from 2014 by 10 seconds. Quite remarkable in the heat. Nick Rossington wasn’t far behind Holly. His time of 41:45 was only 22 seconds slower than his PB. It was also good enough to secure 5th position in the Male 50 category.

With another impressive performance, Catherine Payne claimed the 2nd place prize in the Female 50 category. She was 7th lady overall and her time of 42:57 was just 17 seconds outside her PB. Robert McArdle also performed well, finishing 5th in the Male 55 category. Whilst some way off his personal best, his time of 45:19 was still very impressive given the conditions.

Another two runners who performed well in their respective age

categories were Sarah High & Caroline Davis. Sarah placed 6th in the Female 50 category with a time of 50:38. Some way off her PB but still very impressive given the heat & recent injury struggles. Caroline came home in 50:47 which was good enough for 10th place in the Female 45 category.

There were also personal bests for Stefan Latter (44:11), Stuart Reader (45:18), Kevin Kettle (45:24), Nichola Webster (58:01), Julie Riggall (58:28) & Emma Weighill (59:01). All these runners deserve special praise as the conditions were far from ideal for running fast times.

Other results: Richard Payne 41:40, Scott Jones 42:29, Mark Hillson 44:49, Simon Smith 48:07, Liam Vincent 48:31, Nev Chamberlain 48:37, Russell Maksymiw 49:00, Stuart Baty 51:13, Helen Brown 52:25, Martin Carter 53:01, Suzanne Britz 54:27, Sinead McDonnell 54:52, John Nevard 56:56, Marc Tremain 57:52, Julie Gilbert 57:39, Brendon Buckley 1:02:20, Nicola Fahy 1:04:29, Rachel Pattison 1:05:17, Jonathon Lil 1:06:27, Yvonne Buckley 1:07:23, Simon Hartley 1:07:48, Amanda Mumby 1:08:54, Claire Fritz 1:09:00, Magaretta Murray 1:10:57, Melanie Taylor 1:16:38