Western Power Distribution Derby 10

The team posing before the race under to heaters

At 11am on Sunday 25th November, 1242 participants set off in four waves to undertake the third Western Power Distribution Derby 10 Mile road race. The field included twenty members of Grantham Running Club taking part in the penultimate round of the club’s 2018 Grand Prix Series.

The conditions were good: dry, fresh, and around 6.5 degrees Celsius. Moreover the course lived up to the promise of being fast, flat, and scenic. Starting at Pride Park Stadium, which proved an ideal venue, the race soon headed to the river path, continuing onto the A6 cycle path and then through the scenic Elvaston Castle Country Park, before returning back to Pride Park via the river path.

First home for GRC in 28th position was Chris Limmer in 1:01:39. Evidently still recovering from a heavy cold, Chris ran a controlled race and was left wondering whether if, fully fighting fit, he could have beaten his PB of 59:20 set back in December 2013. First woman home for the club was Penny Hodges who ran an equally fine race to clock 1:14:41, finishing 28^th female and eleventh in her age group. Frustratingly just shy of the elusive 70% silver certificate earning age grade, she was pleased to establish an official 10 mile PB having previously only run the distance in a multi-terrain race.

Flushed with confidence after his eye catching performance at the Great Eastern Half Marathon in October, Matthew Williamson attacked it at faster than his 10K PB pace, was able to hold on for the additional 3 ¾ miles, and was rewarded with a fantastic 1:02:42, exactly three minutes faster than his old PB. As at Peterborough, Joe Clarke and Dean Riggall followed Matthew home and both celebrated new personal bests. Joe improved his old mark by around 50 seconds with 1:03:37 and Dean took a scarcely believable 5 minutes 40 seconds off his previous best with 1:04:41, his 1:07:41 at the multi-terrain Peterborough 10 a week ago an indicator that his old 10 mile best time was due serious revision.

The combined times of Chris, Matthew, Joe, and Dean secured Grantham Running Club a fine third place in a highly competitive male team competition, finishing less than two minutes behind winners Long Eaton Running Club. 

Richard Payne, on his road 10 mile debut, had a strong race, battling to and fro with club mate Rob Howbrook. He beat Rob on the line clocking 1:09:06, only to discover that Rob’s official time was 1:07:46. Having erroneously been put in the second start wave, Rob passed 397 runners with not one passing him to clock 1:07:46 - the fastest V60 time of the day and his second ever fastest ten mile time. However he unfortunately couldn’t claim the V60 prize as current rules dictate that this is based on gun time position, so has had to settle for third.

Julie: Number 2 in the UK

The ever incredible Julie Braker was the second GRC woman home, running 1:25:20. This not only won her the V65 age category by just shy of ten minutes, it currently puts her #2 in the UK for 2018 over ten miles for the V70 age group. Another runner who had cause to celebrate was Claire Fritz, who put aside the disappointment of her injury affected run at the Peterborough 10 to establish a 10 mile best time of 1:49:23. Tracy Webb actually ran a little slower than at Peterborough, but her road race time of 1:38:37 at Derby establishes her official PB.

GRC had a number of first timers to this distance that all put in excellent performances. Stefan Latter was over the moon with his 1:11:38; Mark Edwards loved the course and will be back again to attempt to better his 1:24:06. Nichola Webster was third GRC woman home in 1:33:39; Kate Marshall followed in 1:41:42. Magaretta Murray (1:46:43) ran all the way with a ten mile veteran Yvonne Buckley, who put on a sprint finish to pull clear and clock 1:46:47 and was very pleased to be just over a minute outside her PB set five years ago. Rebecca Angel put in a determined sprint finish to beat three other runners on the line, clocking 1:50:18. She was followed by Edina Burns who also sprinted to the line to finish in 1:51:57.

There were two other finishers from GRC: Joanne Moore ran her first 10 mile race in eight years, finishing in 1:38:57, enjoying the course and the post race coffee that followed. Some way up the road finished Rob McArdle in 1:14:34, earning himself a UK ranking for his age category. This earned him the distinction of being the only runner in the club to have such a ranking over 5K, 5 miles, 10K, 10 miles, half marathon, 20 miles and marathon in 2018.

All finishers received a medal, technical t-shirt, a gift from Western Power and a bottle of Water.
The GRC participants were near unanimous in their praise for the race organisation and enjoyable course and would look to return for the 2019 race.

The 2018 race was won by Andy Harding of Belper 10:20 Triathlon Club in 53:59, with the women’s race won by Tamara Armoush of Birchfield Harriers in a new course record 58:12.