Sublime Long Sutton Spring 10K

Peter, Jack, Matt and Paul

Five members of Grantham Running Club took part in the Sublime Long Sutton Spring 10K on Sunday 17th March. A classic fenland style race - the course is virtually pancake flat and has great potential for a PB although so long as the conditions aren’t windy. Alas the perennial hazard of many a fenland race saw conditions on the day not ideal, for although it was cool, dry and sunny, there were very strong winds for around half the race in the middle section that surely contributed to the winner’s time being three minutes slower than in 2018.

First GRC finisher was Matt Kidd with a fine 40:05, just shy of the sub-40 he had hoped for and only 12 seconds outside his PB, but a great run considering the conditions. Peter Bonner, who was suffering with a cold, stated beforehand he was not going for a PB and aiming for 42 minutes, which he executed perfectly coming in at 42:06. Third back was Jack Dodwell in 44:11. After a slow start to the year with injuries and illnesses, Jack put in a strong performance besting his previous PB by nearly ninety seconds despite losing a minute to the effects of the headwind. Fourth to finish was Paul Davis with 45:55, claiming third place in the VM50-54 category. Paula Ebbins was the sole GRC woman running and was delighted with a four minute PB of 1:06:17. 

The event drew praise for being well organised with a high quality t-shirt and finishers’ medal making the race particularly good value. The race winner was William Strangeway of Lincoln Wellington AC in 33:14 with Shelley Duffy of BRJ Huntingdon the winning woman in 41:41. There were 403 finishers.