Lincoln Wellington AC 5K Series and Memory Mile

Only race hosts Lincoln Wellington AC could better the impressive turnout of twenty nine Grantham Running Club members who took part in the opening LWAC 5K Series race on Tuesday 29^th May 2019. The race, which incorporated the seventh round of the GRC 5K Grand Prix Series proved to be a very special race for the ‘Green Army’ with club records both established and smashed, and a great number of personal bests set.

Ian clocked sub 5:20 per mile

The poor children who set off at 18:30 for the accompanying 1K Race resembled drowned rats as a downpour of near biblical proportions literally destroyed the race results and briefly risked flooding the Yarborough Leisure Centre in Lincoln, where the evening’s races took place. Thankfully once all the young boys and girls finished safe and sound with a medal to warm themselves with, the conditions turned dramatically to prove ideal for 5K racing, with weak evening sunshine slowly drying the course, temperatures in the very low teens and barely a breath of wind to slow the runners.

First home for GRC was the ever-improving Ian Williams, who built on his first ever road race victory over ten miles a week earlier to break the existing club 5K record. In a superbly judged effort, he bettered his PB by over a minute, finishing seventh overall in 16:33. He improved on the former club record, held by Matthew Kingston-Lee, by 12 seconds. Matthew, who clocked that 16:45 at the same race twelve months earlier, could do nothing but watch Ian slowly, but inexorably, disappear into the distance as he himself had to settle for eleventh place overall and second in the V40 age category, clocking a slightly frustrating 17:00.

Chris Limmer was next to finish for GRC, just two days on from finishing second at the Little Bytham 10K Farm Run. Chris was pleased to clock his fastest 5K time

Rob now on the "All Time" list for the mile

since 2014 with 17:36. He finished ahead of a trio of runners who all claimed 5K personal bests: Joe Clarke (18:19) bettered his PB by 26 seconds; Joaquim Jeronimo showed considerable determination to continue after briefly stopping with knee pain to clock 18:28, taking two seconds off his previous best; and Matthew Williamson finished just two seconds behind in 18:30 – sixteen seconds better than his previous best set in 2018.

Ian Williams’ club record notwithstanding, it is arguable that the performance of the evening came from a resurgent Rob Howbrook. He kicked off the proceedings by finishing fifth overall and first in his age category in the inaugural ‘Memory Mile’ which took place twenty minutes before the 5K race. His time of 5:38 effectively sets a club record as it’s the first recorded instance of an officially licensed road mile race taking place in the club’s history. Far from fatiguing the 60 years young runner this short race seemed to inspire Rob who went on finish first in the V60 category, clocking a fantastic 18:47 in the 5K race. This was not only a new PB by ten seconds it merited an age grade of 85.39%. This is comfortably the highest ever grade by a male runner from Grantham Running Club and makes him the first runner to potentially receive a platinum race standard certificate at the next club awards night.

Peter Bonner, sixth with 5:40 in the Memory Mile, was just a couple of seconds outside his 5K PB, clocking 19:00. Andy Atter followed in 20:24, who finished ahead of Stefan Latter, who was delighted with his new 5K PB of 20:50 having suffered recently with a chest infection. 

Catherine's ranked # 4 by UKA

Stefan finished just ahead of Catherine Payne, who was the first GRC woman to finish in 20:58. Her 83.04% age grade would be the best by a GRC woman in 2019 to date had she not run 83.10% en route to winning the preceding Memory Mile in 6:14. Both performances earned her V50 age category victories; her memory mile time establishes a club record over the distance.

Jack Dodwell (21:06) who had finished eighth and ahead of Catherine in the Memory Mile in 5:51, had the disappointment of being just one second outside his PB. He did though earn family bragging rights by beating his brother Sam home (21:24). Adrian Walker (22:03) lamented setting off too quickly and suffering the consequences later in the race. He, like Sam, established though a PB over the distance, as did Paul Kelly who ran well to clock 22:22 and Hannah San Jose, who finished in 22:28 and was fourth in her age category.

Nick Rossington (22:42) struggled a little in the 5K, but he also ran the Memory Mile where he finished tenth and first in the V50 age category with 6:24. Rob McArdle was twelfth in the Memory Mile and second in the same age category. He went on to run 23:24 in the 5K race.  

Caroline Davis (24:34) very impressively bettered her 5K PB by 31 seconds, just a day after finishing a similar amount of time outside her 10K PB at the Vitality London 10,000. Following Caroline, Richard Hall clocked 24:49. Ros Sadler was just two seconds outside her PB in 25:21; Julie Gilbert (26:00) bettered hers by 19 seconds. Rachel Pattison established a 5K best of 26:44. Tracy Webb’s 28:10 is an official 5K PB as her 27:54 set at the Rockingham 5K is classed as ‘NAD’ on the Power of 10 Website. 

Suzanne Hardy (29:07) was another to run her first official 5K race. Claire Fritz bettered her ‘NAD’ Rockingham 5K time by over a minute to establish an indisputable 5K PB of 29:12. She was just ahead of Kate Marshall who ran her first 5K race in 29:14. Louise Kennedy bettered her PB set at the same race 12 months earlier by two seconds with 30:38 and Dona Hall completed the GRC contingent with 31:01.

The 5K race was won by William Strangeway of Lincoln Wellington AC in 15:06 with club mate Abbie Donnelly the winning woman in 16:59. There were 154 finishers. The Memory Mile was won by Harry Baxter of Lincoln Wellington AC in 4:42. There were 27 finishers.