Woodhall Spa 10K Community Road Race

Forty-three members of Grantham Running Club made the relatively short journey northeast to take part in the Woodhall Spa 10K Community Road Race on Sunday 2^nd June. The race, which was the latest round of the 2019 GRC Grand Prix Series, is one of the most popular road races in the region with the 1100+ entries snapped up within hours of them being made available.

While the weather in Grantham was relatively cool and decidedly wet come the 11:15am start time, Woodhall Spa was bathed in warm sunshine with temperatures approaching 25°C by the time the last finishers were crossing the finish line. Although not quite as humid as the 2018 edition, runners in 2019 were further troubled by a stiff headwind for much of the second half of the race. As a result performances, on the whole, were a little down on what could be expected in better conditions on a pretty quick, relatively flat, one lap course.

PB for Ian

One runner who didn’t let the conditions adversely affect him was the in-form Ian Williams who, five days after setting a club record over 5K, clocked 34:27 - the fastest ever 10K time by a first claim GRC member - finishing an excellent fifth. Twenty seconds quicker than his recent personal best time set at the Lincoln 10K, Ian suffered with the heat in the latter stages and was slowed like everyone else by the wind. There is little doubt that in better conditions Ian will indisputably break the current outright club record of 34:10.

He was followed in ninth overall by Matthew Kingston-Lee, who simply described his race as ‘awful’ – trailing home a minute behind Ian in 35:26. His appraisal was appeased somewhat when he received a prize through the post for finishing second in the V40 age category. Chris Limmer, who has raced over 10K infrequently in recent years and had run two races in a week (Plus the 100 mile race he completed a month earlier) was content to finish twentieth in 37:35, 67 seconds ahead of the ever impressive Tony Johnson, whose 38:42 was just one second outside his season’s best. He also won a prize for finishing second in the V50 age category. Peter Bonner was the only other GRC runner to break 40 minutes, clocking a fine 39:55, just over half a minute outside his PB.

From the 24 strong GRC contingent there was an intriguing development in the ‘Battle of the

Sam leading Jack, Matthew checking his watch

Dodwells’ as Sam Dodwell beat brother Jack for the first time in a race en route to clocking an excellent minute plus PB of 44:53. Jack, who came home eight seconds later in 45:01, vowed to redouble his training efforts to ensure what he considers parity is restored. Hopefully this friendly inter-brother rivalry will see both improve in the months ahead! In another notable performance, finishing two seconds behind Jack, Paul Kelly chipped eight seconds from his 10K PB and Martin Rodell recorded his first 10K time, although his official time of 49:44 is slower than what he actually ran owing to an apparent timing chip malfunction.

First of the eighteen strong GRC women to

Holly was 3rd FV35

finish was Holly Durham, who put in another strong performance to finish eighth woman and third in the V35 age category, clocking 43:05. She was followed by Joss Smith, who ran her first ever 10K in 47:38 after four half marathon finishes over the past ten months. Willow Stacey ran well to better her 2015 10K PB by nearly two minutes, breaking 50 minutes for the first time in 48:37. Kirsty Bealby put in a strong performance to also break 50 minutes, with 49:28.

Behind these four women, it is fair to say that majority of the

remaining GRC ladies had a tough race in the conditions, not helped with some sub-standard drinks provision at the water stations. Although not setting a PB, there was a notable performance from Sara Pask, who took part in her first race since the 2017 Woodhall Spa 10K and was less than four minutes outside her PB, clocking 1:05:48.

Simon at 9k

The race was won by Nick Martin of Caistor Running Club in 31:50 with Cloe Hubbard of Newark AC the winning woman in 36:18. There were 1133 finishers, of which nearly 100 were running to mark the centenary of the 100^th anniversary of the RAF Benevolent Fund. The race has long paid homage to the former Royal Air Force station at Woodhall Spa, with 2019 finishers’ medal depicting a vintage fighter pilot’s helmet.

GRC Results:

Name	Chip Time
Ian Williams	34:27
Matthew Kingston-Lee	35:26
Chris Limmer	37:35
Tony Johnson	38:42
Peter Bonner	39:55
Joaquim Jeronimo	40:58
Sam Clark	41:44
Richard Payne	42:04
Andrew Pask	42:08
Andy Atter	42:50
Holly Durham	43:05
Samuel Jepson-Rivers	43:23
Sam Dodwell	44:53
Jack Dodwell	45:01
Paul Kelly	45:03
Russell Maksymiw	46:33
Matthew Atter	47:17
Nick Rossington	47:25
Joss Smith	47:38
Warren Stark	47:55
Willow Stacey	48:37
Kirsty Bealby	49:28
Martin Rodell	49:44
Stuart Baty	52:44
Rick Dobbs	52:49
Paul Jepson	53:13
Vicki Ball	54:12
Naomi Jepson-Rivers	54:14
Matt Fryer	57:49
Claire Williams	58:23
Tracy Webb	59:35
Sylv Hull	01:00:08
Kate Marshall	01:00:12
John Nevard	01:00:24
Melissa Hetherington	01:01:41
Emma Weighill	01:03:02
Julie Riggall	01:04:46
Sara Pask	01:05:48
Tracey Gell	01:06:01
Claire Fritz	01:06:59
Yvonne Buckley	01:07:03
Edina Burns	01:09:19
Simon Hartley	01:13:06