Whissendine 6ix

Since the Whissendine 6ix (six mile) was first held in 1985, the race has established itself as a quintessential summer evening village road race. With only a few concessions to modern race expectations, such as the quiet country roads being mostly closed to traffic and the race partially chip timed, the event retains the low-key but warm and friendly ambience that many races of yesteryear would have experienced, but is increasingly disappearing from the road racing calendar as the popularity of larger, more professionally organised races, continues to increase, and the logistics of hosting a road race continues to become more difficult.

The six mile course is an anticlockwise one lap circuit bordering Stapleford Park and features a number of rolling climbs and descents typical of the Rutland countryside surrounding Whissendine. The race, held this year on Friday 5^th July, is part of Feast Week, a tradition of the village dating back to the Middle Ages which has been resurrected in recent years and incorporates a number of events to raise funds to support the village. Other events on the evening were a WI book stall and Brownies Sausage Sizzle on the village green where the race finished. The local pub was also a popular venue for spectators to watch runners pass by and for runners to quench their thirst post race.

MKL wins first prize

With the sun shining and temperatures still comfortably in excess of 20°C come the 7:30pm start, the race was certainly a hot affair. In recent years it has been possible to enter the event on the evening and has failed to attract more than a handful of Grantham Running Club members, but the 2019 edition proved very popular with entries selling out months ahead of the closing date and many from GRC disappointed that they weren’t able to take part. As it was, twenty two members took to the start line for the race that was reintroduced as a round of the club’s 2019 Grand Prix Series.

GRC’s Chris Limmer took the early lead of the race, taking full advantage of the fast downhill start to stretch the field and cause a five strong breakaway split. At the back of the group was Matthew Kingston-Lee, who was heeding the advice of 2016 winner and club mate Jonny Palmer, who advised a cautious start to save energy for the testing rolling hills in the second half of the race.

The opening downhill run soon turned into a long climb out of the village which predictably slowed the pace of the runners. Once at the top of the hill Matthew began to ease his way up the field, passing Chris and then moving into second place not long after the two mile marker with only the leader around ten seconds further up the road. This gap held steady until the next significant climb in the race shortly after halfway, where Matthew quite quickly closed the gap and passed Brian Corleys of Bushfield Joggers to take the lead of the race.

With plenty of gas still in the tank and relishing the feel of new trainers purchased just that lunchtime (that claim to offer a ‘4%’ advantage over regular race shoes) Matthew barely slowed at all over the hilly second half of the race, enjoying the fast downhill finish back in the village to cross the line as winner in a time of 33:33, which bettered his six mile PB by eighty seconds. The hardest part of his evening was soon to follow with an excruciating interview with Radio Rutland, before later being presented with the customary winners’ prize of a pair of crystal wine glasses and a bottle of wine, complete with presentation case.

Early race leader Chris Limmer, who has run a surprisingly large number of six mile races, held on to finish sixth in 36:09, 27 seconds down on his 2018 Whissendine time and over a minute outside his six mile PB, but matching his 2018 finishing position. 

With six miles now a rarely raced distanced, once popular but almost entirely superseded to the 10K, only Chris and Matthew had previous experience of a six mile race. This meant that all the remaining GRC runners established personal bests for the distance. Of those runners, third home for the club was Matt Kidd, who came home in a fine 40:23. Naomi Jepson-Rivers was the first of ten GRC women to finish, coming home in 51:56. She was followed by Nichola Webster (56:04), with Sylv Hull (56:50) the third GRC female finisher.

The winner of the women’s race was Gina Crane of Yaxley Runners in 40:53. There were 264 finishers who all received a commemorative glass and bottle of ale from The Grainstore Brewery.

GRC Results:

Name	Time
Matthew Kingston-Lee	33:33
Chris Limmer	36:09
Matt Kidd	40:23
Matthew Atter	41:37
Samuel Jepson-Rivers	41:43
Adrian Walker	45:14
Martin Rodell	49:05
Tommy Napier	50:40
Paul Jepson	50:47
Naomi Jepson-Rivers	51:56
Stuart Baty	52:23
Nichola Webster	56:04
John Nevard	56:30
Sylv Hull	56:50
Kathleen Gray	57:36
Sue Swann	61:08
Yvette Taylor	63:45
Alexandra Platt	64:40
Vicky Willan	65:45
Simon Hartley	66:25
Louise Kennedy	69:00
Edina Burns	69:34