RAF Honington 10K

The low-key RAF Honington 10K, held on Wednesday 18^th September, proved to be an unexpectedly memorable day for Grantham Running Club and in particular its chairman Matthew Kingston-Lee, who received an unexpected but very welcome early birthday present at a race he only decided to enter a few days before it took place.

Now in its twenty second year, the RAF Honington 10K took place on quiet country lanes navigating through the villages of Great Livermere and Troston a few miles north of Bury St Edmunds.  The race is primarily an event for the RAF but civilian runners are welcomed and encouraged to take part – some years ago the race was once a club championship race for Grantham Athletic Club in the days before GRC existed.

Third place and a PB for MKL

The course is primarily fast and flat with just a couple of minor inclines at the beginning and near the end of the race. Conditions were favourable for quick times with the feared dreaded Fenland winds that blighted the 2018 edition of the race scarcely present and temperatures in the high teens Celsius, albeit feeling quite warm when the sun came out.

In what could be considered the best race of his long running career to date, veteran runner Matthew Kingston-Lee stunned pretty much everyone, not least himself, by finishing third in 33:41. This bettered his 2015 PB by 29 seconds and broke Ian Williams’ club record, set at Woodhall Spa in June, by 46 seconds. Moreover the performance netted an age grade of 86.27%, comfortably the highest Matthew has ever scored and the best ever by a male member of Grantham Running Club.

A shocked, but delighted Matthew commented after the race:

“I most certainly wasn’t expecting that! I went into the race with low expectations as I had run a lot of miles in August while on holiday – 10 miles minimum a day for 24 days – which had left me feeling fatigued. I wouldn’t normally race feeling so tired but with few opportunities to race in the coming weeks due to weekend work commitments, I felt I should seize the opportunity to take part in any race I could.

Ian, Andrew and Matthew

“As it turned out the race could hardly have gone better. The opening half felt relatively easy as I focused on making my way up from around ninth place at the start. When I passed halfway in what I saw on my watch was an unofficial 5K PB of 16:40 I realised that if I could maintain form something special might happen.

“The second half of the race became progressively harder as you’d expect but with the carrot of breaking 34 minutes for the first time dangling I dug very deep – culminating in the longest sprint finish to the line I think I’ve ever attempted!

“Finishing third was pleasing but in all honesty it will be the pleasure in attaining a time I thought I was now too old to achieve that will remain with me for a long time to come!”

The first runner to congratulate Matthew was the former GRC 10K record holder Ian Williams. Representing RAF Coningsby, Ian was pleased to finish ninth in 35:17, sensing his form may be back on an upward trend having seen it dip, somewhat inevitably, over the summer. He was followed by Andrew Pask, also running for RAF Coningsby, who was happy to run a season’s best 41:48.

The race was won by Danny Rock of Felixstowe Road Runners / RAF in a new PB of 31:30, with Jo Wilkinson of Bedford & County AC the winning woman in 39:52. There were 121 finishers.