West Pinchbeck 10K

An impressive twenty five members of Grantham Running Club took part in the West Pinchbeck 10K on Sunday 22^nd September, a race that wasn’t part of the club’s Grand Prix Series but has thrust itself into future consideration given the huge jump in popularity for the race held in the heart of the Lincolnshire fens near Spalding.

The near pancake flat course run almost entirely along arrow straight fen roads would be a near perfect course for fast times were it not for the near ever-present winds that afflict the area. Thankfully for the 2019 edition of the race conditions were fairly kind, with overcast skies and barely any wind.

First home for GRC was Joaquim Jeronimo, who made a late decision to enter the race after a short period of running abstinence and was rewarded with a fine ninth place finish in 38:13. Tony Johnson followed in fifteenth place and second in his age category with 40:19. One place behind Tony was Sam Jepson-Rivers who, with 40:42, backed up his triumvirate of August personal bests with an 85 second improvement on his month old 10K PB.

Sam’s wife Naomi was the first GRC woman to finish, breaking the 50 minute barrier by one second with 49:59 and in so doing smashing her old PB, set in May, by over two and a half minutes. Heather Welbourne ran well to finish under the hour in her first recorded 10K performance, clocking 58:47 and was followed closely by Alison Clark who broke her month old 10K PB by 58 seconds with 58:52.

Four other GRC runners set personal bests at West Pinchbeck. Cameron Hoggan bettered his month old 10K PB by two seconds shy of two minutes with 45:12; Dale Towning (54:00) eclipsed his two month old PB by 40 seconds; Carole Pigott (59:04) improved her June 10K PB by 24 seconds; and Sara Pask improved too on her June 10K PB by 44 seconds with 01:01:15.

Rachel Jefferson made her race debut at West Pinchbeck, crossing the finish line in 1:01:11. Emma Duncan was another race debutante, finishing in 1:03:57, as was Lisa Williams who finished not far behind in 1:04:48.

Nick Rossington (44:21) and Paul Jepson (49:55) both finished third in their respective age categories.

Wendy Smith (1:21:26), Simon Smith (1:21:28), and Rachael Bloomer (1:21:36) appeared on the provisional results but do not appear in the final published results.

The race was won by Aaron Scott of Helpston Harriers AC in 32:37 with Charlie Nurse of Wigston Phoenix RC the winning woman in 38:30. There were 278 finishers.

GRC Results:

Name	Gender	Chip time
Joaquim Jeronimo	Male	38:13
Tony Johnson	Male	40:19
Sam Jepson-Rivers	Male	40:42
Nick Rossington	Male	44:21
Cameron Hoggan	Male	45:12
Jack Dodwell	Male	47:02
Paul Jepson	Male	49:55
Nim Jepson-Rivers	Female	49:59
Dale Towning	Male	54:00
Alison Clark	Female	58:52
Heather Welbourne	Female	58:47
Carole Pigott	Female	59:04
Sara Pask	Female	1:01:15
Rachel Jefferson	Female	1:01:11
Chelsea Chell	Female	1:03:09
Emma Duncan	Female	1:03:57
Lisa Williams	Female	1:04:48
Howard Rudder	Male	1:05:32
Vicky Platts	Female	1:05:40
Tracey Gell	Female	1:05:49
Emma Fleet	Female	1:06:45
Samantha  French	Female	1:16:09
Wendy Smith	Female	1:21:26
Simon Smith	Male	1:21:28
Rachael Bloomer	Female	1:21:36