Telford 10K

Grantham Running Club’s Jonathan Palmer reclaimed his club 10K record with a blistering PB set at the Telford 10K on Sunday 8^th December.

Having seen his club record 33:28 PB at the recent Leeds Abbey Dash 10K officially snuffed out after the course was found to be 23 meters short following a remeasurement, Jonny headed to Telford on a mission to banish that misfortune.

Hosted by Telford AC since 1985, the Telford 10K is statistically the fastest 10K in the UK and attracts runners from all over the world in search of a quick time. The two lap course, which uses the town’s park and the Silkin Way, is blessed by being tree lined for virtually the entirety of the course, meaning that even on a blustery day, as it was for the 2019 edition of the race, conditions on the course are still and conducive to quick running. Moreover the mostly flat course plays the rules regarding the amount of elevation difference permissible for a ‘PB legal’ race with a significant downhill drop from the start at the Telford International Centre and the finish line around 20 meters lower in elevation than at the start. Interestingly though for such a quick course, the race features a tight U-turn that is tackled twice.

Jonny went off in the first of three waves – effectively separate races to avoid potential issues with faster runners lapping backmarkers – which included all the elite 28-30 minute runners and the early online entries of sub-31-40 minute men. Jonny went through halfway in 16:29 and was able to maintain that pace for a perfect even split race to break the 33 minute barrier with a fantastic 32:59. Such is the quality of the field this netted Jonny only 147^th place overall!

The race was won by Adam Craig of Inverclyde in a course record 28:32 with Samantha Harrison of Notts AC the winning woman in 32:31 – also a course record. There were 1128 finishers over the three waves.