Well 2023 has dawned cold and frosty, and many people in
Grantham Running Club and elsewhere have found their minds turning to the
marathons that are so easily signed up for in the autumn, but the new year
brings cold reality and a need to really focus on the training.
Sunday saw 7 of those runners make the short trip down to
the A1 to a small village in Huntingdonshire which hosts a challenging 15 mile timed
road run. With three noticeable hills on both laps, this is a proper test of
conditioning and mental ability to maintain an appropriate pace.
All the runners have completed at least one marathon so
everyone knew that this was a run to take on tired legs, with a full training
programme in the week beforehand so that when the higher stakes tests come, confidence
can be taken from overcoming these previous challenges.
With that in mind, all the runners were happy with their
results, although Dean and Warren cut the start time a little fine and so had
to pass a number of runners before fully getting into their stride – there are
several parking areas scattered around the village and the organisers use taxis
to bring everyone to the start, which normally works well but does add to the
time needed on the morning of the event.
The underfoot conditions remained somewhat treacherous, with
only half of the first downhill having been gritted and several of the shady
areas keeping ice and frost throughout both laps. Fortunately, all of the GRC
runners completed the event without mishap and no major incidents were observed
by any of those runners.
From the start the runners spread out according to their
expected pace, with Dean managing to move past several clubmates. Warren got
ahead of the others until Craig and Caroline caught him on the final hill, but
the downhill final half mile allowed him to regain his lead. Robin was grateful
to several runners who he didn’t previously know, who, in line with the
training ethos of the morning, worked with him to keep pace up the hills and
encourage each other to the finish. Sarah was happy to use the morning as a
break from a hectic work schedule, finishing 3½ minutes faster than when she
last ran the event in 2020.
Sarah and Caroline demonstrated their class by achieving
podium positions in their age categories, with Sarah second and Caroline third.
The layout of the course means that there is a long back
straight with a noticeable wind hitting everyone’s face, this was the coldest
and slowest part of the course and lasted for a good third of the run, but
really for a January day the conditions were surprisingly good.
Discussions afterwards focused on large number of very
positive marshals and support teams around the course, all of whom were
praised, and how nice it was that the event provided a vest rather than a
t-shirt.
The first male finisher (and vet 40) was David Hudson from
Huntingdonshire AC in 1:20:45, first female runner was Kanina O’Neil from March
AC in 1:38:30. In the team results Huntingdonshire finished first overall, with
GRC 14th out of 25 (an average of 25 minutes per runner behind the
winning team). The winning female team was Rutland Running and Triathlon Club.
The full results are:
|
·
Name
|
Time
|
Position
|
|
·
Peter Bonner
|
1:42:17.1
|
38
|
|
·
Robin Atter
|
1:50:33.5
|
81
|
|
·
Dean Riggall
|
2:00:15.0
|
140
|
|
·
Warren Stark
|
2:10:49.8
|
208
|
|
·
Craig Drury
|
2:11:30.7
|
214
|
|
·
Caroline Davis
|
2:11:32.3
|
215
|
|
·
Sarah High
|
2:13:41.4
|
227
|
