On Friday 10th July Grantham Running Club staged its 6th annual Club 5k Race amid a scorching 28°C. Excitingly, it was held at a new venue; the picturesque village of Welby just outside Grantham.
The out and back course along Church Lane features an incline in the opening kilometre, before flattening out. The 180° turn before the A52 rewards runners with the reverse downhill gradient – with a super quick final 400m charge to the finish line.
The hot and humid conditions dominated proceedings – but extra precautions were deployed by Race Director, Andrew Pask and his team of volunteers made up of club members. These included first aiders, water pistols, a water station halfway and ice-cold drinks in the pub after.
The race also saw a welcome to those enrolled in the club’s ‘Begin to Run’ programme, with most making their debut under race conditions.
Leading Lights
First home was the in-form, David Poole. Although a little off his recent LWAC 5k PB set just 10 days prior, he was especially pleased with more controlled pacing throughout – he cut the tape at 17:28 in a superb run!
Joaquim “Flash” Jeronimo continues his resurgence with a fine 17:44, running in close order for most of the race with young whippersnapper Riley Maksymiw. Riley, suffering slightly in the heat clocked dead on 18 minutes.
A ‘to and fro’ race played out between returning-to-form Samuel Jepson and Gav Potter with the former finishing just two seconds ahead in 18:07 to Potter’s 18:09.
Matthew Atter’s recent focus on ultra distances clearly paid off as he notched up an accomplished 20:13, closely followed by local postie Stef Latter (20:23) and the impressive David Amos-Reeves who was quite rightly elated with a shiny new 90+ second PB of 20:30 – perhaps the performance of the night!
Holly Durham took the ladies P1 with a tightly paced 21:46, despite wanting faster (as ever).
Returning to the Green and Black after a hiatus, Jess Glading showed her class with a fine 22:45.
Katie Wallace’s stock continues to rise as she rounded out the Top Three Ladies – her 23:37 marked a 14 second personal best over the distance and a tidy couple of months in Katies’ racing.
PB Bonanza
Amazingly, slew of PBs punctuated the arid occasion:
GRC’s answer to ‘James Joyce’, Niall Ó Faoláin waxed lyrical about his race, defying the conditions to better his previous 5k best to a PB of 22:47.
Jaimie Lord’s pacing was exemplary, and he still dug deep for a sprint finish to execute an eight second PB in 23:14.
Avril Nash found her feet too with a negative split, speeding up all the way to the end and a 24:23 clocking.
Emma Hopkinson claimed an official 5k time with 29:43, a 10 second improvement on her pre-existing parkrun best time.
Hope Sumner crept under the thirty-minute barrier for the first time with her 29:58 an official PB.
Chloe Amos-Reeves, followed her husband on the PB train to make it a happy household, motivated by the appeal of shade and a cold drink in the pub at the end, her PB of 30:18 a “happy accident”.
Tara Tyrrell (32:36), Sharon Laywood (32:57), Aimee Laywood (33:58), Katy Shepard (33:58) and Ian McDonnell (35:52) all recorded either first or best times over the 5k distance.
Finally, Adriarne Clifton rounded out the day with her official clocking of 37:52 a near two-minute improvement on her previous 5k distance best.
With plans already afoot to expand and improve next year, the glowing feedback from everyone was of a brilliant event at a great new location.
Most were grateful to descend upon the shaded beer garden at the Welby Arms, to enjoy a post-race debrief and well-earned refreshment, a literal stone’s throw away from the finish line.
Race Director Andrew Pask would like to thank the residents of Welby for accommodating the race with the use of the Village Green and support, for Jon Fisher for providing off-road parking at his farm and Pete the landlord of The Crown and Anchor.