Saturday 25th July saw the return of the annual Heckington Show and with it the yearly 10 mile road race.
For over 60 years the Heckington 10 has been an integral part of the Heckington Show and is reckoned to be the oldest road race in the midlands! The show itself is described as “a true family day out, a quintessentially English Summer occasion.” The reasonable race entry fee included a finishers tee-shirt for the runners, entry to the show for the day and the spectacular firework display.
18 members of GRC turned up to take on the event on a rather warm and breezy morning.
The race began with two laps of the showground ring before runners headed out through the village and towards Star Fen. After looping back around to the village, the route headed back out to Star Fen for a second time before runners finally returned to the showground, where the finish line awaited.
First back for GRC was Joaquim “Flash” Jeronimo. Running on a last-minute entry and with little time to prepare for the event, Flash finished in an incredible time of 01:01:21. First back for the ladies was Catherine Payne. Despite “taking it easy” whilst nursing an injury she finished in an impressive time of 01:22:35.
Notable mentions:
Jaimie Lord is constantly improving across all distances and finished in a time of 01:24:15, smashing his previous 10-mile PB by an astonishing 4 minutes 21 seconds.
Sam Jepson also put in a fantastic performance, finishing in 01:02:42, knocking a huge 3 minutes 02 seconds off his previous 10-mile PB — a brilliant sign of his return to form.
Marjorie Spendlow finished in a time of 01:26:21 placing 1st in her age category.
Niall Ó Faoláin was new to racing the 10-mile distance and finished in an impressive time 01:18:40.
Full results:
Joaquim Jeronimo 01:01:21, Sam Jepson 01:02:42, Russel Whittaker 01:04:55, Peter Bonner 01:09:38, Alan Carley 01:13:21, Rob Howbrook 01:16:43, Niall Ó Faoláin 01:18:40, Mark Toms 01:19:03, Jingbiao Yang 01:21:35, Catherine Payne 01:22:35, Jaimie Lord 01:24:15. Dean Riggall 01:25:17, Marjorie Spendlow 01:26:21, Robert McArdle 01:27:22, Warren Stark 01:28:09, Caroline Davies 01:28:14, Nicci Whittaker 01:38:04, Tracy Webb 01:45:20
The men’s race was won by Ed Buck (Newark AC) in 00:49:55 while the ladies race was won by Charlie Thornton (Lincoln Wellington AC) in 00:58:35
Report c/o Nicci Whittaker
Photos c/o Lee Blake Photography, Nicholas Turner, Tim Chapman