Friday 24th May saw an eager posse of 4 runners venture out to Blisworth for the annual 5 mile race on an undulating figure of 8 route deep in the Northamptonshire countryside. Jordan Clay, Charlie Mead, Aaron Carr and Chris Williams piled into the car and on the drive up encountered torrential rain and hail with the temperature dropping to 4 degrees; perfect summer series running weather!

 

Thankfully the rain had stopped with 2 minutes to spare before the start, the clouds cleared and the temperature rose slightly to give near perfect running conditions. Only the wind remained as a slight bugbear.

 

As expected, Jordan set off in fine form with Charlie close behind, and Chris a few steps behind him, all making the most of the downhill start. Aaron, is still getting used to racing and started at the back for a steady run. The race soon settled into an expected pattern with Jordan romping home in 28m57s with an average pace of 5m45s putting him now in 7th place in his age group in the country using the Power of Ten rankings. Charlie finished in an impressive 32m59s, but with an average pace of 6m30s is still not as fast as he knows he can run. Chris ran a PB of 35m22s showing the back problems from last year really can't be an excuse anymore as this was nearly a minute faster than the last 5 miler!! Before the race Aaron had hoped to run 45 minutes and in the event ran a fantastic 45m07s, showing that racing is the best way to improve your running and your general fitness and isn’t about finishing in the top 10. 

 

In conclusion this was a great race and it was disappointing that there were only 4 of us, and really only 1 senior. Other clubs managed to field very strong teams and it would be great to see a higher turn-out at other races over the summer.