The heavens opened as the runners moved towards the start, confirming that this would be another wet race at the home of British motor racing. But a quick shower didn’t dampen the spirits of the 15 LBAC athletes who had made the journey to Silverstone for a change in their Wednesday training routine. The setting provided a good speed training session with those serious athletes keeping their trainer tread warm in the pit lane from where the race starts.

Billy Mead, on good club qualifying form, took pole position from the start. He started to run out of fuel towards the end, but still beat his PB with 36.14, a fantastic effort. Andy was in second place on the grid and also on the circuit for the majority of the race, but blames his backup team for not displaying the board to let him know another Junior was hot on his tail. Jordan ran a negative split on his final lap to overtake Andy and secured 2nd step on the club podium with a PB of 36.20. Then there was an onslaught from the Inchelys, Andy and Tom taking the next two places and closing the team of four in 56th place. This shows the high quality of this event with the club placed 8th overall.

Elliott Hind and James Bell both ran well with sub 40 minutes on the day. Another Inchley (Tim) and Nick had better runs than expected showing their pre-race tactics were paying off (staying under cover and not getting wet!), taking a place in the middle of the grid and making their way through the field. Charlie Mead had a good run and promises to beat his PB next time! He followed them in with 41.22, a good effort. Chris Dimmock followed closely, beating his PB with a 42.13 on the night. Another PB by Chris Williams in 44.31 was followed by Roger Seldon who finished 6th in his age group.

Chris had convinced Aaron that this flat 10k would be a good one to do and he turned out for the first time for the club completing 2 minutes under the hour, having been paced by Anna Mead for the majority of the race. Fi’s continued injuries shown by her split times were disappointing to her. But as always she finishes what she starts showing Great Spirit. Talking of spirit, with no Champagne to toast our podium finishers, those who could headed off to a local pub to complete a fantastic night of racing, with the majority looking a little green afterwards (but that was just the tee shirts).

Thank you to Richard, Amy and bump for support and photos. This race is a perfect opportunity to lower your 10k PB (as is the Silverstone Half in March) although you can expect the wind to always be there!