Over the years, the Silverstone 10K has given us pouring rain, glorious sunshine, howling gales and pretty much everything in between. The course is flat and pretty fast, but if there is a breeze at all the exposed nature of the citcuit means it can be very windy. However, those that made the trip to rural Northamptonshire on the first Tuesday in May this year, found perfect running conditions, with practically no wind and a temperature of about eleven degrees. It is the first race of the East Midlands Grand Prix Series, which are nearly every week between now and the end of June.

Eight runners from LBAC (and a hanger on) went to complete the two laps of the world famous grand prix circuit and were rewarded with some excellent times, including four PB's! On the ladies front, Jill, Amy and Fiona all had targets in mind after a bit of solid training recently and all three of them smashed their previous best time by a long way. Fiona Towell wanted to get under 55 minutes and blazed around the course in 52.29, which included her trademark sprint finish. Amy Inchley had been getting frustrated at her inability get past the 50 minute barrier in previous races, but Tuesday night speedwork in MK is clearly paying off as she broke the 48 minute threshold with 47.58. Jill Richardson's improvement over the last few months continued again with Fred watt as her trusty pace maker as she and Fred cruised around the course in 44.46 for another big PB. All three ladies were in the first half of the 205 female runners, in 26^th, 55^th & 91^st respectively and were the 10^th team on the night out of 18 in a very high standard race and only 4 minutes off 4^th.

For the men, Richard inchley and Kevin Spanswick were both pleased with their efforts of 48.22 and 49.45 respectively as both ran substantially quicker than they were expecting. Richard's nephew Greg O'Toole, who recently completed three marathons in fifteen days was pleased with his  time of 45.06, coming in just behind Fred and Jill. Joe Hurley ran his fastest time "for a good many years", taking over 1.30 off his Flitwick 10K time with 38.53 and was 5^th V50. The final PB of the night went to Andy Inchley, who was shocked but delighted to find himself running a slight negative split to duck under 35 minutes for the first time with 34.56 and 28^th place in a field of 900.

The next race of the series is the Rugby 6, next Wednesday, but for those who can't tavel quite so far, the two nearest ones are the Bedford 6 on Tuesday 18^th May and the Milton Keynes 10K on Tuesday 29^th June.