By Gail Duckworth

I ran my first city 10k race yesterday in Bristol, which is not quite as big as Manchester but still about 11000 runners this year. Everything you expect from a mass participation event very well organised and lots of atmosphere. It starts and finishes in the Millennium Square which is right on the quayside. I was in the first wave on the white start which was fine it took me about 5 seconds to cross the line behind many elite runners! The course if fairly flat but I found the wind tough heading out which seemed to also be in your face on the way back until you were right in the city centre. Funny it doesn’t seem to affect the winning men, with 28 mins 39 secs by the first Kenyan. Anyway, dipped under 39 mins again but only by 1 second (38 mins 59 secs) but good enough to be 1^st W55 by 10 minutes! The bonus of a big race was the prize money – not enough to live on, but certainly worth the trip down there! read more

Sunday saw the family Dimmock rise early post presentation and venture north to Peterborough to the old stomping ground of the Fens at Eye. After some rain during the night and an overcast start to the day, a stiff wind cleared the clouds for another bright but not too hot event. 520 runners including Chris and brother Stuart lined up looking forward to a flat course with only a couple of tight turns and a short cross country section to upset the rythm. Setting off at planned sub sevens all was going well until the early head wind and lack of sleep took their toll for Chris on mile 5. Finishing strongly brought him in at 97th with a time of 43.29. Stuart ran a solid even pace to come home in the top half of the field in 51.41. read more

Wednesday night saw the annual running of the Silverstone 10K hosetd by Silson Joggers. This is the first race of the East Midlands Grand Prix Series that spread from Milton Keynes to Market Harborough with 5 mile, 6 mile and 10K races over the next eight mid-weeks and conclude with Milton Keynes 10K on Tuesday 5^th July.

The Silverstone race is a unique opportunity to complete two laps of the grand prix circuit on what can be a very fast course. If it is a reasonably still day the fast, slight downhill start gets everyone going at a good pace straight away and teh combination of a very smooth surface and gentle corners gives runners every opportunity for a good time. On a windy day, the exposed nature of the site means that it can be very difficult. read more

By Amelia Wallace 

Back on my old turf on May day, I ran my favourite race of the year, the Watford 10k.  The route goes through Cassiobury park (where the cross-countries are run), country lanes and the beautiful bluebells of Whippendell Woods. The race is not the flattest, however knowing the route off by heart I was unusually comfortable when running up the hills! I always try to be optimistic on the times I will be able to do, however I have found this race to be tricky to achieve a PB due to the narrowness of some of the paths which everyone tries to squeeze through.  This year however, that was not my problem……I found it quite tough to run against the strong wind and the blazing heat/sunshine.  Thankfully the majority of the route was sheltered from the sun which I really appreciated as the hot midday sun did start to drain me toward the end of my race. So, sadly no PB this time however I would definitely recommend this race to anyone who has not tried it before. read more