2 Trophies for B&R at Pitchcroft 10k

Sunday 13th July 2008

Above: Ian & Mel were first male and female vets at Pitchcroft

On Sunday a few B& R runners lined up in Worcester for the 'Pitchcroft 10k, a flat three lap race around the outskirts of Worcester racecourse. This year had an international flavour with two Kenyan men, a Kenyan woman and a Tanzanian woman lining up with our own German star Melanie. The two Kenyan men set off at a blistering pace and the start was pretty much the only time I saw them before the presentations.
They of course came in first and second with Timberhonger winner Nick Earl coming in third. The winner didn't beat Matt Vaux-Harvey's 2003 record of 30.54 but the first lady managed to shave 20 seconds off Bronwen's  record of 34.58 from 2000.
I ran with the Kenyan and Tanzanian girls for the first lap before having a 'mid-race wobble' and they dropped me. Looking round at one point I saw 'The Shadow' too close for comfort behind me which spurred me on to a second wind.
I managed to catch the Tanzanian girl in the last kilometre to finish 7th overall and first male vet in 35.18. Melanie had yet another good run and set a PB of 47.25 to come in 104th in 47.25 and first female vet.
There was a strong cross/ headwind each lap going out but this failed to turn into a tailwind coming back, probably due to running through the trees by the river. The course had a few tight turns which broke up your stride and even though it was flat, coupled with the wind most people did not find it particularly fast.

Other B&R finishers were as follow:
 
13th Richard Shardlow 36.31
25th Gavin Moorhead 38.51
40th Alan Elsmere 40.37
41st Jimmy Atkins 40.48
49th Simon Bowen 41.05
64th Vince Rollason 42.20
201 Denise Wixey 57.53
 
238 finishers

Click here for full results