ELTHAM 5M KENT GRAND PRIX EVENT
Yesterday 14 Harriers with Mike Russell in support ventured down to Eltham Park for the 7th out of 10 races in the Kent Grand Prix series.
Fathers Day and a Sunday morning provided a traffic free smooth journey down where there was ample parking on suburban side streets just two minutes walk to the start and HQ area. That’s always a good start to the racing experience.
There were tents for changing, one for bags, and a cafe on site with loos. Another tent for number collection was the first port of call and after a short wait I was pinning my number on and changing my shoes for a pre race warm up with Nick Pierce around his old manor(Nick grew up here just a few streets away).
The Harriers gathered together for pre race chatter and team photos before heading over to the start area.
The race was two laps of Eltham Park and Oxleas Woods to the north, not so much of a road run but more of a trail run with a mixture of terrains including tarmac, grass and woodland trails. Despite a brief shower at the start the weather brightened up and I settled in to my race tracking fellow Harriers, Colin Ricketts and Jillian Holford, ahead of me, and trying to close the gap.
The route soon led us into the woods and twisty trails which were soft underfoot and enjoyable to run along despite the usual hazards of tree roots and dog walkers. On the first lap when the runners were still quite bunched up there was a sudden shout of “bollards” and a few of us narrowly missed steaming into them thankfully.
The second lap came around and I was pleased that the route was pretty much flat as Gareth Hiron had advised(he’d done a recce with a few others) and I was soon crossing the finish line with a sprint finish to overtake Laura Torry from Dulwich Runners.
The course was well marked and marshalled and at the finish there was the pleasant surprise of glasses of the local ale from Long Pond Brewery and if you were lucky you received a spot prize of a bar of chocolate too. So along with the free t-shirt I think that NEJ, New Eltham Joggers running club that hosted the event did a really splendid job and I would definitely recommend people to enter this race next year for its 26th time. Overall a really enjoyable running experience.
A fantastic effort from everyone and the results from the 14 competing Harriers are below:
CHIP TIME POSITION COMMENTS
Gareth Hiron 30.48 10 First harrier home, solid performance.
Robin Barwick 34.44 52
Geoff Turner 35.46 66 2nd in age group, great running.
Ali Farrall 35.47 67 3rd female, briiliant run, whose pacing who:)
Mark Godsalve 36.46 78
Andy Joad 37.02 86
Jillian Holford 38.02 101 10th female, 2nd in age group, fantastic running.
Colin Ricketts 38.28 109
Julie McPherson 40.43 144
Nicola Morris 41.16 151
Nick Pierce 42.41 167
Andy Page 45.09 196
Lucille Joannes 50.00 249
Sam Dranga 1.04.03 322
There were a total of 334 finishers.
First male was Andy Bond in 28.18 Dulwich Runners
First female was Emma Stevens in 33.54 Petts Woods Runners
Best wishes and happy training
Andrew