THE organisers of the Southwest PB Series 5k race are proudly claiming a 42 per cent personal best return from the first mid-week event of the summer.
Perfect conditions for the race at the traffic-free course at the Odd Down cycling centre near Bath saw the top three men finish inside 15 minutes, the top 12 break 15:30 and 31 men break 16 minutes.
In addition 66 runners broke 17 minutes which is a fantastic standard for the race which is slickly delivered by the Bristol Track Club.
And not to forgot the women the top five women, led by Claire Hammett of Thames Hare & Hounds, broke 18 minutes, 10 were under 18:30, 12 under 19 and 15 under 20 minutes.
‘What a superb evening of racing!’ said a statement from the organisers on social media.
‘Absolutely perfect conditions on a great course resulted in 42 per cent of runners achieving personal best performances over 5k at our first Southwest PB Series Race.
‘Looking forward to seeing more runners at our next race at the end of June (Wednesday 29th).’
For which entries are now open at the following link:
https://data.opentrack.run/…/june-race2-22-road…/
But back to that great opening race. At the top end it was a Swindon Harriers one-two thanks to Ben Cole (14:33) and Simon Byrne (14:36) finishing well clear of Radley AC’s Alexander Miell-Ingram in third (14:57).
Bristol & West AC’s senior men’s team captain Owain Jones has come out of the cross country season in great shape and the M40 veteran demonstrated that with fourth place in 15:00.
James Rodgers of North Somerset AC ran a season’s best of 15:29 in 12th just ahead of B&W’s Tom Halling (15:36), also a big PB.
Top local woman was Bristol & West AC’s Katrina Entwistle, who finished runner-up in 17:33 to slash 17 seconds off her previous PB set in April. Interestingly before this year Entwistle hadn’t broken 18 minutes so that represents a huge improvement for the Chris Elson coached runner.
Clubmate Jessica Mackie was fifth (17:49), which is also another huge PB while Naomi Aylwin in ninth completed a strong showing from Bristol & West AC.
Inevitably Aylwin’s time of 18:24 was a massive PB, easily eclipsing her previous – albeit set five years ago – road PB of 19:18 and also well inside her Parkrun best of 18:49.
Kelly Dicks of Great Western Runners completed the top 10 in 18:26 – 10 seconds outside her PB set over the same course last year but her clubmate Katy Sutcliffe did clock a PB of 19:31.
For more great race photos go to Facebook and search for: BenM.photo