Another stupendous day with the Totton PB bell clanging again and again and again.
Salisbury 10 Mile Road Race is the 7th race of the Hampshire Road Race League to take place this season and once again we had a huge turnout and some pretty impressive results. We could also count our blessings with some sun and very little breeze which added up to some almost perfect running conditions for this time of year. It was chilly on arrival but didn't take long to be warm and ready for the off. Thanks to Salisbury AC the checking process was painless and this year they produced a bight red t-shirt that will be visible when out running. After some false starts we managed to get a team photo with the inclusion of Totton ted!
While we were all messing around taking photos and gossiping one of our team was hard at work with her one woman crusade to help the Ukrainian crisis. Sohini Keya has worked tirelessly setting up fund raisers since the start of the war in Ukraine and on this day she joined forces with Salisbury to run a cake stall with the proceeds going to charity. From the look of the constant line at the cake queue it was a roaring success. Well done Sohini on all your hard work and to the other members who made cake to add to the stall. I can confirm Sohini makes an epic coffee cake and its particularly welcome at the end of 10 miles.
For my part I had never run this race before, everyone was very positive about it going in and stated it was a firm favorite and although there were hills the course on the whole was great, and I'm sure someone mentioned larmers too! The course starts just outside central Salisbury at the athletics track and heads out into the small hamlets North of the city, anyone keeping eye on the quaint names would have noted Middle Woodford lead to Upper Woodford which after the turn around led through Lower Woodford. The scenery was very chocolate boxesque (its a word now) with thatched roofs aplenty, when you did get to the top of the hills there were some stunning views to behold.
As usual I can't give you a a blow by blow description of each and every turn as I have the memory of a goldfish, add that to running really fast trying not to pass out and I didn't really see much. I do remember someone telling me the worst part of the course was the hill at mile 8 and that's all that stuck in my head though the run, no matter what I ran up I knew there was the worst part coming at mile 8 and then it was a nice finish apparently. Except someone had got their measurements wrong, at mile 7 I went up a hill at full pelt thinking there was worse to come so put the effort in now, turns out that was the hill. And that would explain why it hurt to breath for a long time after that hill. The course was undulating but not in a horrific way, with all the hills and forest running we do in training the hills up weren't too bad and the down always help add to your speed. This race reminded me why runners in general are lovely people, I had no idea if I was going for a time, what pace I should be doing or if I was just going to fanny around annoying people on the route again like at Eastleigh 10k. I soon found myself running next to an old team mate from Spitfires chatting away, he told me what he was aiming for and I decided I would stick with him until I blew up somewhere along the route. 6 Miles in he realized I was on for a better time than he had planned for himself and decided to keep me occupied and pushing so I wasn't aware how I was doing and couldn't mentally blow up. He kept me going right to the very line bringing me in 2 minutes ahead of his own plan and with a 5min 33sec PB for which I am eternally grateful. He won't read this of course but still Thank You Jamie (Spitfires male race captain).
We had out cheer squad of Emily and Harry and Captain Andy fresh from 50 mile ultra marathon out on the course collecting some great photos of us all and some videos too.
Dean started is new training school and by the end of the race had Tricia waving with a practiced art, she'll be coming for the waving title soon enough.
Look at all those happy faces!!!!!!
We certainly kept Dot busy with her red pen when updating the club rankings, some great times everyone and another super day for the team
Salisbury 10 Mile Results
Stuart Le Tissier 01:03:48 (PB)
Helen Bonaer 01:06:25 (PB)
David Nightingale 01:11:18 (PB)
Rob Kendall 01:11:51 (PB)
Rob Barlow 01:12:45
Keith Whitten 01:13:41 (PB)
Patricia Spodzieja 01:15:36 (PB)
Dean Lucas 01:15:37 (PB)
Jacquie Barlow 01:16:19
Tony Lees 01:17:11
Neil Cameron 01:21:52
Elizabeth White 01:26:14
Terry Greening 01:28:30
Virginia Collins 01:31:45
Mel Green 01:34:52 (PB)
Donna Pike 01:36:34
Sam Bowyer 01:37:08 (PB)
Teresa Dodkin 01:42:33
Alison Kaines 01:46:53
Dot Kennard 01:48:12
Jeanette Hiscocks 01:49:29 (PB)
Tracey Nightingale 01:51:14 (PB)
Vicky Cousins 01:51:54 (PB)
Amanda Jones 01:52:32
Ann-Marie Vanderplank 01:52:33
Rob Barlow 01:52:31
Tina Mills 01:58:10
Lisa Smith 01:58:39
Fantastic work and turn out team! If i have missed anyone I apologise, the results were presented in the most difficult way possible for collating!