Friday evenings have been a busy time from May through to July with the Friday 5 series being held across Suffolk and Essex. Six 5 mile races where held for Seniors and distances of between 1Km and 2Km for the juniors.
The first race of the season was held at Kirton hosted by the Felixstowe Road Runners. Conditions couldn’t have been better, sunshine and a cool breeze. On leaving the start runners had to navigate a rather gravely lane, which slowed the pace down, but then onto the open road! We had 8 seniors representing the club, 4 men and 4 women. Stuart Price and Aden Bell stormed in at 9th and 10th place respectively. 10 Juniors ran their respective races and got off to an excellent start.
Sudbury hosted the second race in the series. This is a tough course with a couple of big hills that seem to go on forever! But saying that, it is a very pretty run and of course, once at the top of the hill, it’s all downhill from then on. Stuart Price upped his pace and came a fantastic 7th place.
Onto the third race of the series which was held In Framlingham. A super venue and a great atmosphere. Our 11 juniors kicked off the evening running superbly in their races. Hugo Gunning coming 3rd overall in the U9 category. 9 Seniors ran the undulating course with another record broken by Claire Jacobs finishing 1st lady and 7th overall. She also broke the club 5 mile record finishing with a time of 28.22. Also, a night for personal bests by Jo Sargent, Belinda Godbold and Nathalie Hooper.
The following Friday Saint Edmund Pacers were hosting the race starting in Nowton Park. Historically it is always hot when this race is run, fortunately not the 30 degrees we had last year! After a lap around the park the route took us on some quiet Suffolk roads, which thankfully, were nicely shaded. The Juniors did us proud with Hugo Gunning, Morgan Davies and Kyan McNeil coming in the top 10 for their age group.
In complete contrast, the next race was held at Haugley Park, hosted by the Stowmarket Striders. A cool, cloudy, and wet evening. Some runners would say this was perfect. Aden Bell kept his good form and finished with an excellent time of 28:43.
Finally, the last race of the series. With over 400 runners taking part due to the flat nature of the course. 10 Seniors ran and finished with amazing results. Claire Jacobs was second female runner across the line and 1st in her age group with a PB of 27:53! Absolutely outstanding. A personal best for Crystal Murry who had been getting progressively faster with each race. It was wonderful to see trophies won by our Juniors Morgan Davies and Poppy Humphrey who were second in their age groups.
As a Club we have a lot to celebrate. We came 10th overall out of 57 clubs and the ladies team were 6th out of 44. Congratulations to Jo Sargent, Nathalie Hooper, Belinda Godbold and Stuart Hunt who ran all six races. Fantastic running by all the seniors and juniors with great support and camaraderie at all races.
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