Sunday 21st August was in some ways the beginning of the return of mass participation events. Cambridge Harriers were out in force and entered 28 athletes, 20 men and 8 women. The conditions were near perfect and support was fantastic throughout the course. The regular cheering squad of Glynis Penny and Holly Dixon to name a few helped to create a brilliant atmosphere.
The elite field was stacked and the race favourites Jake Smith and Charlotte Purdue did not disappoint! Jake Smith was already the third fastest male over the half marathon distance and impressed at the Chester Elite marathon where he started out as a pacemaker and went on to win the race. Jake won the race clocking a time of 60:31, Charlotte Purdue won in a course record of 69:51.
The army of Cambridge Harriers did not disappoint either with the fastest of the males Ben Shearer clocking a time of 71.16, although not a PB, very impressive considering this was part of his long run preparation for London Marathon. The fastest female was Emily Meins clocking a PB time of 83:28. There was an explosion of half marathon personal bests which can be seen in the summary below and some impressive age graded results. Huge congratulations also to Tom Loia who ran for the first time
in his Cambridge Harrier vest in an excellent time of 1:31:50.
This race also signalled the start of the Cambridge Harriers Grand Prix Race series and will produce some very competitive age-graded percentages.
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