The much-anticipated return of the Vitality 10km race in London proved to be immensely popular for Cambridge Harriers. 42 Cambridge Harriers turned up ready to race, 27 male and 15 female runners. This must be one of our biggest turn outs for a road race event for quite some time. With hardly a breath of wind on the fast, flat course, expectations were high for the all-British elite field and the return of Sir Mo Farah, although it was Ellis Cross, an Aldershot, Farnham & District club runner who was able to outsprint Mo and finish in 28:40. Athletics fans were also watching Eilish McColgan as she set out on her debut Vitality London 10,000 fresh from breaking the British 5K record in Spain eight days’ earlier. Eilish was only 2 seconds short of Paula Radcliffe's British10km record but did break the Scottish record in a winning time of 30:23.
There were some amazing performances across the age groups and gender categories. The women won the team prize consisting of Holly Dixon with a time of 34:16 (8th overall), Meghan Merchant clocking 34:53 (10th overall) and Emily Meins running through in 38:01 (32nd position overall). It is worth noting that despite what the results suggest, Emily is not from Afghanistan and is in fact from Great Britain. Julie Backley made up the 4th member of the team and clocked a fast time of 39:42 and came 1st in her age category position.
Chris Loudon, James MacDonald, Holly Dixon
Considering the sheer number of clubs competing and the quality of the field, the women’s section of the club is certainly a force to be reckoned with. Another outstanding performance came from Sue Dixon who finished 2nd in her age group as she continues to run fast times over 5km and 10km.
There were multiple personal bests from the men’s section of the club. Chris Loudon was the 1st Cambridge Harrier home clocking a rapid time of 32:23 and finishing 9th in his age category, 32nd overall. Chris has managed a triple whammy of personal bests over the bank holiday weekend. His weekend began with the 5km on Friday night in Battersea Park with a time of 15:20. He also ran the Westminster Mile on Sunday in a time of 4:28 alongside his 10km personal best in the Vitality 10km. James Macdonald has clearly recovered well from his Marathon in Manchester where he ran personal best time of 2:27:14. He was the 2nd Cambridge Harrier home with a fast time of 33:21 finishing 3rd in his age category.
Dominic Fiore and Julie Backley
The full results can be seen below, and personal best will be indicated once the results are published on power of 10.
Well done all.
Women's Results
Men's Results
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