Saturday 16th June saw the return of, fellow summer league club, the Ealing Eagle's, bi-annual 10k (and parkrun). The 10k race started not too long after the weekly parkrun but enough time after for which to stretch and recover.
parkrun: In my opinion Osterley parkrun is one of the prettiest settings in London. The run sets off down a path in front of Osterley house, it turns right into a woodland skirting the side of a lake (often used in period dramas), up through a field finally, baring right, you run on the grass up to the front of the pillared property again ready to complete 2 more laps. I personally chose to run this as a warm up to the 10k as I now realise that I need about 3 miles to get my legs going! I was pleased to enjoy this the whole way with Sam Suth if not only to discuss the antics of Ronaldo in the world cup the night before.
Results:
Joanna Braine 30th - 22:47 *3rd female
Adrian Boylan 44th - 23:44
Neil Hutchison 51st - 24:02
Sam Sutherland 52nd - 24:03
Emma Jones 140th - 29:18
288 finishers.
http://www.parkrun.org.uk/osterley/results/latestresults/
Next the 10k: Much like the parkrun, the race started in the shadow of Osterley house. The year before I managed to come away with 4th place finishing position so this year, knowing that i'd reduced my PB by 2 minutes, I was hoping to better this.
We set off on a 1.5km loop before passing back from where we started, along and out of the National trust property's main entrance. I was up at the front with 2 others and it was here where I decided to test their muscle. My main worry was that they had the ability to burn rubber whenever they wanted but were holding back to see what I did. I wanted a podium so I made my move. My plan: get in front, keep at a pace I knew I was capable of (one similar to summer league 2 weeks before), see what happens. It proved right and I was slowly pulling away. The next 8km were weird. I've never followed a lead vehicle before and suddenly I was following 2 bikes. I was now basically playing catch the bike! When I took the lead I was first led down a road, left again down a long dusty path, all the way around the park through woodlands and a spot where they were setting up for the evening festival. At 7km I ran past a fantastic QPH support crew of Dick Heath-Brown, Adrian Boylan, Jojo, Ella & Jessie Braine, up past a pond and out of the park again on to a second shorter lap. At 1km to go I had a stitch but thankfully it didn't slow me down. I managed to cross the line 45 secs ahead of the unattached runner Mark Beastall in 2nd for my first race win (not including parkrun) in 36:47.
I was delighted to turn back to see Sam finishing in 3rd to make a 1 & 3 QPH on the "podium". Sam told me that his race unfolded quite differently to mine with his initial plan to hold back and just run, but at 9km he found out that he was in 5th so he set off in pursuit of places!! I believe he overtook 4th place with only 300m to go!
Results:
Neil Hutchison 1st (Pos), 1st (MSen),
1st (Gen) - 36:47 (36:46 chip)
Sam Sutherland 3rd (Pos),
2nd (MSen),3rd (Gen) - 38:00 (37:59 chip)
Gildas Braine 38th (Pos), 10th (v40),
36th (Gen) - 42:23 (42:22 chip)
Paul Scullion 57st (Pos), 18th (V40),
16th (Gen) - 43:49 (43:42 chip)
Agnes Nagy 95th (Pos), 5th (FSen),
7th (Gen) - 45:52 (45:45 chip)
Emma Jones 308th (Pos), 22nd (FSen), 74th (Gen) - 55:51 (55:31 chip)
Sofia Ali 573rd (Pos), 14th (v55),
245th (Gen) - 1:08:25 (1:07:51 chip)
724 finishers
http://dbmaxresults.co.uk/results.aspx?CId=16421&RId=6196