Race date: Sunday 19 August, 2018

Race report by Tony Bell

I returned to my home town of Warrington to run in the 35th annual Birchwood 10km. This race is organised by my old club Spectrum Striders. I reckon that I have run or volunteered at 30 of the 35 races.

This is a fairly flat but not that fast course: a lot of the first half of the race is on twisty narrow paths through a science park, tricky to overtake in some places. The race started on a cool, windy morning in steady rain which gradually eased off. I got to halfway in 23:42, faster than any parkrun in 2018! The second half of the course is partially on country lanes making it easier to overtake. The only hills of any significance are motorway bridges at around 7, 8 and 9km but these were no trouble to a Sheffield runner. The last 2km were very hard work but I kept going hard to the end. Over the line in 46:56, my fastest 10km since 2014 and a new V55 pb! 23:14 in second half. A very encouraging run for my trip back to Tyneside for the Great North Run next month.

957 runners completed the race, with the winner being Felix McGrath (Newcastle Staffs AC) in 32:30. 36th and 1st Lady was Kelly Crickmore (Stockport Harriers) in 37:26.

Striders result