Race Date: 6th October 2019.

Report by Lucy Broom

I have been looking for a 10,000m race for a while, having noticed there was no vet record as yet. What I have learned is that 10,000m races are few and far between, because they take up so much time in a multi track event.  This was pretty much the only one this year. A stand alone 10,000m race hosted by NMAC (Northern Masters Athletic Club). Not ideal timing, as it was the day after Curbar Commotion, which I had to do, to get enough fell races in for the Striders champs. I decided to break my self-imposed rule of not racing twice in a weekend, and go for it! Even taking Curbar deliberately slowly, 10 miles of boggy terrain still really took it out of my legs.

So it was with sore legs and some trepidation that I set off for Ashton-Under-Lyne, to run around a track 25 times. I am no stranger to track monotony, having decided last winter that I needed to run around Chaucer track for 10 miles (40 laps!) to get a consistent marathon paced run in, without road crossings or hills. So, no problem I told myself, at least it’s less than 40!

I did have a bit of a wobble when I arrived at a packed car park, with marshalls directing traffic. I suddenly feared that I would be hanging off the back of a large, elite event, and briefly considered bailing. I needn’t have worried. The cars were for Thameside football stadium, which was on the same site. The track event turned out to be very low key and friendly, and the organiser reassured me that there would be a range of times.

The event was so low key that there were just 21 of us (16 men and 5 women) and we all ran in the same race: men and women, vet 35s to vet 75s. This made for an interesting race, with plenty of scope for overtaking, and being overtaken. Masters runners wear their vet category on their backs, so you can see when you are overtaking someone in your category. I noted that were nearly as many timekeepers as runners! Runners get pretty spread out over 25 laps, and so it is quite a job making sure they record and inform every runner of how many laps they have left, every time they pass the start. It is quite demoralising seeing the lap counter showing 5 laps to go, but knowing you have to add at least a couple on to that!

My aim was to run each mile in less than 7 minutes, which I managed to…..just. I ended up being first female, which was nice, but no fanfare or medal, as guest athletes (of which I was the only one) aren’t eligible for prizes. I learnt afterwards that I could join NMAC as a second claim club to be eligible, which I will do if I do any more of these events. Altogether an enjoyable event, and a record that is open to breaking!

First female was our very own Lucy Broom, first man was Richard Harrison of Selby Striders in 37.40.