Race Date: Saturday 4th August 2023

With the press attempting to scare us with warnings of how evil Storm Antoni would be, there was concern as the rain lashed down all Saturday morning. With a wet warm up, the Helly Hansen nearly came out but lo, at about 2:20 the rain ceased and the wind dropped to provide excellent racing conditions for a 2:30 start. Unfortunately the rain had already done its job as the field of 120 finishers was nearly half that seen in previous years whilst, with the race returning to its original early August date, the accompanying gala was a rather damp affair.

Billed as fast and flat and with much of the course recently resurfaced, the facts speak for themselves when it comes to justifying these claims with nearly fifty finishing under thirty minutes. The winners were GB International Gemma Steel (Charnwood) who ran 26:05 which was a pb according to Power of Ten, with Jordan Skelly (Lincoln Wellington) also acquiring a new pb in 23.28. This places Jordan top of the men’s 5 mile rankings for this year. (Gemma was already the fastest British woman over the distance).

In 2019, when this race was part of the club’s road race champions, there were forty four Steel City in the line however today only three travelled to Bassingham all with mixed feelings on their performances. For Sam Brown this was a stepping stone back to fitness as he reflected that he ran the 2021 Manchester Marathon at a quicker pace than this and whilst Sarah Allcard appeared dissatisfied with her time this was a personal best and pb’s should always be welcomed. The last one reflected that the days of pb’s have long since gone and he was simply grateful to get home in under 37 minutes.

Bassingham Bash 2023 (Five Miles)