26th June 2005, very hot but not as hot as Warrington
This race was organised by Manchester YMCA Harriers and apparently has its roots in the original Manchester 10k. Anyway, history apart the new Regional Athletics stadium was a top venue providing a start and finish on the track where Kelly Holmes and other GB athletes will be competing next month. Mike and I went along keen as ever and were pleased to see Stuart and Gareth – we had a team!
There was a rather chaotic start as the start time was first delayed by the police, then brought forward again then delayed as someone twigged that we were about to leave without the elite athletes. As it happens we could have done with a few minutes start as Simon Arusei led a group of serious runners who literally sprinted away from the rest of us at the start and were round inside of 30 minutes.
The field stretched out so quickly that I was left with only a couple of runners visible in front and behind which seemed amazing in a race of over 1000 runners.
The 3-lap course could have been chaotic but the laps reduced in length spiralling in on the stadium and meaning that only on the 3rd lap did we really get mixed up with the back of the field. The spectators certainly got a good show as we passed the stadium on each lap. The popular announcer from the Wilmslow Half was shouting the names and numbers as we passed by. On the second lap he got a bit carried away and said that I was being tracked by “Paul Tergat” before correcting himself to Paul Targett a rather less well known runner from Clayton.
I could also hear that just behind Stuart was involved in another close call with the ever green Alan Pover. I’m pleased to report that even with his swollen Edale ankle Stuart was able to hold off the Pover challenge finishing strongly as ever on the track. Alan’s Stockport team had the last laugh however narrowly pipping us to the Men’s Team 2nd prize and probably the Vets team prize as well. Stuart and I narrowly missed out on MV40 prizes but I think that we earned £20 for a top 20 place giving a tidy £6 profit on the morning. Mike and Gareth also finished well up a large field.
It should have been a very fast course and we all finished thinking that we had scorched the track to run PBs. But the clock said otherwise and we were left with the feeling that the course might have been a minute long. I happened to bump into the winner later on who agreed saying that he usually ran more like 28 minutes!
14 Rob Downs 35.10* 2 MV40
16 Stuart Parrott 35.45* 4 MV40
82 Mike Cooper 41.38 19 MV40
221 Gareth Trimble 46.37
* approximate times as the official chip timing was bust.
1007 finishers
Winning time 29.42
Men’s Team (3)
Salford 48
Stockport 103
Wilmslow 109
Vets team (3)
Stockport 103
Wilmslow 109
Full results at http://www.theresults.co.uk/manchester_10k_results.htm
Photo of the start in continuation …
Racing out of the stadium with the whippets. Didn’t last long at this pace but it was good while it lasted.
There are plenty more photos at http://www.taimages.com