21st March 2009
It was a crazy day in the park. Great weather combined with a badly kept secret that we were being filmed for TV and the result was close to 300 people trying to run the race and even a few drunken spectators – impressive at 9am. The dry spell made for perfect running conditions, much faster underfoot on the woodland paths than of late so there were many fast times despite the crowds and the problem of hurdling lapped runners.
I had another close battle with Liam Thompson who finally got me in the finish straight but not before he had pushed me to 5k PB and I think the club V45 record. Stuart has been toying with the idea of going sub 17 on this tricky course and managed it today by some margin. For a while we've been saying that former course record holder Bill Heaton could be pushed out of the all time top 50 by the anniversary. But today Bill restaked his claim with a 7s improvement to take him out of the "drop zone".
Ian and Cat also ran course PBs with Cat finishing 3rd lady. Peter Bream chose an interesting day to make his Bramhall debut and found himself directing crowds at the finish.
1 Liam Thompson (Warrington AC) 16:11 (79.92%)
2 Rob Downs 16:11 (87.64%)
4 Stuart Parrott 16:48 (84.42%)
6 Bill Heaton 17:44 (79.32%)
18 Ian Smallwood 19:22 (73.75%)
61 Catriona Marshall 21:51 (71.17%)
81 Peter Bream 22:41 (61.06%)
265 finished 5k
Full results, report, photos at www.bramhall.parkrun.com
Rob