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Not one, not two, but three races this weekend!

  • Posted December 14, 2020

Not one, not two, but three races this weekend!

Well, after the year 2020 has been, it's lovely to have three races to write about today: the Ardingly PB 5k winter series, the Xero MK winter half marathon, and the Mallory Park 10k festival.


PB 5K winter race series
PBs all round for MKDP athletes!

This weekend, MKDP’s Emma Mears, Alexandra Shipley and Devon Harford raced in the PB 5K winter race series. Alexandra got a time of 17:39 (U23) - a PB! Well done!! - and Devon got 17:25 (U23) in his first 5k race that was not a Parkrun. It was also a PB for him.

Here’s what Emma had to say about the race.

‘A levels and university were a massive drain on my mental and physical health. Trying to improve in athletics clashed with being a teenager. I really struggled to find a balance with everything going on in my life, with losing my hair from alopecia, the discomfort and misery of huge flares of eczema, and trying to adapt to a new lifestyle at university. I just couldn’t cope. The easiest thing was to take pressure off racing and training and try to reduce my stress, rather than add to it. This resulted in being out of training and racing for over two years.

‘When it was time to come back, I ensured that I gradually increased my training to avoid injuries. I had never lost much fitness (thankfully),so it was hard not jumping straight back into long runs and hard sessions, which I had missed a lot!

‘My last official 5K race was September 2017. Today, my first race since then, I obtained a 73-second PB of 18:28! (18:30:00 gun.) I was so anxious, and I really didn’t know if nerves would take over, but as soon as the gun went off, I felt in control. It felt natural to be racing again. I enjoyed it even more because I had this time taken away from me. It felt good to be doing what I love most.’
Emma Mears

See https://www.pb5k.co.uk/ for race info. All results can be found at http://results.eventchiptiming.com/results.aspx?CId=16202&RId=8251&EId=8&dt=0&adv=1

The Xero Milton Keynes Winter Half Marathon 2020
This race was held over 12-13 December at Willen Lake, MK. MKDP’s Harry Ward and Eliot Winter competed. Harry’s time was 1:25:59 (76th) and Eliot’s time was 1:36:43 (216th). There were 1,198 runners in the half marathon (!).

Eliot said, ‘It was great to be back racing again after so long. I’d been injured most of the summer so I put no pressure on getting a time; I was just happy to be back racing again.’

All results can be found at https://resultsbase.net/event/4954/results?round=13996

Mallory Park 10K Festival - and a new MKDP club record
Charlie Wheeler was 4th in the Mallory Park 10K at Kirkby Mallory, Leicestershire, on Saturday, in a time of 30:20. This was Charlie's first 10k, and a new club record!

All results are at http://www.titaniumresults.co.uk/results.aspx?CId=19747&RId=120&fbclid=IwAR0H0TijfkCQWq9qAyGTKM0_xrSBvyLU6RroDQOLI6c5yGf9zsJ8DqpEhTc

Great racing! Well done to all MKDP athletes.