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Tom Stevens reports on an excellent start to the road-racing season…

A cold and misty airfield was the scene for a fairly low key 10k race, with a bit of Battle of Britain history thrown in for good measure [see 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Kenley - Ed.]The course was fast and flat with both Sarah Moss and Thomas Stevens clocking new pbs. Tom finished 2nd in 34:00, and Sarah was 16th lady in 49:03.

Extra note: this moves Tom to number 3 on the Dashers all-time 10k chart

Strong winds put paid to a PB attempt by Robert Hudson at the Maxifuel 10k at Dorney Lake, but his time of 41:20 was still good enough to earn 3rd place.

A too-fast first half plus a headwind that appeared from nowhere in the last 3 miles meant a slightly slower than target finish time, but still a decent ren for David Priddy, finishing 65th in 40:06.

Another new club record for Barbara Allen, taking nearly 6 minutes of the FV55 10k record that has stood since 1996!

Emma’s first 10k race was a good one!

Robert Hudson ran this race in an excellent new PB of 40:00, finishing 33rd and 4th vet home.

A great day out by the sea for 30+ Dashers, so a big thank you to Mike and Jo for organising, and to Mike and Craig for driving. Conditions for the race were excellent, although a bit of a headwind from 6.5k to the finish made it a tough run in, but that didn’t deter some excellent times. Leading the way home was Alex Miller with a stonking new PB of 34:18 - only 3 Dashers have ever run faster, and two of those have the surname Bradfield. The third, Andrew Cooney, not to be outdone was meanwhile breaking the longest standing male club record, beating Robin Auster’s time from 1995 by running 36:01. Not bad for a gentle jog with a fast finish having started back with the mortals. Plenty of other PBs as well, but stand-out improvements by Pav Khaira (2:14) & Craig Sherratt (51 secs).

Mel Elliot continued her improvement with a 3+ minute PB at the Dartford Bridge 10k, completing the course in 56:49.

The exceptional weather of late meant that mud was thin on the ground, but some problems with the signing of the duathlon that was running in parallel meant that there was plenty of mayhem to compensate!

Chris Bradfield tuned up for the cross-country season with an easy win in 34:55, a couple of minutes ahead of the British CanineCross champion who led - with his dogs Norman and Ringo - for the first 4k. Being “chicked” is one thing… being “dogged” another!

Near perfect conditions this morning at Black Park for the 2nd running of this flat, fast 10k. The mist hung in the trees early on but lifted to reveal a simply stunning day.

Congratulations to all who ran, but especially to Jackie Stallwood and Rachhpal Bath who finished 2nd in their age categories.

A near 3 minute PB for Nneka, 2 minutes for Nina, a minute for Pam and also new PBs for Adam, Pav & Mel

Loads of great performances despite the rain, with 4 in the top 10, some brilliant PBs, a category win and new MV60-69 club record for Tony Curtin, and a category win for Rachhpal Bath. Philip Jones was also the winner of the M40-49 category, or at least he would have been if they’d got him correctly allocated to his age group.

David Priddy took the opportunity to sneak in a race whilst visiting family in North Shropshire. It was a lovely small-town race on country lanes before returning around the mere and along the Llangollen Canal towpath. A strong headwind in the last 3k and an uphill finish took the edge off the pace however, so the end result was 69th in 40:38.

New PB for Martin Richardson on what I suspect was a very warm evening.

Jon Elliott raced this one, finishing in 44:57 for 215th place.

Steve Fell finished an excellent 2nd in the 5k race in 17:35, whilst Paola Duhem ran 49:12 of 69th in the 10k.