From Neil Chapman…
Christos Tzelis went over to Barrowford to take part in their last Podium 5k of the year. The pressure was on even before the gun as he had a target in mind to reduce his PB by 16 seconds and get under 15 minutes for the first time. Running in the last and fastest of the four races, he ran a smart race with the first four laps run at an identical pace that put him on target to get under 15 minutes.
He clearly had left something in reserve, as he wound it up and had a stunning last lap to finish in 14.32, which was a PB by 43 seconds, a massive amount relative to his time. Whilst others were lying on the grass after the finish trying to get some air back in their lungs, Christos jogged off to meet his mum and dad to find out what was for tea? Well done Christos, a great result.
From Sally Armitage…
The fastest, flattest 5k in the north. I have frequented this race a number of times in the past chasing 5k PBs, albeit not for 4 and half years. After COVID the race started to cater more for elites, with fewer and fewer events for the rest of us. Last night’s race was a ‘10 years of Podium’ celebration event and was open to all, with graded races from sub 14:30 to sub 18:30 plus one ‘open’ race. It was meticulously organised, chip timed and ran like clockwork. Conditions were absolutely perfect, fast times were guaranteed.
I had been over ambitious on the entry form and had been placed in the sub 18:30 race, in hindsight this benefited me, but last night I was petrified. The field was fast, young and certainly looked elite. I positioned myself at the very back, and hoped to hang on. The first km was far quicker than I would’ve liked and I genuinely thought I wasn’t going to be able to keep up and had already planned my drop out point, but I felt better as the kms were ticked off, I finished with 3 runners behind me and was pleased not to be running my final lap alone. Christos was also in attendance, in the fastest race of the night, the sub 14:30. He ran an astounding race in 14:32, which I think is only 7 seconds off the all time club record.
The calibre of this race was evident in the results, 349 athletes ran, 328 of them ran sub 20 minutes. Despite Christos’ mind boggling time of 14:32, he finished in 40th place (I am certain he will be in the top 10 in the coming years). It was a great experience, if rather intimidating!
(Edit:Sally was too modest to say that this is a new F45 club record for the 5k, the previous record of 18:58 by Alison Bennett having stood since 2008).
1st male Robin Hendrix 13:35
1st female Hannah Nuttall 15:18
40th Christos Tzelis 14:32
301st Sally Armitage 18:47
349 ran